Head of Media at Save the Children

The Opportunity

The Head of Media is a key position within the Afghanistan Country Office Advocacy, Campaigns, Communications and Media team.
The successful candidate will report to and work in collaboration with the Director of Advocacy, Communications, Campaigns and Media to ensure coverage of high profile issues and crises across Afghanistan, harnessing the power of national and international media to help us achieve our advocacy, campaign, brand, programmatic and fundraising goals.
The Head of Media will work closely with our CO project staff to support content generation, providing training and mentoring, editing media materials and lead the development of national media strategies. They will also work closely with the Asia Regional Officer Regional Media Manager to proactively identify key markets of influencing relevant to Afghanistan across the Asia region.
The post-holder will also work closely with advocacy, communications, campaigns and media colleagues around the world to ensure media outreach is strategic, impactful and targeted. They will identify, develop and maintain strong relationships with influential media, find and generate story ideas, develop crisp, newsworthy media materials in quick time, train and support spokespeople, and at times act as a spokesperson themselves.
A key requirement of this role is to lead capacity building work of content collectors and media staff in the ACCM CO team. This is a one year posting with the goal of handing over responsibilities to the Media, Content and External Relations Manager after the duration of the contract. The post-holder, in addition to having a strong understanding of media, will be a motivated and experienced manager dedicated to the transfer of knowledge and capacity building of junior staff.
In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.
KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:
General
* To lead Save the Children’s media work on Afghanistan responding to journalist inquiries and being the organisation’s media focal point in the region
* To develop, facilitate sign off for and distribute a range of media materials to support SC Member media outreach, including press releases, b-roll, case studies, photos, Q&As, key messages, red lines and blogs/op-eds
* To identify media moments and under-reported stories in Afghanistan, and develop plans and strategies to reach high profile media outlets
* To support media and SC member trips to visit SC programmes while ensuring child safeguarding protocols are upheld
* To be a spokesperson for Save the Children in Afghanistan and train national staff to spox in the future.

Media work in emergencies
* CO lead on Save the Children’s media work on emergencies in Afghanistan, ensuring the aid agency is among the leading public voices in the country
* To develop high quality media products in emergencies in extremely quick time, in line with Save the Children’s Quality Framework and humanitarian response and preparedness essential standards for country offices
* To pitch media stories to journalists reporting on emergencies
* Proactivel prepare the country office to respond quickly to crisis, including identifying and training spokespeople and proactively developing appropriate lines and communications procedures and timelines in the first stages of an emergency response
* To facilitate sign off on all media products from the CO Director of ACCM
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Networking and partnership
* To build and maintain strong relations with key journalists and editors across Afghanistan, including regional correspondents of international media, regional media and leading national media
* To develop and regularly update a list of key media contacts in the region
* To ensure timely dissemination of media products to Save the Children members and key media contacts in the region.
* To coordinate and facilitate journalists’ visits to Save the Children programmes in Afghanistan

Support to countries and capacity building
* To provide ongoing support and advice to Country Offices about how to work with the media and developing national media strategies
* To support the media, content and external relations manager through targeted mentoring, including editing press releases, Q&As and op-eds.
* To build the media capacity of the country office through media training workshops, both in person and via webinars

Strategy and media products
* To support the development and implementation of media strategies at CO level in line with country advocacy, programmes and campaigns plans to ensure Save the Children is effectively using the media to raise awareness, shape attitudes and influence decision-makers
* To source, generate and develop news lines and stories in Afghanistan that are newsworthy, including the public profile of Save the Children’s advocacy work, programmes and campaigns

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)
Accountability:
* holds self accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
* holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities – giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.
Ambition:
* sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
* widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
* future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.
Collaboration:
* builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters
* values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
* approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.
Creativity:
* develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
* willing to take disciplined risks.
Integrity:
* honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity

QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS
* University degree or professional qualification in some aspect of media and communications desirable.
* At least five years’ experience as a journalist in a credible news organization OR equivalent experience as a Media & Communications Manager in an international humanitarian or development agency, and experience of dealing in the international media environment
* Significant experience of working overseas in humanitarian contexts
* Experience of initiating and conducting media activities in a challenging environment
* Fluent in at least English
* Evidence of excellent verbal and written communication skills producing materials for a wide range of different audiences including donors, journalists and the ‘general public’
* Experience of being an effective spokesperson across a range of media
* Excellent writing skills, and the ability to produce compelling media products such as press releases, key messages/speaking points and Q&As
* The ability to digest complex information, quickly, and express this crisply and clearly
* Excellent relationship building skills in order to work for limited periods within programmes that are under the pressure of running emergency responses
* Strong experience in capacity building and growing of junior staff
* An initiative-taking, proactive, inspiring attitude with the ability to manage and prioritise an unpredictable workload and solve problems quickly with limited support
* Experience of delivering training, presentations and other capacity building activities to varied audiences, ideally within a country programme.
* Excellent IT skills, especially in Microsoft Word
* Excellent understanding of media and campaigning activities
* Strong influencing skills
* Politically and culturally sensitive with qualities of patience, tact and diplomacy
* The capacity and willingness to be extremely flexible and accommodating in difficult and sometimes insecure working circumstances
* Commitment to the aims and principles of Save the Children.
* In particular, a good understanding of the Save the Children mandate and child focus, and an ability to ensure this continues to underpin our support
Desirable
* Photography and multimedia skills
* Dari/Pashto language skills an advantage
* Experience in the Afghanistan context an advantage

Application Information

Please apply using a cover letter and up-to-date CV as a single document. Please also include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations. A copy of the full role profile can be found at www.savethechildren.net/careers

Closing Date for Application: 20 December 2021
We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our global anti-harassment policy.