Media and Social & Behavior Change Communications Specialist - Search for Common Ground - Washington, D.C., United States or Brussels, Belgium

The Media and Social Behavior Change Communications Specialist will serve as a lead technical advisor for Search for Common Ground’s media and SBCC  programming globally. S/he will review and update core methodologies, build the capacity of Search staff and partners in SBCC and media, and  work with country program teams to accompany their SBC programming from design through evaluations. In the first year, the specialist will support COVID-19 media programming across 10 countries in Africa and the Middle East. S/he will work with senior leadership and media staff in the organization to develop a future positioning and methodology for Search in the evolving media landscape  - both traditional broadcast and online -  leveraging emerging technologies and maximizing quality and reach. S/he will create new opportunities and partnerships and raise funds to support future work.  

The specialist will a) strengthen Search’s core methodology for designing and implementing behavior change communications programming; b) support the production of  high-quality media outputs; and c) enable Search to strengthen its online media and social media presence.  

The specialist will be a part of the Strategy Alignment Team which is dedicated to strengthening program quality.  

***This position can be based in Brussels, Belgium or Washington DC. Please apply to the location where you are are able to be based.***

Essential Duties and Responsibilities 

Key Area 1:  Strengthen Program Quality. The Specialist will work closely with program teams to support them to implement their initiatives with the highest possible quality. S/he will work with 10 country programs to set up media initiatives as part of a global COVID-19 response - a multi-country project entitled “Enabling Effective and Conflict-Sensitive Responses to COVID-19 to Protect Social Cohesion in Fragile Contexts in Africa and MENA” and engage on other critical media projects as necessary.  S/he will work to identify and harness program-level expertise and insights, develop and conduct staff training,  offer coaching and guidance in SBCC methodologies including message curriculum development, production and dissemination/broadcast.  S/he will link this work to the organizational learning efforts which are underway. The specialist will keep up with new and evolving technologies and distribution platforms and enable program teams to access them.  

Key Area 2:  Field Building . The specialist will position Search as leaders in the media for the peacebuilding field. S/he will leverage our programmatic experience and learning to drive best practices globally. S/he will identify opportunities to influence the field through advocacy, development and distribution of tools, and other means. S/he will develop written or digital toolkits or comparable outputs aimed at advancing the way that media is used as a peacebuilding tool. 

Key Area 3:  Organizational positioning . The specialist will position Search as a go-to organization for media and peacebuilding, generating visibility of the work in the “Conflict Sensitive Approaches to COVID-19” project and  seek out concrete opportunities for Search to expand its use of SBCC and media programming. S/he will seek out partnerships with new organizations such as media and tech companies or universities. 

Minimum Qualifications

• 7 to 10 years in media for social change field;
• Experience producing radio and television;
• Experience developing multi-platform social change campaigns in fragile and conflict-affected countries. 

Preferred Qualifications

• Degree in communications; behavior change communications, public health, conflict transformation or related field;
• Experience in peacebuilding and conflict transformation;
• Extensive field experience in conflict-affected countries;
• Experience developing and implementing successful social-media campaigns for social change.  

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Fluent English and French;
• Fluency in Arabic preferred;
• Demonstrated radio production including script writing, editing;
• Demonstrated television production capacities including script writing and pre-production planning;
• Demonstrated skills in communication campaign design, including message curriculum development processes;
• Excellent writing and communications skills. 

The position will be based in Search for Common Ground Brussels office and will travel periodically (following government regulations related to travel) in Africa and the Middle East.

Foreseen start date: June 2020. 

Please apply by: 25 May 2020. 

Please note that we are unfortunately only able to consider applicants that currently hold the right to work in Belgium. 

As job descriptions cannot be exhaustive, the position holder may be required to undertake other duties that are broadly in line with the above key responsibilities.