EMPOWER Project - Vacancy for Project Officer

Lanka Development Journalist Forum

Terms of Reference

1. About LDJF

(Sri) Lanka Development Journalist Forum (LDJF) has about 12 years of extensive experience in working with Youth, Civil society organizations, Women’s organizations, academia and policy reformists, through a unique approach and theory of change. LDJF has reached the pinnacle of advocating for diverse, just, equal and gender-sensitive media through its educational initiatives. Using innovative and state of the art communication strategies and communication plans, LDJF has proven itself to be in the lead in promoting development, peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka. It has proven time and time again that media has the power for positive social transformation if steered with steady and trustworthy hands. Registered as Lanka Development Journalist Forum, LDJF is a non-governmental and national level organization that has been in operation since 2009. SDJF employs a variety of media tools and has institutionalized development communication principles to address voice poverty in the communities in Sri Lanka. A well-established media-based organization, LDJF operates with extensive experience in steering media towards democratization and social transformation process. SDJF work closely with local media organizations, International media development agencies, civil society organizations, institutes of higher education, youth and women development movements and other organizations that promote democracy and pluralism towards building inclusive societies.

2. About the Project EMPOWER

Empowering Youth led Initiatives in Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE) in Sri Lanka (EMPOWER) Project implemented by Helvetas Sri Lanka with the funding assistance from Global Community Engagement for Resilience Fund (GCERF). Under this project, LDJF has been selected as one of the sub grantee to implement a project in Ampara, Colombo and Kandy districts for over 7 months period.

The proposed action is to work with university students to increase their understanding and knowledge on drivers of violent extremism and transform them as change makers to spread co-existence and peace among peer university students, thus creating a community of students who are exceptionally sensitive and respectful of different cultures, religions and ethnicities.

The proposed action falls under the purview of the prevention of violent extremism (PVE), hate speech and serves as a tool to counter mis-information related to religion and ethnicity by way of new media

3. Job description

LDJF is looking for dynamic and qualified person for the position of a Project Officer to join our team and to work with university community to implement the project over the period of 7 months.

1. Overall responsibility

The project officer is responsible for;

1. Project management - Planning, Implementation and Overseeing, reporting the Project activities based on the project document, action plan and budget.
2. Knowledge management and documentation of the project
3. Financial oversight and management
4. Media relations and social media audience engagement

2. Specific responsibilities and tasks

• Planning, implementation, overseeing and reporting the activity according to the project document, action plan and Budget
• Develop a monthly action plan based on the approved project action plan and project document and transform them into weekly and daily task lists with deadlines and responsibilities.
• Develop a selection criteria for the beneficiaries, public call for application, review and select the final beneficiaries for the project.
• Develop a selection criteria for trainers/resource persons including their term of reference and in coordination with finance call for solicitation and support to select the suitable candidate for the program.
• Conduct all field activities, trainings, workshops, dialogues as per the project document and action plan.
• Organize forum theatre and digital drama performance in each project field location as per the project document and action plan.
• Responsible for the preparation of weekly, monthly and quarterly project progress report according to the project agreement.
• Responsible for the preparation of event reports separately for each event using the format provided by the donor.
• Coordinate and maintain a good working relationship with state universities and focal points.
• Work with Program Director and manage the budget related to project.

3. Knowledge management and documentation of project

• Be responsible for the project knowledge management and documentation such as trainer evaluation, summary event sheets, master-sheet, etc
• Be responsible for the pre/post evaluation and analysis of the results of all training program
• Maintain complete database of trained students and related project document online and offline.
• Record good practices and lessons learnt separately, under this project.
• Keep and store all the documents safe and accessible.

4. Financial oversight and management

• Be responsible for project overall budget management
•  Be responsible for process advance payment and settle as per advance policy of the organization.
• Conduct and review monthly budget Follow up

5. Media relations and social media audience engagement

• Take a lead in promoting MC activities with mainstream and social media.
• Maintain a healthy relationship with media community and editors.
• Write a pre/post press releases and publish through SDJF website and mainstream media and keep a record of them.
• Responsible for writing the “Snapshot” of any event on the same day.
  • Administrative Support: Project Officer will provide inputs and extend support to finalize for approval, all administrative documents such as MoUs, ToRs, Sub-grant Agreements, Service Agreements, etc.
  •  Any other tasks assigned by the Project Director or Board of Directors.

4. Qualification and experiences

• Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences, Development Communication, Mass Media, Journalism, Law, Management or other related field.
• Five years’ experience in a similar role in the non-governmental sector.
• Knowledge on Prevention of Violence Extremism (PVE) & youth engagement.
• Working experience with state universities are considered as an added advantage
• Excellent language skills in English and, Sinhala or Tamil.
• Computer skills in MS Office package and statistical software.
• Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills.
• Proven organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple tasks with a high degree of accuracy and attention to detail, including the ability to prioritize
• Sound knowledge and experience in using social media to engage online audiences
• Ability to plan strategically and creatively to meet specified objectives with strong ability to anticipate challenges and generate solutions
• Professionalism in written correspondence and report writing, excellent presentation and oral communication skills
• Strong work ethics, ability to work in a multicultural environment and travel outside Colombo.

5. Salary and Compensation

Decide based on the past salary history, qualification and experience of the candidate.

6. Commencement – Immediately

Please send your updated CV and expected salary range, along with a cover letter giving names of two non-related referees before 31st August 2022 to recruitment@Ldjf.org

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Females are highly encouraged to apply.