Communications Team Member - For Academic Credit or Volunteering

About Us:

The Empowered Birth Movement e.V. is an independent nonprofit organization tackling medical racism, obstetric violence, and social determinants of poor maternal and neonatal health through a Systems Thinking and intersectional justice lens. 

Our mission is to reduce maternal health inequities by advancing community-oriented, peer-to-peer support throughout pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. We want to make sure this support is not only accessible and affordable, but also reflects the linguistic and cultural diversity of the country.

We do this through research and advocacy, a Fellowship program for doulas from underrepresented backgrounds, and by mobilizing an intersectoral network of professionals committed to maternal health equity.

About the Position (Communications Team):

The team member will apply and develop a range of communications skills through practical exposure to the daily activities of a health equity NGO. 

Primary responsibilities and duties may include:

• Social media management
• Website: Assist with continuous improvement of our WordPress website: content entry, SEO, images, diagrams, and graphics, assign tags, etc.
• Drafting, editing, publishing online articles on health equity issues. Potential for translation and proofreading
• Production of publications and marketing materials
• Graphic design: the creation of website graphics, social media content, …

Additional responsibilities may include:

• Desk research and knowledge mapping
• Partnerships & Development related tasks
• 10 - 15% Administrative support 
• If you have other skills that you are interested in developing -- we will make it work.

Requirements

Applicants should be studying in the field of international development, public health, communications, graphic design or similar. This role is only open to students whose study program requires an internship or can receive academic credit for an internship. Otherwise, you can volunteer for the same role.

They should have:

• Excellent written and oral communication skills in German and English (professional level fluency). Additional languages are a strong advantage.
• Command of WordPress, Canva, and/or Adobe Creative Suite or interest in learning. 
• Interest in refugee/migrant health, maternal health, and/or health equity.
• Excellent intercultural communication skills, proactive, and ability to multitask. As we are a small team, it’s very important you have a strong ability to work independently without a lot of supervision. Very good organizational and time-management skills.

Training and Opportunities:

• We have a very flat hierarchical structure and everyone is highly valued within the team -- we always want to hear your perspective, input, and suggestions in team meetings. We are a very small team and this environment provides a comprehensive understanding of the real behind-the-scenes work of a recently-founded health equity NGO.
• You have opportunities to interact and network with equity, anti-racism, and refugee activists and rights defenders, and other professionals in the sector.
• Empowered Birth Movement staff can provide practical sessions and guidance, for example on grant writing, utilizing communications technologies, etc.

Role Logistics:

The role is able to be completed remotely, with a preference for Germany-based candidates. 

We ask you commit to at least 6 weeks full-time or three months part-time -- Schedule, duration, and hours/week are flexible.

As this is a recently founded, volunteer-run organization, this is an unpaid position. That being said, we are a small organization and everyone is a very important member of the team -- so we want to make it worth your time. Please include in your cover letter what you hope to gain from this role so we can make it work for you!

Equal Opportunity:

Empowered Birth Movement is firmly committed to having a diverse team, particularly from underrepresented groups who may lack access to opportunities at the multilateral level. We strongly encourage applications from candidates from non-Western countries, women, people of color, immigrants, LGBTQIA+ candidates, people with disabilities, and other groups.

Empowered Birth Movement is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity. Our policy is to practice fair and non-discriminatory recruitment and selection procedures and strive for international and multicultural personnel. Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on grounds of race, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression or sex characteristics.