Comunication Officer

Position: Comunication Officer
Duty Location: Ho Chi Minh – Vietnam
Duration: November 1, 2011 – May 15, 2012
Date of Issuance: October 11, 2011
Deadline for Application: October 20, 2011

Organization Profile
Room to Read is an International non-governmental organization currently working in 10 countries of Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Zambia,
and Tanzania. Our global headquarters is located in San Francisco, USA.
Room to Read partners with local communities throughout the developing world to provide quality educational opportunities by establishing libraries, creating local language childrens literature, constructing schools, and providing education to girls. We seek to intervene early in the lives of children in the belief that education empowers people to improve socioeconomic conditions for their families, communities, countries, and future generations. Through the opportunities that only education can provide, we strive to break the cycle of poverty, one child at a time.
Since their inception, Room to Read’s worldwide team has impacted over 4.1 million children by constructing 1,129 schools, establishing 10,000 libraries, publishing 550 new children’s book titles
in 22 local languages, and putting over 10,000 girls onto long-term, holistic scholarships. Their long-term goal is to help 10 million children to gain the lifelong gift of education.
In Vietnam, Room to Read has been implementing five programs including the Reading Room, the Girls’ Education, the Local Language Publishing, the Literacy Instruction, and the School Room in
eight provinces and city of Vietnam.

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 (with photos attached)
- 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 Asia Regional Office Communication Teams, lead and manage the implemetation of Communication Plan and advocacy strategy for RtR Vietnam.
- 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 and Asia Regional 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.

Qualifications:
Required:
- Bachelor or Master Degree in relevant fields (International Relations, Communication or Journalist, Marketing etc.)
- A minimum of 3 years of professional experience with NGOs, UN agency
- Good verbal and written communication skills in both Vietnamese and English (for newsletter, press release, reports, media involved writings...)
- Editing, especially the ability to reduce large volumes of complex information into accessible and brief communication products.
- Able to work effectively in cross-cultural settings and can support, negotiate and cooperate with those of other cultures.
- Good knowledge and understanding about Vietnam, particularly education issues, economic and social 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:
- Strong public speaking skills for training and presentations
- Ability to solve problems quickly
- Diplomacy / being able to balance the needs and desires of local community with donor expectations
- Can-do attitude
- International travel experience
- 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.
- Photography skills

Compensation:
The salary range for this position will be determined based upon the experience of the candidate hired. Benefits including health and a retirement plan are also provided. Additional benefits include a unique opportunity to be part of an innovative, meaningful, and rapidly growing organization that is changing the world through the lifelong gift of education.

Application Procedure:
Please send your Cover Letter and Curriculum Vitae to: Ms Ngoc Diep at [email protected] with subject “Communication Officer”.

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.