Poland: Project Communication Officer

Background

This is an extra-budgetary position.

The initial contract will be for one year, renewable until the project ends. The expected duration of the project is until 31 December 2018 and the selected candidate should commit to being available for the duration of the project.

The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is the principal institution of the OSCE responsible for the human dimension. The ODIHR’s activities are implemented in 57 participating States in accordance with the ODIHR’s political mandate.

Under the Maastricht Ministerial Council Decision on Tolerance and Non-Discrimination (TND), the ODIHR was given the task to serve as a collection point for information and statistics on hate crimes, including on forms of violent manifestations of racism, xenophobia, discrimination and intolerance and to report regularly on these issues. On 28-29 April 2004, an OSCE Conference on Anti-Semitism was held in Berlin which resulted in a “Berlin Declaration” which tasked the ODIHR with closely following anti-Semitic incidents in the OSCE area and with collecting and disseminating information on best practices for preventing and responding to anti-Semitism. The incumbent will be responsible for developing and implementing all of Programme activities and projects related to anti-Semitism and will be responsible for ensuring the overall implementation of taskings given to the ODIHR under the Permanent Council Decision on Combating Anti-Semitism (Decision No. 607). In 2014, OSCE participating States met to take stock of how their commitments to address anti-Semitism had been implemented. Following this, the OSCE’s 2014 Basel Ministerial Council Declaration No. 8 on Enhancing Efforts to Combat anti-Semitism specifically tasked ODIHR to offer to participating States best practices on efforts to counter anti-Semitism, including by consulting civil society, to effectively identify and address contemporary manifestations of anti-Semitism; to facilitate the exchange of best practices among participating States on educational initiatives and other measures to raise awareness of anti-Semitism and overcome challenges to Holocaust education, and to promote dialogue and strengthen the capacity of civil society to foster mutual respect and understanding in order to advance the cause of co-operation between different communities.

With a clear basis in the expressed will of all OSCE participating States over many years, ODIHR developed the project focusing on addressing the security needs of Jewish communities; countering anti-Semitism through education, and fostering civil society coalition building.

Under the guidance of ODIHR’s Tolerance and Non-Discrimination Department, this project is implemented by a dedicated team of staff funded from extrabudgetary sources. The team, consisting of nine members, is led by a Project Manager (Anti-Semitism project) based in the ODIHR office in Warsaw, who is responsible for co-ordinating project activities with TND senior management and staff of the Direction and Policy. In addition, the project team consists of: two Project Officers, Assistant Project Officer, three Administrative Assistants, a Budget Assistant and a Finance Assistant all located in Warsaw.

Tasks and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of Project Manager, and in co-ordination with another Project Officer, the incumbent performs the following:

• is responsible for communication issues during the implementation of the project to increase project visibility and maximize the impact of ODIHR’s intervention in OSCE participating States: 1) prepares the communication and visibility plan for project implementation; 2) oversees the work of external experts to build the website of the project; 3) co-ordinates the implementation of the communication and visibility plan with the OSCE press office and ODIHR’s Public Affairs Unit; 4) liaises with all project staff to ensure that project activities have visibility.
• represents the Project Manager and ODIHR project at seminars, meetings and conferences as appropriate, and reports back on all developments relevant to ODIHR.
• produces relevant background documents, talking points and speeches and accompanies Project Manager during those events.
• prepares, organizes and is responsible for implementing component(s) of project activities in accordance with the implementation plan ensuring compliance with all contractual obligations towards the donor and with the OSCE common regulatory framework (in particular, organizes meetings, seminars, workshops, roundtables and conferences). Regularly reviews progress in project implementation, including adherence to budget limits. Identifies experts, develops implementation plans and timetables, elaborates details of agendas; reviews the work of experts against the terms of reference of the contract. Manages the work of Administrative Assistant;
• monitors, analyses, advises and recommends action to the Project Manager on political and policy related issues with respect to the project areas assigned.
• performs other related duties, as required.

Necessary Qualifications

· University Degree in a subject related to the topic of the project (such as public relations, journalism, project management, law, human rights, social sciences, international relations, etc);

· At least six years of progressively responsible and relevant professional experience in the field of project management for development assistance; prior experience in dealing with EU and/or other internationally-funded projects;

· Management experience;

· Experience in providing policy and political advice in international organizations; as well as experience in designing and implementing communication and visibility strategy;

· Established solid analytical skills;

· Proven track record dealing with major donors and monitoring the implementation of donor agreements for multi-million euro projects;

· Prior experience of co-operation with international organizations at the field and headquarters level;

· Computer literate with practical experience in Microsoft applications

· Excellent oral and written communication skills in English. Knowledge of language(s) spoken in the project’s geographical area or that of a group of people that the project is supporting is desirable.

· Ability to establish and maintain effective working relations with people of different national, ethnic and cultural backgrounds;

· Demonstrated gender awareness and sensitivity, and an ability to integrate a gender perspective into tasks and activities.

Remuneration:

Monthly remuneration, subject to social security deductions as well as monthly changes of the post adjustment multiplier and exchange rate, is approximately EUR 4,800 (single rate) and approximately EUR 5,100 (dependency rate). OSCE salaries are exempt from taxation in Poland.

Social security will include participation in the Cigna international medical insurance scheme and OSCE Provident Fund maintained by the OSCE. The Organization contributes an amount equivalent to 15% of the employee's salary to this Fund and the employee contributes 7.5%. Other allowances and benefits are similar to those offered under the United Nations Common System. Appointments are normally made at step 1 of the applicable OSCE salary scale

If you wish to apply for this position, please use the OSCE's online application link found under http://www.osce.org/employment.

The OSCE retains the discretion to re-advertise the vacancy, to cancel the recruitment, to offer an appointment at a lower grade or to offer an appointment with a modified job description or for a different duration.

Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

Please note that vacancies in the OSCE are open for competition only amongst nationals of participating States, please see http://www.osce.org/who/83

The OSCE is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious, ethnic and social backgrounds to apply to become a part of the Organization.

The OSCE is a non-career organization committed to the principle of staff rotation.

No application fees or information with respect to bank account details are required by OSCE for our recruitment process.