Job Title: Regional Officer, Communications (Central Africa Regional Officer)
Department: Central Africa Region (CARO)
Reports To: Regional Manager, Marketing and Communications
Country/Location: Kigali, Rwanda
Salary Grade: 9
About CRS
Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.
Job Summary
The Regional Officer, Communications (ROC) for CRS’ Central Africa Regional Office (CARO) will implement a communications strategy that establishes CRS as an industry leader with key audiences in the U.S. and in the region. The ROC will capture and effectively disseminate written and multimedia content that demonstrates the impact of CRS’ work across the region, increases CRS’ visibiltiy and influence among key stakeholders, and supports business development through effective positioning. (S)he will establish and maintain relationships with US and international media representatives based in the region, and regularly pitch stories for publication. The ROC will help ensure strong and consistent branding and messaging and work with country program Communications or other designated staff to create impactful and compelling storytelling.
Roles and Key Responsibilities
- Travel throughout the region to gather information on CRS and partner programs and create compelling human interest-focused content, including stories, photos and videos, that can be used for marketing and communications materials across platforms and for different audiences.
- Identify and utilize effective distribution channels to disseminate marketing materials to key audiences.
- Help manage the design and production of creative and compelling communication and marketing material and in conjunction with country program and HQ MarCom staff, coordinate visits of freelancers to the region.
- Establish and maintain relationships with US and international media representatives based in the region and frequently place CRS in high level and strategic media to increase awareness of CRS .
- Support country program Communications staff in the development and execution of annual work plans for communications and marketing.
Basic Qualifications (BQs)
- Bachelor’s degree in journalism/communications preferable
- 5 – 7 years work experience in journalism, communications and public/media relations
- Solid understanding of U.S. and international media
- Proven track record of high-level US media placements
- Experience working in international development preferred
- Proven written and oral communication skills
- Significant photography and videography experience
- Basic knowledge of social media, especially Twitter
Required Languages – Strong oral and written skills in both English and French
Travel – Must be willing and able to travel up to 40-50 %.
Supervisory Responsibilities – Dotted line supervision of country program Comms staff
Preferred Qualifications
- Knowledge of video editing
- Overseas work experience in the developing world, preferred
Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)
These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.
- Integrity
- Continuous Improvement & Innovation
- Builds Relationships
- Develops Talent
- Strategic Mindset
- Accountability & Stewardship
***Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.
Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.
CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.
EOE/M/F/D/V – CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer. (For all US and International positions
How to apply
Electronic applications-Only a motivation letter and a current detailed CV should be addressed to the CRS Country Representative exclusively at RW_HR@crs.org not later than Wednesday June 30, 2021 at 5:00pm.
Please, include below statement in your motivation letter:
“By applying to this job, I understand and acknowledge that CRS requires its staff to treat all people with dignity and respect and to actively prevent harassment, abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking. Further, I understand that if I am a successful candidate, I will be subject to a comprehensive background check, and my personal/professional references will be asked to evaluate my behaviors related to the above safeguarding-related topics”
Include also your full names and title “CARO Regional Communications Officer” in the subject line. Due to anticipated high interest in this post and the expected number of applicants, only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
Kigali. June 15, 2021
Christophe Droeven
Ag Country Representative
CRS/Rwanda Program
2. Senior Nutrition Specialist/ Feed the Future Rwanda Orora Wihaze Activity
Job Title: Senior Nutrition Specialist/ Feed the Future Rwanda Orora Wihaze Activity
Department: CRS Rwanda Program
Reports To: CRS Rwanda Head of Programs
Country/Location: Rwanda/Kigali
Job Summary:
The Feed the Future Rwanda Orora Wihaze (Raise Animals for Self-Sufficiency) Activity is a USD $13.8M five-year (October 2019 – September 2024) Market System Development project that works with local partners and private sector actors in Rwanda to strengthen the animal sourced foods (ASF) market system. Implemented under a USAID contract, Catholic Relief Services is responsible for leading nutrition programming targeting ASF producer and consumer households in Rwanda’s Burera, Gakenke, Nyamagabe, Nyamasheke, Rutsiro, Ngororero, Kayonza and Ngoma Districts. The goal of Orora Wihaze is to sustainably increase the availability of access to, and consumption of ASF through the development of a profitable market. This will be achieved by a selection of interventions under two broad objectives i) Private Sector-Led ASF Value Chains Strengthened; ii) Increase Demand for ASF Consumption for Women and Children.
The Senior Nutrition Specialist will lead the activity’s Objective 2, Increasing Demand for ASF Consumption for Women and Children, and will be responsible to coordinate planning and implementation of activities to increase the consumption of Animal Source Foods (ASF) through the development/adaptation and roll-out of the project Behavior Change Strategy and Gender and Social Inclusion Plan as well as provide technical guidance for project-wide use of Behavior Change Communication (BCC) materials. The candidate’s leadership/management skills and technical/subject matter knowledge will ensure that CRS delivers high-quality programming and continuously works towards improving the impact of its programming.
Job Responsibilities:
- Provide strategic leadership to CRS team and take responsibility for achievement of the project objective within the consortium overseeing specific interventions.
- Collaborate with Objective 1 lead to ensure delivery of a consolidated approach to achieving the project goal of increasing access to, availability and consumption of ASF.
- Champion learning with project staff and partner teams. Analyze and evaluate project performance data following the project’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) plan. Proactively identify issues and concerns and use participatory processes to overcome implementation obstacles by determining potential adaptations and continuously motivating team to strive for greater impact
- Coordinate the identification of staff and partner capacity and technical assistance needs and facilitate capacity strengthening opportunities to support quality project implementation.
- Help identify, assess and strengthen partnerships relevant to the Orora Wihaze Activity, applying appropriate application of partnership concepts, tools and approaches, including with other USAID-funded nutrition interventions, other donors involved in nutrition interventions, the Rwanda Ministry of Health and local health centers to ensure coordinated nutrition interventions.
- Collaborate with the consortium team and the Chief of Party to produce high-quality reports to the donor, continuously driving a focus on learning, adaptation, as well as high-quality success stories capturing project progress
- Manage the overall implementation, continuous design and adaptation, oversight, reporting, and close-out of the program’s nutrition objectives – to ensure efficient and effective implementation in line with CRS program quality principles and standards, donor requirements, and good practices.
- Ensure project team and partner staff use the appropriate systems and tools.
- Coordinate and monitor financial and material resources relevant to project needs through regular detailed forecasting updates to ensure efficient and effective use of project resources
- Serve as the CRS focal point for all collaboration within the project consortium, contributing to a positive working environment in which partners collaborate to optimize one another’s strengths and strive for integration amongst various project components
- Act as a key resource person in on-going design and adaptation of high-impact nutrition activities, including behavior change and communication interventions and focused integration of nutrition interventions in the production and market components of the activity led by consortium partners.
Background, Experience & Requirements:
Education and Experience
- Master’s degree or equivalent in nutrition, food sciences, public health or related fields (specialized training in nutrition is required). Additional experience may substitute for some education.
- Minimum of 5 years of relevant field-based experience in coordinating or managing moderately complex community-based nutrition projects required, preferably with an international NGO.
- Knowledge of Market System Development approaches including market analysis and system facilitation activities in nutrition, consumer marketing or related activities.
- Experience motivating teams, including leadership of staff development and learning, is required; management experience within a consortium framework (matrix management) is an added advantage.
- Working experience on nutrition policy research and policy advocacy coordination and support to both public and related civil society organizations is desirable.
- Working experience in designing and implementing nutrition sensitive agricultural, dietary diversity, and social and behavior change communication projects is desirable. Experience with animal source protein would be an added advantage.
- Experience engaging with partner organizations. Demonstrated ability to establish and sustain professional relationships with host country government counterparts.
- MEAL skills and experience preferred.
- Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information management systems.
- Rwandan National preferred.
Personal Skills:
- Strong critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills with ability to make sound judgment.
- Ability to work within a diverse multi-cultural team and adaptive management style
- Strong relationship management and interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively with culturally diverse groups.
- Excellent written and verbal English communication skills with ability to write donor reports.
- Proactive, results-oriented, and service-oriented.
Required/Desired Foreign Language: English, Kinyarwanda, and French.
Travel Required: An estimated 25% travel to project sites.
Key Working Relationships:
Supervisory: This position supervises a team of 6 CRS staff, including two project managers and four field-based officers.
Internal: CRS Rwanda Finance Manager, Grants Analyst, Head of Operations, and Country Representative.
External: Partner staff, the Rwanda Ministry of Health, NCDA, and other related agencies and stakeholders.
Agency Behavioral Competencies (for all CRS Staff):
These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.
- Integrity
- Accountability and Stewardship
- Builds relationships
- Develops talent
- Continuous Improvement and Innovation
- Strategic Mindset
Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.
CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.
CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer
How to apply
Electronic applications-Only a motivation letter and a current detailed CV should be addressed to the CRS Country Representative exclusively at RW_HR@crs.org not later than Tuesday June 22, 2021 at 5:00pm.
Please, include below statement in your motivation letter:
“By applying to this job, I understand and acknowledge that CRS requires its staff to treat all people with dignity and respect and to actively prevent harassment, abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking. Further, I understand that if I am a successful candidate, I will be subject to a comprehensive background check, and my personal/professional references will be asked to evaluate my behaviors related to the above safeguarding-related topics”
Include also your full names and title “Senior Nutrition Specialist” in the subject line. Due to anticipated high interest in this post and the expected number of applicants, only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
Kigali. June 15, 2021
Christophe Droeven
Ag Country Representative
CRS/Rwanda Program
