Communication Officer

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, with a network of 192-member National Societies. The overall aim of the IFRC is “to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.”  The IFRC works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises.   
The IFRC is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Movement), together with its member National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The work of the IFRC is guided by the following fundamental principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality.   
The IFRC is led by its Secretary General, and has its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The Headquarters are organized into three main Divisions: (i) National Society Development and Operations Coordination; (ii) Global Relations, Humanitarian Diplomacy and Digitalization; and (iii) Management Policy, Strategy and Corporate Services.  
The IFRC has five regional offices in Africa, Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and the Americas.  The IFRC also has country cluster delegation and country delegations throughout the world. Together, the Geneva Headquarters and the field structure (regional, cluster and country) comprise the IFRC Secretariat.  
In February 2022, a new phase in the armed conflict in Ukraine started. The intensification and spread of hostilities have affected all of Ukraine, causing massive humanitarian needs across all sectors and destroying essential civilian infrastructure. Millions of people are displaced in Ukraine, more than 5 million people have fled to other countries.  
IFRC has launched a major Emergency Appeal for Ukraine and Impacted Countries that is coordinated on European regional level – with numerous country level operations ongoing. ICRC, IFRC and numerous Partner National Societies are integrating their capacities to provide coordinated crisis response in Ukraine and impacted countries. The operational structure will be fully integrated into existing structures at Country / Country Cluster and Regional Office level to ensure full synergies with the overall regional work.  

The Communications Officer, under the direction of the Senior Communications Officer, and as part of IFRC’s regional and global communications team, will contribute to communications and media activities for IFRC in Ukraine, in close coordination with the Ukrainian Red Cross Society. The role will be responsible for producing ofa wide range of external and internal communications materials. They will support the Ukrainian Red Cross in key communications activities, as well as ensuring that their content is available to be amplified across the IFRC and National Societies channels.  

The Communications Officer will work under the supervision of the Senior Communications Officer, with technical support from IFRC’s communications team in the Europe and Central Asia regional office. They will be responsible for the following areas. 

• Supporting in-country visits of Partner National Societies, senior representatives, and international media. 
• Drafting and producing content for various audiences and channels on humanitarian situation in the country and IFRC/Ukrainian Red Cross response in line with the operational priorities.
• Planning and coordinating content production to ensure visibility of the IFRC and Ukrainian Red Cross activities in the country. 
• Managing an audio-visual contractor as well as any consultants hired to support audio-visual communication coverage in the country.
• Collecting communications content for IFRC’s weekly Communications Newswire, sharing relevant content on Slack and responding to National Society content inquiries. 

• Supporting the Ukrainian Red Cross communications team in their communications activities, as well as ensuring that their content is available to be amplified across IFRC and National Society channels.  
• Support advocacy and reputational risk management through monitoring media and social media, anticipating, identifying and flagging potential reputational issues to help adopt and implement appropriate response. 
• Drafting and producing a wide range of internal communication materials. 
• Supporting in other communications related tasks.

 Degree in journalism, communications, marketing or international policies 

Required:

• At least 3 years of experience working in communications, with or for the media, social media, fundraising, humanitarian diplomacy or similar.
• Ability to produce a range of compelling communications content from the field (such as news stories, social media content and AV materials) 

Preferred:

• Team player with high level of independence.
• Experience in building and maintaining media relations and contacts.
• Experience in emergency response.
• Red Cross and Red Crescent experience.

Required:

• Knowledge of humanitarian affairs.
• Strong spoken and written English including proven experience in drafting compelling communications content for a variety of communications channels.
• Demonstrated understanding and use of social media for communications and advocacy purposes.
• Ability to multitask and work under pressure.
• Photography, design, or video editing skills. 

Communication; Collaboration and Teamwork; Judgement and Decision Making; National Society and 

Customer Relations; Creativity and Innovation; Building Trust.