Risk Communication and Community Engagement Coordinator

Coordinator, Risk Communication and Community Engagement

Vacancy No.: S19125

Category of Contract: International

Position Type: International

Application Deadline: 13/11/2026

Job Posted On: 30/10/2026

Duty Station: Bunia

Country: CONGO, THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE

Grade: D2

Duty Station Status: Non Family Duty Station

Accompanied Status: Non-Accompanied

Duration: 12 months

Organizational Context

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian network, with 191-member National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. IFRC uses the Triple R – response, resilience and respect – to deliver on Strategy 2030. IFRC responds to disasters and crises, ensuring timely, coordinated and locally led humanitarian action. IFRC supports its members in building community resilience in the areas of climate and environment, health and wellbeing, and migration and displacement. IFRC promotes respect for our fundamental principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality, including in our work on values, power and inclusion. The IFRC focuses throughout on our core mandate – our raison d’être – of strategic and operational coordination, humanitarian diplomacy, National Society development, and accountability.

IFRC is led by its Secretary General and has its Headquarters in Geneva and five regional offices in Africa (Nairobi); the Americas (Panama); Asia Pacific (Kuala Lumpur); Europe (Budapest); and MENA (Beirut) as well as representation offices, service centres and delegations across the globe.

IFRC has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment and other forms of harassment, abuse of authority, discrimination, and lack of integrity (including but not limited to financial misconduct). IFRC also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles.

The Ebola outbreak, declared mid-May 2026, is caused by the Bundibugyo strain, with thousands of suspected cases and thousands of deaths reported across eight provinces. It began with clusters of unexplained deaths in early May and is spreading in a context of weak health systems, population movement, insecurity, and community mistrust, which together increase the risk of sustained transmission and cross-border spread to neighbouring countries such as Uganda and Kenya. The absence of an approved vaccine or specific treatment for this strain makes the outbreak particularly complex and heightens the urgency of rapid containment.

IFRC is scaling up a national society‑led response centred on community engagement, surveillance, and infection control, supported by an emergency appeal. Red Cross volunteers are mobilized in affected areas to conduct door‑to‑door awareness, counter misinformation, encourage early care‑seeking, and support safe and dignified burials, key to breaking transmission. At the same time, the IFRC is coordinating closely with governments and partners, strengthening cross-border preparedness, mobilizing resources and surge capacity, and supporting logistics, infection prevention control, and community-based surveillance to contain the outbreak and reduce regional spread.

Job Purpose

The Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) Coordinator will support the DRC RC and IFRC Health and Operations teams to enhance the impact, reach and efficiency of emergency response operations through the integration and coordination of RCCE activities and approaches across the BVD response activities. This includes developing the RCCE strategy and plan for the IFRC in consultation with other sectors and key partners, in line with lessons learned and best practice engaging communities during this BVD outbreak and previous outbreaks. The Coordinator will be responsible for supporting the RCCE teams in IFRC and DRC RC to design and adapt RCCE activities using social and behavioural data and approaches, community engagement, strengthening feedback systems, engaging and coordinating RCCE activities with key external partners and evidence-based advocacy to elevate and address community concerns, including with patients and families through support to Ebola Treatment Centres.

The focus of the Coordinator will be to lead the team providing technical support to the National Society and IFRC to strengthen contextually relevant, community-centred, evidence-based RCCE programming across BVD response activities and other Health activities. They will work with RCCE partners to coordinate activities to ensure that communities have the health information they need to protect themselves and are included in the design and delivery of RCCE activities across sectors. The RCCE Coordinator will have a specific focus on strengthening community feedback systems, ensuring community feedback and complaints are collected, analysed and acted upon by the sectors. As a key part of the health team, the role will work closely with Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting (PMER) and Information Management (IM) counterparts to ensure all information and feedback from communities is effectively visualised, profiled within the operation, and used to inform strategic decision-making.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

• Ensure that the BVD operation is implemented in accordance with Movement minimum actions, commitment, policies and guidelines relevant to risk communication, community engagement, while supporting continuity of essential health services and resilient community health systems.
• Lead development/adaptation and implementation of the RCCE strategy and plan for BVD in DRC, engaging focal points from Health, Operations including other RCCE partners in DRC and regional and global RCCE specialists to ensure that IFRC RCCE activities and approaches consider best practices and lessons learned for working with affected communities related to BVD and other outbreaks in DRC.
• Ensure that RCCE indicators that can meaningfully track community engagement activities and impact of RCCE and IFRC/NS activities are well integrated into response operations plans.
• Provide technical direction and oversight of the RCCE team, to ensure a well-coordinated RCCE response that effectively engages communities in most affected health zones.
• Oversee the planning, rolling out and adaptation of RCCE tools, SOPs, methodologies, trainings and activities based on community insights data to ensure they are suitable to the local context and BVD response dynamics. Ensure these are mainstreamed into the operation’s plan and budget to increase levels of engagement and accountability to people and communities.
• Ensures existing RCCE materials and resources including strategies, guidance notes, key messages, trainings and tools are properly shared and available at country/cluster level in a diversity of accessible and applicable formats and common languages.
• Support collection and ensure use across Health and operations teams of the most relevant social sciences research, health data, impact surveys and perception data (including social-cultural data, sources of vulnerabilities, community structures and power dynamics) to support the design of comprehensive and evidence-based RCCE and community health strategies.
• Provide community insights and work with health and other relevant sectors to co-develop and implement recommended actions addressing issues raised by communities, including barriers to prevention, surveillance, vaccination where applicable, early care-seeking, referral, treatment and continuity of essential services.
• Ensure insights and recommended actions are shared with all sectors in BVD response meetings, situation reports and other reporting mechanisms with IFRC, National Society, health authorities and other partners and pillars as relevant.
• Advocate and support utilization of a range of applied behavioural approaches across BVD and health programmes in working with communities to identify community-led solutions to address challenges, improve behaviours and/or reduce the spread of infection, (strengthen protective health behaviours, increase trust in health services and reduce the transmission and impact of BVD).
• (Co-)Lead/participate in relevant inter-agency coordination groups, including health and RCCE coordination mechanisms to ensure communities remain at the center of the BVD response that their perspectives inform health policies, operational decisions and service delivery.
• Work closely with Ministry of Health, UNICEF, WHO and other partner RCCE focal points to share and promote action on community insights.
• Support National Society’s engagement with public health authorities and response partners to ensure Red Cross Red Crescent RCCE efforts are coordinated and recognized across the response.

Job Duties and Responsibilities (continued)

• Support the setting up and/or strengthening of appropriate feedback methods and systems, including supporting use of AI tools to enable real-time understanding and tracking of community perceptions, beliefs, concerns, rumours and complaints around BVD and health responses. Advocate for Ministry of Health, RCCE partners and other response pillars to take action on community feedback and data insights and strengthen IFRC/NS capacity as providing community perspectives and promoting the response to address their concerns.
• Support the implementation of appropriate community engagement initiatives to support the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA), sexual and gender-based violence and survivor-centered approaches (in coordination with Protection, Gender and Inclusion (PGI) and Human Resource teams.
• Plan, design and facilitate the training of staff and volunteers on code of conduct, health promotion, good communication skills, feedback collection, sensitive handling of complaints and ensuring that feedback is acted upon.
• Document and share RCCE best practices and success stories, particularly examples showing how community insights improved health interventions, service accessibility, trust, preparedness and response outcomes.
• Promote a culture of learning and collaboration within the National Society and cluster, ensuring that lessons from previous health emergencies and community-based health programmes inform the current response and contribute to longer-term preparedness.
• Raise awareness among senior management, staff, health workers and volunteers of the importance of RCCE as an essential component of public health emergency management, resilient health systems and resilient community health.
• Strengthen links between emergency response and longer-term community health resilience by supporting community-based surveillance, health literacy, trusted referral networks, trained volunteers and community participation in preparedness and recovery planning.

Education

• University degree (Masters preferred) in public health, social sciences, behavioural, communication sciences in community engagement, community development, social and behaviour change communication, sociology, anthropology, health education
• Relevant training in risk communication, social and behaviour change and community engagement
• IMPACT or equivalent training/knowledge preferred

Experience

• At least 5-7 years of professional experience in a RCCE related role (health promotion, social mobilisation, community engagement, social and behaviour change (SBC), communication for development, accountability to affected population.
• Demonstrable technical experience in risk communications, social and behaviour change, and community engagement in epidemics.
• Experience developing RCCE, SBC strategies and implementing RCCE plans to address community concerns in health programmes in collaboration with Health programmes.
• Experience developing RCCE monitoring and evaluation plans and tracking RCCE activities and impact
• Experience managing RCCE teams providing field support for RCCE activities during emergencies
• Experience in setting up and managing projects with a qualitative data collection focus, with sources such as community feedback mechanisms, interviews, focus group discussions, social media posts, etc.
• Experience in planning and implementing targeted and appropriate behaviour change or risk communication under health approaches and activities.
• Experience of designing and delivering/trainings and building the capacity of staff and volunteers.
• Experience of supporting social science research and/or community feedback systems, including presenting and advocating for action based on findings.
• Experience in and knowledge of project management cycle.
• Demonstrated experience in the Global South, including in emergency response settings.
• Experience in delivering RCCE capacity building, coaching, training, and developing local organizations’ staff and volunteers.
• Experience in setting up and managing community engagement tools (including technological solutions) such as social media, radio, TV, SMS, cinema/drama and rolling out risk communication approaches.
• Experience documenting lessons learned, good practices, case studies and stories of change, and producing learning materials to support cross learning and evidence based decision making.
• Experience in humanitarian, international organizations or NGOs
• Experience within the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement preferred.

Knowledge, Skills and Languages

• Good understanding of current developments in the field of RCCE, communication with communities, behavioural and social sciences, community engagement processes, strategic communication, research approaches.
• Excellent understanding of RCCE approaches in public health emergencies contexts.
• Sensitivity to challenging political contexts and understanding of risk management processes.
• Good analytical skills and knowledge of quantitative, qualitative and participatory research methodologies and analysis.
• Strong presentation and advocacy skills for communicating RCCE data with a range of stakeholders to ensure their action on findings.
• Culturally competent with excellent ability to work effectively as part of multicultural teams and engage in a respectful, considerate manner with local staff and communities.
• Excellent team management skills to achieve RCCE objectives
• Excellent project management skills, able to work under pressure and manage multiple projects simultaneously, to a high standard and to deadline.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication and networking skills, able to build relationships with people at all levels of the organisation.
• Good coordination and negotiation skills, with the capacity to build partnerships with internal and external organisations.
• Good planning skills, with the ability to identify areas for improvements in programmes, operations and NS/IFRC ways of working through the integration of RCCE approaches and activities.
• Good knowledge of protection, gender and inclusion issues in humanitarian programming.
• Facilitation and training skills.
• Demonstrated core proficiency in (a) digital communication & collaboration, (b) basic digital content creation, (c) digital safety & security, (d) data literacy, and (e) problem solving with technology (including responsible use of AI assistants.
• Understanding of and commitment to IFRC’s mission and values.
• Fluent spoken and written English and French is required.

Competencies, Values and Comments

Values: Respect for diversity; Integrity; Professionalism; Accountability

Core competencies: Communication; Collaboration and teamwork; Judgement and decision making; National society and customer relations; Creativity and innovation; Building trust

Managerial Competencies: Managing Staff Performance; Managing Staff Development

Functional Competencies: Strategic Orientation; Building Alliances; Leadership; Empowering Others