Job Description
Location: Nepal - must be willing to work in remote areas
Duration: TBD
Anticipated Start Date: TBD
BACKGROUND
Internews has had an extensive network of partner media organisations in Nepal since 2003. Its primary partner, the Antenna Foundation (http://www.afn.org.np/Corporate.aspx), which has over 12 years of experience as one of Nepal’s premier production houses, has a wide network of media partners, specialises in providing comprehensive media interventions, outreach support services, distinct radio and television programmes, helps raise public awareness, promotes behaviour change, and supports media advocacy. National and international corporations, non-profit organisations, government agencies, development institutions, and the Nepali people trust the Antenna Foundation. Internews will also be partnering with ACORAB the association of community broadcasters.
Nepal Humanitarian Information Service is designed to add value to the overall national/ international response after the earthquake of April 25th by providing acomprehensive and coordinated information-based response to the crisis. The project aims to increase the quantity, reach & impact of life-saving humanitarian information available in Nepal through local media and SMS channels, enabling feedback from Nepalese, promoting co-ordination of Communication with Communities (CwC) and Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) and enhancing effectiveness, transparency and accountability of response.
GENERAL SUMMARY
Internews has mobilized an emergency response to the Nepal earthquake, specifically in support of local media capacity, with the aim of providing timely and accurate life-saving information to people affected by the quake. The Internews Nepal Humanitarian Information Service will provide technical support to journalists and media outlets, deploy tools and staff to monitor and respond to the information needs of the population and liaise with the humanitarian community to ensure that information about the relief effort is reaching the communities affected.
Sunday April 26th around 1PM local time an aftershock of 6.7 magnitude has been recorded.
In collaboration with a local counterpart, the Humanitarian Journalism Trainer (HJT) will train local journalists, as well as radio talk show hosts (who are often not journalists yet exert great influence over their audiences) on how to report accurately on the challenges related in the recovery after the earthquake. The HJT will provide on-going mentoring for journalists and talk show hosts. As part of the training, the HJT will connect local journalists with expert resources to educate them on all key aspects of the recovery and to serve as on-going, reliable sources to keep them up to date with daily information for dissemination to their media outlet audiences. The HJT will also assist in designing formats that maximises the input of the community and will help the Humanitarian Information manager with gathering the feedback in a meaningful way. In the opposite direction it will help turn sometimes rather dry and hard to digest humanitarian information into compelling “news you can use” for the affected population. The journalism trainer will help the Humanitarian Information Manager to produce continuous and consistent updates for the humanitarian responders and the local media, to increase mutual understanding of each other’s roles.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Quick-and-dirty mapping of media and other communication initiatives to understand how they are engaged (or not) in the on-going humanitarian response (i.e. Who’s doing What and Where - 3Ws);
- Based on this initial mapping and the needs, gaps and opportunities emerged from this exercise, in consultation with HQ program leads; define the programmatic direction and priorities of Internews intervention. This could range from regular mentoring on site combined with centralised trainings, to setting up a hub for regional journalists in the capital to improve representation of the rural radio stations or whatever is deemed to improve the communication among the affected population themselves and with the humanitarian community at large;
- In collaboration with the Humanitarian Liaison Officer (HLO) be aware of agreed upon information from the humanitarian partners and how it’s been received and perceived within the community;
- Set a clear distinction between humanitarian information, news reporting and messaging and BCC, and train the local team in humanitarian information gathering re the earthquake and its impact;
- Strive for community engagement/feedback– consider a range of tools and programs that can support humanitarian responders while at the same time allowing communities to have a voice, express their fears and beliefs concerning the earthquake, the recovery and building more resilience;
- Assist team to turn humanitarian information into useful, actionable, accurate and engaging content that communities can relate to and understand;
- Train the team to be able to do proper recording, editing and broadcasting;
- Work as editorial advisor and at times give final editorial approval for broadcasts;
- Liaise with UN agencies and partner NGOs to provide content for the Humanitarian Information Service;
- Contribute to the wider communications for the project as a whole with excellent writing and communications skills;
- Support the HPM with project management as and when needed.
ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS
- Relevant university degree in media, health communication, journalism, international development, or humanitarian response;
- Previous experience in humanitarian crisis is highly desirable;
- A solid background in journalism and/or humanitarian communication;
- Experience in all aspects of broadcast reporting, including editing, mixing, recording, etc.;
- Fluency in editing software, such as Adobe Audition or Cool Edit Pro;
- Experience in leading and coordinating teams and staff – often with no or limited experience in journalism or reporting;
- Creative approach to information gathering considering quarantined areas and travel bans;
- Experience in Communication with Communities (CwC) projects, with a strong focus on the feedback loop from the communities into the humanitarian system;
- A thorough understanding of the work of humanitarian and development agencies, including working within the UN cluster system;
- A good understanding of technical language used by NGOs – and demonstrated experience of turning this into engaging content with “human speak” for ordinary people;
- A good understanding and experience of accountability platforms and tools –experience working with communities to gather their concerns and issues turning these into engaging content;
- Strong communication and diplomatic skills;
- Proven ability to develop and monitor work plans and training plans;
- Practical experience in establishing and operating participatory training programs;
- Experience living and working in challenging environments;
- Ability to adjust to shifting political circumstances and create programming accordingly;
- Sensitivity to cross-cultural dynamics in the work place and experience supervising staff;
- Must be self-reliant, resourceful, good problem-solver, good humored, and flexible;
- Fluency in written and spoken English.
