Communications Specialist – Ukraine Response at Plan International

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian non-profit organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood, and enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We believe in the power and potential of every child, but know this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Communications Specialist – Ukraine Response

Location: Nigeria (Flexible)
Type of Role: 6-12 month fixed term contract
Functional Area: Ukraine Response Hub
Reports to: Ukraine response director with matrix report to GH Head of Global Media and Public Relations
Travel required: Significant
Effective Date: June 2022
Grade: GH4

Role Purpose

• Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. Active in over 75 countries, we work together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, striving for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.
• 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.

Dimensions of the Role

• Further develop the global communications plan ensuring our response messaging is regularly updated and ensure timely, high-quality content is delivered to better communicate the need and impact of the response.
• Reactive media work including monitoring and responding to developments and the news agenda to ensure Plan International is positioned as the ‘go to’ organisation for girls and children’s rights, particularly in relation to the Ukraine response.
• Reports to the Director of the Ukraine response mission with a matrix line report to GH Media Manager.
• Regular interaction with GH media and digital teams and leads the Ukraine response communication coordination group calls.
• Close collaboration with programme, Humanitarian, Advocacy and National Organisation communications colleagues.

Accountabilities

• 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

Key Relationships:

• Proactively develop and strengthen productive relationships with key global media contacts and outlets in assigned regions and specialist areas.
• Work closely with Humanitarian, regional and country-based colleagues in the assigned regions; build relations and offer guidance, support and coaching as required.
• Work collaboratively and supportively with other teams, National Organisations, Liaison Offices, partner organisations and external contacts.
• To work positively with other Communication Department colleagues – including the video unit, multimedia archivist, digital and internal communications teams as well as with freelance photographers and film makers in creating effective press packages and content.

Technical Expertise, Skills and Knowledge
Essential:

• 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.

Desirable:

• Familiarity with international development context and a passion for children’s rights.
• Experience of working with people at all levels in a multi- cultural / global environment.
• Multimedia skills including photography, filming and video editing.
• Languages: Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Polish

Physical Environment:

• This post may be based at any Plan Office with good communications links. The post-holder will be expected to travel regularly – up to 60% of the time, sometimes at short notice, to join emergency responses.
• When on deployment, work is demanding, involving long days, travel and subsistence in often challenging circumstances.

Level of Contact with Children:

• Mid contact: Occasional interaction with children

Plan International’s Values in Practice
We are open and accountable:

• Promotes a culture of openness and transparency, including with sponsors and donors.
• Holds self and others accountable to achieve the highest standards of integrity.
• Consistent and fair in the treatment of people.
• Open about mistakes and keen to learn from them.
• Accountable for ensuring we are a safe organisation for all children, girls & young people.

We strive for lasting Impact:

• Articulates a clear purpose for staff and sets high expectations.
• Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas.
• Focuses resources to drive change and maximise long-term impact, responsive to changed priorities or crises.
• Evidence-based and evaluates effectiveness.

We work well together:

• Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
• Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
• Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.

We are inclusive and empowering:

• Empowers staff to give their best and develop their potential.
• Respects all people, appreciate differences and challenge equality in our programs and our workplace.
• Supports children, girls and young people to increase their confidence and to change their own lives.

Salary

• We will be happy to disclose the salary and applicable benefits to applicants as part of this process, however, please kindly note that the salary and employment benefits will be set according to your location and therefore it is not possible to include full details here.
• As an indication if this role was based in the UK the salary would be circa £

Application Closing Date
6th July, 2022.