Position Summary: The Communications Specialist will be responsible for overseeing and coordinating all aspects of communications and outreach including designing and implementing effective outreach and communications strategies for AHADI and developing interventions to strengthen targeted county media entities in full compliance with USAID policies and regulations, on-time, within budget, and with maximum impact.
S/he will identify activities for documenting into snapshots and success stories, flickr stories and newsletter articles.
S/he will be responsible for knowledge management in the Program.
The main function of the knowledge sharing responsibility will be to help champion organization-wide knowledge sharing, so that the organization know-how, information and experience is shared inside and (as appropriate) outside the organization with clients, partners, and stakeholders.
In addition, s/he will assist the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist in collecting and synthesizing data and reports to support the AHADI reporting function.
Qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs, Data Management, Journalism, Public Management or related field relevant to the position requirements.
At least 10 years’ experience designing and implementing communications and outreach programs for USAID funded development programs;
Demonstrated ability to serve as a principal liaison among development partners, the media, and key government counterparts, both at the national and county level, as well as civil society and private sector leaders;
Highly developed communication skills (spoken, written and presentational);
Experience originating, soliciting, writing or editing complex or sensitive materials for distribution in newsletters, websites and reports;
Solid understanding of cross-cutting issues such as HIV/Aids, gender, youth, and the needs of marginalized communities.
Demonstrated ability to write clearly and concisely, to work in a fast-changing political environment, to work well under pressure and to handle concurrent projects including organizing media coverage, technical workshops, briefings and interviews.
Demonstrated ability to serve as a principal liaison among a donor-funded program, the donor, the media, and key Government of Kenya and county counterparts as well as civil society and private sector leaders.
Duties:
Communications:
Oversee the continuous review and implementation of USAID AHADI Communications Strategy;
Serving as the point of contact with USAID/Kenya on media and public relations matters, and as the in-house expert on branding, marking, and positioning of AHADI communications materials and deliverables;
Providing advice to the COP, other staff members, grantees and AHADI partners on media engagement, deliverables, outreach, communications, and public relations issues; and
Performing other duties as assigned to achieve AHADI objectives and results.
Establishing and cultivating contacts with Government of Kenya officials at all levels (Governors, Senators, and Members and staff of County Assemblies, among others), journalists, and other USAID implementing partners in order to keep apprised of governance and devolution developments and trends, as well as opportunities to promote AHADI;
Creating snapshots, success stories, articles, and other outreach materials for external distribution;
Designing and implementing interventions to strengthen targeted media county entities;
Collaborating with other AHADI staff and partners to organize, carry out, and report on media interventions;
Knowledge management
Promote knowledge sharing through the organization’s operational processes and systems by, among others, strengthening links between knowledge sharing and the information systems, and improving integration among departments in the Program, to facilitate seamless exchange of information across the program;
Promote collaborative tools such as activity rooms to facilitate sharing of ideas and work among internal teams and external partners;
Provide support for the establishment and nurturing of forums where information on programming is shared;
Share experiences across various departments, beneficiaries on innovative approaches in knowledge sharing, including preparation of case studies;
Help monitor and evaluate the knowledge sharing program, including external benchmarking and evaluation programs/opportunities;
Help disseminate information about the organization’s knowledge sharing program to internal and external audiences, including organizing knowledge sharing events (such as knowledge fairs, devolution study groups maintaining communications on knowledge sharing across the organization, and preparation of brochures/presentations.
Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting:
Serving as a key member of the AHADI research and learning team;
Collaborating with AHADI staff and partners to support the AHADI learning agenda;
Support the development of the necessary communications and reporting templates for use by AHADI staff and implementing partners;
Assisting with editing of AHADI monthly, quarterly and annual reports;
Providing internal editorial support to ensure that AHADI documents and/or reports are of high quality and comply with the USAID branding requirements;
Advising the AHADI M&E Specialist, COP, staff and partners on effective methods for presenting or communicating AHADI data and results.
Location: The Communications Specialist will be based in the AHADI Nairobi office.
Travel: Travel in country is expected. Transportation, accommodations and per diem will be provided by the project in accordance with AHADI and USAID regulations. It is anticipated that in the travel will be between 30%-40%
Communications Specialist
