Community Engagement Officer

About UN-WFP Afghanistan

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian agency, fighting hunger worldwide. More than half the population of Afghanistan – a record 22.8 million people – will face acute food insecurity in 2022. The combined effects of drought, conflict, COVID-19, and the economic crisis, have severely affected lives, livelihoods, and people’s access to food. 

The team of 600 staff, 550 of which are Afghan nationals are working tireless to bring emergency food and nutrition assistance to the millions of people suffering across the country. The assistance provided by WFP includes emergency food assistance, school meals, nutrition programmes and important self-reliance and resilience programmes. The packet of support can include food, cash, or vouchers.

In conflict situations, we bring relief to exhausted populations and use food assistance to build pathways to peace and stability – work for which WFP was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020.

Job Summary

Reporting directly to the Head of Protection and Accountability Unit, and working closely with Communications and Gender Teams, and key stakeholders within WFP, the Community Engagement Officer will deliver the following Accountabilities: 

Duties & Responsibilities

Engage with the diverse community supported by WFP to understand their information needs, preferences, capacity, and community information systems. 

Work closely with stakeholders across WFP to document, develop, test and rollout key messages essential for community to receive. Messages will include (but not be limited to): what is WFP’s mandate, how do we determine vulnerability and who is most in need, how do we register households, what is their entitlement and for how long will they receive support, community and individual personal data privacy rights, how to provide feedback to WFP, and more. 

Work closely with nutrition unit to develop, test and rollout Behavior Change Communication 

Develop a methodology to easily update the key messages to ensure messages are regularly updated, timely, relevant and accurate. 

Develop a Community Engagement/Communication Strategy that details roles, responsibilities, and measurable indicators to guide the WFP Afghanistan Country Office

Establish sustainable relationships between WFP and community preferred communication platforms (for instance, local radio, Organisations of disabled People, women’s CSOs) for delivery of messages

Participate in key interagency forums to ensure consistency and collaboration in communication across humanitarian sector, particularly in the AAP Working Group and its relevant project working groups. 

Strengthen capacity of WFP and its partner staff on good practices in accessible community communications. 

Job Requirements

Education: Advanced University Degree in Communications, Journalism, Human Rights, Social Sciences, or related fields

Experience: 5 years or more of solid, responsible and relevant work experience in communications related fields

Knowledge and Skills: 

Flexibility to travel

Demonstrated experience in developing strategies and communications packages

Experience in communications in humanitarian settings

Strong community relationships building capacity 

Experience in building communications capacity of multi-disciplinary stakeholders

Languages: Oral and written fluency in English. Fluency in Dari and/or Pashto. 

Desired experiences for entry into the role:

Applied experience in developing and delivering complex information to communities.

Experience in working with different communication platforms for delivery of information (e.g., media, social media, community structures, etc.).

Experience in developing, or partnering with specialists, to develop accessible communication (e.g., information accessible to people with hearing or visual impairment, and people who are illiterate).

Capacity to build sustainability in WFP’s communication practice.

Submission Guideline

Please copy and paste the following link in the web browser in order to apply for this position: https://career5.successfactors.eu/sfcareer/jobreqcareer?jobId=159091&company=C0000168410P

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