The Elders – Communications Advisor

Communications Advisor December 2023

The Elders Communications Advisor

About The Elders The Elders was founded by Nelson Mandela in 2007 as an independent group of global leaders working for peace, justice, human rights and a sustainable planet.

There are 12 active Elders from Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. The group has been

humanity that require

chaired since 2018 by Mary Robinson, former President of

a collective response - the climate

Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human

crisis, pandemics, and nuclear weapons. We also work on

Elders’ global membership and mandate. The work calls

Rights. Previous chairs were Desmond Tutu and Kofi Annan.

conflict, a threat in itself and a risk factor for other threats.

for a combination of initiative and humility, the ability to

Drawing on our values and our mandate from Nelson

accept and implement Elders’ decisions to high standards,

The Elders operate through private diplomacy and public

Mandela, we incorporate four cross-cutting commitments

and significant flexibility and teamwork. We have specialists

advocacy; they use their experience, influence and access

across these four programme areas - multilateralism, human

in all our programme areas, alongside communications

to heads of state and government to engage politically, and

rights, gender equality and women in leadership, and

professionals and those who operationalise our work and the

their connections to civil society to stand in solidarity with the

intergenerational dialogue.

Foundation as a whole.

Supporting the Elders’ work is a Secretariat of around 20 staff.

More information about The Elders, our strategy and work

The Elders launched a new strategy for 2023-27 in January.

The team is based in London, although is now diversifying

can be found at www.theelders.org

The strategy focuses our work on existential threats to

to gradually hire staff in other countries, to better reflect the

most vulnerable people and communities.

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The Elders Communications Advisor

The Role

Role: Communications Advisor

work in the country where they are based, The Elders will

Contract Type:

not be able to relocate.

Permanent, Full-Time

including social media, live events, partnerships, written

Salary: Location:

Salaries and benefits will vary in line with the location of the

This can be a remote position or based in our UK office. For

successful candidate and depending on experience.

candidates based in the UK, The Elders operate a hybrid

editorial and media engagement.

Reporting to the Director of Communications and working closely with colleagues in the communications

Job Summary:

and programmes teams, and the Elders themselves, the

This role is responsible for planning and delivering some of

post-holder is required to be a multi-disciplined advocacy

We strongly encourage applications from candidates from

The Elders’ biggest communications moments, particularly

communications professional with experience of working

the Global South who can bring advice on communications

in relation to our work on the climate crisis. The post-holder

on public advocacy or political engagement with senior

from the perspective of regions underrepresented in climate

will plan and deliver creative and impactful long-term

public figures.

policy and discourse. Candidates must have the right to

projects using a full spectrum of tools and techniques,

working policy, with a high degree of flexibility for staff.

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The Elders Communications Advisor

Responsibilities

General Communications Responsibilities (.6 FTE) •

Work closely with Elders and other senior figures to

target audiences

create exceptional content to maximize engagement and

and shape our communications for

advocacy opportunities for The Elders.

•

•

Contribute to, and support colleagues in, regular content

greater impact.

•

creation and delivery, including press materials, written

communications influencers and organisations to help

editorial, social media and videos.

amplify the work of The Elders.

Provide strategic advice to SMT and Elders on a full

•

spectrum of political and advocacy communication activities, techniques and tools.

•

•

Deputise when required to cover team management

•

identifying and developing engagement activities, advocacy opportunities, public messaging, and target audiences.

•

Plan and deliver major communications projects for climate advocacy in agreement with the programme

management of others in the team, and the

colleagues, and in line with our programme objectives •

Lead on responsible communications practice and

Lead on climate crisis messaging for media talking points, speeches, statements, op-eds and other public advocacy

responsibilities in lieu of the Director of Communications

content collection with external third parties. Work with

or Head of Communications.

The Elders’ Safeguarding and Data Protection/GDPR leads

Deliver innovative and creative ideas for owned, earned,

to ensure communications practice is in adherence with

climate space through close working with programme

shared and paid communications to meet our strategic

the law and to promote best practice in this area.

colleagues, partners and by building excellent working

and programme objectives •

Support colleagues working on the climate crisis in

Advise and support the communications project communications needs of others in the organisation.

•

•

Build, engage, and advise on networks of journalists,

outputs in agreement with the programme colleagues •

Stay abreast of policy developments and activities in the

relationships with external stakeholders in the climate

Lead, project manage and commission high-profile, long-

Climate Change Communications (.4 FTE)

term, and set-piece multi-media projects and events -

•

communications community.

Advise colleagues and the Elders themselves on tactics

upskilling colleagues as required.

and opportunities for communicating our climate crisis

Use digital media monitoring tools to understanding our

programme objectives.

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The Elders Communications Advisor

Candidate Profile

•

Over 8 years’ experience of leading and delivering strategic communications, communications advocacy and/or campaigns communications.

•

Preferable experience of working on climate change communications and/or a sector or issues related to

• •

public figures.

•

Multimedia skills including demonstrable experience of producing video materials for advocacy communications.

•

An excellent project manager with demonstrable

our work.

experience of leading teams to deliver high-profile

A broad knowledge of and expertise in a full range of

communications campaigns, events or moments.

communications tools, monitoring and advocacy tactics.

•

Experience of budget and line-management.

Exceptional written ability with demonstrable experience

•

Experience of implementing safeguarding and data

of writing editorial texts for publication and/or senior

•

Ability to multi-task and set priorities, and to work under pressure.

•

A strong personal commitment to the mission and values of The Elders.

•

A flexible style and willingness to work in a small, collaborative team.

protection best practice

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The Elders Communications Advisor

How to Apply

All correspondence, at this stage, should be via Oxford HR. To apply for this post, click on the “Apply” button on the job advert page, complete our online application form, and

Selection Process

submit your CV and cover letter as two different documents,

All candidates will receive an update regarding their

South. As we are not able to sponsor visas, all applicants must

which should be prepared before applying as they will be

application after the closing date. We advise candidates to

have the right to work in the country where the role they are

considered in the application process. The cover letter should

add the role email to their safe senders list and regularly

applying for is based. We will assess purely on your abilities

be no more than two pages long and explain why you are

check their spam folder.

and fit for a role.

Equality Statement

The Elders and Oxford HR are happy to discuss any

Equality and diversity are at the core of The Elders values.

reasonable adjustments you need to ensure a fair

The document should be saved in PDF in the following

Staff are expected to work collectively and individually to

recruitment process and to enable you to be successful in

format: Your First Name-Your Last Name-Document Name-

promote a constructive and sensitive approach to others

your role if selected.

Date (mmyy) e.g., Nala-Umar-CV-122023-The-Elders or Nala-

from a variety of backgrounds, where the work of others is

Umar-CoverLetter-122023- The-Elders.

valued and respected.

Timeline

The Elders is committed to creating an inclusive working

process, need additional information, or would like to have an

interested in this post and how your skills and experience make you a good fit.

Queries If you have any queries on any aspect of the appointment

Closing Date:

environment that values diversity and equal opportunities.

informal discussion, please email at elders-ca@oxfordhr.com

Candidates will be assessed on a rolling basis and the

We welcome and encourage applicants of any ethnicity,

in the first instance.

role may close sooner if a suitable candidate is found. We

religion, age, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation

therefore encourage early applications.

or disability. Given the Elders’ global outlook, we particularly

First stage interviews:

25 January 2024 th

TBC

welcome applicants originally from countries in the Global

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The Elders Communications Advisor

About Oxford HR

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We’ve also worked with such organisations since 1995; so we

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