Project Coordinator at Thomson Reuters

Job Description

Join a team which has unique expertise combining the power of journalism and the law to advance media freedom, foster more inclusive economies, and promote human rights.

For more than 35 years, we have promoted the highest standards in journalism by training reporters around the world to cover issues relevant to their local context, accurately and impartially. Today, we work to strengthen local and national journalism, improve media ethics, standards and regulation, combat misinformation, and explore and shape the future of the profession. We do this through newsroom consultancy, journalism training and mentoring, capacity-building, and via our funding of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford.

We provide support to journalists and independent media outlets to produce and distribute high quality journalism in some of the world’s most challenging environments.

We are seeking a highly organised project coordinator with excellent organisational skills and good people skills to work on our media development programme Wealth of Nations. This programme supports African media to report on and investigate illicit financial flows and the abuse of tax laws. The programme sits within the Foundation’s Media Development team, which runs a range of programmes aiming to foster the highest standards of journalism worldwide.

The ideal candidate must be a self-starter with the ability to be proactive on tasks, be able to communicate effectively and have good problem-solving skills. You will be able to juggle multiple demands to support the programme, arranging logistics, providing administrative support, ensuring all records are kept up to date and financial data is kept on track and logged. You will also lead the set-up of a new coordinating mechanism to build relationships between participating journalists and relevant experts as well as organisations (policy, academia, government, civil society groups, international bodies from key African focus regions and globally) and facilitate participating journalists’ access to relevant sources for their reporting. You will be working on Microsoft Outlook and Excel as well as in Salesforce to ensure our contact databases are up-to-date. Occasional travel may be required across the continent.

Please note, this is a fixed-term contract until December 2022.

About the Role

As a Project Coordinator at the Thomson Reuters Foundation, you will:

• Provide logistical support for remote and in-person activities including workshops and mentoring schemes
• Coordinate activities with WON project team members, internal functions (finance, comms, etc.) external contractors and partner organisations across Africa
• Monitor programme finances in collaboration with colleagues in the team
• Keep track of programme outputs and examples of impact, and contribute to report writing
• Maintain the alumni network of journalists involved in the programme
• Perform data capture and maintain database records
• Support knowledge capture, ensuring that we document our networks, relationships and ongoing conversations systematically
• Research potential collaborators for our coordinating mechanism and act as first point of contact for enquiries, coordinating a response and involving other members of the team as appropriate, and facilitate collaboration
• Build our network and relationships across media, policy, academia, government, civil society groups, international bodies from key African focus areas and globally for our coordinating mechanism
• Participate in designated meetings with external stakeholders, conferences and events and feed back information to the team
• Assist with other duties or work on other programmes, as required

To be our Project Coordinator, you will likely have:

• At least 3 years’ working experience
• A Bachelor’s Degree in international development, international relations, journalism, media studies or related field
• Prior experience in a relevant role building relationships across organisations with common goals, and working constructively with a diverse range of people
• Excellent organisational skills and the ability to work with changing priorities and time pressures
• High motivation with ability to work independently or in a team environment
• A pro-active self-starting and problem-solving attitude, including paying attention to detail and being good on follow-through
• Excellent organisational skills, and the ability to create and maintain a systematic, process-driven approach to outreach and relationship management
• Strong written and oral communication skills; ability to communicate effectively
• with people from different cultures and backgrounds and ability to influence others
• Experience of administrative or finance processes and excellent numerical skills
• Competency in Word, Teams, Outlook and Excel. Experience with databases (e.g. Salesforce) would be an advantage
• Fluency in English
• It would be useful (but not essential), if you also have:
• Understanding of journalism and media capacity building
• Existing networks and links with media outlets across Africa
• Existing networks and links with NGOS, academia, government working on tax justice issues
• Understanding of the key institutions and policy actors working on illicit finance, and of current issues and arguments around illicit financial flows and tax justice
• Experience working effectively as part of a remote team on collaborative initiatives
• Advanced reading, writing, and speaking ability in French

What’s in it For You

• At the Thomson Reuters Foundation, our people are our greatest assets. Here are some of the benefits we offer for your personal and professional growth:
• Global Perspective and Impact: Interested in working for a dynamic global organization with a focus on social impact? With hubs all over the world from Bangkok to Madrid to Rio de Janeiro, join a truly international team with a shared goal of helping to build societies around the world that are free, fair and informed.
• A Unique Approach: Our expertise in media and the law is world class; we combine the power of both to address the critical issues faced by humanity.
• Our Relevance: With a focus on advancing media freedom, fostering more inclusive economies and promoting human rights, our work has never been more needed than right now.
• Benefits: We offer competitive salary packages and market-leading benefits.
• Learning & Development: We are dedicated to the continual professional development of our employees and offer access to both in-house and external training opportunities.