East and Southern Africa Communications Officer

Responsibilities

Strategy and Execution:

• Drive the development and implementation of IDinsight’s communications and influence strategy in the East and Southern Africa region, identifying target audiences, key messages, tactics, approaches, and feedback mechanisms to measure progress towards goals, in close collaboration with the regional executive team.
• Handle external communications implementation including content development, building and maintaining partnerships or alliances, and supporting leaders on conferences and events.

Internal team support:

• Support regional project teams to strengthen deliverables for clients (NGO, government, and philanthropic leaders) to ensure high-quality products that clearly convey recommendations.
• Work with Regional Lead to leverage communications to develop and strengthen existing and new partner relationships; laying the groundwork for high-impact projects.

Communications and External Relations

• Identify and coordinate high-impact activities to raise the organization’s visibility and influence including media outreach, supporting conferences, events, roundtables, or other initiatives as aligned with the regional strategy and goals.
• With support from the Designer, Digital Associate, and consultants, produce high-quality, well-written, and visually appealing content to influence audiences: existing/potential clients; existing/potential employees; existing/potential funders; and peers. Content may include blogs, articles, infographics, policy briefs, videos, social media content, methodological tools, or interactive reports.
• Support Regional Lead and other senior leaders to raise their individual profiles and influence.

Professional Development

• Identify areas for professional development that enable individual growth and skills expansion. Officer will work with an Advisor to develop a personalized professional development plan.
• Actively contribute to refining the role of the communications team to optimize activities and achieve strategic objectives.

IDinsight perspective

• Work with the Communications Director and RED Director to identify communications goals and feedback loops to measure progress.
• Contribute to regional activities including strategy, team building, and other initiatives that create an enjoyable office and organizational culture.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience in a relevant field - including economics, econometrics, public policy, communications, or journalism.
• Master’s degree is a plus.
• Exceptional writing and editing abilities in English, with a passion for clarifying complex technical concepts.
• 4-7 years experience working with policymakers, NGOs, think tanks, research institutions, or strategic consulting.
• A strong design aesthetic and ability to identify ways to clearly convey information visually.
• Ability to both think strategically and to execute quickly with a bias towards “getting it done”. 
• Keen attention to detail.
• Strong storytelling skills with an ability to quickly identify a “hook” for different audiences.
• Experience developing or executing communications strategies to achieve influence or advocacy objectives.
• Experience working with technical experts (e.g. economists, academics, data scientists) is a plus.
• Experience with behavior-change communications is a plus.
• Comfortable working with a fast-paced, rapidly growing and evolving team.
• Experience working and/or living in East and/or Southern Africa, local language skills are a plus.
• Individuals with a policy background and work experience with actors in evidence generation are particularly encouraged to apply.