Context

As a Strategic Communications Consultant at Seefar, you will be helping some of the most vulnerable people in the world achieve better outcomes. You will be implementing and managing communications projects and campaigns on some of the most important issues of our time, including rule of law, social inclusion, migration, human trafficking, modern slavery, violent extremism and gender-based violence. You can live wherever you like and travel may be required. This position is contingent on securing anticipated grants. 

About Seefar

We are a social enterprise with a mission to work with vulnerable people to build a better future. We specialise in justice, migration and social inclusion. Our expertise is in strategic communications, counselling, consulting, monitoring and evaluation, and research. We work in East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, East Africa, North Africa, the Sahel and Europe. For more information about us, please visit http://seefar.org/about-us. 

Seefar has a track record of delivering strategic communications projects in East Africa, West Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia on migration, human trafficking and violent extremism issues. Our strategic communications portfolio is growing and this role will help manage that growth.

Project Description 

Seefar is currently implementing a project to support returned migrant workers in the Philippines to reintegrate into the labour market, improve their skills and develop psychological resilience. 

The campaign aims to develop a mobile application to support OFWs living or in the process of returning to the Philippines towards finding decent work. In order to achieve this aim, the project will, through the means of  a mobile app, engage with returned OFWs who are struggling with unemployment and social reintegration. The app will provide them with behavioural training to support future success in identifying and accessing decent work, as well as livelihood training to facilitate access to the Freelance Economy and/or the creation of a business. The app will also list local organisations that can offer further assistance. Expected launch date of the 1st version is April 2023. 

The Strategic Communication consultant will support us with developing audiovisual materials that we will be using on the app. The course content will have a focus on both Confidence in Action and Livelihoods skills training materials, but background knowledge in these areas is not essential. Prior experience in overseeing and coordinating app development is essential however. 

You will work closely with the graphic designer and with the course content copywriter by editing content that is created by them. You will also recruit a social media officer and work with this person to develop a content strategy to promote the app on social media. 

It is expected that you will work 2 full days per week on this project. Depending on your performance, there is a possibility to take on additional projects, increasing your workload to 4 days per week. 

Project Responsibilities

The following are the primary responsibilities of the role, with estimated allocations of time and attention.

Deliver: Project Implementation

Approximately 95% of your time and attention:

• App and course content development:
  • Attend meetings with the app developer to finalise the app design
  • Attend Seefar Academy meetings and liaise the project course content to the content creator and graph designer.
  • Review course templates 
  • Oversee that the course content templates are adapted to the local project context by the Social Media Officer.
  • Build synergies with other Seefar colleagues that work on similar projects

• App testing phase and project implementation:
  • Set up the strategic communication tools for project implementation
  • Hire, train and supervise the Social Media Officer and Community Officers 
  • Manage the strategic communications budget
  • Develop Seefar’s social media presence in the Philippines
  • Use Facebook,as well as other social media’s, tools to experiment on how to best target the project audience in the Philippines
  • Building partnerships with local organisations with the aim to promote the app/find synergies/overlap
  • Have local beneficiaries test the app and report feedback to the the Seefar 

• Other tasks as required by the project team and your supervisor.

Direct: Global Management

Approximately 5% of your time and attention:

• Represent and demonstrate Seefar’s values.
• Cooperate with other Seefar teams, including to communicate substantive and administrative information that supports corporate management overall. 
• Attend meetings with your supervisor

Optional: Expand your role to other projects

As Strategic Communications Consultant you might also be considered to work on similar communication projects, leading and providing expert input into behaviour change campaigns, online engagement strategies, creative products, PR and media strategies, copywriting and branding efforts across a number of countries. You will work on a range of communication campaigns and behaviour change projects aimed at enhancing informed decision-making and reducing vulnerabilities among target groups across a number of countries. 

Working with Seefar

Current and former personnel have noted the points below as positive features of Seefar’s work environment and culture:

• The Enterprise combines entrepreneurialism with a focus on social impact.
• You work with highly diverse people and across a diversity of contexts.
• There is a high level of trust that supports you to work autonomously.
• The people in the Enterprise encourage innovation and experimentation.
• Achieving results is prioritised over rigid structures and workflows.
• You are never bored and always challenged.

Current and former personnel have noted the points below as negative features of Seefar’s work environment and culture:

• Collaborating with geographically dispersed teams requires flexibility and patience.
• Working remotely can make you feel isolated and so requires you to invest time in communication.
• A high-growth phase means problem-solving as the Enterprise’s systems evolve quickly.

An Excellent Candidate

To excel in this role, you will have the following experience and capacities:

• A relevant undergraduate degree as a minimum
• At least four years of experience working in strategic communications
• Experience of, or substantial exposure to, developing and implementing (web-based) applications, including sufficient technical understanding to work with the app developers
• Thorough understanding of app development trends, tools and strategies
• Experience of web and social media management and content development
• Exceptional English writing skills with the ability to write for a variety of different platforms and audiences
• Experience managing and training/coaching personnel
• Effective prioritisation skills and the ability to manage multiple projects at the same time
• Outstanding attention to detail

You will also be motivated by an Enterprise performance framework focused on social impact.

To Apply for this Role

On or before 17 January 2023, complete our online application form. Before you start, you should do the following:

1. Confirm you meet these minimum requirements:

1. A relevant university degree
2. 4+ years of experience working in strategic communications
3. Coordination skills of a similar app development process
4. Complete fluency in oral and written English.

2. Prepare a CV in Word or PDF format.
3. In Word or PDF format, prepare an introductory letter that includes only the following points:
   1. One to three paragraphs describing your communications skill set and relevant work experience.
   2. Two paragraphs describing a communications campaign you have worked on, detailing your responsibilities, the objectives, activities and results achieved, as well as how you evaluated your results.