Re-advertisement: Senior Project Officer – Communications 43 views

About CRS

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding. For nearly 60 years, CRS has taken the lead in responding to natural and man-made disasters affecting Ethiopia’s most vulnerable communities. Moving beyond emergency response, CRS’ disaster mitigation and recovery projects in drought and flood-prone areas have rebuilt individual and community assets through non-food aid in the form of agriculture, livestock, health, nutrition, and water and sanitation assistance. CRS’s humanitarian work in Ethiopia also provides livelihoods support to farmers and entrepreneurs, promotes equality and inclusion, and mitigates the impact of COVID-19.

As part of CRS family, you will join the more than 5000 strong and vibrant individuals working globally to accomplish the mission of CRS. CRS/Ethiopia invites you, the qualified candidate, to apply for the following position.

Job Title:                          Senior Project Officer – Communications

Band:                               VIII

Required number:         One

Employment Term:        Definite term i.e. up to September 7, 2026

Reports To:                     Technical Advisor II – Collaboration, Learning and Adapting (CLA)

Country/Location:          CRS Ethiopia/Addis Abba

Job Summary:

As a member of the CRS Ethiopia RFSA team, you will lead development and implementation of a comprehensive communication strategy and tools. You will contribute to  reporting on all RFSA activities in support of Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS) work serving the poor and vulnerable. Your thorough and service-oriented approach will ensure that the project document and share its impact and encourage dissemination and application of best practices. You will work closely with the Country program, regional and HQ teams to create content and to ensure strategic alignment of communications, consistent messaging and a strong brand identity within the RFSA. You will create content and uses effective communications channels to reach different audiences and help increase RFSA’s reach priority stakeholders in the most effective way. This includes writing humanitarian stories, providing content for the CP newsletter, developing multimedia products and communication reports as required, as well as ensuring CRS’ compliance with USAID-BHA branding and marketing requirements.

Job Responsibilities:

• Write, design and manage the production of creative and compelling communication and marketing material – humanitarian stories, photos, video, fact sheets, brochures, etc. – for various audiences, including public and private donors, local and national governments, local Church, partners, media and others as needed.
• Coordinate with freelancers and RFSA consultants in the production of above marketing materials as needed.
• Assist partners in their efforts to reflect on project experiences.
• Support the procurement processes for licenses, equipment and applications needed to implement the RFSA communications plan.
• Use and tailor agency messages for each audience and identify and utilize effective distribution channels to disseminate communications materials to key audiences.
• Support the dissemination of relevant promotional information among personnel, partners, and project participants or other relevant actors related to RFSA.
• Provide marketing and communications support for events, including signage, handouts, talking points, photos, liaising with media, etc
• Support the creation of processes, manuals, and trainings for RFSA staff and partners on issues related to communications, marketing, and media.

Typical Background, Experience & Requirements:

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Journalism, Marketing or Communications.
• Minimum of 4 years’ work experience for bachelor’s and 2 years for Master of Work experience in marketing and communication experience, ideally for an NGO or another organization in development and relief programming. Experience in INGOs or UN preferred.
• Excellent English language oral and written communication skills is required.
• Individual must possess the ability to influence without direct authority.
• Ability and desire to work well with diverse employees and customers in a cooperative and friendly manner.
• Demonstrated track record of successfully disseminating information to a variety of target audiences.
• Highly proficiency in Microsoft Office applications and desktop publishing skills is required.
• Experience in Adobe Creative Suite, especially InDesign, is strongly desired.

Personal Skills

• Observation, active listening and analysis skills with ability to make sound judgment
• Good relationship management skills and the ability to work closely with local partners and community members

• Attention to detail, accuracy and timeliness in executing assigned responsibilities
• Proactive, result-oriented and service-oriented

 Required/Desired Foreign Language

Travel Required (50%)

 Key Working Relationships:

Supervisory: Reports to CLA Technical Advisor and works very closely with SPO Knowledge Management and Learning.

Internal: CoP, DCoP Programming, MEAL, and Youth/Gender, ELRP Technical Managers, RFSA MEAL Team. Also works with CP and Regional Communications team.

External:  Implementing partner organizations, government staff managing accountability programmes, other organizations working in accountability.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff): 

These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results. 

• Serves with Integrity
• Models Stewardship
• Cultivates Constructive Relationships
• Promotes Learning

Disclaimer:  This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.