Madagascar: Community Engagement Lead, Rooted in Trust

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The Rooted in Trust project works to combat COVID-19 rumors and misinformation in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, Colombia, Brazil, Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Sudan, South Sudan, Haiti, Yemen and Madagascar. We work to create impact at the local level and inform approaches to rumor management at the global level. The project is supported by a Global Technical Advisory team made up of media, humanitarian, data science and information management experts.

In Phase 1 of the project, we collected more than 19 thousand rumors in 14 languages and supported more than 30 local trusted information providers. In this critical phase of the pandemic, we will build on these efforts to listen and respond to the information challenges faced by vulnerable groups in humanitarian contexts, encouraging open dialogue between citizens and scientists and stronger and more collaborative partnerships between information providers (such as local media) and humanitarian and health sources.

OVERVIEW

The main role of the Community Engagement Lead (CEL) is to represent the community’s perspectives and COVID-19 rumors as collected by the Rooted in Trust team and partners in front of the health, humanitarian and civil society stakeholder. The CEL will also ensure that project staff are up to date with the latest developments in the humanitarian and health response. In doing so, the CEL will be in regular contact with officials from the UN and national and international NGOs. The CEL will participate in relevant coordination meetings.

LOGISTICS

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so candidates are encouraged to apply soon.

This is a limited-duration consultancy, with an expected end date in January 2023

SCOPE OF WORK

• Develop, maintain and establish excellent working relationships with a wide range of humanitarian responders (Civil Society, UN agencies, NGO partners, etc.), making them aware of the project and its objectives and finding potential collaboration;
• Organize regular events to bring together media and humanitarian actors in view of advocating for journalists’ space in humanitarian and health responses;
• Contribute to the discussions and development of new guidelines, resources, rules and regulations as issued by governments and UN agencies, to ensure the community’s perspectives are taken into account, local media is included and supported and the overall health and humanitarian response is accountable to the affected populations;
• Share with the rest of the Project Team the latest humanitarian updates to enable them to turn it into useful, actionable, accurate and engaging content that communities can relate to/understand;
• Support the content production team to identify and connect with relevant experts within humanitarian agencies and/or local and national government institutions;
• Become aware of agreed upon protocols regarding the Health response and regulations, and stay up to date with the latest Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) surveys concerning the health crisis;
• Work closely with the rest of the team to ensure that all content and messages are accurate and 1) improve knowledge among local population; 2) follow approved protocols; 3) improve resilience among the local community;
• In coordination with the Project Team, ensure that feedback gained from project activities is made available to humanitarian organizations (i.e., brief presentations at coordination meetings and other relevant forums), and government officials, as required;
• Identify funding and partnership opportunities;
• In close coordination with the humanitarian data analyst and content manager, liaise with relevant humanitarian agencies in the production of humanitarian updates and information to disseminate important messages, news and information for local communities;
• Maintain and update a database with all relevant contacts (i.e., spokespersons and focal points) from the different organizations and government ministries/units involved in the recovery;
• Support gender mainstreaming of all aspects of the project;
• Ensure all content produced within the project follows core humanitarian principles, often summarized but not limited to “Do No Harm”;
• Produce regular multimedia materials (i.e., blog posts, photos, photo slideshows, etc.) documenting the project for external audiences, as required;
• Contribute to the wider communications for the project as a whole, with excellent writing and communication skills;
• Support the project lead with project management as and when needed; and
• Understand and demonstrate commitment to upholding Internews’ Core Values.

QUALIFIED CONSULTANTS MAY HAVE THE FOLLOWING BACKGROUND:

Required

• Fluency in written and spoken English;
• Extensive experience working in complex relief operations in challenging environments, preferably in humanitarian and/or health crisis contexts;
• Very good knowledge of the mandates and modalities of the international humanitarian sector;
• A thorough understanding of the work of humanitarian and development agencies, including working with the UN cluster system;
• Proven interpersonal and networking skills to liaise authoritatively with figures from the aid and donor communities and host governments;
• Experience in Communication with Communities (CwC) and Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) projects, with a strong focus on ensuring feedback from the communities is taken into account within the humanitarian system;
• Experience working with communities to gather their concerns and issues, turning these into engaging content;
• A self-starter and proactive problem solver who enjoys communication and collaboration in a multi-stakeholder environment;
• Must be self-reliant, resourceful, a good problem-solver, good humored and flexible.

Preferred

Note : Candidates who do not have these preferred qualifications, but are interested and willing to learn, are encouraged to apply.

• Fluency in French a distinct advantage
• Awareness of, and familiarity with, the issues and dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic and/or other health crises in humanitarian contexts a strong asset