BELGIUM PROGRAMME ASSISTANT, BRUSSELS – application deadline expired

Looking for a dynamic position on the front line of Belgium’s fight against digital information and to #tacklefakenews? Lie Detectors, a member of the EU’s advisory High Level Group on Fake News, is looking for a communications-savvy and detail-loving Belgium Project Officer for our Belgian media literacy campaign. This position would suit a candidate with knowledge of the country and its media and educational systems.

Lie Detectors trains and deploys working journalists into classrooms across Europe to help schoolchildren tell news fact from fiction and understand the many shades of bias in between. Aside from empowering children, it advocates for news literacy to become part of all European teacher-training curricula. The project recently completed its start-up phase and is moving into its critical first three-year operations phase, with further phases rolling out beyond 2020. Its initial focus will be Germany and Belgium, with more countries slated to follow during the course of 2018. In the short time since its inception, Lie Detectors has seen high-level interest from educational authorities, media organisations and policymakers across Europe. It is a member of the EU’s new advisory High Level Expert Group on Fake News that advises the European Commission on steps to take against the spread and socio-political impact of disinformation. This is therefore a unique opportunity to help develop a new, fast-growing and high-profile movement for critical thinking among children in Europe.

This is a Brussels-based position with attractive pay and benefits.

Description:

The Belgium Programme Assistant is someone who thrives in a start-up environment, is detail-focused and comfortable exploring Belgium’s media and education landscapes in French and Flemish. Lie Detectors works on a hub and spoke system, with central strategy executed by country programmes. The Belgium Programme Assistant’s job is to help the Belgian programme succeeed. S/he will be responsible for creating and managing databases of all Belgian participants in the Lie Detectors scheme; inputting feedback, basic book-keeping and processing payments. An important part of this job will be talking to journalists (Belgian and international) and teachers to facilitate successful journalist-led sessions in Belgian schools. The Belgium Programme Assistant will report to senior management on operations, finance and development and have regular contact with a network of journalists and schools.

S/he will monitor Belgian news and events relevant to the Lie Detectors project in French, Dutch and English and manage and update the programme’s contacts database and calendar. The position includes a focus on research: the Belgium Project Assistant will be required to become familiar with other Belgian news literacy initiatives and funding opportunities. This is a role that will require excellent communication and original thinking to ensure the Lie Detectors model succeeds and continues to grow across Belgium.

 

The successful applicant will

  • – be fluent in English and either French or Dutch, with excellent written skills in two of these languages;
  • – have excellent organizational skills;
  • – be very comfortable working with and managing databases and spreadsheets;
  • – be extremely detail-focused and adept at basic book-keeping;
  • – be able to work independently and within a small team;
  • – be adept at communicating remotely;
  • – be educated to bachelor level or above and be able to provide references from employment;
  • – be flexible and willing to take on new areas of responsibility as the project develops;
  • – have a keen interest in helping secure the success of a critical new movement in its formative years.

 

The successful applicant will ideally

  • – have experience of managing social media accounts;
  • – have some experience of website management;
  • – have working knowledge of other European languages;
  • – be familiar with Belgium’s media and education systems;
  • – have a background in administration/communications/law/similar;

 

If interested, please send a CV and covering letter to jobs@localknowledge.be
with a subject line “Belgium Programme Assistant“.

Deadline for submissions is 4 March 2018