Central African Republic: Humanitarian and Liaison Officer Background: In CAR as in any humanitarian crisis, people affected need more than physical necessities: they also have an urgent need for timely, accurate and well-targeted information. Equally important, they also want to communicate among themselves and with aid providers. In early 2011, Internews created a unique network connecting 15 community radio stations in CAR to overcome the difficulties of communication caused by power outages, lack of Internet access, bad roads, and rebel occupation in several areas. The network is managed by the Association of Journalists for Human Rights, a local organization that was founded in December 2010 at one of the journalism training sessions organized by Internews. Using mobile phones and wireless interfaces, the Association links the 15 stations with one other to facilitate the exchange of news and information, which in turn provides humanitarian agencies with an opportunity to learn what is happening in hard-to-reach areas and to quickly exchange information with communities throughout the country. See the website of the Association and subscribe to receive their daily updates:http://reseaudesjournalistesrca.wordpress.com. General Summary: Internews is seeking a Humanitarian and Media Liaison Officer to continue to connect the humanitarian architecture to this media project. The program will work to ensure that communities are better informed and connected to each other, as well as national, local and government structures. It will also support effective coordination with local, national, regional, and international actors working in LRA-affected areas of CAR. The HLMO will work closely with the Project Director to build on Internews’ 2.5 years’ experience working in CAR with community radios, humanitarians agencies, journalists and local communities to build a robust program that helps communities to exchange information, feel connected and increase their sense of security. The HLMO is an experienced humanitarian professional, especially in remote, conflict-ridden environments, and is a believer in the power of information to save lives.
SCOPE OF WORK:
The Humanitarian and Media Liaison Officer (HMLO) will play a vital role in the implementation of Internews’ on-going project in CAR in the following capacities:
- Develop, maintain, and establish excellent working relationships with a wide range of humanitarian organizations and government representatives, ensuring they understand and participate in the project, the role of the Internews team and what it has to offer them in their daily work.
- Represent the coordination and liaison work of the project and actively participate in all relevant humanitarian coordination fora to identify critical information needs for community populations.
- In coordination with the rest of the team, ensure that feedback gained from project activities is made available to humanitarian organizations (i.e. brief presentations at cluster meetings, inter-cluster coordination, Humanitarian Country Team…), and government officials, as required.
- Interface between humanitarian organizations and local media to build trust and facilitate information exchange between them according to the project objectives.
- Ensure the distribution of regular rundowns of any Internews humanitarian radio programs via email and other means to all humanitarian stakeholders to strengthen the liaison role with humanitarians.
- Work with the Internews technical advisors and UNOCHA to ensure that the management of the project’s crowd-sourced mapping platform has direct links with humanitarian actors and local authorities dealing with emergency response.
- Coordinate with partner radio stations and broader community station network (as required) to ensure a smooth link between humanitarian activities and the
production of the stations’ humanitarian information programs (i.e. propose story ideas for production as required, sourcing stories and information from different stakeholders, providing contacts…). - Maintain and update a database with all the relevant contacts (i.e. spokespersons and focal points) from the different organizations and government departments involved in humanitarian response.
- Compile regular situation reports on the outputs and activities of the coordination and liaison effort and the overall Internews response.
- Liaise with international media and promote the project work, as required.
- Contribute to overall written program reporting, including blogs and photography, as required.
- Document achievements and challenges for Internews’ learning purposes, as required.
- Any other duties as required.
QUALIFICATIONS: Required (must have all): -
Fluency in spoken and written French and English. - Significant experience using media and communications in humanitarian activities.
- Experience of innovative media and communication platforms.
- Extensive experience working in relief operations in challenging environments.
- Extensive experience working in Sub-Sahara Africa.
- Very good working knowledge of the mandates and modalities of the international humanitarian sector.
- Proven interpersonal and networking skills to liaise authoritatively with figures from the aid and donor communities and host governments.
- Sensitivity to cross-cultural dynamics in the work place.
- Ability to work collaboratively as part of a team in a challenging and a highly fluid environment.
- An understanding of the vision/mission, core values and objectives of Internews.
- Understanding of and passion for the area of communications with disaster-affected communities.
- Excellent communication and reporting skills, both written and oral.
- Excellent time management and the ability to prioritize a heavy workload under pressure.
- Excellent administrative and organizational skills.
- Willingness to work in demanding, stressful, and, at times, dangerous situations under difficult living conditions with respect for basic security rules.
- Psychological resilience and a sense of humor.
- Relevant university degree.
Desirable:
- Knowledge of Ushahidi, FrontlineSMS, mobile technology and citizen journalism and familiarity with ways to leverage social media will be an asset.
- Prior experience working in Central African Republic.
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