Media Development & Risk Communication Advisor - FHI 360

The Covid-19 Media Development and Risk Communication Advisor will be a senior member of the project team and work with regional and local NGO partners, Ghana Health Service, non-governmental organizations, community organizations, USAID, and others to achieve the successful implementation of the project.

The Covid-19 Media Development and Risk Communication Advisor will work under the oversight of the Chief of Party to provide specialized technical assistance to the Ghana Health Service, local NGOs, USAID Implementing partners, and partner organizations to design, develop, and implement mass and social media-focused health promotion, behavioural change, advocacy, and vaccine acceptance with respect to Covid-19 and other health issues covered by the ASBC program of work.

• Coordinates and leads the provision of technical assistance in the development and implementation of Social and Behavioral Change Communication (SBCC) strategies, mass/social media relations campaigns, and private sector engagement efforts to promote positive behavioural change in Covid 19 and a wide variety of health areas (maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH); family planning (FP); nutrition; water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); malaria prevention, control) through conducting formative research, designing appropriate communication strategies, developing mass media (radio, TV, print, electronic and social media) materials, distribution and evaluation.
• Facilitates and directs, in close collaboration with the Ghana Health Service, the deployment of risk communication strategies and approaches for Covid-19 vaccination updates and other public health threats.
• Facilitate community dialogues, and coordinate with community health workers to integrate COVID-19 vaccine promotion into household-level activities. Illustrative activities to include health behaviour change messaging into school and faith-based activities and routine provider counselling, small mid-media or community radio activities, and/or SMS.
• Supports the design and development of qualitative and formative research including the establishment of performance indicators and measures to monitor and record outcome and impact data.
• Finalizes reports, press releases, communication products (flyers, posters, leaflets, booklets, health worker job aids, social media posts, newsletters etc.) and other documents as required. Must show demonstrated ability to convert technically complex concepts into plain language.
• Negotiates broadcast airtime and buying and placing communications on these platforms and, working with monitoring and evaluation project staff, will monitor for reach, recall rate and other relevant impact parameters.
• Responds to the specified deliverables and goals of contracts and grant agreements, ensuring achievements in a timely manner and in full support and compliance with FHI360 contractual agreements.
• Completes detailed strategy write-ups, work plans, and delivers quarterly reports and all other reporting requirements.
• Oversees the work of consultants and subcontractors, as required.
• Liaises and manages partner organizations involved in country program activities and builds the capacity of local organizations and others through the development and implementation of capacity assessments, training courses and other capacity-strengthening activities.
  
  

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS & REQUIREMENTS:

• Minimum of a Master’s degree in communication, social science, behavioral change communication, strategic communication, journalism, public relations, marketing or related field.
• 8-10 years of experience in implementing and managing social and behavior change, community-level engagement public relations, mass media and/or health advocacy projects or campaigns in Ghana. The ideal candidate must have demonstrated experience in planning and implementing strategic media and risk communication campaigns for Covid-19 or other infectious diseases.
• Knowledge of state-of-the-art Social and Behavior Change, risk communication, and related models and strategies and their practical application. Technical knowledge of Covid-19 and more of the health topic areas (MNCH, FP, malaria, WASH, nutrition,) is desirable.
• Demonstrated experience in the development and use of multi-media approaches to change behavior and risk communication strategies.

• Ability to synthesize and translate technically complex information into plain language communication products. Working in low-literacy settings is a plus
• Demonstrated ability to work with communities, community structures and systems with the ability to communicate, build rapport and motivate behaviour change
• Field experience in developing and implementing social and behaviour change communication, advocacy and public relations projects and programs in Ghana at the regional, district and sub-district level that have demonstrated impact
• Demonstrated ability in working with public relations, marketing, social media and mass media outlets (broadcast TV and radio stations/networks, TikTok, Facebook etc. )
• Understanding of widely accepted formative research, pretesting, and monitoring and evaluation methodologies for effective communication and public relations/advocacy campaigns
• Demonstrated strong technical, programming and management skills. Experience managing donors and donor funding preferred.
• Proven ability to work as an effective team member and motivate and supervise teams.
• Excellent oral/written communication skills in English and one or more additional local languages a plus.
• Demonstrated interpersonal and negotiation skills and experience working in collaboration with partners, donors and NGOs.
• Ability to set priorities while multi-tasking, and meet deadlines