Communications Officer at Practical Action: (Deadline 2 April 2023)

Communications Officer at Practical Action: (Deadline 2 April 2023)

Job description

COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER 

About Practical Action

We are an international development organisation putting ingenious ideas to work so people in poverty can change their world. We help people find solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems—challenges made worse by catastrophic climate change and persistent gender inequality. We work with communities to develop ingenious, lasting, locally-owned solutions for agriculture, water and waste management, climate resilience, and clean energy. And we share what works with others, so answers that start small can grow big.

We’re a global change-making group. The group comprises a UK-registered charity with community projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America, an independent development publishing company and a technical consulting service. We combine these specialisms to multiply our impact and help shape a world that works better for everyone.

Aims

We work alongside people to ensure they can make a living and live well in the face of climate change, their changing environment, and persistent gender inequality. Our aims are to:

• Make agriculture work better for smallholder farmers, many of them women, so they can adapt to climate change and achieve a good standard of living.
• Help more people harness the transformational effects of clean, affordable energy and reduce avoidable deaths caused by smoke from indoor stoves and fires.
• Make cities in poorer countries cleaner, healthier places to live and work.
• Build disaster resilience into the lives of people threatened by climate hazards – reducing the risk of hazards and minimising their impact on lives and livelihoods.

Framework

We work to change systems. To achieve this, we have a framework:

• Analyse the root causes of poverty and vulnerability.
• Define the change at a scale we need to make.
• Demonstrate that our solutions are sustainable in the real world.
• Learn by capturing evidence and adapting our approach.
• Inspire wider support to multiply our impact. 

1.  About the role

Practical Action Rwanda seeks to recruit a Communications Officer responsible for strengthening our organisational profile linked to key business development goals. The position holder is crucial in ensuring Practical Action’s impact and relevance are strategically communicated to achieve large scale impact. This goal entails:

• Drafting and delivering communications plans and strategies aligned to the country and global business plans and external engagement strategies.
• Developing and disseminating information and publicity products to key audiences.
• Delivering communications for programmes and projects.
• Capturing content and evidence of success and learning from our work and ensuring it feeds into national, regional and global narratives of Practical Action´s scope, impact and ambition.
• Ensuring proper documentation, branding, visibility and communication using different platforms.
• Respond to inquiries from the media and the public.
• Coordinate activities and events.

1.1.  Key working relationships

1.2.   Functions and accountabilities

Global liaison and content management

• Build a close working relationship with the International Communications Advisor.
• Be an active member of the International Communications Team (ICOM), connecting with colleagues from other country offices, (especially Africa) to contribute to the regional profile and to share good practices and success.
• Attend monthly ICOM meetings, providing updates of the country office context, work and plans and developing dissemination opportunities for these.
• Plan, develop and archive communication materials such as photographs, audio and visual materials, project activities, translated documents and training activities on our content banks.
• Support visits to our work by national, regional and global media members, as required and with support from the international marketing team.

Communications and media engagement

• Lead mapping of key audiences and profile-raising opportunities, with input from key internal stakeholders, including the country director, business development and project delivery teams and with support from the international communications advisor.
• Plan, develop and disseminate programme and project communications in Rwanda via direct engagement with Project Delivery teams, with associated key performance indicators.
• Design, maintain and deliver a marketing plan for Practical Action Rwanda aligned with key business development goals in consultation with key internal stakeholders and with support from the international communications advisor.
• Ensuring the Rwanda country page(s) on Practical Action´s website and social media accounts are up to date, regularly monitored and delivering messaging in line with key marketing goals.
• Identifying engaging stories that best represent Practical Action´s work in Rwanda, synthesising key materials and packaging for external communication channels to reach key audiences.
• Pitch and write blogs, articles and newsletters summarising Practical Action Rwanda work with the support of project delivery teams.
• Maintain the external presence and exposure of Practical Action Rwanda’s work via social media and events, strengthening our visibility and profile.
• Lead national media engagement, develop a media database and partnerships with media organisations and journalists, pitch stories, and organise media field visits.
• Coordinate and collaborate with programme teams on media engagement during events and content missions to collect visual and audio footage for archiving.
• Write and disseminate press releases; prepare media kits and provide information to journalists; keep track of the company’s media coverage, with support from the international marketing team and international communications advisor.

2.  Candidate profile

Candidates must demonstrate the following experience, knowledge and skills:

• 3-5 years of experience in working with humanitarian or development organisations.
• Degree in a relevant field or equivalent work experience.
• Proficiency in written and spoken English and Kinyarwanda. Desirable: knowledge of French.
• Proven ability to produce excellent written content in English, including the ability to devise and edit content for various platforms.
• Proven ability in planning, implementing and monitoring communication strategies.
• Proven ability to follow branding guidelines and deliver aligned communications materials.
• Experience working in a complex multicultural environment.
• Ability to work and communicate effectively with a variety of stakeholders, internally and externally – including local communities, civil society, private sector, media, and government agencies.
• Experience in concisely communicating complex topics for a variety of audiences to obtain feedback and consultations and to raise profile. Desirable: Experience with development/participatory communication or behaviour change.
• Excellent administration and organisation skills.
• Desirable: Adobe Creative Suite skills (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere, etc.)
• Desirable: Social media management and monitoring (Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)

Personal qualities

• A team player and excellent collaborator, open to learning and sharing knowledge with colleagues, adding value to others’ work.
• Able to analyse and understand information quickly, apply insights and knowledge in a structured way and propose practical solutions to problems as they arise.
• Creative and proactive in generating opportunities to connect.
• Able to work effectively in a diverse team environment.
• Commitment to Practical Action’s working culture (inspiring, dynamism, connectedness, learning, creativity, getting the job done).
• Attentive to detail and interested in improvement.
• Accepts responsibility and has the drive to follow through on agreed objectives.
• Prioritises and monitors performance for delivery.
• Adaptable and able to draft and deliver against plans.
• Availability for travel.

3. Why join Practical Action?

Practical Action is a great place to work that offers the following:

• Growth and learning opportunities while making a positive difference in people’s lives worldwide.
• Friendly and supportive culture.
• Values-driven and highly engaged national and international colleagues.
• Work-life balance.

We offer the following benefits:

• Full-time roles are contracted at 35 hours per week.
• 25 annual leave days in addition to public holidays.
• A pension scheme that new employees can join from day one of employment – employer contributes 7.5% of gross salary.
• Life insurance
• Medical insurance.