Еxternal Communications Advisor

IFES Ukraine requires the services of an External Communications Advisor for one year to support IFES’ external communications and provide high-level analytical input to materials on political and electoral matters produced by IFES or IFES’s stakeholders. The External Communications Advisor will redraft and compile IFES Ukraine’s English-language external communications, analyses, reports, and briefings, per request of IFES Ukraine Country Director and/or IFES Ukraine Deputy Country Director.

IFES is a non-profit, non-partisan international organization. As the global leader in democracy promotion, IFES advances good governance and democratic rights by providing technical assistance to election officials; empowering the underrepresented to participate in the political process; and applying field-based research to improve the electoral cycle. Since 1987, IFEShas worked in over 135 countries, from developing democracies to mature democracies.

Since 1994, IFES has played a significant role in promoting electoral, administrative and legal reform in Ukraine.  In cooperation with partners in Ukrainian civil society and the Central Election Commission (CEC), IFES is working to foster dialogue on electoral reform, build the capacity of local NGOs, institutionalize best practices in training election officials and ensure more equal representation in the electoral process for disadvantaged populations, especially women and persons with disabilities.

The Advisor will perform the following tasks:

• Provide analytical input to and drafting/substantive editing of IFES’ and non-IFES’ English-language external communication materials on political and electoral matters, including but not limited to analyses, articles, reports, briefings, correspondence, and other documents as required;
• Contribute to writing and updating IFES’ external communication materials, briefs and publications related to political and electoral matters;
• Coordinate closely with IFES Ukraine Communications Officer, IFES Ukraine Deputy Country Director and other staff to ensure accuracy and relevance of the material, logical analysis, inclusion of all relevant facts and information, and coherence of the arguments.
• Ensure each text/communication is formulated for appropriate audience;  
• Maintain a file with final versions of all communications in Word format, using IFES Ukraine file naming guidelines;
• Provide timely services, including weekends and holidays

Requirements:

• Native English speaker;
• Bachelor’s degree or higher in law, political science, journalism, or another related field;
• At least 15 years of demonstrated experience in the field of international electoral support, governance development, and/or political/public affairs;
• At least 10 years of demonstrated experience working with international donor-supported democracy and governance technical assistance projects in Ukraine and/or in Eastern Europe and/or the former Soviet Union countries;
• Solid understanding of political, economic and social context of Ukraine and the region, relevant political processes, electoral legal framework and procedures, and media environment of Ukraine;
• Proven experience in comprehensive, substantial writing and editing of internal and external communications and media materials;
• Knowledge of Russian/Ukrainian is an asset.

Deliverables:

Final, disseminated Word versions of external communications.

To apply for this position, interested candidates should email their CVs and samples of written materials on electoral topics to Kateryna Makhova ([email protected]) copying Maksym Palamarchuk ([email protected]) with “External Communications Advisor” in the subject line. The deadline for application is March 11, 2019.