Advocacy, Communications & Media Manager - Damascus / SYNAT

General Description of the Programme:

GOAL has been working in Syria since 2012, responding to the acute needs of conflict affected communities. GOAL has worked both through direct implementation and through partners, delivering food, non-food programming to highly vulnerable populations, and provision of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) through support to Water units, as well as shelter and emergency support to recently displaced households.

Job purpose:

In close coordination with the Director of Advocacy and Communications, the Advocacy, Communications and Media Manager leads the overall responsibility for the development and implementation of an advocacy and visibility strategy for the GOAL Syria Country Office.

Duties, objectives and competencies

Advocacy and Campaigns

• Lead the development and implementation of an advocacy strategy for the Syria Country Office. Support programme leadership to articulate their top priority advocacy objectives in line with the Country Strategic Plan.
• Identify key opportunities and events for GOAL Syria to position itself.
• Ensure that GOAL Syria receives national recognition for achieving proven and innovative national impact from well-managed programs and emergency response efforts.
• Support programme leadership and other program staff in their work, including development of a plan for achieving their priority advocacy objectives. 
• Identify with SMT, MEAL and programme leadership policy research needs and oversee and ensure quality of funded research whether undertaken internally, through partners or research institutions.
• Ensure that all programme staff have strong understanding of advocacy and campaigning principals, approaches and methodologies.
• Ensure a strong, supportive and collaborative relationship with GOAL Global advocacy departments and staff.

Media and Communications

• Lead the development and implementation of a visibility strategy for GOAL Syria including the development of media and communication plans in support of both the visibility and advocacy strategies.
• Develop and maintain a media contact database and ensure positive and collaborative relationships with key media outlets in Syria.
• Liaise and maintain contact with the GOAL HQ Media and Communications team and implement communication activities including facilitating media visits and working within incoming media & communications surge support during emergencies.
• Ensure that the branding and communication guidelines of GOAL are uniformly and consistently followed across the Syria country office.
• Working with the media and communication team, proactively develop a high profile for GOAL Syria (within Syria and beyond) through the production of high quality, well researched, and well written products (in a variety of mediums) reflective of the full spectrum portfolio, responding quickly and appropriately to external requests for information, especially in emergencies.
• Develop and deliver a clear and effective system for internal communications including the dissemination documents and publications for internal stakeholders including being able to scale up the delivery of robust communications material during emergencies.
• Maintain and regularly ensure GOAL website are regularly updated and reflect current programme priorities, advocacy and campaigning work and success stories, working closely with GOAL HQ.
• Ensure the use of social media, for both internal and external communications in support of GOAL Syria advocacy, campaigning and visibility strategies and plans.

Staff Management, Mentorship, and Development – Media, Communications and Advocacy

• Ensure appropriate staffing within Advocacy, Media and Communications.
• Ensure that all staff understand and are able to perform their roles.
• Manage the Advocacy, Communications and Media team; define expectations, provide leadership and technical support as needed, and evaluate direct reports regularly.
• Ensure the recruitment, training, and promotion of staff as appropriate and ensure availability of appropriate professional development opportunities.
• Incorporate staff development strategies and Performance Management Systems into team building process. 
• Coaching, mentoring and other developmental opportunities.
• Documentation of performance that is less than satisfactory, with appropriate performance improvements/ work plans.

Requirements (essential)

• Bachelor’s degree in subject relevant to position (e.g. communications, social science, development studies, information management, project management, etc.);
• At least five years working in the NGO, humanitarian or similar sector with experience in successfully leading the development and implementation of advocacy, communication and campaign strategies;
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and coaching;
• Demonstrable experience of writing, reviewing and editing written communications and documents;
• Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in an international environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures;
• Strong results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mindsets;
• Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner;
• Experience of building personal networks, resulting in securing significant new opportunities for the organisation;
• Strong network within advocacy, media/marketing;
• Ability and willingness to dramatically change work practices and hours in the event of emergencies;
• Experience of solving complex issues through analysis, definition of a clear way forward and ensuring buy in;
• Fluency in English, including strong English writing and presentation skills;
• Ability to analyse information and present it in a donor appropriate manner;
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to interact well with people;
• Good computer skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, Outlook, etc.);
• Proactive, independent, flexible and solutions-focused.
• Enthusiastic, committed and keen to work hard to achieve the objectives of the programme.

Requirements (desired)

• Experience of working in Syria/for Syria related programmes preferred.
• Experience working in an emergency or development context is highly desirable.
• Arabic is an advantage.

Interested? Then apply for this position via clicking on the "apply now" button and fill out the application form. All applicants must send an updated CV (no longer than four pages). Must be in English or Arabic. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. Application deadline is 20th August 2025 COB.  

Safeguarding

Children and vulnerable adults must be safeguarded to the maximum possible extent from deliberate or inadvertent actions and failings that place them at risk of abuse, sexual exploitation, injury and any other harm. One of the ways that GOAL shows this on-going commitment to safeguarding is to include rigorous background and reference checks in the selection process for all candidates.

Accountability within GOAL

Alongside our safeguarding policy, GOAL is an equal opportunities employer and has a set of integrity policies. Any candidate offered a job with GOAL will be expected to adhere to the following key areas of accountability:

• Comply with GOAL’s policies and procedures with respect to safeguarding, Code of Conduct, health and safety, data protection and confidentiality, do no harm principles and unacceptable behaviour protocols.
• Report any concerns about the welfare of a child or vulnerable adult or any wrongdoings within our programming area.
• Report any concerns about inappropriate behaviour of a GOAL staff or partner.

This Job Description only serves as a guide for the position available. GOAL reserves the right to change this document. Any published closing dates are estimated.  Due to the nature of GOAL’s work we aim to fill vacancies as quickly as possible.  This means that we will close adverts as soon as we have found the right candidate and this may be before the published closing date.  We would therefore advise interested applicants to submit an application as early as possible.

Interviews will take place on a rolling basis.

Thank you.