Context
Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) is an independent humanitarian organization providing medical aid to victims of man-made or natural disasters, epidemics and endemics. Its Operational Centre in Geneva is responsible for medical assistance programmes in 24 countries.
As part of the communications and fundraising department based in Geneva/Dakar, the Strategic Communication Advisor (SCA) position is one of the five public positioning referent to provide strategic advice, coordination and execution from a public positioning perspective including visibility and local communications.
The strategic communications Advisor is the referent and the first responder for a portfolio of countries and/or topics for all public positioning and communications matter (internal/external).
Responsibility
He/She initiates, develops and drives validation on PR strategies for OCG countries and topics, developing compelling messaging for public audiences as well as media plan and partnerships in line with Telling It as It is vision.
Under the leadership of the relevant Operational Programm Managers and in collaboration with the relevant Advocacy Advisor, he/she has a senior role to play in providing his/her analysis, contributing inputs about positioning, advices on tactics as well as identifying messages and powerful tools for a portfolio of countries and themes. Positioning discussion should happen in triangular mode between RP, SCA and AA and with other inputs (negotiation, UREPH, Dirop, GD…) when relevant.
She/he validates a regular flow of information on MSF response to humanitarian crises, both within OCG, the movement and externally, and liaises with international media, in partnership with the existing units in the department of operations and the department of communications and fundraising, with the 4 other OCs, the new entities and the hubs.
She/he goes to the field to cover MSF emergency response, particularly but not only for the countries in his/her portfolio, and act as a sparring and strategic partner of our program managers, heads of mission and field coms staff.
The strategic communications advisor reports to the head of operational communications. She/he acts as back-up to members of the team who are away.
Your Profile
Education
- Tertiary degree in a relevant discipline such as political science, international relations, journalism, communication management or public relations
Experience
- 5-8 years’ work experience journalism and/or communications, and/or content generation (inside or outside of MSF) in the humanitarian sector, and/or MSF ops experience
- Excellent public communications skills and sound knowledge of the media environment
- Proven capacity to work in stressful environment and to tight deadlines
- A year of MSF and/or field experience a strong asset.
- An understanding of humanitarian interventions, their principles and ethics.
- Track record of developing successful communications
Languages
- Highly effective oral and written communication skills in English
- Ability to understand oral and spoken French is a strong asset
- Knowledge of a local language
Personal Abilities
- Aligns with the core values of MSF
- A sense of humour
- Demonstrates behaviours in ways of working: Articulate, creative, strive for impact, listen deeply, collaborate openly, innovate fearlessly, tenacious.
Skills/ Technical competencies
- Solid understanding of dilemmas associated with humanitarian assistance
- Strong knowledge of crisis communications and public relations skills
- Available to travel to the field with very short notice for a cumulative minimum of eight weeks per year
- Excellent writing, editing, and proofreading skills including ability to accurately synthesize complex and sensitive material to produce content for publication
- Demonstrated understanding of how media works at national, local and international level
- Ability to deliver multiple simultaneous projects
Terms of Employment
- Full-time position 100% (40h/week)
- Open-ended contract,
- Working place : Geneva,
- Ideal start date: February 1st, 2023
- Gross annual salary: from CHF 91’663.- to CHF 105’179.- (salary commensurate with equivalent experience and internal salary grid)
How to apply
Candidates submit their application following the requirements: CV 2 p. max. – letter of motivation 1p. max. – in French or English.
Deadline for application is January 4th, 2023
The applications will be treated confidentially.
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
At MSF, we are committed to an inclusive culture that encourages and supports the diverse voices of our staff members. We strive to create workplaces where teams of people with diverse backgrounds, characteristics, perspectives, ideas and experiences work together for the social mission of MSF to create better outcomes for our patients and the communities we work with.
We welcome applications from individuals of all genders, ages, sexual orientations, nationalities, races, background, religions, beliefs, ability status, and all other diversity characteristics.
MSF does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of discrimination or harassment, including sexual harassment. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo reference checks.