Reports to: Director
Contract: 100%, 1 year with the possibility of an extension
Salary: As per organization policy
Start date: As soon as possible

Summary of Role:

• To communicate for OUCRU Nepal, as well as oversight and implementation of OUCRU Nepal’s branding

Background:

OUCRU’s vision is to have local, regional and global impact on health by leading a locally driven research programme on infectious diseases in Southeast Asia. The strategic objective of OUCRU’s public-facing communications activities during this period is to make our research more impactful by sharing timely, relevant, and evidence-based research results to inform our key stakeholders, including policymakers, the press, and the wider public. The strategic objective of our internal communications activities is to build a healthy, supportive, and inclusive working environment and foster a strong research culture.

OUCRU’s central communications department is based in Ho Chi Minh City, but supports internal and external communications across the entire OUCRU programme. You will be working to support external communications for the OUCRU Nepal Unit, as well as internal communications projects specific to the Nepal Unit. In addition, you will provide support to the OUCRU Nepal policy engagement programme, acting as a focal point for policy engagement activity within the Unit, and collaborating with the central policy engagement team based in Vietnam.

OUCRU has developed a policy engagement programme, with aims to support OUCRU’s engagement activities with policy makers in Vietnam in a systemic way. Systemic policy engagement means that projects are assessed for their potential policy impact; policy-making stakeholders’ interests’ are acknowledged and incorporated into project designs; and we have the infrastructure and expertise in place to support policy engagement, thereby ensuring that opportunities for policy impact are fully realized.

There are three main ways that we do this:

• Continuous support for researchers in policy engagement activities
• Developing and maintaining stakeholder advisory boards as appropriate to the scientific needs of the programme
• Monitoring and evaluation. We continuously monitor and evaluate our programme progress, to help us with decision making and reporting, and to ensure that our work remains relevant and useful for both our internal and our external stakeholders

Key Responsibilities and Tasks

The Communications Officer at OUCRU Nepal will report to the OUCRU Nepal Director, and will also be a member of the OUCRU Programme Communications team, and receive support and guidance from the OUCRU Communications Manager based in Ho Chi Minh city.

The role encompasses key responsibilities for both external and internal communications for OUCRU Nepal, as well as oversight and implementation of OUCRU Nepal’s branding.

The Communications Officer is also expected to work closely with the Public Engagement Team, and to contribute to other tasks when requested by the Director.

External Communications

OUCRU Website – Nepal content management and translation

• Develop content – including news stories, content about key projects, bio pages for OUCRU Nepal staff, and event information.
• Regularly review and update existing content on the OUCRU Nepal webpage.
• Oversee translation of localized content on the website into Nepali. 

Social Media

• Use Hootsuite to create regular social media content on both Facebook (OUCRU Nepal) and Twitter (OUCRU programme).
• Ensure that content is updated regularly, and created in the appropriate language for the relevant audiences.
• Manage queries generated through social media from public audiences (eg, managing comments, responding to direct messages).
• Monitor and evaluate social media outputs to report quarterly to OUCRU Comms Manager and OUCRU Nepal Director.

Media Monitoring

• Contribute to the OUCRU database of press outputs, where OUCRU Nepal is mentioned in press, or where OUCRU Nepal researchers have published outputs in the press (eg: opeds). The press database should be updated when there is news, and reported to OUCRU Comms manager and OUCRU Nepal Director.
• Serve as a point of contact for queries from the press, and assisting OUCRU Nepal Director with media responses as required.

Internal Communications

SharePoint Online and Office 365

• Work with the OUCRU Internal Communications Officer to create and maintain Sharepoint Online communication sites and team sites for OUCRU Nepal.
• Contribute content for OUCRU Programme Sharepoint pages when relevant, with support from the OUCRU Internal Communications Officer
• Support implementation of other Office 365 platforms in OUCRU Nepal with assistance of OUCRU Internal Communications Manager and IT (eg, Teams, Yammer, Room booking setup etc).

Digital Asset Management (Canto)

• Ensure that OUCRU Nepal digital assets such as photos, videos and logos are uploaded to the DAM system, and appropriately labelled.

Information Boards/Signage/Posters

• Update information notice boards in the OUCRU Nepal office
• Maintain signage for the OUCRU Nepal office, including signs for building, as needed. 

Press

• Localise OUCRU programme press guidelines for OUCRU Nepal.

Events

• Contribute to planning and coordination of events, including creating signs and advertising/promotional materials, photography and filming and other tasks as required.

Branding

The communications officer is responsible for ensuring that OUCRU Brand guidelines are adhered to.

• Assist with design/layout/oversight of branded communication products (eg, gifts, posters, pamphlets)
• Advise OUCRU staff on use of branding in their own materials (eg: powerpoint presentations, reports)
• Ensure that the mission statement for OUCRU Nepal is visible.
• Ensure that correct, up to date versions of branded digital assets such as logos are accessible by all staff.
• Create and maintain templates for use by OUCRU Nepal staff that are consistent with OUCRU brand guidelines, eg: powerpoint, letterhead, posters.

Policy Engagement

• Provide support for the Director of OUCRU Nepal, in engagement with key stakeholders; including coordinating meetings and events as requested.
• Collecting metrics about OUCRU Nepal’s policy engagement activities and outputs, and contributing to the OUCRU Programme central policy engagement databases.
• Contributing to training and skills development workshops for researchers;
• Contributing to international networks such as INGSA, the Oxford Policy Engagement Network (OPEN)

Essential Criteria:

• Bachelor’s degree in public relations, business and public relations or media communications
• Leadership experience in comparable roles and responsibilities
• Excellent spoken and written English and Nepali with proven ability to develop and maintain various communications channels and materials in both languages
• Knowledge in social media strategies and best industry practices
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to produce reports and draft complex correspondence;
• Experience with content development for social media and website, and good understanding of the principles of branding

Desirable Criteria:

• Graphic design skills
• Photography skills
• Video editing experience
• Public relations and press engagement experience