Emergency Response Roster

With over 70 years of experience, our focus is on helping the most vulnerable children overcome poverty and experience fullness of life. We help children of all backgrounds, even in the most dangerous places, inspired by our Christian faith.

Come join our 33,000+ staff working in nearly 100 countries and share the joy of transforming vulnerable children's life stories

Employee Contract Type:
International Assignment - Fixed Term (Fixed Term)

Job Description:

*Country location to be determined based on response.

Children's lives can change in an instant in the wake of war, disasters and humanitarian emergencies. We see how vulnerable they are and how much they need our protection.

Joining our Emergency Response Roster means you can be a part of our response, providing immediate support when disaster strikes.

Here's where you come in:

Job Purpose

As a Communications Director, you will lead communications for WV's Response. This includes managing or liaising with a team of communicators to provide written, video and photographic content to enable fundraising, media and social media engagement. The position oversees message creation, positions response spokespeople, manages response-level media engagement and VIP visits, and monitors and proactively responds to risk and reputation issues. Advocacy, grant and implementation partners are supported with communications resources and impact reporting. The World Vision Partnership is enabled through clear communications and the dissemination of designed situation reports (info management collects and writes the sitreps).

Key Responsibilities

Communications leadership and management

• Contribute to an external engagement strategy and/or build a communications plan that enables the response strategy. Monitor, measure and report on it.
• Identify and prioritise key audiences (fundraising, partners, power-brokers and publics) and determine communications approach and outputs to engage each.
• Analyse communications landscape to inform strategic decision making and actions (including for risk and reputation issues).
• Participate in, support and communications-advise response leaders and key Disaster Management groups.
• Coordinate with global and regional communications leaders to mobilise the Partnership behind the response and to strengthen response communications.
• Work with Response leadership, Finance and People and Culture (P&C) to determine communications structure, and secure team budget and staffing/consultant positions required. Onboard as necessary.
• Recruit and deploy communicators and plan for capacity development. Ensure staff are properly equipped.
• Performance manage team. Protect staff mental and physical wellbeing.
• Plan for communications staff handovers, transitions and exits.
• Plan for response transition / integration.
• Ensure communications staff and partners/contractors are trained on Communications Safeguarding Guidelines
• Ensure mechanisms are set up to identify, document and share comms lessons learned.

Content production to meet Partnership internal and external requirements

• Ensure the production of child-focused communications content (text, photographs, video, case studies, vlogs, blogs etc) for: funding (private, corporate and grant); external positioning; advocacy and campaigns; technical sector engagement; and impact reporting. Ensure child protection, informed consent, quality and brand alignment standards are met. Use WV systems for content delivery and coordination.
• Ensure delivery of content that demonstrates need and impact in relation to dollar handles.
• Oversee multiple content user requests, prioritise and commission. Pitch content ideas.
• Partner with non-communications staff and partners to gather content, including with those doing assessments, distributions and sectoral response activities. Ensure standards are met, through capacity building where necessary.
• Oversee field-level social media and online content posting and updates, including for a wvi.org response and field office sites.
• Demonstrate World Vision's expertise, innovation, partnering, learning and research through the production of technical content, case studies, reports, insights, lesson learned in liaison with World Vision specialists.
• Produce 1 month, 3-month, 6-month, 1 year and milestone content, response reports or media packages, as appropriate.
• Work with SOs and GC Communications to measure the impact of response communications content.

Develop advocacy communications resources for issues; messaging aligned with identified priorities

• Support advocacy with relevant communications content and ensure communications is represented on Advocacy conference calls.
• Coordinate with Advocacy to ensure messaging, Q&As, etc reflect priority issues and communicate World Vision positions. particularly on issues impacting children.
• Support Advocacy in developing resources, materials and position papers.

Keep World Vision informed

• Support and advise response leaders on communications to the Partnership via internal channels (IGNITE, wvcentral, MS Teams, response portal etc).
• Work with response leaders, Field and Regional Offices to issue Executive Alerts and Declarations, as required.
• Final-edit situation report (sitrep) text and data provided by Information Management; work with designer and circulate sitreps via World Vision platforms.
• Coordinate with Information Management to post response content on response portal and maintain the response home page.

Engage with media to raise awareness of the impact of the emergency on children (and their families) and World Vision's response

• Develop key messages, Q&As, talking points, media releases and pitches - with Partnership input - and ensure sign-off.
• Pursue media coverage, working with Partnership media specialists to engage local and international media. Designate, pitch, prepare and position spokespeople. Serve as spokesperson.
• Set up and host live and online media events; Represent World Vision in interagency and partner media coordination efforts.
• Host, coordinate and plan media trips, working closely with World Vision 'media home country'. Manage media trip requests. through prioritisation and approval process.
• Work with GC and SO communications to measure media metrics.

Facilitate VIP trips (World Vision leaders, celebrities, influencers etc)

• Liaise with sending office/s to facilitate, arrange and handle VIP itineraries. Ensure visitors have key messages and are briefed. Develop TOR/agenda.
• Ensure travel and accommodation logistics, budgets and approvals are managed (including filming and equipment permits).
• Coordinate with Security, Safeguarding and Admin to brief VIPs and ensure all visits comply with Visitor Policy and Child and Adult Safeguarding Policy.
• Maximise media and social media coverage of visit, where appropriate. Share trip plans with Global and Regional Communications.
• Manage VIP trip requests through prioritisation and approval process.

Monitor and manage reputation, risk and brand

• Develop and keep up-to-date response narrative, key messages, Q&As and guidelines. Put in place rapid sign-off process and secure sign-offs, as required.
• Monitor media and response landscape. Proactively identify issues and keep senior management and Partnership communications informed.
• Work with partners to ensure proper branding and visibility in any collaboration. Ensure all communications are informed by World Vision and key humanitarian industry policies and positions (including Red Cross Code of Conduct, Sphere, International Humanitarian Law, Core Humanitarian Standards.

Grant and humanitarian partner communications

• Provide or enable communications support for prepositioning, acquiring and reporting on humanitarian grants.
• Work with grants team to map donors and deliver audience specific communications.
• Partner with grants team in hosting high-level donor and partner visits.
• Provide guidance to technical sector experts in producing case studies and reporting.
• Create and implement a visibility plan for significant grant proposals, including budget lines for communications.
• Support World Vision positioning at key UN, regional and donor events.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILL AND EXPERIENCE

Required Education, training, license, registration, and/or Certification

• BA in journalism or communications/public relations
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office.
• World Vision-recognised security training.

Required Professional Experience

• Minimum of 8 years prior work experience.
• Experience of 2-3 years in Leadership role within a core strategic team.
• Strong networking and negotiation skills.
• Thorough understanding project management in a complex, international organisation.
• Excellent writing and photography skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills (specifically working with people from various cultures). Ability to form and maintain solid relationships with a wide range of different stakeholders, partners, co-workers.
• High level of confidence and confidentiality.

Preferred Experience, Knowledge and/or other Qualifications

• Good interpersonal, organisational and time management skills. Able to manage multiple tasks and meet deadlines.
• Ability to maintain performance expectations in a continuously changing environment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and relational skills, especially in a cross-cultural environment, and ability to analyse and solve problems, persuade, network and negotiate.
• Ability to solve complex problems, prioritise, exercise independent judgment and say "no" to demands when required.
• Active listening.
• Demonstrated ability in financial management skills.
• Ability to self-manage mental health in high-pressure context.

Required travel and/or work environment accommodations

• Ability to travel to/within domestically and Internationally as required.
• Able to work under pressure.
• Work hours are often in excess of 12 hours per day during difficult periods of the response.
• Responses are often mounted in insecure or natural disaster-prone contexts, which may disrupt normal work patterns and generate staff safety issues.
• Work and housing environments may at times be well below normal standards in terms of facilities, equipment, food availability and hygiene.

Effective written and verbal communication in English. Other UN languages such as French, Arabic, Spanish, and Portuguese, are preferred.

Applicant Types Accepted:
Local and International Applicants (IA's) Accepted

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