Communication and Reporting Specialist - Maiduguri at International Rescue Committee (IRC)

The Communications Specialists will support the strategy, design and implementation of communication and engagement activities to tell the impact of the projects’ activities through a range of communications approaches and deliverables, including written communication (reports, success stories, etc.), social media, photography, graphic design, outreach, and event management, etc.

This position will be embedded within the consortium team with responsibility for the communications work in the target states, as well as coordination with the wider project team to provide communications expertise and ensure consistent style, branding, and strategy across the project, in line with USAID guidelines.

Major Responsibilities

•  A strong writer with sound judgement, and the ability to think creatively, solve problems, and support strategic communications activities, the communication specialist creates high-quality content for OTL’s external audience and plays an active role in promoting the project’s communications objectives.
• Collaborate with the technical leads and consortium partners to ensure integration of clear communications plan and activities that complement and report on all project activities.
• Responsible for providing inputs and developing content for the design, development, and management of public awareness communications programs including key messages, and communication plan for key project activities.
• Supports OTL communication and outreach initiatives and planning to increase visibility and understanding of the project’s objectives, approaches, and impact.
• Be creative and collaborative and encourage an open working environment where everyone is informed about project objectives and developments.
• Responsible for information collection, content generation and development of communications products.
• Identifies, researches, collects project information and/or analyzes data and from technical and M&E teams, to draft useful story-driven content about OTL’s multifaceted components and other engaging content (included but not limited to news stories, press releases, one pagers, fact sheets, impact/success stories, photo essays, briefs) for target audiences, including for social media.
• Takes photographs, captures sound bites or video clips, and create graphics, shareables, and/or infographics as necessary to accompany project publications and social media posts.
• Conducting Interviews with variety of stakeholders for the purpose of creating content for external audiences
• Ensures all project deliverables and external documents are of high quality, submitted on time, and are consistent with achieving the overall communication goals and objectives.
• Facilitates internal communications, maintains internal program communications files, and provides communications trainings to project staff as necessary.

Information Management and Reporting:

• The Communications and reporting specialist will support the grant and technical teams to maintain deliverable deadlines, produce high-quality drafts of publications and project deliverables for review, compile inputs to develop quarterly/annual reports, while ensuring all materials adhere to USAID guidelines (including style guide and templates).

Monitoring and Evaluation:

• Contribute to the learning objective of the project by supporting the identification, documentation and implementation of the project’s learning and adaptation framework.
• Ensure effective understanding and working of the various feedback mechanisms used for gathering and reporting feedback in collaboration with the MEL team and IRC’s client responsiveness and accountability unit.

Key Working Relationships

Position Reports to:  MEL Lead

Key Internal Contacts:

Country Program: Chief of party, MEL Lead, Program Lead, Consortium Leads, State program managers and Education Officers

Key External Contacts:  Media, project stakeholders, public

Qualifications

• Masters or Bachelor’s degree in communications, international development, journalism, public relations, or related field.
• A minimum of five (5) years of professional experience in communications and outreach, including experience in managing the design and implementation of communications plans.
• Experience and knowledge of USAID funding, its contractual and reporting requirements is a strong asset.
• Proven ability to multitask with strong attention to details.
• Excellent management, organization, problem-solving, and decision-making skills
• Demonstrated ability to work under deadline pressure and manage production schedules.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Strong knowledge of MS Office applications such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, and SharePoint are required; familiarity with web management tools and video editing and photo manipulation tools is desirable
• Fluent written and oral English is required. Fluency in Hausa, Kanuri and Fulfulde is desired.