Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
About CRS
Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.
About Restore Africa
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the Lead Implementing Organization (LIO) for Restore Africa project – Restoring Landscapes and Livelihoods in Malawi, designed and implemented in collaboration with Global Evergreening Alliance with investment from Climate Asset Management. The project is being implemented in the 7 districts of Chitipa, Mzimba, Ntcheu, Mangochi, Machinga, Neno, and Zomba through a consortium of 6 implementing partners and one technical partner. It is part of the wider Restore Africa Programme, a community-led carbon land restoration programme that implements nature-based solutions through a collaborative approach. The program will accelerate and massively scale up the adoption of Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) and other complementary Evergreening practices in six African countries – Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
The Malawi project seeks to improve livelihoods, food security and resilience to climate change by restoring ecosystem services and improving management of agricultural and forest areas, contributing to emissions reductions. This project will enable and build substantial carbon sinks and sequestration opportunities, allowing viable returns to both farmers and investors. Landscapes will be restored on approximately 350,000 ha, improving livelihoods and climate resilience for an estimated 380,000 households. This will sequester approximately 15,500,000 tonnes CO2e, over a 30-year crediting period. The project goal is to improve resilience to climate shocks for smallholder farmers and communities resulting in improved livelihoods, food security, and landscapes.
Job Summary
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) under the Restore Africa project in Malawi seeks to engage an intern to support production, processing and storage of marketing and communications materials in line with the Restore Africa Communication Strategy which aims to:
- Increase visibility of the Restore Africa Programme and raise awareness of land degradation, climate change and the livelihoods of smallholder farming families at a national level through the programme.
- Promote and document the scaling up of agroforestry and evergreening practices such as FMNR by growing the reach of such practices through communication on the ground, at a national and global level.
- To reach a broad audience through the use of clear, optimistic and accessible language and create media, communication and marketing assets to deliver a high level of reporting to investors and to be used on the global stage.
- Use the individual networks of the Consortiums to create massive momentum behind the Restore Africa brand.
The Communications Intern works closely with the Communications Officers for CRS Malawi and GEA to create content and to ensure strategic alignment of communications, consistent messaging and a strong brand identity. The Communications Intern supports content creation and uses effective communications channels to reach a number of different audiences and help increase Restore Africa positioning for funding and influence. This includes stories, multimedia and reports as required, as well as ensuring CRS’ compliance with donor branding and marking requirements.
Roles and Key Responsibilities
Anticipated duties with supervision and guidance from the Communications Officer include:
- Collect and collate, directly and in collaboration with Implementing Partner communications teams, the project baseline media:
- Identification of “hero farmers” to be tracked over lifetime of project
- Develop template on information to be collected for each farmer/farming family
- Conduct interviews, take photos/videos
- Collate and index all information in cloud storage
- With direction from the Communications Manager, provide marketing and communications support for events, including signage, handouts, talking points, photos, liaising with media, etc., and convene local media whenever a Restore Africa event takes place
- Write, edit and collate regular success stories to share with GEA monthly
- Update all communication material templates (leaflets, brochures, Powerpoint) in line with the Restore Africa style guide
- Contribute on a regular basis project updates and news to the CRS internal social media (Yammer etc)
Preferred Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree in Media, Communications, Journalism or a related area with a focus on content creation and management
- Demonstrated skills in photography/videography
- Good writing skills in English
- Good computer skills, knowledge of Microsoft Office, and responsible use of social media. Experience in Adobe Creative Suite, especially InDesign, is strongly desired.
- Willingness to learn
- Interest in media for development
Supervisory Responsibilities
None
Responsibilities
Roles and Key Responsibilities
Anticipated duties with supervision and guidance from the Communications Officer include:
- Collect and collate, directly and in collaboration with Implementing Partner communications teams, the project baseline media:
- Identification of “hero farmers” to be tracked over lifetime of project
- Develop template on information to be collected for each farmer/farming family
- Conduct interviews, take photos/videos
- Collate and index all information in cloud storage
- With direction from the Communications Manager, provide marketing and communications support for events, including signage, handouts, talking points, photos, liaising with media, etc., and convene local media whenever a Restore Africa event takes place
- Write, edit and collate regular success stories to share with GEA monthly
- Update all communication material templates (leaflets, brochures, Powerpoint) in line with the Restore Africa style guide
- Contribute on a regular basis project updates and news to the CRS internal social media (Yammer etc)
Qualifications
Preferred Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree in Media, Communications, Journalism or a related area with a focus on content creation and management
- Demonstrated skills in photography/videography
- Good writing skills in English
- Good computer skills, knowledge of Microsoft Office, desktop publishing and responsible use of social media. Experience in Adobe Creative Suite, especially InDesign, is strongly desired.
- Willingness to learn
- Interest in media for development
Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)
These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.
- Integrity
- Continuous Improvement & Innovation
- Builds Relationships
- Develops Talent
- Strategic Mindset
- Accountability & Stewardship