Communication Advisor

Project overview

Describe the context of the project/program in which the activities take place, when and on what grounds the project/program was completed and what role the professional has within the project/program?

The Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations is stimulating innovation by making an innovation budget available to start, scale up, or secure projects with a digitization assignment within the Government. Based on selection criteria, the Ministry makes an innovation budget available to promising projects. Government organizations can submit an application for the innovation budget. A jury with representatives from policy departments, decentralized governments, citizens, businesses, and science determines which government projects and issues receive funding from the innovation budget.

The Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK) has asked ICTU to support the project execution by organizing:

The new round of the Innovation Budget started in September 2026. The Innovation Budget cycle therefore runs from September to September of the following year. For the current year, the activities focus on organizing a Demo Day on March 4th, and organizing a thematic session for the 15 participating projects in April. For the new cycle of the Innovation Budget, the campaign to invite government organizations for new initiatives will start in the first quarter of 2027. For more information about the program, please refer to General information about the innovation budget - Digital Government

The project end date is December 31, 2027, with a possibility of extension.

What role does the professional have within the project/program:

Communication Advisor for the 'Waardengedreven Innovatiebudget Digitale Overheid' (WIDO) project.

What assignment will the professional carry out and what activities are involved?

The professional will handle communication related to the project. To communicate with the target audience, channels of the Digital Government platform will be used, among others.

Activities include:

What concrete results should the professional achieve?

Results must be concrete and measurable.

What sub-results should the professional achieve during the assignment:

What final results should the professional deliver at the end of the assignment.

The final product is the delivery of the combination of sub-results within the allocated budget.

When is the assignment completed and terminated:

The assignment ends on December 31, 2027. This includes the acceptance of the results achieved by the professional.

How, what, and when will the work/results be assessed?

Detail the criteria and moments for feedback and assessment. Example: monthly progress reports and a final assessment at project completion.

The results will be assessed at the end of the year (December 2027). An evaluation will be scheduled with BZK and ICTU at the end of the year, where, among other things, the communication activities will be assessed.

What is the chance that the expected duration will be exceeded, or what uncertainties are there regarding the expected duration?

There is a chance that the duration of the assignment will be exceeded. Changing insights at the client regarding policy and policy objectives can impact the duration.

What specific knowledge does the professional possess that the client's own staff do not have and that a potential replacement would also need?

Knowledge and skills:

Desired profile

You enjoy working in a dynamic environment with many different stakeholders and deadlines. Experience writing articles and blogs about various topics is a plus. You are capable of developing a communication plan (including positioning) and know how to execute it in coordination with the team. You have experience with social media and can create content for platforms like LinkedIn.

• The preparation of the annual selection of new initiatives through promotion and jury guidance
• Planning and organizing a Demo Day for ongoing innovation projects and a Pitch event for new applications
• Organizing 3 joint meetings with the innovation projects
• Guiding the projects throughout the year
• Communication about the program
• Writing/publishing news items and/or background stories for the website digitaleoverheid.nl, newsletter, and social media.
• Writing invitations, reminders, and confirmations for the demo day, pitch event, and pre-selection day.
• Guiding video productions related to the announcement of the new Innovation Budget and the aftermovie of the demo day.
• Conducting interviews, elaborating, and distributing information about innovation projects to show the outside world that the innovation budget is being well spent.
• Creating and maintaining event websites for, among others, the demo day.
• Writing and publishing good and understandable texts.
• Setting up a communication campaign to bring the new innovation budget to attention, resulting in more than 60 new applications for the subsidy.
• Overall communication plan for Innovation Budget 2027;
• Creating and executing a communication plan per event and thematic session;
• Announcement and further communication about the opening of the new budget;
• Interviews with innovators;
• Video production around the Demo Day;
• Realizing a digital magazine with results and lessons learned from innovation projects;
• Up-to-date dossier regarding the website digitaleoverheid.nl;
• Excellent editorial, (business) journalistic knowledge and skills for writing news items, background articles, interviews, and editing and translating policy documents into current and (digitally) accessible information aimed at specific target groups.
• Thorough knowledge of everything related to web editing (SEO, WCAG/digital accessibility).
• Aware of the latest developments in social media communication.
• Specific expertise regarding the CMS used (WordPress) for managing and further developing websites and social media channels.
• Specific knowledge of web optimization to support strategic goals.
• Knowledge of innovation and the challenges in digitization.
• Experience with communication in complex programs.
• Strategic and analytical skills.
• Excellent oral and written skills.
• Experience with administrative environments.
• You are a communication advisor with a focus on the realization and feasibility of the communication strategy.
• You can develop a communication strategy, translate it into a plan, and coordinate the execution in consultation with the team.
• You are flexible in your work and can easily switch between tasks.
• You enjoy conducting interviews and writing lively articles about them.
• You also enjoy writing about the various project activities and current topics.
• You can work with deadlines.

Requirements

Wishes

Additional information

When you offer a professional to us as a supplier and they are placed, we will need information from you as a contracting party, including regarding the Chain Liability Act (Wet keten- en inlenersaansprakelijkheid). The 'WKA' aims to prevent abuse in the remittance of payroll taxes at all links in the chain; from supplier to client. We cover these risks for our clients through a blocked account, the G-account. This is an account to which a portion of the invoice amount is deposited and from which you can pay payroll taxes and VAT to the Tax Authorities.

The percentage to be deposited depends on whether you have SNA certification (NEN-4400-1 or NEN-4400-2) and whether your company is located in the Netherlands or abroad. You can apply for the G-account from the Tax Authorities. If you cannot obtain a G-account (and you can provide proof from the Tax Authorities), you also have the option to provide an accountant's statement (assurance report regarding personnel lending) every quarter. In this, a certified accountant (AA or RA) will issue a statement on the correctness, completeness, and timeliness of the remittances.

Please note, the costs for this statement are at your own expense.

• HBO/WO work and thinking level
• Minimum 5 years of experience as a communication advisor
• Excellent command of the Dutch language, both spoken and written
• Demonstrable editorial knowledge and skills for writing news items, background articles, interviews, and editing and translating policy documents into current and (digitally) accessible information aimed at specific target groups.
• You have experience with writing communication plans and can implement them.
• Demonstrable experience as a communication advisor within the (national) government.
• Demonstrable experience with developing and managing web and community pages.

Project details

• Start: 2026-12-31T23:00:00
• Location: Den Haag Zuid-Holland, NL
• Languages: Dutch