Communication Officer

Position: Communication Officer
Location: Ho Chi Minh City

Organization Profile

Room to Read seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in developing countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Working in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and governments, we develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete secondary school with the relevant life skills to succeed in school and beyond.

We are non-governmental, non-religious and work with many local NGOs and community based organizations to implement our programs. We currently work in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Vietnam, and Zambia – countries with a desperate lack of resources to educate their children. Since our inception, Room to Read’s worldwide team has impacted over 7.8 million children by constructing more than 1,600 schools, establishing over 15,000 libraries, publishing 874 new children’s book titles in 27 local languages, and reaching over 20,000 girls through our Girls’ Education program.

Room to Read has an annual budget of approximately US$43.7 million and our global staff numbers over 600. Our global headquarters is located in San Francisco, and we have smaller fundraising offices in Delhi, New York, Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, Sydney, and Tokyo. We have an Asia Regional Office located in New Delhi and program offices in Colombo, Dar es Salaam, Dhaka, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Kathmandu, Lusaka, New Delhi, Pretoria, Phnom Penh, and Vientiane.

To be successful as a member of the Room to Read team, you will also:

• Have passion for our mission and a strong desire to impact a dynamic nonprofit organization
• Be an innovative and creative thinker that tries new things and inspires others to do so
• Have a very high level of personal and professional integrity and trustworthiness
• Have a strong work ethic and require minimal direction
• Work well independently as well as part of a team
• Thrive in a fast-paced and fun environment

Position Overview:

• In cooperation with Program Teams, take responsibilities and provides overall logistical coordination to facilitate and host local and international visitors/donors for all types of site visit to support Room to Read's (RtR) Programs.
• To lead development of promotional materials for publicity about RtR Vietnam's program. Maximize supports of RtR’s programs by sourcing and communicating key information about children’s education issues to relevant audiences world-wide. Initiate and assist in the development of network of communications with NGOs, local media, communities, government, UN agencies and donors.
• The position will report directly to Country Director.

Responsibilities:

• Host visits for donors and potential donors
• Provide donors with information and suggestions on hotels, restaurants, local attractions
• Write donor site visit reports
• Manage and coordinate in-country travel agency for trek arrangements.
• Develop welcome pack to provide donors an overview of context of RtR work, guidelines for visits, culture, etc.
• Review of all in-country marketing materials
• Lead development of all marketing materials within templates provided by Global Office, such as RtR Vietnam’s annual report and general brochures, pamphlets, newsletters and the website.
• Visit projects with Vietnam Program Teams in order to keep up to date with situation in the field, discuss new ideas and learn from what is happening in the field and help the team to write anecdotes.
• Work to enhance the public image of the organization and generate supports for RtR Vietnam by developing and communicating key information about the country program to relevant audiences, domestically and world-wide.
• In cooperation with Global Office and Communication Teams, lead and manage the development of Communication Plan and advocacy strategy for RtR Vietnam and implement it accordingly.
• Develop and use communication tools to train all applicable staff members on how to represent RtR and effectively communicate the organization’s mission and programs.
• Respond to specific requests for communications support from Global Office and Asia Regional Office and other audiences.
• Maintain good working relationships with key media people and help communicate all important events to Global/Asia Communications Teams.  
• Monitor and manage all information flow mechanisms and assist the managers in country when necessary to write special reports for project evaluation or project closure.
• Attend and participate in relevant meetings, workshops with NGOs, MoEt etc. when needed.
• Establish and maintain relationship with potential local donors and explore local funding opportunities
• Manage local activities with corporate donors, who are present in Vietnam
• Work closely with GO Development Team to develop grant proposal
• Prepare and manage annual budget for communication

Qualifications:

Required:

• Bachelor or Master Degree in relevant fields (International Relations, Communication or Journalist, Marketing etc.)
• A minimum of 2 years of professional experience with NGOs, UN agency
• Good verbal and written communication skills in English
• Editing, especially the ability to reduce large volumes of complex information into accessible and brief communication products.
• Strong  public speaking skills for training and presentations
• Good knowledge and understanding Vietnam particularly education issues, economic and development of the country.
• Ability to travel frequently to provinces throughout country.
• Excellent inter-personable skills
• Ability to perform multi-task
• Self-motivated, flexible and able to work without close supervision.
• Honest and trustworthy

Preferred:

• INGO/Travel / Tourism / Hospitality background
• Ability to solve problems quickly
• Diplomacy / being able to balance the needs and desires of local community with donor expectations
• Enthusiasm
• Can-do attitude
• International travel experience
• Able to work effectively in cross-cultural settings and can support, negotiate and cooperate with those of other cultures.
• The ability to do information synthesis—good judgment about what is relevant.
• A lively, enquiring, learning mind.
• Computer skills and programs: Word processing, Excel, Photoshop Publisher and with good skills to use Internet effectively to conduct research on materials that would be useful in presenting RtR to the public.

Working location:  

She/He will be working mainly in Ho Chi Minh city and frequent travel for work to other provinces or cities upon the request of the organization and job required.

Expected starting:  January 2016

Application Procedure:

Please send your Curriculum Vitae (in English) to HR department at [email protected]

Application due: until the position is filled.

Due to the high volume of applicant response, not all applicants may receive a response from Room to Read. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.    

Room to Read is an equal opportunity employer committed to identifying and developing the skills and leadership of people from diverse backgrounds.