The Integrated Health Services (IHS) project, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC),is supporting the implementation of the national health sector reform agenda.

The four-year project, will focus on secondary healthcare and its interlinkage with primary health care in Kosovo, ensuring qualitative, affordable, and integrated care to patients with Non-Communicable Disease conditions with a special focus on vulnerable population groups. The project is implemented by the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute.

The IHS project is seeking applicants for the following position:

Advocacy and Communication Officer

Job summary:

To design, prepare, deliver and evaluate media and communication activities as well as provide advising role on a range of advocacy pieces, methods, and approaches dealing with communication/public relation issues

Key responsibilities:

• In collaboration with the policy expert of the team, develop an advocacy strategy to effectively support relevant policy engagement with the Ministry.
• Produce all project communication materials, in collaboration with health experts of the team and contracted companies, for printed/other media materials as needed: posters; leaflets; manuals, reports; videos; radio adverts; newsletters; social media pages etc, which need to meet all set standards;
• Organise IHS media events, coordinating with the Ministry of Health and KHUCS communication staff as appropriate;
• Support all team experts, according to their streams of work, by incorporating the patients, health staff, policymakers’ perspectives in fulfilling the objectives set up by the health system in the country.
• Contribute and ensure that any project’s report promote achievements that go beyond technical outcomes, by advocating and inspiring results that improve patients’ experience in different levels of health care;
• Ensure that any planned intervention targeting patients’ needs will contribute alignment to the following results: equal and best possible access to all, extend care beyond treatment, build communication and trust amongst health parties, encourage evidence-based education, and positively affecting the policymaking process.
• Assist the health experts to develop, implement and monitor communication strategies for project activities and related interventions are of high quality;
• Support hospital-level stakeholders to implement communication activities related to the various streams of work belonging to the outcome areas;
• Develop content for the website, through coordination with health experts and project’s stakeholders and ensure it is kept up-to-date in 3 languages; maintain social media pages;
• Provide communication materials for the donor agency and project’s partners, as well as other professional networks; ensure that all materials meet the corporate identity standards

Key competencies:

• Degree in Media and Communication, Public Relations, Journalism or equivalent with a minimum of 10 years’ demonstrable work experience in the field of advocacy, communication/media at national and local levels;
• Previous experience as a Advocacy/Communication Expert in the not-for-profit sector;
• Knowledge of Social and Behaviour Change Communication principles;
• Excellent written and oral skills in English and Albanian. Serbian language skills are preferable;
• High-level expertise in producing quality communication materials;
• Extensive experience in organising media/communication events at national and local levels(Project launches, community-based events, etc.);
• Demonstrated ability to work in a changing, multi-cultural environment and establish harmonious and effective working relationships and teambuilding; excellent interpersonal skills;
• Able to work independently to deadlines, with excellent attention to details;
• Proven experience working with diverse communities, local partners and civil society institutions;
• Expertise in using core IT applications, particularly MS Office. Knowledge of media software is desirable;
• Full driving license and willingness to travel as required

This is a part-time (50%) position, open only to national experts.

We encourage qualified candidates to submit their electronic application in a PDF version, which has to contain the following documents: 1) Cover Letter2) Curriculum Vitae (it is recommended it is revised and adapted according to this application context); 3) Three references related to prior employment history. Contacts, that could possibly be contacted about your application, should contain the following info: name, institution, email and phone number. 4) Supporting documents (certificates, diplomas etc.) related to specific skills and competences requested by the position.

The application must be sent to [email protected], and the subjectof the email should contain

Name & Last name – Title of position. All documents should be in English.

If you require any further information about this application, feel free to contact Dr. Fabian CENKO, the Team Leader of the project ([email protected]).

The closing date for submission of applications is 15th October 2022.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.