REGIONAL COMMUNICATION ADVISER

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial, neutral, and independent organisation with the exclusively humanitarian mission to protect the lives and dignity of victims of war and internal violence and to provide them with assistance. It also endeavours to prevent suffering by promoting and strengthening International Humanitarian Law and universal humanitarian principles. The ICRC’s Regional Communication Center (RCC) supports ICRC delegations in East and Southern Africa.

Overall Responsibility

As ICRC Regional Communication Adviser in charge of internal communication and harmful narratives, you will lead our efforts supporting ICRC delegations in Africa dealing with major internal challenges and also be part of a team tackling harmful narratives such as misinformation and disinformation against our organization. The scope of work encompasses two key files, which are sometimes intertwined: Internal Communication, as well as harmful narratives such as misinformation and disinformation.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Support ICRC delegations and the Headquarters addressing internal communication issues, fostering a more inclusive work culture through internal communication plans and strategies, but also managing harmful narratives and supporting delegations and units to put in place proactive and reactive strategies to tackle them internally and externally.

Internal communication

• In close collaboration with colleagues in headquarters, you will support an inclusive and strategic internal communication approach, using or developing the necessary tools to ensure colleagues are equipped with the necessary information to deliver their mission.
• Support delegations to improve their internal visibility by developing tailored, creative, powerful, and innovative communication approaches (including digital and editorial). Develop internal communication plans and tools required for staff engagement (staff-centered campaigns, interactive presentations, FAQ documents, brochures, infographics, video clips, audio pieces, people-centered stories, etc.)
• Play a pivotal role at times of crises and major institutional changes, to ensure adequate dissemination of information and collection of feedback.
• Building on your experience, you will also play a key role strengthening the capacity of colleagues in charge of the internal communication file in their respective delegations.

Misinformation, disinformation

• In close coordination with a team of experienced communicators, you will contribute to the detection/analysis and response to such narratives by notably producing and supporting the production of prebunking and debunking content for ICRC platforms.
• Support the development and facilitate the implementation of a user-centered training programme on harmful narratives for teams in delegations and Regional Communication Centres.
• Play a key role building a regional network of experts and influencers to develop knowledge and share practices.
• Provide tactical support to delegations, including drafting/executing relevant online and offline communication strategies to engage communities and provide them with factual, actionable content.

Minimum Requirements and competencies

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent in Communication or Journalism
• Minimum 8 years of relevant professional experience in communication and/or journalism, with a minimum of 3 years’ experience in digital communications and / or journalism focusing on harmful narratives;
• Experience in developing various communication products and strategies (offline and online), knowledge of a broad range of communication/staff engagement techniques and tools (PowerPoint, infographics, video clips, podcast, social media).
• Sound knowledge of the information disorder and working experience in designing and implementing policies and strategies to respond to harmful narratives;
• Sound expertise in social media platforms and messaging apps, comfortable using monitoring, verification and reporting tools;
• Excellent public speaking skills and the ability to communicate about technical matters to audiences in training settings;
• Experience in providing training and coaching support to diverse groups of people;
• Fluent command of both spoken and written English, as well as French and/or Arabic and/or Swahili.