The USAID Workers Wellness Alliance (WWA), with support from the Hawassa Industrial Park Investors Association (HIPIA), presents an agile and measurable platform for worker, community, government, and private sector engagement that aligns and supports Ethiopia in its “Journey to Self-reliance.” The WWA will work with key stakeholders to adopt outside-the-park initiatives aimed at fostering stable, resilient and prosperous communities. Targeting two populations – newly recruited female factory workers and host community members – the WWA will introduce a set of interventions with the goals of supporting the arrival and integration of workers into Hawassa, and increasing the ability of host communities to benefit from the region’s growing population and expanding industrial base. Pillars of the WWA include partnership and consensus building, and scalable and sustainable programming, and gender transformative programming.

The Communications Specialist will plan, develop, and implement an appropriate communications strategy for the Worker's Wellness Alliance Project. He/she will coordinate and communicate with other development networks with key decision makers, and serves as a high-level spokesperson of the project with donors and national stakeholders. He/she is required to develop monthly newsletters of the project and share with donors and national organizations.

Dimensions of the Role

Budgets – this role will manage the communication and advocacy budget of the project

Staff Numbers – this role has no direct report

Area of Responsibility – all areas covered by the project

Other Statistics – membership to any of the advocacy groups relevant to this project

Accountabilities

Plan, develop and implement an appropriate communication and advocacy strategies for the projectAct as a spokesperson for the WWA project with key stakeholders, donors, development networks and others, both national and international.

Develop and share frequent communication materials to the donor: take photographs, and capture project highlights to share with the donor frequently (for example suitable for social media, as PowerPoints and written reports).

• Take part in press conferences and briefings, develop fact sheets and talking points, line up interviews and media related interviews in consultation with the Country Office;
• Network with existing and new partners of Industrial Workers related interventions and coordinate with them to build capacity for advocacy
• Sharing of information with country office (CO) and National Office (NO) networks for learning and scaling up best practices
• Develop case stories and share to the donors, partners, CO and NO
• Manage creation and selection of high quality pictures for print and electronic communications, suitable for social media, and share with user friendly system and tools.
• In collaboration with the Country Office, identify workers wellness related advocacy opportunities at the national, regional and local level where the project is being implemented.
• Develop advocacy strategies in consultation with the relevant project partners and the Country Office.
• Collect strategic information and present to the Chief of Party for advocacy with policy makers and project signatories
• Coordinate and communicate with other development networks with key decision makers, and liaison with national media
• Develop and maintain close contacts with national and local media on the project’s issues related to workers wellbeing, safety and security.
• Alliance Building and Collaboration
• Implements development strategies to raise the awareness of the public and relevant bodies about Plan and the Alliance (WWA) for gaining support to work together for the causes of high attritions
• Represents and promotes Plan in important events in the community, municipal, zonal, regional and national levels
• Establishes and maintains linkages with government, non-government and other groups to raise Plan's image
• Shall perform any other duties as assigned by the Chief of Party
• Personal Development
• Attends internally and externally facilitated training events, workshops, symposiums, studies, conferences to enhance level of performance. Maximize the use of ICT for greater awareness of local and global trends affecting development work. Accepts special objective assignments for skills enhancement and expansion. Shares learning to benefit others.
• Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Child Protection (CP) and Gender Equality and Inclusion (GEI) are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.

Key relationships

INTERNAL: Chief of Party, Program Technical Manager, M&E Officer, Project Officer, Country Office Staff

EXTERNAL: Donors, national stakeholders, Local Government Units, National Government Agencies, Civil Society Organizations,

Technical expertise, skills and knowledge

Essential

• Bachelor's degree in Mass Communications, Journalism, Development Communication, Behavioural Communication or Social Sciences.
• Has a minimum of five years’ experience in communication work, preferably related to children, human rights, workers' welfare
• With strong experience in designing communication materials and campaigns on social issues such as child rights, human rights, workers' rights, gender-based violence or child exploitation and abuse.
• Has excellent command of verbal and written communications in English
• Good media relations and knowledge of social media
• Proficiency in MS office tools, publisher, Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop.

Plan International’s Values in Practice

We are open and accountable

• Promotes a culture of openness and transparency, including with sponsors and donors.
• Holds self and others accountable to achieve the highest standards of integrity.
• Consistent and fair in the treatment of people.
• Open about mistakes and keen to learn from them.
• Accountable for ensuring we are a safe organisation for all children, girls & young people

We strive for lasting impact

• Articulates a clear purpose for staff and sets high expectations.
• Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas.
• Focuses resources to drive change and maximise long-term impact, responsive to changed priorities or crises.
• Evidence-based and evaluates effectiveness.

We work well together

• Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
• Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
• Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
• Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.

We are inclusive and empowering

• We empower our staff to give their best and develop their potential
• We respect all people, appreciate differences and challenge equality in our programs and our workplace
• We support children, girls and young people to increase their confidence and to change their own lives.

Physical Environment

The job holder can be based at the Country Office in Addis Ababa, but is required to work in Hawassa town and the surrounding communities.