Assistant volunteer Co-ordinator

The role of Assistant Volunteer Coordinator offers the right candidate a unique and exciting opportunity to work across both office and field environments leading on the implementation of project work within SEED Madagascar’s International Volunteering Programmes.  The coordinator will work alongside the local and International teams based in the town of Fort Dauphin on the development and marketing of the programmes before spending time in the field leading teams of volunteers in the implementation of these projects and living in basic rural conditions in the beautiful area of Anosy, southeast Madagascar.  

The role of the Coordinator is to ensure the smooth functioning of these programmes acting as a key liaison between project teams, Head of Volunteering, guides and the volunteers both in the field and the office base.  As part of the International team, the Coordinator is responsible for the well-being of the volunteers for the duration of the scheme.

The Coordinator will also work within the international team providing pre departure logistical advice and support to those volunteers coming to work with us for a year or more in the office base.

In addition, the post will lead on the marketing and social media of these and other programmes programmes in liaison with the team based in the UK.

                Contract type:   One year, voluntary post (food and transport paid in the field)

                Location:             Anosy Region, Madagascar

                Reporting to:     Director of Programmes and Operations/Head of Volunteering

Duties and responsibilities:

Pioneer and Short term construction volunteers:

Office based:

• Working alongside the Head of Volunteering and Project teams to plan the Pioneer and short termers schedule
• Co-ordinating with project teams and writing project summaries of each project to be undertaken, including its rational and impact as well providing a general overview of SEED Madagascar's work
• Working alongside the London and Madagascar based teams providing support to volunteers prior to coming to Madagascar
• Conducting welcome talk, orientation talks and activity briefings to ensure volunteers are fully informed about project work, local culture etc.
• Updating and reviewing all volunteer information including orientation guide, orientation talks and all documentation in the Co-ordinator’s file
• Leading on social media content for the programmes including pioneer blogs, collation of photographs and video
• Support the London team with marketing the programmes
• Providing feedback and copy for reports from the field based projects to the project teams within the office
• Working alongside the project development team in monitoring and evaluating projects
• Lead on the collection, analysis and dissemination of feedback from the programmes

Field based:

• Working alongside the team leader to ensure successful communication between volunteers, project teams, guides and the construction team including debriefs and feedback sessions
• Ensuring support and care are provided to maintain the physical and mental welfare of volunteers
• Providing guidance and intervention to ensure all staff and volunteers act in a positive and culturally and environmentally sensitive way
• Ensuring risk assessments are in place for each activity
• Managing the administration for the programmes including the contingency fund, weekly Log
• Ensuring social media content for the programmes including pioneer blogs, collation of photographs and video is collected

Long term Volunteer Liaison:

• Providing logistical support with hotels, flights etc for new volunteers
• Providing information and advice on a range of pre departure considerations including health, packing, visa’s
• Working within a team providing initial settling in support including airport pick up and orientation
• Providing organizational support on visas, registrations and permits in country
• Provide support in advertising posts

Support for social media and marketing:

• Co-ordination of the quarterly newsletter for donors and adapting to different audiences
• Coordination with the London team and Media specialist on marketing materials across all of the volunteering programmes

Coordination of all volunteer programme marketing alongside the London team, including targeting of university and associations

Interested applicants should send a CV and covering letter outlining how their skills and experience match the requirements in the role description criteria to Lisa Bass by email on Lisa@seedmadagascar.org. Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis until the position is filled. Long-listed applicants will have an initial informal chat with Madagascar based staff and short listed applicants will then be offered a face-to-face interview with the London team in person.

More information on the work of SEED Madagascar can be found at www.madagascar.co.uk