Communications Officer at Street Child

Street Child is a UK charity working to protect vulnerable children and improve access to education in some of the poorest communities in the world.  We work in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nepal and since November 2016, Street Child has been involved in the Humanitarian response in North East Nigeria.

Street Child works in the fields of education, child protection and livelihoods, working to deliver sustainable solutions and create maximum impact. Our work combines counselling, family mediation, business support, school building, teacher training and child protection.  We were a key player in the Ebola crisis and led the global response for children orphaned by Ebola in Sierra Leone and Liberia. We deliver all our programmes through local partners and, since 2008, together we have built/renovated over 200 schools and are now helping to educate over 40,000 young people.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Communications Officer

Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Job Field: Media / Advertising / Branding

About the Role

• We are looking for an energetic and creative Communications Officer to serve as a link between Street Child of Nigeria’s programming and the head office's Marketing, Media and Communications Team.
• The successful candidate will support the identification, drafting, and editing of compelling success stories and case studies across the programming portfolio, which highlight the positive and sustainable impacts delivered by our programming to the people we serve. He/she will also, with input from program and operational teams, develop visually striking fundraising and donor engagement materials to strengthen the organization’s in-country financial resilience.
• The candidate will be expected to coordinate these activities alongside Street Child Nigeria’s network of 20+ national partner organizations. This will include capacity strengthening and mentoring support for partners’ communication focal points.
• Additional responsibilities will include providing qualitative and visual input on internal reporting, for instance, Street Child Nigeria’s annual report.
• The position will report to the Proposal and Partnership Coordinator with an organization-wide mandate, providing input and support to Street Child’s Child Protection, Education, and Livelihood teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify, draft, and finalise compelling and empowering case studies and success stories from Street Child projects through regular field visits.
• In collaboration with the operations team, ensure unified branded templates and formats are developed and disseminated for internal and external communications.
• Ensure sensitization and compliance with new formats and tools by internal teams, strengthening Street Child’s unified “brand”.
• With the support of program teams, develop contextually appropriate and sensitive visibility and safeguarding materials which can be utilized in Street Child projects.
• Create visually and narratively striking communication tools, including presentations, infographics, and other materials, with the support of program teams, to strengthen donor engagement in-country.
• Develop and maintain in-country social media channels which demonstrate impact and grow engagement with domestic Nigerian stakeholders.

Partnership Management:

• Coordinate communication focal points of partner organizations to develop schedules and timelines on the development and sharing of success stories.
• Deliver capacity-strengthening support to partner organisation communication focal points, in line with Street Child’s localization agenda.

Safeguarding:

• Collaborate with the Safeguarding Focal Point to ensure that Street Child global and national policies on Safeguarding and Child Protection 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 Street Child’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:

• This role will report to the Proposal and Partnership Coordinator.
• The Communications Officer will have regular and substantial engagement with other Street Child staff and stakeholders including:
• Country Leadership Team (CLT), Senior Management Team (SMT), Department Managers and Technical leads
• Third-party vendors and service providers.
• National partner organizations (primarily program/comms personnel) Community members and other key stakeholders in project locations.

Person Specification:

• Excellent graphic design and detail skills with an ability to bring disconnected visual elements into a single, unified design.
• Excellent interpersonal and listening skills with honesty and confidentiality; ability to deal tactfully and discreetly with situations, people, and information.
• Commitment to Street Child’s mission, vision and values, and the ability to convey with enthusiasm Street Child’s role in accompanying and serving forcibly displaced people and in advocating for their right to protection and a life in dignity.
• Acceptance of diversity and inclusion as a core value.
• Strong self-starter and independent work ethic, with the capacity and motivation to deliver results while working independently.
• An energetic team player who can effectively collaborate, and who can stand alone when necessary.
• Willingness to work in flexible, sub-optimal, stressful and unstable environment. Willingness to travel through the country to different states.
• Alignment with Street Child’s 4P’s – Purpose, People, Performance, Partnership – in approach to everyday work duties.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor's Degree in Communications, Media Studies, or a related field or comparable addition to experience.
• A Master’s Degree is an advantage.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint.
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Lightroom, Photoshop, Illustrator etc) a distinct advantage.
• Photography and videography skills are a distinct advantage.
• Proficiency in English (Spoken and written proficiency in Hausa and Kanuri an added advantage).
• Minimum of 2 years of proven experience in communications, media, or external engagement. Previous experience of working with national or international aid and development NGOs.
• Innovative and solutions-oriented with sound analytical, conceptual, and strategic thinking skills.
• Proven interest & commitment to humanitarian and development principles and demonstrable understanding of conflict/post-conflict development contexts and community engagement.
• Excellent communication skills and experience in report writing.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply