Project Coordinator, Media Freedom Coalition Secretariat

Job description

The Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF) is the corporate foundation of Thomson Reuters, the global news and information services company. As an independent charity we work to advance media freedom, foster more inclusive economies, and promote human rights. We combine our unique media development and legal services to drive systemic change through news, capacity strengthening, free legal assistance, and convening initiatives.

TRF provides a Secretariat function to the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC). The MFC is a partnership of countries working together to advocate for media freedom and the safety of journalists at home and abroad. The MFC was established in 2019, while the Secretariat was established in 2022. More information about the MFC can be found here .

The MFC Secretariat works with all MFC stakeholders, including the MFC co-chairs (currently Estonia and Germany), other member countries, civil society experts in the Consultative Network, the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom, and UNESCO, to support the MFC in four broad areas:

• Administration and management: organizing and supporting meetings, delivering specific activities including events and briefings, maintaining the MFC's network of contacts, supporting responses to cases of concern (in which journalists and news organisations are facing threats to their reporting);
  
• Communications: communicating the MFC's activities and impact externally, supporting event organization, and keeping the MFC's network informed about activities and opportunities to take action;
  
• Policies and strategy: ensuring policies and processes are in place to facilitate an efficient, effective and responsive coalition, as well as supporting strategic decision making;
  
• Monitoring and evaluation: tracking and understanding the MFC's outcomes and impact, and learning lessons from this.
  

The Secretariat is supported by grants from Global Affairs Canada and the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office.

We are seeking a highly organised and proactive Project Coordinator with excellent organisational and people skills to support the activities of the Secretariat. You will be the administrative powerhouse of the Secretariat, ensuring the MFC is able to work as effectively as possible. You will be involved in supporting all of the above areas of activity, with a particular focus on administration and management, and ensuring agreed processes are implemented efficiently and consistently. Your work will make a genuine contribution to the MFC's various activities and collaborations and to the Coalition's promotion of media freedom.

You will be required to engage with government representatives, diplomats, NGO leaders and some of the world's finest legal practitioners as part of this role. The ideal candidate will be a highly organised self-starter with the ability to be proactive on tasks and to identify opportunities to improve processes. You must be able to communicate effectively and have good problem-solving skills to navigate the network of different stakeholders.

The role is based in Canary Wharf in London. The role is full-time and you would be expected to attend TRF's offices two or more days per week.

This is a 22-month fixed-term contract, starting 1 June 2024 or earlier, depending on availability. The contract may be extended beyond March 2026, conditional on further funds being secured for the Secretariat's continued operation.

About The Role

As the Project Coordinator you will:

• Organise meetings across different time zones (mostly online but sometimes in-person)
  
• Take detailed minutes, notes and action points of specified meetings, creating clear records to be shared with appropriate internal and external colleagues in a timely manner
  
• Engage with the MFC's member countries via key focal points, keeping their details up-to-date and requesting information as necessary
  
• Maintain and update the Secretariat's contacts database
  
• Implement agreed processes relating to cases of concern (i.e. cases in which journalists are under threat) and ensure cases are dealt with consistently and information is shared with the right stakeholders
  
• Support with other activities and logistics, for example with MFC events
  
• Support financial management by keeping track of expenditure, processing invoices and supporting with financial reporting
  
• Support knowledge capture, ensuring that the Secretariat systematically documents important developments and lessons learned
  
• Participate in designated meetings and conferences with external stakeholders and feedback information to the team
  
• Respond to enquiries
  
• Assist with other duties as required
  

About You

To be our Project Coordinator, you will likely have:

• Prior experience in a relevant administrative role, working constructively with a diverse range of people
  
• Excellent organisational and administrative skills, and have the ability to work with changing priorities and time pressures
  
• A pro-active self-starting and problem-solving attitude, including paying attention to detail and being good on follow-through
  
• A systematic approach to your work, alongside the ability to identify how processes can be improved upon
  
• Experience of administrative or finance processes and excellent numerical skills, including competency in Excel
  
• At least 2 years' working experience and fluency in English. Other languages desirable
  

It would be useful if you also have:

• Understanding of, or interest in, media freedom issues
  
• Experience of working with government officials (at any level)
  
• Experience working effectively as part of a remote team on collaborative initiatives
  

What's in it For You?
You will join our inclusive culture of world-class talent, where we are committed to your personal and professional growth through:

• Hybrid Work Model: We've adopted a flexible hybrid working environment (2-3 days a week in the office depending on the role) for our office-based roles while delivering a seamless experience that is digitally and physically connected
  
• Wellbeing: Comprehensive benefit plans; flexible and supportive benefits for work-life balance: flexible vacation, two company-wide Mental Health Days Off; work from another location for up to a total of 8 weeks in a year, 4 of those weeks can be out of the country and the remaining in the country, Headspace app subscription; retirement, savings, tuition reimbursement, and employee incentive programs; resources for mental, physical, and financial wellbeing.
  
• Culture: Globally recognized and award-winning reputation for equality, diversity and inclusion, flexibility, work-life balance, and more.
  
• Learning & Development: LinkedIn Learning access; internal Talent Marketplace with opportunities to work on projects cross-company; Ten Thousand Coffees Thomson Reuters café networking.
  
• Social Impact: Ten employee-driven Business Resource Groups; two paid volunteer days annually; Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives for local and global impact.
  
• Purpose Driven Work: We have a superpower that we've never talked about with as much pride as we should - we are one of the only companies on the planet that helps its customers pursue justice, truth and transparency. Together, with the professionals and institutions we serve, we help uphold the rule of law, turn the wheels of commerce, catch bad actors, report the facts, and provide trusted, unbiased information to people all over the world.
  

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Accessibility

As a global business, we rely on diversity of culture and thought to deliver on our goals. To ensure we can do that, we seek talented, qualified employees in all our operations around the world regardless of race, color, sex/gender, including pregnancy, gender identity and expression, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, citizen status, veteran status, or any other protected classification under applicable law. Thomson Reuters is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer providing a drug-free workplace.

We also make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and for sincerely held religious beliefs in accordance with applicable law.

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