Zimbabwe: Community Engagement and Accountability Officer, Rooted In Trust

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The Rooted in Trust project works to combat COVID-19 rumors and misinformation in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, Zimbabwe, Colombia, Brazil, Mali, DRC, Sudan, and South Sudan. We work to create impact at the local level and inform approaches to rumor management at the global level. The project is supported by a Global Technical Advisory team made up of media, humanitarian, data science, and information management experts.

In Phase 1 of the project, we collected more than 19 thousand rumors in 14 languages and supported more than 30 local trusted information providers. In this critical phase of the pandemic, we will build on these efforts to listen and respond to the information challenges faced by vulnerable groups in humanitarian contexts, encouraging open dialogue between citizens and scientists and stronger and more collaborative partnerships between information providers (such as local media) and humanitarian and health sources.

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY

The Community Engagement and Accountability Officer will highlight the community’s perspectives and COVID-19 rumors for health, humanitarian, and civil society stakeholders. The CEAO will also ensure that project staff are up to date with the latest developments in the humanitarian and health response. In doing so, the CEAO will be in regular contact with officials from the UN and national and international NGOs, and will be an active participant in relevant coordination meetings.

LOGISTICS

This is a remote-first position. The ideal candidate is based in Zimbabwe; however, remote candidates based elsewhere will also be considered. You must have work authorization in your location that does not require sponsorship from Internews.

Wherever possible, we work to try to find solutions for international hiring that work for both the company and the candidate. This means that some of the particulars around the offer for a role will be dependent on several factors, and that the benefits and salary structure that apply to a position will ultimately be based upon the candidate’s location and where the role is hired.

OUR COMMITMENT TO FOSTERING A CULTURE OF BELONGING

We are an organization of dynamic, mission-driven individuals who are passionate about our core values and about supporting positive change in the world. We pride ourselves on our commitment to innovation and flexibility. We believe that diverse teams are strong teams and work to support an ethic of belonging, dignity, and justice for all people. Our current team includes a mix of genders, parents and non-parents, and people of multiple races, nationalities, ages, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic backgrounds. We are an EEO employer and encourage candidates of all races, genders, ages, orientations, ethnicities, and national origins to apply, and welcome those with alternative backgrounds and experiences.

DAY-TO-DAY TASKS will include:

• Develop, maintain, and establish excellent working relationships with a wide range of humanitarian responders (Civil Society, UN agencies, NGO partners, etc.), making them aware of the project and its objectives and find potential collaboration;
• Actively participate in all relevant humanitarian coordination forums to identify critical information gaps and share relevant project updates with partners;
• Organize regular events to bring together media and humanitarian actors in view of advocating for journalists’ space in humanitarian and health responses;
• Contribute to the discussions and developments of new guidelines, resources, rules, and regulations as issued by governments and UN agencies to ensure the community’s perspectives are taken into account, local media is included and supported, and the overall health and humanitarian response is accountable to the affected populations;
• Share with the rest of the Project Team the latest humanitarian updates to enable them to turn these into useful, actionable, accurate, and engaging content that communities can relate to/understand;
• Support the content production team to identify and connect with relevant experts within humanitarian agencies and/or local and national government institutions;
• Stay up to date with the latest Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) surveys concerning the health crisis;
• Work closely with the rest of the team to ensure that all content and messages are accurate and 1) improve knowledge among the local population; 2) follow approved protocols; and 3) improve resilience among the local community;
• In coordination with the Project Team, ensure that feedback gained from the project activities is made available to humanitarian organizations (i.e., brief presentations at coordination meetings and other relevant forums) and government officials, as required;
• Identify funding and partnership opportunities;
• In close coordination with the Humanitarian Data Analyst and content management team, liaise with relevant humanitarian agencies in the production of humanitarian updates and information to disseminate important messages, news, and information for local communities;
• Maintain and update a database wit hall the relevant contacts (i.e., spokespersons and focal points) from the different organizations and government ministries/units involved in the recovery;
• Support gender mainstreaming of the project;
• Ensure all content produced within the project follows core humanitarian principles, often summarized but not limited to “Do No Harm”;
• Produce regular multimedia materials (e.g. blog posts, photos, photo slideshows, etc.), documenting the project for external audiences, as required;
• Contribute to the wider communications for the project as a whole, with excellent writing and communication skills;
• Support the project lead with project management as and when needed; and
• Understanding of and demonstrated commitment to upholding Internews’ Core Values.

QUALIFICATIONS WE’RE LOOKING FOR

• Extensive experience working in complex relief operations in challenging environments, preferably in humanitarian and/or health crisis contexts
• Very good knowledge of the mandates and modalities of the international humanitarian sector
• A thorough understanding of the work of humanitarian and development agencies, including working within the UN cluster system
• Proven interpersonal and networking skills to liaise authoritatively with figures from the aid and donor communities and host governments
• Experience in Communication with Communities (CwC) and Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) projects, with a strong focus on ensuring feedback from the communities is taken into account within the humanitarian system
• Experience working with communities to gather their concerns and issues, turning these into engaging content
• A self-starter and proactive problem-solver who enjoys communication and collaboration in a multi-stakeholder environment
• Fluency in written and spoken English; knowledge of Ndebele and Shona is an advantage
• Must be self-reliant, resourceful, a good problem-solver, good humored and flexible