SAVE THE CHILDREN
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS
ROLE PROFILE
JOB TITLE: Information, Communications, Media and Advocacy Manager
TEAM/PROGRAMME: Syria Country Office
LOCATION: Antakya, Turkey
Senior Management Team
GRADE: 3
ROLE TYPE: Fixed Term – one year
CHILD SAFEGUARDING:
Level 3 - the responsibilities of the post may require the post holder to have regular contact with or
access to children or young people.
ROLE PURPOSE:
As a member of the Senior Management Team in Syria, the Information, Communications, Media
and Advocacy Manager shares in the overall responsibility for the direction and coordination of the
Country Office, with key responsibilities in understanding the sensitivities of the context and how
to communicate children’s issues with diligence paid to child protection best practice and risk
management.
The Information, Communications, Media and Advocacy Manager in his/her capacity is
responsible for providing leadership to ensure excellence in building and maintaining effective
working relationships with members and their donors, in both emergency and development
contexts.
SCOPE OF ROLE:
 Reports to: Country Director, Syria
 Dimensions: Syria is a high complexity country, multi-member interest, with an annual
budget of around $30m, and over 200 staff
 Staff directly reporting to this post: Information and Communication Officer(s) national
positions.
 Representation of SCI Syria in public forums.
KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:
As a member of the Senior Management Team, contribute to:
 Leadership of the Syria Country Office
 Support the development of an organisational culture that reflects our mandated values,
promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a team culture of learning,
creativity and innovation, and frees up our people to deliver outstanding results for children
and excellent customer service for our Members and donors
 Help design and implement a coherent organizational structure that is consistent with
agency practices and appropriate to programme needs
 Lead on the development of Communications and Advocacy strategies with special
reference to communications protocols in liaison with the programmes and security teams.
 Lead on the assessment of risk related to communicating in the current context and
advising the Senior Management Team on these issues.
 Ensure Syria Country Office complies with all Save the Children Management Operating
Standards and Standard Operating Procedures
 Ensure that all required support is provided promptly, at scale and in line with the rules and
principles during emergencies, working closely with the Regional Office
Building and maintaining effective Co-Members relationships
 Develop and maintain good relations with members
 Work with the Senior Management Team to build a culture of member service throughout
the Country Office and ensure that all staff are held accountable for member service
 Be the first point of contact for members on country specific issues, ensuring that the
country is appropriately represented to members
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INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS
ROLE PROFILE
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Work with members and Country Office staff to ensure appropriate resourcing and timely
delivery of agreed deliverables
Implement robust member service standards, processes and procedures to enable
consistent, excellent standards of member service by International Programs
Implement the necessary processes to measure performance against key indicators and
members’ satisfaction, monitoring levels and taking corrective action to ensure ongoing,
measurable improvement of member service lead a culture of knowledge sharing and
continuous improvement of member service in the country
Ensure appropriate and adequate emergency member service procedures are detailed in
the Country Office Emergency Preparedness Plan in order to enable rapid scale up
Provide necessary support for incoming surge capacity during emergencies, working
closely with Regional Office and Center
Media and Communications
 Liaise and maintain contact with members and implement communication activities
including facilitating media stories and the collection of comms materials from inside Syria
when relevant, within the agreed risk management protocols
 Ensure that the branding and communication guidelines of Save the Children are uniformly
and consistently followed across the Syria Country Office
 Lead on the delivery of high quality communication materials for the current Syria
emergency response
 Liaise with the regional office to ensure sign off, following specific guidelines, on all
materials on Syria for external use
 Proactively develop a high profile for Save the Children in Syria (within Syria and beyond)
through the production of high quality, well researched, and well written products (in a
variety of mediums) reflective of the dual mandate port folio, responding quickly and
appropriately to external requests for information, especially in emergencies
 Develop and deliver a clear and effective system for internal communications including the
dissemination of newsletters and other documents and publications for internal
stakeholders including being able to scale up the delivery of robust communications
material during emergencies per the Rules and Principles and requests from Members and
Save the Children International
Advocacy
 Lead the development and implementation of an advocacy strategy for the Syria Country
Office. Support programme leadership to articulate their top priority advocacy objectives in
line with the new Country Strategic Plan
 Identify key issues to be raised to the global level and lead or contribute to the
development of briefings, talking points and messages on these issues
 Identify key opportunities and events for Save the Children Syria to position itself as the
leading organisation for children’s issues in Syria
 Ensure that Save the Children receives national recognition for achieving proven and
innovative national impact from well-managed child development programs and
emergency response
 Support programme leadership and other program staff in their work, including
development of a plan for achieving their priority advocacy objectives in both an
emergency and development context. This should include guidelines on the meaningful
and safe participation of children in advocacy
Staff Management, Mentorship, and Development – Media, Communications and Advocacy
 Ensure appropriate staffing within Media, Communications and Advocacy
 Ensure that all staff understand and are able to perform their role in an emergency
 Manage Media, Communications and Advocacy team; define expectations, provide
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ROLE PROFILE
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leadership and technical support as needed, and evaluate direct reports regularly
Ensure the recruitment, training, and promotion of staff as appropriate and ensure
availability of appropriate professional development opportunities for staff
Incorporate staff development strategies and Performance Management Systems into
team building process. Establish result based system and follow up
Ensure adequate segregation of finance duty within Country Office Manage the
performance of all staff in the finance work area through:
Effective use of the Performance Management System including the establishment of
clear, measureable objectives, ongoing feedback, periodic reviews and fair and unbiased
evaluations;
Coaching, mentoring and other developmental opportunities;
Recognition and rewards for outstanding performance;
Documentation of performance that is less than satisfactory, with appropriate performance
improvements/ workplans
SKILLS AND BEHAVIOURS (our Values in Practice)
Accountability:
 Holds self accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and
role modelling Save the Children values
 Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them
the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to
improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not
achieved
Ambition:
 Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves (and their team), takes responsibility
for their own personal development and encourages others to do the same
 Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
 Future orientated, thinks strategically
Collaboration:
 Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, members and
external partners and supporters
 Values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
 Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to
Creativity:
 Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
 Willing to take disciplined risks
Integrity:
 Honest, encourages openness and transparency
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:
 University degree in an area of social development or equivalent
 A general appreciation of the issues concerning the INGO sector with an in-depth
knowledge in communications, advocacy or fundraising
 Substantial experience in an INGO environment, with experience in successfully leading
the development and implementation of communication and advocacy strategies for an
international humanitarian organisation in Syria
 Demonstrable track record of leading change which has led to significant results for the
organisation and their stakeholders
 Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation
and coaching, and strong writing skills
 Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in an international
environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures
 Strong results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mindsets
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INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS
ROLE PROFILE
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Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner
Experience of building personal networks, resulting in securing significant new
opportunities for the organisation
Writing and presentation skills in English
Ability and willingness to dramatically change work practices and hours, in the event of
emergencies
Experience of solving complex issues through analysis, definition of a clear way forward
and ensuring buy in
Commitment to Save the Children values
Date of issue:
241113
Author: EM