Senior Volunteer Supporting Communications and Visibility in Nepal

ActionAid Nepal is looking for an experienced volunteer who will provide support to enhance their capacity to effectively communicate and promote their programming work and achievements around women and youth leadership in humanitarian action in order to:

• Share best practices with the sector for mutual learning
• Being able to attract funding opportunities in the areas of women and youth leadership and strengthened resilience and response of vulnerable communities
• Enhance the awareness and appreciation of the struggles of vulnerable communities in disaster prone areas through enhanced communication and visibility

As such, the EU AID volunteer will support the communications and program team in AA Nepal on developing and using communication tools and products for documenting and showcasing the experience and aspiration of AA Nepal on promoting women and youth leadership in Disatser Risk Reduction (DRR) and Humanitarian actions. The volunteer shall also support in producing appealing communication products for fund raising for DRR and humanitarian actions along with transferring the skills to AA Nepal and partner staff.

The placement period is 5 months with duty station at the ActionAid Nepal head office in Kathmandu.

The volunteer position is part of the EUAID Volunteer’s Initiative – an Initiative that brings volunteers and organisations together from different countries, providing practical support to humanitarian aid projects and contributing to strengthening local capacity and resilience of disaster-affected communities. A core focus is further to promote global solidarity and post-placement information work in Europe.

COVID-19

Nepal is one of the countries in South Asia to take early precautionary measures to break the chain of COVID-19 spreading. The first case of COVID-19 was identified in March 2021, the lockdown followed by the identification aided to check the infection rate. However, with relaxation of the restriction measure the number of cases rose exponentially, resulting in a second wave of COVID-19. As of September 2021, of 4.6 million tested, nearly 900000 individuals were infected, with 95.4% recovery rate and 1.5% fatality rate. The local governments have relaxed the restrictions recently following reduction in COVID-19 cases. Unlike earlier, despite the relaxation of restriction, the number of infected persons per day is lessening with around 1000 person/day being infected.

AA Nepal has been monitoring the situation closely. In reference to the COVID-19 cases and government guidelines AA Nepal ensures the office is not overcrowded, the staffs are taking necessary precautionary/preventive measures while at office, encouraging actions to limit direct engagement of staff with any health issues or COVID-19 symptoms, field level activities based on necessity among other actions.

Volunteer Tasks

For the placement, the Volunteer will support to effectively communicate and promote ActionAid Nepal’s programming work and achievements with the following tasks:

• Sharing knowledge around communication and visibility with AA Nepal colleagues for mutual learning. Conduct smaller workshops at the office as per identified needs of staff and partners of AA Nepal to enhance staff capacity around communication and visibility for instance production of appealing audio-visual materials, IEC, PSA, Situation Reports, photography, and videography etc.
• Support in the development of information/communication material to promote humanitarian signature, particularly women and young people’s leadership and DRR and humanitarian actions.
• Support collection of good practice stories, packaging, and dissemination of these stories – this includes contributing to AA Nepal’s website, social media, newsletters, annual report among others.
• Support AA Nepal in strengthening their presence on digital platforms/social media.
• Support in developing knowledge and skills of AA and partner staff for communication during emergencies.
• Participate in and contribute to relevant in-country and cross-country learning and knowledge sharing events and processes within the ActionAid Federation, such as the Youth Community of Interest.
• Do communication and awareness of the EU AID Volunteers initiative, such as draft and publish articles in Europe on volunteer experiences in the field in cooperation with the communication teams of AA Nepal and AA Denmark

Qualifications:

Education

• Degree in Communications or similar

Language

• English, basic Nepalese would be an added value

Core competencies

• Strong oral and written communication skills
• Ability to convert complex text/reports into easily understood language and clear messages
• Experienced user of different digital technologies for communication and curiosity to explore and test new digital communication platforms
• Experience with audio-visual communication/documentation; development of IEC materials and reports; conducting interviews and collecting information's from various sources would be a strong asset
• Creative mindset and knowledge of using graphic design programs
• Proficiency in the Microsoft Office Package
• Very strong cooperation and facilitation skills
• Strong intercultural skills and respect of others
• Diplomacy and humility
• Ability to work independently and proactively and seek support/guidance if needed
• Understanding and appreciating that this is a temporary position and thus strengthening the skills and competences of peers and colleagues is key in this placement
• Strong motivation to volunteer with a social justice organisation
• Practical experience relating to the concrete tasks to be performed
• Previous exposure to working in a developing context

As this volunteer is placed under the EU AID Volunteer Initiative the volunteer must be a citizen of the EU or a third country national who is a long-term resident in an EU Member State and must have a minimum age of 18 years

Terms and condition will follow those of EU AID Volunteers:

• Monthly Subsistence Lump Sum of 288,28 € per month which intends to cover basic needs and local transport.
• Monthly post-deployment resettlement of 100 € per month
• Modest accommodation, Visa fees, insurance and airfare to and from the country of service
• 2 days leave per month of voluntary activity in addition to domestic holidays in the country of service
• Work hours in accordance with ActionAid Nepal

Application and recruitment Process

To apply, the candidate should write a letter of motivation, fill out a Europass CV [email protected] with your name and the position applied for as the headline of the email.

Application Deadline December 5th 2021

Shortlisting and interviews on SKYPE with the candidates: Mid-December 2021

Selected candidates from interviews will be obligated to participate in an online training module as well as a 9-12 day in-presence training in Europe as part of the selection process. More than one candidate for each position will be selected for training to support the development of a pool of validated candidates – however only one candidate will eventually be selected for this position.

Travel and training costs to participate in the in-presence training will be covered.

Placement start is expected to be February 2022

Please, visit EACEA’s vacancy announcement page for more information and to see the full vacancy of this position. Here you will also be able to see other volunteer opportunities and read more about the EU AID Volunteer Initiative:

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/echo/eu-aid-volunteers_en/