The European Commission is preparing to set up an EU Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) to observe the country’s forthcoming National Assembly Elections.

We are looking for four professionals with digital skills and experience using social media monitoring tools, along with a good knowledge of the online and political landscape in Lesotho, to take up positions as Social Media Assistants. 

MAIN TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Under the direct supervision of the Social Media Analyst (SMA), the Social Media Assistants will support the following tasks:

• Monitor the online platforms of a sample list of political and electoral contestants, key state institutions officials, relevant opinion leaders, third-party campaign accounts, others;
• Track the strategies used by candidates and parties to campaign on the main online platforms (Facebook - Twitter - YouTube);
• Analyze the types of online political advertising and sponsored content placed by electoral contestants during the election campaign (if data is available);
• Identify the presence of hate/inciteful speech, incitement to violence against candidates and political parties;
• Identify possible information manipulation efforts affecting the integrity of the electoral process;
• Provide insight on how women candidates and marginalized groups are portrayed on social media;
• Assist in acquiring knowledge of the general media landscape and existing regulatory framework for online content;
• Create social media monitoring databases and prepare qualitative and quantitative reports on the assigned online platforms;
• Suggest meetings with relevant stakeholders and participate in meetings with the SMA if needed. This may include meeting with institutions, agencies, internet activists, academics, social media and technology companies, domestic election observer organizations, and civil society groups
• Contribute to other relevant duties as required by the EU EOM SMA.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required:

• University degree in political science, digital journalism, open-source intelligence techniques (OSINT), statistics, computer science, digital marketing, visual communication, digital advertising or other relevant field. A combined academic background of data analysis and social science is an asset;
• Knowledge of the country’s digital and traditional media as well as the political landscape and main stakeholders, culture, regional expertise is an asset;
• Experience working with social media tools (e.g., CrowdTangle, Buzzsumo, Brandwatch, Sentione) and digital analytics tools;
• High level computer and IT literacy, including excellent command of Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets; 
• Experience in drafting qualitative and quantitative reports in a concise, visually appealing manner also through relevant charts;
• Fluency in written and spoken English/or language spoken by the EU EOM;
• Ability to work with a diverse team and multicultural environment, to move in difficult conditions, perform well under stress and always maintain professionalism;
• Excellent interpersonal, intercultural, and communication skills;

Preferred:

• Professional experience with international organizations, CSOs, tech companies or digital communication agencies;
• Experience in advertising content creation (Facebook Ads and business management, Google Ads), digital marketing techniques, social media management;
• IT developer skills, including knowledge of quantitative tools and languages, including R, Python, Power BI (or similar platform) and others. Knowledge on how to extract data via APIs (Twitter API, YouTube API, Facebook Ad Library);
• Experience in methodological approaches of social media monitoring;
• Fluency in any other local language;
• Understanding of Democratic Election Standards and International Human Rights Law, particularly related to Freedom of Expression.

TOOLS

CrowdTangle – Access granted by EODS.