Communications Specialist – Ukraine Refugee Crisis Response

The Role

Plan International is working with local and national organisations, the UN and governments to respond to the needs of children affected by the conflict in Ukraine.

The post of the Communications Specialist is an integral part of the Ukraine response hub, leading on all communications for the response and supporting Plan International to communicate effectively with key stakeholders including the media, supporters and donors. The post holder will develop public messaging and create high quality comms materials for use in Plan International’s global channels and across our network of National Organisations.

Responsibilities

• Position Plan International as a key player in the emergency response to help us raise funds
• Through strong content highlight the impact of our programmatic response, the humanitarian situation on the ground and reinforce Plan International’s advocacy and policy messages
• Be clear that we are responding by supporting local organisations that are responding directly to needs of refugees, particularly children, girls and young women
• Produce a range of compelling human interest child-focused content such as: case studies, eyewitness accounts, blogs, first person account, images, audio, video
• Ensure all content is available for everyone in the Plan International communications network to use by uploading all content in high resolution onto the global Media Bank or working closely with the GH Media Librarian to ensure that everything is available on the Media Bank
• Use social media to highlight the humanitarian situation while in country
• Monitor the situation for challenges, risks, threats and opportunities related to the emergency context that may impact communications and public engagement approaches, messaging and operations
• Ensure brand visibility of Plan International where appropriate.
• Update the Ukraine crisis communications plan on a regular basis so our external communications are aligned with our programme response and reflect the evolving situation.
• Ensure that child protection guidelines for content are strictly adhered to including consent
• Look for opportunities to use developments and the international news agenda to drive positive and consistent messaging about Plan International which represents the organisation effectively and raises its profile and reputation as a principled humanitarian agency.
• Liaise with journalists/correspondents, manage media requests and provide spokespersons with briefing and talking points.
• Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures

The Requirements

• Degree level or equivalent substantial experience working in journalism, media relations or PR at an international level.
• Strong and effective communicator.
• Excellent verbal and writing skills in English with ability to quickly turn around complex information into strong messages and compelling content.
• Track record of writing news articles, features, picture stories, op-eds and press releases and developing vlogs and visual content.
• Proven success at pitching stories to the media and working with journalists.
• Strong understanding of international humanitarian and development issues and rights-based work.
• Practical experience of working in complex emergency settings.
• Ability to organise media visits, set up interviews and brief spokespeople.
• Track record of handling complex, sensitive and fast-moving situations and work in high pressure environments with tight deadlines.
• Good understanding of social media and digital channels.
• Uses strong interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal, to build relationships, negotiate and persuade a wide range of audiences.
• Keeps up to date with key humanitarian and international development issues and trends, and to be able to spot new opportunities as they arise.
• Strong organisational skills to deal with a complex work environment.
• Work enthusiastically as part of a team and form effective and constructive working relationships across the whole organisation and wider network within sector.
• Participate in training and other activities as requested by the organization.
• Good understanding of humanitarian values, principles, the Humanitarian Charter and Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief.