Consultant – Information Advisor – Romania

Background:

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.

Purpose / Project Description:

The conflict in Ukraine has resulted in over 5M people fleeing the country and many millions more displaced within Ukraine. There are many more who are unable to safely leave their homes. The circumstances and populations are constantly evolving with the conflict. Mercy Corps has reopened its registration and presence in Ukraine as well as offices to support people in neighboring Poland and Romania. This includes partnership models, cash, information provision and other emergency response activities in a very fluid environment. Partnerships with Romanian organizations are expected to be a key Mercy Corps approach, which leverages the skills of diverse civil society groups to provide much-needed assistance to Ukrainian refugees. As Mercy Corps’ standards for cash assistance are new to many Romanian organizations, we will need to adapt and create practical orientation sessions, training, and coaching models to onboard our partners to our processes, formats, and program management standards. In addition, we will want to support organizations with monitoring, evaluation, and accountability in order for us to demonstrate our impact and account for responsible use of funding.

Consultant Objectives:

The Information Advisor will support program partnerships and advise on information activities. Within Mercy Corps’ partnership program, the Information Advisor will identify and help support local partners working in the information space. The Advisor will also develop an information strategy for Mercy Corps that looks to both support local partner efforts, ensure best practices around inclusion and safety, and identify and respond to gaps existing in the information landscape.

As relevant, Mercy Corps may lead or work with partners to implement two-way communication programs, including Signpost. The Information Advisor will oversee fact-checking, keeping abreast of context and vulnerable groups. They will also oversee the work of Digital Community Liaisons, ensuring that messages from users are answered in a timely fashion and in line with best practice, and that referrals follow appropriate protocol. They are responsible for creating and leading the implementation of a user-focused content strategy that is informed by protection principles and current digital content and social media best practice. They regularly work with regional, local and headquarters-based protection staff at all levels.

Consultant Activities:

The Consultant will: Conduct the following key assignment responsibilities

STRATEGY & VISION

• Understand user needs, identify gaps in the information landscape for potential intervention, and drive information strategy with key partners to build value-added programming.
• Ensure that program implementation is responsive to communities and partners and consistent with Mercy Corps’ relevant program guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and strategic plan.
• Identify regional and local opportunities for partnership and program strengthening.

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

• Establish and maintain relationships with agencies we collaborate with.
• Establish clear editorial guidelines and standards and ensure staff are trained in and able to use them.
• Revise editorial, social media, and referral SOPs as needed and in collaboration with relevant advisors.
• Vet and edit all sensitive content for adherence to editorial standards.
• Maintain knowledge of, and ensure staff is trained on, editorial team tools including content management systems (Zendesk, Google tools), social media tools (Facebook, Facebook Ad Manager, Page Manager and Instagram) and project management tools (Trello, Transifex and Slack).

EXPANSION & DEVELOPMENT

• Provide input on, and draft language for, proposals and reports related to Information in the Ukraine Response.
• Continuously assess staffing needs and propose changes or develop new roles as needed.
• Maintain a close working relationship with other technical staff such as Protection and Legal Advisors to ensure appropriate technical oversight and input.
• Coach, train, supervise and mentor direct-report staff, including communicating clear expectations, setting quarterly performance objectives, providing regular and timely positive and constructive performance feedback, and providing documented semi-annual performance reviews.

MEASUREMENT & LEARNING

• Work with the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team and the field to ensure that monitoring and evaluation is practical and reflects best practices.
• Manage the Signpost team, if applicable.
• Provide a measurable development plan including on-the-job learning with the aim of strengthening technical capacity, exchanging knowledge within the team and providing guidance on career paths.
• Promote and monitor staff care, well-being and self-care; approve and manage all time, attendance and leave requests to ensure adequate departmental coverage.

FINANCE & COMPLIANCE

• Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations related to emergency programming.
• Maintain accurate knowledge of the grant/funding status at the end of each month, making recommendations to adjust as necessary, but overall ensure Mercy Corps accurate budget compliance.
• Create and maintain systems ensuring effective and transparent use of financial resources for timely and informative reporting in line with donor and Mercy Corps policies and procedures.

INFLUENCE & REPRESENTATION

• Identify, build and manage collaborative partnerships with consortium partners, sub-grantees, donors, local governments and other stakeholders.

Timeframe / Schedule:

This is a 3 months’ assignment

The Consultant will report to:

Romania Team Leader

The Consultant will work closely with:

Emergency Program Manager – Partnerships, Partnerships Officer, T4D team, TSU, External partners including IRC and other NGOs, global Mercy Corps field teams and technology partners.

Required Experience & Skills:

• 5-10 years of experience in relevant technical field
• Bachelor’s degree in journalism, communications, or equivalent combination of background and experience
• Experience developing web or social media content
• Experience in crisis context, with rapidly changing information and security context.
• Knowledge of local and national immigration and asylum actors including government agencies and non-profit organizations involved in refugee response.
• Experience managing partnerships across organizations highly desired, including designing partnership models and assessing partner organization capacities.
• Self-starter — must be productive with minimal direction and flexible to sudden changes in requirements
• Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills; demonstrated ability to successfully work in a fast-paced environment within and across departments/functions/geographic locations, and develop positive relationships with locally and remote based staff
• Familiarity with the MS Office software (i.e., Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) is required
• Excellent oral and written Romanian and English is required. Ukrainian or Russian language is desirable.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our stakeholders and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.