Democratic Republic of the Congo: Community Engagement Coordinator

Reporting to the Field Director, and in close collaboration with the MEAL Coordinator, the Community Engagement Coordinator will continue current and planned community engagement activities (patient exit surveys, community meetings, hotline, triage and isolation room posters) in the Ebola response. The Community Engagement Coordinator is expected to spend time in all field locations, directly training and mentoring field teams. In addition, the Community Engagement Coordinator will be responsible for maintaining regular contact with all partners including the Ministry of Health, UN agencies and other NGOs.

Responsibilities:

Direct support to IRC Ebola Response programs

• Ensure that the hotline continues to function, and support the MEAL team to continue community engagement efforts. Provide oversight and technical guidance to the M&E Manager to implement community engagement ideas and planned actions.
• Work closely with the Child Protection and WPE teams to support and strengthen their community engagement activities. Serve as a bridge between the IPC/WASH activities and the Ebola awareness-raising activities carried out by CP and WPE.
• Work closely with the IPC/WASH teams to ensure that they are incorporating inclusive community engagement activities into their work, and to ensure that sufficient community engagement and information activities precede IPC/WASH work in new locations.
• Identify and execute new approaches to strengthen community engagement, increase awareness and understanding of the IRC’s work, and open communication between the community and the IRC. These new approaches should include opportunities to incorporate the community into planning, designing, and maybe executing activities.
• Maintain up-to-date awareness of community perceptions of and feedback on Ebola response efforts, particularly those led by the IRC. This may involve secondary document reviews, carrying out community meetings, etc.
• Collaborate with the IRC Humanitarian Access and Security team on community engagement strategies and activities, particularly in new areas where the IRC plans to expand services. Share relevant information with the Humanitarian Access and Security team.

Ebola Response coordination and sub-commission participation

• Attend and actively participate in sub-commission community engagement meetings.
• Contribute to response-wide community engagement initiatives, strategy, and other global documents or work.

Coordinate community engagement activities with other humanitarian actors

• Maintain relationships with other humanitarian actors carrying out community engagement work or relevant social science research on community structures, engagement, communication, etc.
• Share relevant community engagement information, successful approaches, and materials with other actors
• Seek opportunities to work with other community engagement actors, such as participating in their community meetings or adopting best practices, to promote awareness of the IRC’s work in the community.
• Liaise and support Translators Without Borders to carry out their assessment on language and community within Beni and other locations (TBD).

Others

• Assist in business development by providing technical input for proposals.
• Update and develop program protocols based on the best available guidance and evidence.
• Lead on the hiring, training and mentoring of staff.
• Maintain open and professional relations with team members, promoting a strong team spirit and providing oversight and guidance to enable staff to successfully perform in their duties.
• Consistently and proactively monitor/assess the safety and security of field teams, promptly reporting concerns or incidents to IRC management and liaising with other external parties as required to maintain/enhance the security environment.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will be a community engagement professional with public health training

• Previous experience working in community engagement with demonstrated experience in community engagement and M & E staff management, supervision and the development of SOPs
• Experience in coordinating, implementing and managing community engagement activities in emergency contexts.
• Strong leadership, management, planning, analytical, interpersonal, and communication skills;
• Ability to live and work in stressful and insecure environment;
• Excellent initiator, able to manage multiple tasks.
• Able to work under pressure and good at timely decision making.
• Excellent professional approach and strong team building skills.
• Strong coordination and representation skills and well versed in convincing and clarification of views and points.
• Proven fluency in English and French is a must.

https://rescue.csod.com/ats/careersite/jobdetails.aspx?site=1&c=rescue&id=5178