Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to serious humanitarian crises around the world and helps victims to survive and rebuild their lives. 

For over half a century, Tanzania has been a country of asylum, hosting one of the largest refugee populations in Africa. Currently, the country hosts approximately 287,903 Burundian and Congolese refugees, many of whom arrived in 2015 as the crisis in Burundi increased. To date, refugees continue to co-exist with the host communities in Kigoma region expressing multiple reasons and needs. Within this context, IRC provides protection and basic assistance in the areas of Safety (comprises of Protection and Rule of Law, Women Protection and Empowerment, and Child Protection), Health (mental health and psychosocial support services and reproductive health), and Education.

Job Overview:

PlayMatters is a consortium project, led by the IRC and includes Plan International, War Child Holland, Behavioral Insights Team, and Innovations for Poverty Action in partnership with the LEGO Foundation. PlayMatters promotes an active teaching method that capitalizes on a child’s natural desire to engage in play, focusing on building skills so that teachers and communities to intentionally plan to deliver contextually and age-appropriate guided play experiences to achieve specific learning objectives. PlayMatters promotes LtP experiences that promotes child-centered learning, allowing peer interactions that provides children aged 3-12+ with the platform to question, experiment, practice, and discover, developing critical skills that they need to thrive today and in future. In Tanzania PlayMatters are implementing 3 main objectives.

·         Outcome 1: Integrate Learning through Play into Teaching & Learning

·         Outcome 2: Increase Community Engagement in Learning through Play

·         Outcome 3: Strengthen & Integrate Learning through Play in Policy & Systems

 The communication Officer will be a part of the larger PlayMatters initiative. In collaboration with the PlayMatters Tanzania technical teams and the regional multimedia and communication leads, the Multimedia and Communications officer will support the design and implementation of demand-driven multimedia and communications resources to support the overall project outcome in Tanzania. The position will support external and internal communications, graphic design, and content creation (including photography and videography) for PlayMatters-Tanzania. It will produce or directly support the creation and implementation of innovative solutions for reaching a broad audience through a variety of digital avenues to enhance the engagement of male and female community members, parents, teachers, system actors, and potentially children directly, all reinforcing the learning through play (LtP) principles promoted through the PlayMatters initiatives.

Educational Requirements:

•  Degree in Mass Communication, Public relations, Education or Psychology from a recognized institution

Experience:

• Minimum  two years’ work experience in program implementation.

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies

• At least 1-2 years of relevant communication, writing skills, graphic design, illustration, and audio-visual production experience.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite.
• Good writing skills.
• Experience in writing press releases, communication stories and pitching/spotting stories.
• Basic proficiency using creative graphic design and video production software, including but not limited to: Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Premier Pro, Final Cut pro and/or related software for graphic design and video production to produce aesthetically pleasing and engaging materials for a wide audience.
• Basic proficiency in using DSLR cameras and other video production equipment.
• Good verbal and non-verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively in a multi-cultural environment with international and national colleagues and partners.
• Fluency in English and Kiswahili is required.
• Good organizational skills: the ability to be flexible and work well under pressure, dealing with competing priorities, in a fast-paced team environment.
• Detail-oriented and good multi-tasking abilities to meet multiple deadlines.
• Strong understanding of the Tanzania Education System and humanitarian crises and contexts in eastern Africa is a plus.
• Strong team player.

Language/Travel

Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and Swahili as well as, an overall ability to be clear and concise in all communications.

Working Environment: Security level yellow – The situation in most of the country is calm. Some parts of Kigoma region experience insecurity-highway banditry.

Partnership: The IRC is committed to working with partners as our preferred operating model and adhering to our six partnership principles: equality, complementarity, mutuality, solidarity, results orientation, and humility.

Commitment to Client Responsiveness: By committing to Client-Centered Programming, at the IRC Tanzania, we place the people we serve – our clients – at the center of our programming and services. The IRC Tanzania Staff have an important role to play in supporting the implementation of client-responsive programming through raising awareness to the community and clients about the existing feedback mechanisms and how to use them including the response processes, access, and eligibility to services, and contribute to building an institutional culture that prompts staff to listen to clients and to communicate and respond to their requests, feedback, and complaints.

Professional Standards: The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.