Emergency Communications Readiness and Response Advisor

Key Responsibilities:

Job Purpose

World Vision is responding to more large-scale, complex emergencies than ever before.  There are more demands on communications to be ready, responsive and to handle much greater volumes of Partnership interest and demand for voice and content to meet growing audience requirements.

This position partners with the Emergency Communications Advisor to strengthen Partnership humanitarian communications leadership, readiness and operational agility in support of live emergencies and the ongoing positioning World Vision’s humanitarian expertise and brand.

This role will also monitor and calendar global moments, events, anniversaries, and key dates, partnering with owners and stakeholders, to ensure the proactive engagement and positioning of emergency communications.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Emergency communications operational leadership

• Live emergencies: Lead emergencies communications for named global emergencies, engaging with regions, GC communications and Disaster Management, leading on coordination, and supporting with message review and sign-offs, media booking, MS Team chat management, Partnership and executive communications, media release writing and content briefing and review; represent comms on key executive Disaster Management meetings; and help source staff and consultants for responses and deployments. Provide communications advice and support for humanitarian crises for named regions and responses. Facilitate deployment processing and budget support for members of the Emergency Communications Team to ensure rapid travel.
• Deploy physically or virtually into responses for up to three months, providing communications leadership.
• Stand in for Emergency Communications Director when needed.
• Content:  Produce or facilitate the delivery of evergreen and rapid-turnaround designed content including infographics, icons, illustrations, maps etc for use on social media, online and by fundraisers. Source wire agency images. Support global moments, e.g. World Humanitarian Day, and key events when required. 
• Systems: Ensure emergency comms systems and processes are ready to go for high-profile / CAT 3 declared global emergencies.  Maintain and improve humanitarian comms related systems and processes to reduce red tape and simplify, working with appropriate stakeholders to ensure rapid access to staff, information, content.  Systems include: MS Teams’ rooms; VIP and media field trip requests and planning, comms staffing; spokesperson database; pull-down TORs/JDs; templates, KPI tracking; Upgrade systems.

Capacity building: to deliver and surge

• Build, monitor and promote global roster of deployable (virtual and physical) trained communicators, including external consultants, so World Vision is ready for high-priority emergencies, especially those in high-risk contexts.  High-potential talent is spotted and trained. 
• Focus on strengthening World Vision’s deployment capacity, focusing on compliance and culture, to ensure field offices and regions have sufficient deployable and response communications capacity and the training opportunities and tools to support this drive.  Target Support Offices to provide and train deployable communicators.
• Collaborate with other GC communications functions, including GC Marketing, to build capacity; support and promote highest priority capacity building and training efforts; improve and create online emergency comms course elements and run virtual or in-person training.
• Collaborate with regions to ensure Regional Disaster Management Teams have trained deployable security compliant communicators and access to deployment opportunities.   Global Rapid Response Team is staffed with sufficient deployable communicators.

Strengthen DM sector thematic and grant communications

• Humanitarian sector communications: Strengthen WV’s communications in the following areas:  resilience, adaptation, Nexus (survive, rebuild, thrive), peacebuilding etc to demonstrate WV expertise across the Disaster Management timeline.
• Grant communications: Strengthen grant communications capacity. Do this with capacity building, sharing of best practices, templates and standards.

Personal development

• Pursue personal development goals outlined in Performance Agreement.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILL AND EXPERIENCE

Required Education, training, license, registration, and/or Certification Bachelor's degree in communications, international development, media, journalism or PR

Required Professional Experience

• Minimum of 8 years’ experience to demonstrate breadth of knowledge, wisdom and organizational politics.
• International development or humanitarian industry knowledge, experience or learning strongly preferred.
• Overseas experience and evidence of cultural sensitivity Advanced news writing for journalism and online.
• Evidence of strong understanding of social and online media.
• Team management and coordination.
• Project management, coordination and administration skills.
• Proven ability to train / capacity build via range of techniques.
• Proven ability to think strategically, manage and plan to meet deadlines.
• Excellent interpersonal, cross cultural and communication skills.
• Evidence of emergency or crisis communications/coordination.

Preferred Experience, Knowledge and/or other Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in communications, international development, media, journalism or PR
• A Christian commitment and its expression are required.
• Design and production skills (Adobe)
• Personal security and security management trained.

Required travel and/or work environment accommodations

• Deployment capability required.  May require up to three-months deployment.

Required Language(s)

• English (spoken and written) required. 
• Additional languages preferred (especially Spanish, French, German, Arabic).