Public Engagement Associate

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international humanitarian organization that delivers impartial medical care to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from health care in over 70 countries.

We welcome candidates who bring a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences to join us in working toward MSF’s common mission.

Department

The Communications Department is responsible for developing a coherent voice and delivering clear public messages to inform both US and international audiences of MSF, its field activities and the humanitarian principles that underpin them; to raise awareness about the plight of the populations we serve; to promote public communication aimed at exposing and describing the field reality, including dilemmas and challenges; and to garner public understanding for our advocacy messages related to field operational concerns and the Access Campaign, via the media, print and digital channels , public awareness and advocacy campaigns, conferences, etc.

Project

Purpose of the Job:

Under the direction of the Communications Department, supports MSF-USA’s public engagement projects and initiatives, including the department’s robust resource and speaker request program. Field requests for a range of audiences hosting a variety of events focused on public education, student engagement, fundraising, advocacy, and recruitment.

Tasks

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

• Supports the Public Engagement Officer and works with the Public Engagement Intern in the management of the Speakers Bureau program.
  • Helps the team field requests for MSF speakers from the general public, internal constituencies, fundraisers, and student groups. Decides which invitations to accept and facilitates communication and logistics for those accepted.
• In close collaboration with the Public Engagement Officer, maintains a virtual speaker training module and accompanying resources for MSF staff.
• In coordination with the Communications, Field HR, and Association teams, plans and executes MSF aid worker virtual training sessions with the goal of building a pool of qualified MSFers that can confidently communicate about MSF’s operations and communications priorities in this new landscape of virtual life during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Contributes to the creation and maintenance of educational resources and participates in the project to revamp MSF-USA’s web resources pages with the goal of increasing engagement and impact.
• Supports the MSF-USA Missing Maps program by attending mapathon events and preparation sessions and serves as a Mapping Expert that leads attendees during live events.
• Co-monitors correspondence in the event.rsvp and Missing Maps email inboxes with the Public Engagement Officer and Intern.
• Supports other Communications and public engagement activities and attends regular department and unit meetings.
• Takes part in the annual Communications Department retreat and contributes to the creation of the annual plan.

• Supports the Public Engagement Officer in gathering engagement metrics for each event/project.
• Supports the creation of promotional material for events, including but not limited to the creation of marketing emails, event registration web pages, and simple graphics.
• Supports the creation and execution of MSF-USA’s public outreach plans for each event or engagement activity.
• Supports day-of tech and logistics for major public events.
• Briefs/debriefs selected returning aid workers to stay abreast of MSF field activities, and to determine interest and ability for ongoing communications work.
• Provides logistics and technological support for MSF-USA’s internal engagement activities including BBLs, staff meetings, Association debates, and the General Assembly. May be called up to coordinate and lead virtual meetings on Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

Supervisory Responsibilities:  

May be asked to manage one or more staff consisting of temporary staff, paid interns, and volunteers.

Carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organization's policies and applicable laws. Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, and training intern or volunteers; planning, assigning, and directing work; appraising performance; rewarding and disciplining employees; addressing complaints and resolving problems.  

 Fiscal Responsibility  

Responsibilities include tracking expenses and timely submission of expense reports, while aligning with project expense budgets and making sure they are adhered to.

 Extent of Public Contact  

Regularly represents MSF to supporters, donors, and public event partners (academics, officials of medical and other professional associations, schools; event venues, conference coordinators). Within MSF-USA, interacts with office staff, Board of Directors, and aid workers to stay abreast of MSF issues and to identify participants in MSF Communications and Development work. 

Friends of MSF Project

• In coordination with the Public Engagement Officer, develop and maintain a strategic plan for MSF-USA’s Friends of MSF (formerly student chapter) program at US universities.
• Support current Friends of MSF groups by engaging with student communities on Slack, fulfilling requests and sending materials, supporting events, assisting in semester planning, etc.
• Recruit new Friends of MSF chapters when strategically favorable for MSF-USA.
• Develop and update relevant Friends of MSF web pages and resources.
• Produce accurate, detailed, and actionable reporting and insights for the Friends of MSF program.

Qualifications

• Prior MSF experience preferred, including coordinating or staffing MSF public events.
• Ability to engage with people from a variety of backgrounds such as students and high net worth individuals.
• Experience with public speaking and generating presentations for public speaking engagements.
• Experience creating and disseminating educational resources and communications trainings.
• Ability to collaborate with a variety of different team members within MSF to support your work.
• Excellent organization and planning skills.
• Experience in events planning – speaker identification and preparation, as well as logistics, publicity, and outreach, plus Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Strong interpersonal skills.
• Strong written and oral communications skills.
• Strong computer literacy, including ability to use word-processing software, presentation programs, spreadsheets, database software, and to search the internet for research purposes. Basic HTML coding, and knowledge of email marketing software a plus.
• Fluency in Zoom and Microsoft Teams, with the flexibility to master new event and meeting platforms with ease.
• Ability to write a range of correspondence from formal business letters to thank you notes.
• Ability to handle a large volume of work under pressure and with deadlines.
• Strong project management skills coupled with excellent time management and organizational skills.
• Keen attention to detail with ability to track multiple projects at one time.
• Ability to work with a minimum of supervision.
• Excellent judgment and diplomacy.
• Ability to effectively present information to varied audiences; and to coach others to do the same.
• Knowledge of international humanitarian affairs.

Working Conditions, Travel and Environment  

The duties of the job require regular attendance 5 days/week for a minimum of 35 hours. Must be available to work before 9:00 am, after 5:00 pm or on weekends, as required.  

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to sit for long periods and to concentrate on work, including typing, and turn out heavy volumes of work accurately, within the context of a moderately noisy office with many interruptions. Must be able to proofread own work accurately so that only minor corrections are needed on an infrequent basis. 
 

In the current environment, the employee should be able to work from home, demonstrating discipline and productivity in a virtual environment. They must also be willing to work from the road during large-scale events.

 Must be able to travel as required for standard domestic and international business travel.

Application Deadline: Open Until Filled  No phone calls please.

Please note that neither relocation assistance nor visa sponsorship will be offered for this position

MSF-USA/Doctors Without Borders is an Equal Opportunity Employer. No employee, or applicant for employment, shall be discriminated against in any term or condition of employment because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, or sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by law. We are constantly striving to make our organization anti-racist. Diversity, equity and inclusion are core values. As an employee, you become part of that mission. We expect this same commitment from our staff.

Type

HQ  

Pay Class & Contract Type

Regular FT Hourly Nonexempt 

Compensation

Starting salary low 60 to mid 60's (commensurate with experience)

Working Time (Hours Per Week)

35