Finance Assistant - GAMCIL Project

TITLE:                                          Project Finance Assistant-GAMCIL

PROJECT:                                    Green Action through Media and Civil Society in Laos (GAMCIL)

DEPARTMENT:                          Finance Department

LOCATION:                                Vientiane Capital with frequent travel to the project field.

POSITION REPORT TO:           Project Manager

POSITION TYPE:                       Fixed Term (1 year with potential extension), Full-time

LAO JOURNALISTS’ ASSOCIATION

The Lao Journalists’ Association is a political, social and professional organisation of journalism professionals. It was established and operates in accordance with the law. The association is mandated to educate and consolidate solidarity, while protecting the legitimate rights and interests of its members and journalism professionals. The association has actively participated in fulfilling the Party’s guidelines and policies as well as the laws and regulations of the state, and policy related to local and foreign media. The Lao Journalists’ Association has 1,434 members working for various media organisations including those under ministries, the Lao People’s Revolutionary Youth Union, Lao Women’s Union, Lao Federation of Trade Unions, Lao Front for National Development, National Assembly, and Vientiane Information, Culture and Tourism and provincial Information, Culture and Tourism Departments. During annual events of national importance, the association organises various activities to enhance solidarity and share professional expertise among media personnel, which are supported by private and state businesses. The association has the right and duty to engage in formulating, implementing and monitoring the implementation of policy and laws related to information and media, and to define and monitor the observance of media ethics. It also has the duty to coordinate with media management organisations to disseminate and monitor the observance of laws and regulations by media personnel. The association works with party, state, and mass organisations as well as media organisations to train media personnel and journalists on political ideology, qualification and professional competence. With the Team Europe Green Initiative, the EU supports policies in the area of climate adaptation and mitigation, sustainable socio-economic development, private sector development as well as international and regional trade governance issues (e.g., workers’ rights, women economic empowerment) in Lao PDR. Green growth and climate change mitigation are promoted in Lao PDR’s 9th National Socio-Economic Development Plan (NSEDP) 2021-2025 and the National Green Growth Strategy mentions the use of mass media in promoting green growth to the population. The support of such a strategy and needed behavior change for its implementation requires an understanding of the linkages between environmental problems in communities, global climate change drivers and the trade-offs in addressing such drivers. The media can play a key role in exploring these issues and promoting the population’s understanding of such and promote a culture of transparency and accountability in addressing such issues.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

With the Team Europe Green Initiative, the European Union (EU) supports policies in the area of climate adaptation and mitigation, sustainable socio-economic development, private sector development as well as international and regional trade governance issues (e.g., workers’ rights, women economic empowerment) in Lao PDR.

Green growth and climate change mitigation are promoted in Lao PDR’s 9th National Socio-Economic Development Plan (NSEDP) 2021-2025 and the National Green Growth Strategy mentions the use of mass media in promoting green growth to the population. Green Action through Media, Mass and Civil Society in Lao PDR (GAMCIL) is implemented in three provinces: Vientiane Capital, Luang Prabang and Champasack Provinces. The project supports:

• State-owned and private media outlets (including women journalists) to improve their professional skills including the use of digital and new technologies, enabling quality information to be provided to the public through responsible and professional reporting on green development issues.
• The media, both formal-traditional and informal-digital, play an essential role in achieving green growth objectives and the mitigation of climate change impacts including through supporting the rule of law.
• Improving digital literacy to reduce the risk of fake news and improve the ability to utilize social media and other new technologies.

PURPOSE OF THE POSITION

The overall purpose of this position is to ensure the effective and efficient operation of the GAMCIL project by carrying out day-to-day financial and administration/logistic duties following the CARE and Donor Guidelines and Policies. Project Finance Assistant is responsible mainly for implementing the GAMCIL project activities in consultation with the Project manager and the Lao Journalists’ Association. This project will focus to state-owned and private media outlets (including women journalists) and Civil society actors (including Lao CSOs and citizen-journalists like bloggers, filmmakers and Youtubers). The project aims to contribute to public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements (SDG target 16.10). The Project finance Assistant will also be responsible for maintaining a high standard of work in all project components and providing regular financial reports on the progress of project activities to the Project Manager. The role involves good communication skills and effective organizational and planning skills.

This position is based Vientiane Capital – Country Office with frequent travel required to another project site: Luangprabang and Champasack.