Job vacancy/ Communications Associate at European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA)

About EVPA

EVPA is a strong community of around 300 member organisations from 30+ countries sharing the same vision and a common goal: creating positive societal impact through the practice of investing for impact.

Established in 2004, EVPA is proud to have initiated the investing for impact movement in Europe, turning it into a thriving ecosystem and a growing market engaging social investors, foundations, corporations and policy makers in supporting social innovators and maximising their impact.

We enable our members to connect and learn from each other to achieve deeper societal impact through investments. We build the impact ecosystem at international, European, national and local levels. As a strategic partner of the European Commission in advancing this sector, we share insights, develop knowledge and training, and shape public policies to make the investing for impact movement in Europe stronger.

For more information please also visit our website, EVPA success stories, Annual Conference and our LinkedIn profile.

In 2020 EVPA launched a new long-term project in cooperation with the European Commission to build the social investment and social entrepreneurship ecosystem in the Eastern Partnership countries – EaP countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine) and Russia. The EaP project will involve cooperation with local partners, based in those countries, co-development of the activities with them and their implementation.

EVPA is a growing organisation with a team of 20+ full-time dedicated professionals. To strengthen our team, we are looking for a Communications Associate.

Job description

As Communications Associate you will be the link between the local partners of the EaP project, the EaP project team, and especially the marketing and communication department of EVPA.

This is a part-time position, based in Brussels or in one of the CEE/Eastern Partnership countries. The role reports to the Head of Marketing & Communication.

Roles & responsibilities

• Liaise with European Commission’s communication department, EU Neighbours platform, and EU Digitool to ensure promotion and visibility of all activities of the project according to EU visibility regulations.
• Communicate with all the project partners in EaP countries and beyond, to ensure collection of data/information for promotion and for evidence/data storage for reporting (i.e. communication analytics, visuals, links to social media posts, and other media and social media presence).
• Coordinate with EVPA Marketing & Communication Team to ensure alignment with EVPA communication plans, schedules of activities, to avoid overlap of communication activities and align with EVPA branding and communication strategy.
• Regular update of the project website and other relevant communication channels
• Co-create new promotional and communication activities and outputs to increase the project’s visibility, outreach to target audiences and positioning of the project content.
• Identify and create new channels of communication as necessary and relevant for the project
• Supervise design and production of any communication materials related to the project (e.g. case studies, videos, etc.) following EU and EVPA visibility guidelines.
• Design simple visuals in relevant programmes, work with external EVPA agencies/ suppliers.
• Develop, organise and manage the collection of all communications data and evidence related to the project.
• Provide support and leadership in event planning and its organization.

Skills & qualities

• At least 2-3 years of experience in communication roles
• Excellent communication skills because you work with multiple partners, team members across different nationalities
  • Excellent written and spoken English, and knowledge of Russian will be an advantage
  • Patient, empathetic and passionately communicative with the ability to put yourself in the partners’ shoes and advocate for them when necessary
  • Excellent writing and editing skills because you will be drafting multiple content for a variety of channels and audiences
• Excellent organisational skills because you are responsible for making sure your part of the project stays on target and schedule
  • Ability and experience in planning activities, building schedules and timely follow up on their implementation
  • Experience in independent organising of activities, projects, including required logistics, and communication with participants
  • Attention to detail
• Creativity and entrepreneurial approach reflected in developing new activities, tools, materials, online or offline.
• Experience in planning and implementation of communication activities online and offline in EU funded projects, or other engagements (i.e. campaigns, events promotion, etc.)
• Working knowledge and experience in graphic design programmes such as InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Canva.
• Experience in creating content for social media channels, in particular Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
• Experience in video production/editing would be an asset
• Ability to work with WordPress and Mailchimp
• Familiarity with CRM systems and practices (Salesforce), and other online tools like Dropbox, Slack, Trello, etc.
• Understanding of and familiarity with the economic, social and political context of Eastern Partnership countries and the broader CEE region would be an asset
• Experience in working in an international and changing environment and teams, or in CEE/Eastern Partnership countries would be an asset
• Self-motivated, attentive, stress resistant, comfortable with prioritising several competing tasks and responsibilities
• Ability to work collaboratively as part of a broader team, recognising the importance of integrated communications
• Ability to travel flexibly for work related activities
• A genuine interest in venture philanthropy, social venture financing or social entrepreneurship will be perceived as an advantage

What we offer

• Engaging in the development of the social investment and social entrepreneurship ecosystem in emerging markets and the opportunity to achieve great social impact by being part of a dynamic and passionate network of social impact investors and our partners globally
• An instrumental role in a dynamic, highly motivated international team and in an organisation with a strong market reputation
• The opportunity to broaden your knowledge base by learning from and engaging with European and international leaders of social impact investment
• We provide you with training on Salesforce (CRM) and other online tools, as well as a privileged access to EVPA’s learning and development offering.
• This is a part-time position (50%-80% of full time equivalent) based in Belgium or in any of the CEE/Eastern Partnership countries. There is a possibility to engage full time with EVPA in the long term.

How to apply

Interested in this position? Please send your CV and a cover letter in English to recruitment@evpa.eu.com by September 6, 2021.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so we strongly encourage early applications. Only qualified candidates will be contacted for interviews. If you do not hear from us within two weeks of the closing date, please presume your application has not been retained on this occasion.

EVPA is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate and practise diversity in all its forms and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all our employees.