Senior Communications and Advocacy Advisor

Senior Communications and Advocacy Advisor
to Swedish Committee for Afghanistan

Do you want to work for an Afghanistan free from poverty,
violence, and discrimination? Do you have experience in communication, international media and multi-cultural settings and want to work in a humanitarian and development context?

The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) has been working in Afghanistan for 40 years. We will continue to do so even now. We have more than 7,000 employees working in different parts of the country. We want you to be one of us!

We are looking for a Senior Communications and Advocacy Advisor based in the Communications Unit, Kabul Management Office, Afghanistan. Administratively this role will be reporting to Head of Communications Unit and technically reporting to Country Director/ Afghanistan. This is a non-family posting.

 Scope of Work

The Senior Communications and Advocacy Advisor will mainly support communication and advocacy activities in Afghanistan, Sweden but also globally with the purpose of improving SCA branding, visibility and messaging in Afghanistan as well as in international settings.

The role liaises closely with the Swedish Management office (SMO) and provide strategic inputs for communication and advocacy messaging to SCA stakeholders globally.

The Senior Communications and Advocacy Advisor will act as a Press secretary for the Country Director in close cooperation with the Press secretary at SMO.

The role will act as a focal point for international media requests and support the senior management at Kabul Management Office (KMO) with international medias request for a voice from Afghanistan.

In collaboration with others design and develop advocacy material such as policy briefs, advocacy letters, and research studies for evidence-based advocacy.

Responsibilities

Coordination and operational support:

• Support the coordination of general communication, advocacy, and resource mobilization between KMO, SMO and Regional Management offices (RMOs)
• Support the facilitation of capacity building activities both for Communications Unit Afghanistan (COMA) staff, communication staff at RMOs, and other staff in Afghanistan
• In cooperation with others communicate and present SCAs’ research findings and policy positions to key advocacy targets, in both written and verbal form
• collaborate with SMO and provide strategic inputs for communication and advocacy messaging to SCA stakeholders in Sweden and other donor countries
• Support the production of communication materials in Afghanistan and collaborate with others in design and development of advocacy material such as policy briefs, letters, and research studies for evidence-based advocacy
  
  

Media relations:

• Act as the KMO-based Press secretary, managing international media requests, closely cooperating with the Press Secretary at SMO
• Be the focal point person for international journalists, target groups or stakeholders
• Facilitatie interviews and activeties on-site and online
  
  

Advocacy and messaging:

• Advise in developing long-term strategies for influencing key policy areas and policy makers in Afghanistan, Sweden, and internationally
• Facilitate analysis of political, economic, and social development, as well as politics of aid in Afghanistan, to support communication, advocacy, and resource mobilization across the organization

Management advisor:

• Advise Country Director and other senior management members of SCA Afghanistan on various issues regarding branding, media relations, reputation management, internal communications, and crisis communication.
• Advise in developing communication strategies, tools, and guidelines

Qualifications

• Minimum a Bachelor’s degree in a relevant professional field
• Excellent command of oral and written English
• A minimum of 5 years relevant experience, with a special focus on strategic communication, media relations and/or advocacy
• Experience in working with international media and multi-cultural settings
  
  

Essential competence

• Experience from working in a post-conflict zone in a humanitarian and development context
• Experience of strategic communication planning and implementation
• Experience of influencing decision-makers and policy processes
• Experience of working with international media relations
  
  

Desired competence

• Knowledge of Swedish, Dari/Persian and/or Pashto
• Experience in crisis communication
• Experience in professional management of web and social media
• Have participated in HEAT-training or other security training
  
  

Employment terms

• Non-family posting (ie. you will not be able to bring partner/family)
• Positioned in Kabul, Afghanistan at the SCA office
• Expatriate contract signed with Head of HR, SMO
• Base salary, overseas and hardship allowance, travel to home
• Tax exempt

Please register your application no later than the 25th of April 2023.

Should you have any questions, please contact: Fred Musinya, Human Resource Director, fred.musinya@sca.org.af

Communications Unit - Afghanistan (COM-A)

Communications Unit Afghanistan is a strategic and implementing unit, with the objective to make target groups in Afghanistan increasingly supportive to SCA’s mission and vision. The Communications Unit is responsible for external and internal communications in Afghanistan and give support to the Communication Unit in Sweden, and advocacy teams in Afghanistan and Sweden in its work regarding communications, fundraising and advocacy.

The Communications Unit is based in KMO (Kabul). It works closely together with the Communications Unit in SMO, as well as coordinating the regional communication officers at the five regional offices (RMOs).

SCA has been working in Afghanistan since 1982 and is presently managing development programmes linked to Strategic Objectives concerning Health, Education, Rural Livelihoods and Community Governance with a total annual budget of roughly USD 40 million. The total number of staff is around 6000 of whom 15 are non-Afghans. The SCA presence in Afghanistan consists of the Kabul Management Office (KMO), five Regional Management Offices and three Liaison Offices. In Sweden SCA has 20 staff working at the Stockholm Management Office (SMO) and around 3,000 members organized in local chapters all over the country.

During the last decade, SCA has undertaken a change process moving from a primarily humanitarian service delivery approach towards more of a developmental role, putting increasing emphasis on capacity development, rights-based programming and outcome orientation. The mission of SCA is to empower individuals, communities and local organizations, primarily in rural areas and with particular focus on women, girls, boys and vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities, so that they may participate fully in society and influence their own development.