Internews Lebanon: Humanitarian Liaison Officer

Through its Rooted in Trust (RIT project) Internews will disrupt and mitigate the flow of misleading, inaccurate or malign information for vulnerable populations affected by humanitarian crises during COVID-19, when the accuracy and timeliness of public health information and the quality of communication between communities and the agencies that serve them is vital to health outcomes. Internews' methodologies are part of the wider humanitarian Community Engagement and Accountability efforts and contribute to Risk Communication & Community Engagement (RCCE) efforts from health and humanitarian partners, by ensuring that community perspectives are captured to inform RCCE strategies and that concerns, rumors and questions are addressed with reliable information that comes from, and is created by, local media or other reliable information providers on a variety of both traditional and social media platforms. This approach galvanizes and supports local media, particularly those trusted and used by vulnerable communities experiencing humanitarian crises, to fully play their role as information providers, as facilitators of conversations within their communities, and as watchdogs and agents of accountability for responders  and service providers. Internews will ensure that the work of humanitarian and health organizations is shaped by and responsive to the expressed needs of vulnerable communities and local contexts as the pandemic unfolds.

The main role of the Humanitarian Liaison Officer (HLO) is to represent the community's perspectives and COVID-19 rumors as collected by the Rooted in Trust team and partners in front of the RCCE and other humanitarians. The HLO will also ensure that project staff are up to date with the latest developments in the humanitarian and health response. In doing so, the HLO will be in regular contact with officials from the UN, national and international NGOs. the HLO will participate in relevant coordination meetings.

This position is contingent upon funding and would last from mid-December 2020 to end of February 2021 (2.5 months maximum). 

Applicants will be considered on a rolling basis in the month of December. 

Scope of work: 

• Develop, maintain, and establish excellent working relationships with a wide range of humanitarian responders (UN agencies, NGO partners, etc.). Make them aware about the project and its objectives;
• Represent the coordination and liaison work of the project and actively participate in all relevant humanitarian coordination forums to identify critical information gaps regarding the recovery;
• Liaise with UN agencies and partner NGOs to gather and disseminate content for and from the Humanitarian Information Service - rumor bulletins, audio content and feedback analysis;
• Contribute to the discussions and development of new guidelines, resources, rules and regulations to ensure the community's perspectives are taken into account, local media is included and supported within the humanitarian response; 
• Share with the rest of the Project Team the latest humanitarian updates to enable them to turn it into useful, actionable, accurate and engaging content that communities can relate to/understand;
• Play a leading role in the production of biweekly publications, developing qualitative analysis of rumor findings and linking bulletins to relevant humanitarian services. 

Essential Qualifications:

• Experience working in complex relief operations in challenging environments, preferably in humanitarian and/or health crisis contexts;
• A thorough understanding of the work of humanitarian and development agencies, including working within the UN cluster system;
• Proven interpersonal and networking skills to liaise authoritatively with figures from the aid and donor communities;
• A good understanding of technical language and jargon used by humanitarian agencies - and demonstrated experience of turning this into engagement content with "human speak" for people who are not familiar with it;
• A self-starter and proactive problem solver who enjoys communication and collaboration in a multi-stakeholder environment;
• Proficiency in English (written and spoken) required, working proficiency in Arabic is a plus;
• Sensitivity to cross-cultural dynamics in the workplace and experience supervising staff;
• Must be self-reliant, resourceful, a good problem-solver, good humored and flexible;
• Experience in Communication with Communities (CwC) and Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) a plus.