Overview
- Work Location: Remote, (based in Dakar)
- Application Close Date: February 13, 2022
- Estimated Start date: March 15, 2022
- Department: Open Mapping Hub – West Africa
- Reports to: Regional Hub Director (line manager)
- Terms: Full time, one year initial contract
About HOT
Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) sits at the nexus of participatory mapping, community-led development, humanitarian response, open data and tech. With a talented and diverse team spread around the globe, HOT is an NGO which supports a dynamic global community of thousands of dedicated volunteers using maps and open data for humanitarian response and the Sustainable Development Goals. Working with humanitarian and development partners like the Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières, UN agencies, governments and others, the HOT community maps in solidarity with those affected by or at risk of disaster, contributing the maps and data aid workers need to do their lifesaving work.
In 2020 the work of the HOT community was recognized by TED’s Audacious Project, a collaborative philanthropic initiative that serves as a springboard for social impact on a grand scale, leading to an exciting new phase of growth. HOT is expanding its activities: opening four regional hubs and scaling up its support to local mapping communities with the audacious goal of mapping an area home to one billion people in 94 countries at high risk of disasters or experiencing poverty – mapping with communities before they are in crisis.
About You
We’re looking for an individual passionate about, and experienced in developing and implementing communication and digital campaigns for international development, humanitarian action and community engagement. You should be able to work within a fast-paced, international organization responding to urgent crises and persistent development issues with an emphasis on supporting locally-led action. You should have three or more years working in developing and implementing communication and digital strategies for engagement in a humanitarian, development organization or other institutions. You should thrive in a fast paced, startup-like environment with a highly motivated and unconventional team and be comfortable engaging with communities across multiple countries, time zones and platforms. You should love working with remote teams as you’ll spend significant time on Slack and Zoom.
About the Role
Responsibilities
- Build and support implementation of communication and digital strategies for community engagement
- Understand and connect with communication channels within the regional OSM community ecosystem, ensuring that value from hub activities and support reaches across the network.
- In collaboration with the Community Manager, develop new community online and offline engagement initiatives, channels and events as appropriate.
- Support the hub to develop effective feedback loops and spaces for dialogue and conversation.
- Ensure that HOT offline and online strategies of communication and engagement act as a platform to host and promote local community voices and stories as a key part of HOT’s work.
- Maintain a strong understanding and up-to-date knowledge of the media landscape in the WNAH region, with a strong focus on West and Northern African journalists and news outlets.
- Ensure content coordination, work closely with the project leads to suggest content, provide insight on which story angles and platforms will be most effective, and advise projects on forthcoming opportunities and help generate ideas for strategic new content. Produce, curate, edit, proofread, and aggregate content and commission translations where appropriate.
- Leverage project and community communications in support of HOT’s mission to mobilize and grow the global movement by amplifying the local impact and contributing to the successful achievement of HOT’s Audacious Project and raise awareness of HOT’s work more generally.
- Manage HOT’s social media activities, including on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and other platforms.
- Maintain real-time monitoring across relevant communications streams (traditional and digital media) in the region to identify opportunities for reactive media relations and campaigning, as well as HOT’s impact on relevant public conversations. Support project teams on monitoring media, providing insights on how projects are doing and what can be improved. Identify opportunities and areas of improvement based on benchmarking, new trends and organization priorities. Ensure that relevant media (including social media, website) content is monitored, analysed and reported back in a timely manner to relevant projects.
- Give qualitative insights on the audience analytics, suggest amendments and adaptations where necessary and implement the narratives and the messages that engage with them.
- Capacity building with WNAH teams and provide support to their communications activities
- Prepare and/or edit features, a monthly newsletter, blogs, press materials, visual materials، social media content and Q&A documents.
- Support media outreach and write press releases
- Network, liaise with communication and engagement colleagues in other Hubs and at global level to share knowledge and expertise. Work with agencies, designers and freelancers to produce creative media and communication content for projects
- Contribute to meetings and engage with community members in communications activities.
- Support the creation of HOT’s Annual Report, including engaging volunteers, soliciting materials from project staff and editing content and images
- Assist with the development of marketing/communications materials and other information resources
Organization competencies
- Capacity to build an implement a communication and digital strategy for engagement,
- An understanding of community engagement techniques and a passion for building dialogue and relationships.
- Ability to effectively communicate information and ideas in written and verbal format, and build and maintain relationships
- Ability to create innovative communication concepts and creative ideas to outreach to various audiences, understanding of audience segmentation
- A positive, can-do attitude and ability to multitask and work under pressure
Qualifications
Essential
- 5 + years in similar strategies communications, digitals campaigns, social media or public relations role with desire to use digital skills for development/humanitarian relief and improving the lives of others
- Degree (in French or English), telecommunication and IT, Journalism, Marketing, Communications, or another relevant field
- Fluency in French an English, with clear, concise, and compelling writing skills
- Ability to use graphic design tools (such as Canva, Adobe suite, basic photo editing)
- Excellent organization skills, and attentive to detail
Desirable
- Experience in management and leading communication and digital campaigns
- Previous journalism experience
- Experience with third-party social media software such as Buffer or Hootsuite
- Experience with photo editing software and/or graphic design
- Prior experience in nonprofit or startup environments
- Media contacts in the humanitarian and development space
Top 2 – 3 priorities for the first 60 days
- Propose an engagement and communication (online and offline) strategy that can contribute to the achievement of the Hub’s objectives.
- Develop a communication and engagement strategy and prepare the media supports (materials, tools) for each project and work with the various teams to achieve the Hub’s objectives;
- Establish a contact base with key media groups, Social Medias and players in the information sector,
- Identify and reach out to influencers and target communities to prepare their contribution to the various activities,
- Evaluate the impact of the different strategies and ensure follow-up
Are you missing a few of the technical skills listed? We would still like to see your application. While the skills above fit our vision of this role, we are open to those candidates with a strong knowledge foundation that are fast learners and highly motivated to close any skill gaps.
Compensation
HOT values transparency and equity. All HOT compensation globally is set according to a framework detailed on our website. HOT offers a work-from-anywhere culture, flexible working arrangements, and various other benefits that support staff wellbeing.
Equal Opportunity
We seek to recruit persons that reflect the diversity of the communities we work with and further, to support their retention and advancement within the organization. HOT does not discriminate on the basis of ability, age, gender identity and expression, national origin, race and ethnicity, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation. Our staff includes people who are parents and nonparents, the self-taught and university educated, and from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds, lived experiences, and perspectives on the world. HOT is an equal opportunity employer. We seek to live our values and promote inclusivity in all locations. All of our staff work collectively and individually to promote a constructive and sensitive approach to others from a variety of backgrounds, where the work of all is valued and respected.
HOT is committed to diversity within our team, and recognizes our role in closing the digital divide, including identifying obstacles that certain groups face in developing skills needed for roles in the humanitarian & technology sectors. Women, nationals of developing countries, and members of other underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.
To Apply
Please complete the application by February 13, 2022 Your CV/resume should not exceed 2 pages.
