WORK FOR AN AWARD-WINNING NONPROFIT SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

ORGANIZATION DESCRIPTION

Founded in 2004, Build Change is a non‐profit social enterprise whose mission is to save lives in earthquakes and hurricanes. Build Change designs disaster-resistant houses and schools, trains homeowners, builders, engineers and government officials to build them, works with governments to develop and implement building standards, partners with the private sector to improve building materials quality and create jobs, and facilitates access to incentive-based capital for reconstruction and retrofitting by partnering with financing institutions and government subsidy programs. Build Change started its work in Aceh, Indonesia after the 2004 earthquake and tsunami and has since expanded to include programs in China, Haiti, Colombia, Guatemala, Nepal, and the Philippines. Build Change has trained more than 23,000 people on earthquake-resistant design and construction techniques, created more than 11,000 jobs and provided technical assistance for more than 47,000 safer buildings, impacting an estimated 236,875 people.

POSITION DESCRIPTION: 

For the position of Community Engagement and Outreach Agent, Build Change is seeking a professional with a first experience in community engagement and outreach. Familiarity with the “owner-driven” method for construction in context of neighborhood rehabilitation and disaster response projects is a plus. The position reports to the Project Manager and to the Community Engagement Coordinator.

Project Responsibilities

• Conception, Development, and Vetting of Outreach Materials – Under the management of the Project Manager, The Community Engagement & Outreach Agent is responsible for, in collaboration with the engineering and the construction training team, assisting in designing and developing outreach materials aimed at spreading Build Back Safer information in communities of rural Nepal. These outreached materials are meant to simplify and make comprehensible to community members, homeowners and local builders, the disaster-resistant construction guidelines developed by the Build Change engineering team in conformity with Government of Nepal applicable code and reconstruction standards. The Community Engagement & Outreach Agent must vet all outreach materials with key community stakeholder groups before finalization.

• Community Outreach Campaign - The cornerstone of the Community Engagement & Outreach Agent’s responsibility is to actively deploy the community outreach campaign in VDCs of rural Nepal. The campaign will use outreach materials developed for that purpose by the Community Outreach Team. This includes, but is not limited to: disseminating flyers, posters, radio messages, and animating community events with live presentations, demonstrations and skits, as well as airing outreach videos.

• Engaging Community Build-Back-Safer Ambassadors - The Community Engagement & Outreach Agent will promote the Build-Back-Safe Ambassadors’ program and will help selecting, enrolling, training and engaging rotating Ambassador groups consisting of community members.

• Special Attention to Homeowners - The Community Engagement & Outreach Agent will meet directly homeowners engaged in the program, and will hold one-on-one sit-down meetings with homeowners who require extra explanation of project objectives and of how homeowners may participate in every step of the homeowner-driven project.

• Coordination - The Community Engagement & Outreach Agent must demonstrate flexibility, ability and willingness to coordinate activities with the Engineering Team, the Training Team and the M&E team as well as with project partners’ staff.

• Reporting – The Community Engagement & Outreach Agent is responsible for reporting to the Project Manager and to the Community Outreach Coordinator on a regular basis, such as weekly, monthly, quarterly and as required by the upper management.

• Field Deployment - The Community Engagement & Outreach Agent is responsible for delivering community outreach activities in rural villages, and as such must be willing to spend up to 80% of his/her time in a rural location, and live out of the Build Change field office/guesthouse.

Applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible, as applications will be reviewed daily and suitable candidates may be invited for test and interview prior to the closing date. Only short-listed candidates will be invited for written test and/or interview