Terms of Reference

Position: Scriptwriter and Folklorist 
Employment Type: Fixed Term Contract
Duration of Employment: 6 months
Required number of candidate: 2 (1 scriptwriter and 1 folklorist)
Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, mandatory occasional travel
Application Deadline: November 23, 2022 

Organizational Profile: MERSA Media Institute is a nonprofit media policy think tank. We work to help create vibrant, responsible and independent media institutions, professional unions and education centers through research, capacity building and institutional support in Ethiopia.  

Position Summary: MERSA Media Institute is working on a project that aims to utilize role of creative art in facilitating cross-cultural communication, identity
assertion and understanding indigenous institutions that advance tolerance, peace and conflict resolution. In order to achieve this goal, performance artists such as a scriptwriter and a folklorist will be recruited and trained to produce creative works and staged performances that are tailored to explain complex concepts and processes in the national dialogue process to target groups in their native languages.

Duties and Responsibilities:  

• Write a script in Afan Oromo for a short-form theatrical performance that help achieve the goals and objectives of this project; mobilize a group of stage performers for the theater and engage with them in rehearsals to perform it on stage (scriptwriter)
• Be able to translate the Afan Oromo script to Amharic for audience who do not speak Afan Oromo (scriptwriter)
• Write a script in Amharic for a short-form theatrical performance that help achieve the goals and objectives of this project; mobilize a group of stage performers for the theater and engage with them in rehearsals to perform it on stage (scriptwriter)
• Write music lyrics that help achieve the goals and objectives of this project; prepare melodies for the written lyrics; mobilize performers, rehearse written music lyrics to perform it on stage (folklorist)
• Must incorporate feedback on the both the scripts and the music lyrics after the first draft being revised by MMI team
• Must give weekly updates to the contacts person in the MMI team
• Follow schedule and adapt project timelines set by MMI team
  
  Required Qualifications:
  
• Proven experience in performance arts work, namely as a scriptwriter and a folklorist
• Team management and communication skills
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in Amharic and other local languages

Desired:       

• If you have a track record of getting things done, you will enjoy working with us
• Avid learner, thrives under pressure – a no-brainer 
• Creative, storyteller, visual thinker  
• Self-starter, independent researcher, collaborator  

How to Apply: Prospectors please send your resume and cover letter to recruitmentmersa@gmail.com

MERSA Media Institute is an equal opportunity employer. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type and afford equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.