Communications Officer

Job Title: Communications Officer

Location: Belgium (GT)

Duration: 1 year fix-term contract

Starting date: December 2022/ January 2023

Line manager: Advocacy & Outreach Coordinator

About PI

Protection International (PI) is an International NGO that contributes to the improvement of the protection of human rights defenders (HRDs) throughout the world. PI provides tools to develop HRDs’ capacities to manage their own security as their struggle against impunity and work in favour of human rights and democracy in their respective countries or regions. PI seeks to contribute to a situation where HRDs are recognised as legitimate actors for social change and to an environment where they can exercise their right to defend universally accepted human rights.

Protection International has its global office in Brussels, but primarily works where protection of HRDs is needed. PI has long-term presence in several countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Under its Global Strategy 2019-2023, PI is gradually transforming into a network of Hubs, establishing regional offices that work in a flexible manner across several countries.

PI is aware that there has been a progressive erosion of democratic values and a proliferation of discourses of hatred and discrimination worldwide in recent years. Europe and its neighbouring regions are not an exception to this global “anti-human rights” trend. Recent political developments in the European Union and its neighbouring countries, show that human rights are increasingly being questioned, civic space is progressively more narrowed and even repressed, and those who defend human rights are delegitimised, harassed, criminalised and even physically attacked.

Following an initial internal assessment and country analyses, PI intends to initiate operations in European countries with a first focus on Eastern Europe and Caucasus region.

General Objective of the position

As a member of the PI Global Team, the Communications Officer will work under the direct supervision of the A&O Coordinator, and in close collaboration with the A&O team and with other Global Team members, Regional Communications Officers, and Communications Focal Points across the organisation.

The Communications Officer, within the Global Team, is responsible for the co-design and development of the External Communications and Outreach Strategy and action plans. She/He/They are in charge of its implementation and, ultimately, ensures the timely and effective delivery of external communications initiatives. With that aim, she/he/they will also analyse, monitor and evaluate PI’s outreach impact and external engagement.

More specifically, this position will focus on developing and implementing PI’s Media and Social media strategic planning and management. The Communications Officer will also create, develop and curate Protection International’s external communications initiatives supporting PI’s advocacy, research, training and programme’s visibility, contributing to a global narrative in favour of the right to defend human rights.

The Communications Officer provides advice and support to the Advocacy and Outreach Coordinator and team in terms of communications expertise in the joint coordinated effort of combining advocacy and communications activities. The Communications Officer provides communications support (technical advice, feedback, refinement and harmonisation in terms of communications) to ensure brand consistency, high quality outreach and coordinated external communications efforts across the organisation.

Duties & Responsibilities

Core duties and responsibilities:

Manage, in terms of design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, PI Global Team’s External Communications and Outreach Strategy. External engagement tools include PI’s website, social media, newsletter, as well as external media, including blogs and human rights news platforms, and the jobholder will be responsible for audience monitoring and engagement;
Create and edit content and stories for PI’s Global Team, with the objective of raising awareness and mobilizing the public towards PI´s strategic objectives, as well as giving visibility to PI activities and research. This includes leading the external communications work related to PI’s Global Campaign for the right to defend human rights;
Development and implementation of a Social Media strategy and guidelines for PI’s global team;
Establish media contacts and presence in Brussels’ and at the global level, while developing PI’s media engagement guidelines;
Assist the Advocacy team in drafting, editing and proofreading of briefs, fact sheets, articles, press releases, op-eds, and other outputs;
Ensure **visibility of PI’s advocacy, research, training and programmes (**at the Global Team level)in favour of human rights defenders, with a communications perspective;
Engage with external consultants and coordinate their work as needed, to ensure the coverage of Communication activities and products’ that need translation, interpretation, graphic design, video, audio or other works for external communications – when appropriate – and relations with external providers for design, video and translation of PI Global Team’s products;
Participate in building and maintaining relationships with likeminded networks to increase PI Global Team’s outreach and visibility;
Photograph and film PI events and stories of human rights defenders to include in a multitude of PI products (for donors, research publications, articles, etc.);
Support the A&O team, PI´s Hubs and offices to ensure that, overall, PI´s communication materials meet minimum standards of quality and visibility.

Unit support duties and responsibilities:

Contribute to PI´s internal communications activities – when support is needed;
Support the work and learning process of PI’s (Communication) Interns, providing him/her with relevant information, guidance and support during the internship period;
Contribute to the drafting and monitoring of the A&O unit workplans and budgets in collaboration with the A&O Coordinator and Advocacy Officer;
Provide general administrative support to PI Global Team’s outreach and external communications activities as needed.

Job Requirements

Education

Relevant university degree (communications/journalism/political science/human rights);
Preferred relevant professional training courses (Human Rights Defenders, Advocacy and Campaigning, Community Management, , Organisational Communications, Press Relations)

Experience

Minimum 3 years of experience
Preferred proven experience in the human rights and/or NGO sectors an advantage
Prior experience in designing and running social media campaigning and outreach activities (including organising events)
Preferred knowledge of EU and/or UN human rights mechanisms
Preferred prior experience in countries where Protection International works is an advantage

Skills & Knowledge

Highly organised/efficient time management
Advanced skills in computer productivity software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook)
Enthusiastic, self-starter who is able to work autonomously, under pressure, in decentralized teams, and think outside the box
Demonstrated capacity to orally communicate clearly and effectively to a wide range of expert and non-expert audiences
Excellent writing and editing skills are essential, as well as story-telling skills
Preferred advanced skills in managing social media and websites (Drupal desired)
Preferred advanced skills in graphic and video design software (Photoshop, InDesign)

Languages

Fluently spoken and written English
Fluently spoken and written command of Spanish and/or French
Other languages: Good knowledge of Spanish, French, Portuguese or Russian is an asset

Other requirements

Only candidates authorized to work in Belgium/EU without any restrictions are eligible for this position.

What we offer

The possibility to gain first-hand experience and knowledge on strategies to support human rights defenders and grassroots movements globally – and to contribute to these strategies.
An open, friendly and multicultural work environment.
Respect for autonomy, room for creativity, innovation, and learning.
A people focused and collaborative way of working both within the unit the post sits under and with other teams.
Depending on experience, an annual gross salary between € 35040 - €37200, plus benefits: “pécule de vacances”, health and hospitalisation insurance, lunch vouchers, reimbursement of home-work public transport.

How to apply

Application process

If you meet the above skills requirements and are interested in applying for this position, please:

Send your CV and cover letter without a photo, in English, by 14th October 2022 to recruitment@protectioninternational.org, mentioning “Communications Officer” in the subject line.
Include your name in the file name of your application documents, e.g. Mary_Smith_CV.docx.
Submit names and contact details of two references together with your application. Do not attach any certificates or references at this stage of the recruitment process.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and the position might remain posted until a qualified candidate is selected. We thank all candidates for their interest and we will aim to send feedback as much as we can, however, with the high volume of responses and our internal capacities, we may only be able to contact short-listed candidates**.**

Protection International is an equal opportunity employer. The organization shall not discriminate and will proactively apply affirmative action principles against discrimination in advertisements for employment, recruitment and other conditions of employment, preventing discrimination against any job applicant or employee on the basis of race, colour, gender, national origin, age, religion, creed, differently abled, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.

Adhering to Protection International means to comply with our Code of Conduct & Ethics, Anti-Corruption Policy, Security Policy, Conflict of Interest Policy, Policy for Protection from Harassment, Abuse, Exploitation & Discrimination.

PI promotes gender equality, diversity and inclusion. PI strongly encourages women applicants to apply for this position.

Further information about Protection International is available on www.protectioninternational.org