REGIONAL EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION COORDINATOR

GENERAL CONTEXT

Médecins Sans Frontières is an international independent medical-humanitarian organization, which offers assistance to populations in distress, to victims of natural or man-made disasters and to victims of armed conflict, without discrimination and irrespective of race, religion, creed or political affiliation.

MSF is a civil society initiative that brings together individuals committed to the assistance of other human beings in crisis. As such MSF is by choice an association. Each individual working with MSF does it out of conviction and is ready to uphold the values and principles of MSF.

The MSF movement is built around six operational directorates. MSF OCBA is one of those directorates. The operations are implemented by field teams and the mission coordination teams; together with the organizational units based in Barcelona and decentralized in Nairobi, Dakar and Amman. The field operations are guided and supported by 5 Operational Cells, the Emergency Unit and other departments supporting operations.

GENERAL OBJECTIVE AND CONTEXT OF THE POST

The Emergency Communication Coordinator (ECC) is member of the emergency team or pool assigned to a communication position of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Operational Centre Barcelona Athens (OCBA) aimed at supporting emergency responses either led by the the Emergency Unit (EU) or any of those done by other opeartional cells. It is a senior all-round communications specialist that is hiearchically placed under the Head of the Emergency Unit and has a functional line with the the Communications Advisor (CA) of the EU.

This position covers all countries/interventions within the EU. This person will be part of the coordination teams of each mission (MCT) and will work in close coordination with the HOM, Medco, FCs and PMRs especially.

The ECC will also be integrated as part of the operational communications team to ensure peer knowledge sharing, support and back up through regular engagement in key meetings and discussions.

This position is on-call for immediate response and travel to operational locations according to the needs and scale of operations, acts as back-up for the HQ opscoms team or for field-based teams, offering continuous support to MSF operational contexts.

Upon request of the Head of the EU and in coordination with the EU Communication Advisor, she/he takes any specific project, prioritizing deployments to field locations (up to 70% of the time) with an agreed timeframe of assignment that can be extended if needed. The prioritization of the assignments follows the below criteria:

a) New emergencies and/or ongoing emergency interventions run by the EU that require timely substantial comms support;

b) Significant emergency responses run by other operational cells in regular missions and, on ad hoc basis, from other MSF sections present in the context of deployment;

c) Gap filling (including crisis management) in the field OCBA-led and/or intersectional coms set ups of strategic importance;

d) Back up for coms adviser of EU portfolio.

MSF OCBA’s EU leads and manages interventions in contexts with acute humanitarian needs at the outset of crises and when an immediate and often massive response is needed. Its teams can intervene following outbreaks of conflicts, diseases or natural disasters, or reinforce existing missions facing a steep increase in activities. In these crucial moments, MSF needs to reinforce public communication in support of operations. The ECC is expected to be deployed as soon as possible to meet communications needs aimed at alerting on the impact on the people we are assisting and their needs, sharing information and explaining our response and/or as needed mobilizing the various relevant stakeholders (at local, national & international levels, communities, donors) to facilitate access to populations and support humanitarian assistance.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND MAIN TASKS

1. Communication Strategy & Crisis Communications

• Working with the EU Coms Advisor (or the CA of another cell), support the development and implementation of a communications actions relevant to MSF’s emergency response or any other intervention, (including the preparation of a Terms of Reference (ToR) with specific objectives and expected outputs ahead of any deployment to the field when working outside the EU team).
• Working with the Emergency Coordination Team and under the supervision of the HoM / EmCo to respond to the identified public communication needs. She/he will also work with operational, medical and advocacy colleagues in field missions to understand comms needs, challenges and opportunities.
• Work with Emergency Coordination Team and OCBA’s digital advisor in developing and implementing digital engagement for emergency missions as needed.
• Identify proactively topics of interest for communications products and activities as well as issues/risks that will require to be mitigated reactively.
• Contribute to providing guidance to the movement and relevant content on the emergency response (crisis info, talking points, media guidelines, content for dissemination).
• Act as part of crisis management teams as required.
• When gap-filling, undertake the role and responsibilities of an OCBA Coms Adviser at HQ level, including participating at key operational meetings, briefings and intersectional discussions in order to provide advice.
• Proactively link with all the members of the OCBA opscoms team to identify cross-cutting elements and narratives that could be utilised for curated in-depth communications projects.

2. Content production, dissemination & media management

• Collect high quality communications materials, stories of patients and staff for both traditional and digital multimedia channels. This would be aligned with agreed objectives and addressing various audiences (local and international).
• Collaborate with OCBA’s content creative unit or relevant communication hub during the pre-production, collection and curation of the content.
• Build a network with key journalists following the crises where MSF is actively involved and briefs them when needed to optimize dissemination and impact of MSF emergency communications.
• Ensure the dissemination of content; advise on dissemination tactics; facilitate interviews with field members and, if possible, media field visit opportunities in collaboration as needed with relevant communication hubs (e.g. Dakar, Nairobi, Johannesburg) or other offices.
• Support in media requests management, identify and brief spokespeople and act as a spokesperson when opportune and as needed.

3. Reporting & collaboration

• Reinforce and gap fill in existing intersectional coms set ups, coaching and supporting mission-based FCCs, FCMs and/or FCOs in order to ensure the coms output matches the requirements and is aligned with the strategic operational priorities. In complex set ups with high level of coms needs, propose a clear task division/sharing of responsibilities with the field coms focal point.
• Contribute to regular reports on achieved results (impact and lessons learned).

SELECTION CRITERIA

Essential:

• At least 3 years’ experience in an organization involved in information and communications projects related to humanitarian crises and response relief interventions, or as a journalist or in a media organization (television, radio and/or print), at national or international level with an experience in communicating in challenging contexts;
• Excellent writing and editing skills including ability to synthesize complex and sensitive material accurately to produce content for publication;
• Genuine interest in and commitment to the humanitarian principles of MSF.

Desirable:

• MSF experience is a strong asset;
• Knowledge or understanding of MSF mandate and goals in emergency response relief or experience in similar positions in the international development or humanitarian sectors;
• Experience in planning and implementing communications strategies in an emergency setting, including behavioral change and media communications.

Languages:

• Essential: Excellent command of English and French. Other languages such as Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic are a plus.

Skills:

• Ability to develop, implement and evaluate communications strategies in emergencies;
• Proven skills in the development and implementation of communications products and tactics, including relations with the press, digital and media;
• Demonstrated diplomatic and negotiation skills to work among highly stressed colleagues in a fast-paced environment;
• Ability to network and represent MSF vis a vis other media and communication colleagues;
• Excellent interpersonal skills complemented by the ability to conceptualize ideas and promote consensus;
• Knowledge of the impact of emergencies and crises on people;
• Ability to propose creative solutions and to make innovative proposals as related to communication at the local community and global levels;
• Tact, discretion and diplomacy;
• Demonstrated understanding of digital and social media;
• Excellent presentation skills, with proven ability to write in French and English in a clear and concise manner.

COMPETENCIES

• Communicating in a credible and effective way;
• Producing results;
• Moving forward in a changing environment; flexibility and reactiveness;
• Tenacity and positive attitude.

CONDITIONS

• Homebased with frequent field visits (up to 60% of the time).
• Full-time work.
• Duration: 12 months contract. Contract modality according to local legal framework.
• Annual Gross salary: level 4 in IRP2 (divided in 12 monthly payments) + secondary benefits based on MSF OCBA Reward Policy. Subjected to local conditions.
• Starting date: as soon as possible.