Mercy
Corps AgriFin Accelerate Program
Vacancy: Communications Officer
Program
Summary: The
AgriFin Accelerate program will operate in three African countries (Kenya,
Tanzania and possibly Zambia) utilizing a market ecosystem approach, working
with carefully selected partners to build sustainable models, where farm and
crop management tools and financial services are "bundled" in
affordable, unified platforms on mobile phone channels to promote mass
commercial uptake and usage.
We
work with farmers, banks, mobile network operators, MFIs, research institutes
and other ecosystem players in well-defined partnerships to sustainably bundle
services, leveraging the offer and outreach of all partners, while increasing
the range of services, access points and value for farmers.
The
program works with partners to identify, prototype, test and scale successful
mobile-enabled services for smallholders, with a key focus on expanding access
to financial services, using a rapid iteration approach to product development
and client-centric design techniques.
We are
presently looking for a committed and dynamic individual to take up the
position of a Communications
Officer
General Position Summary: The Communications Officer (CO) will have an in-depth experience in communications, including written, online and social media, along with a working knowledge of communication theory, marketing, dissemination approaches and proposal development preferably in the context of economic development, mobile financial services, technology and/or agriculture.
A
working understanding of data management and analysis would be preferable.
The CO
will report to the Director of Strategic Learning and will be principally
responsible for
1)
supporting the implementation of a communications strategy and work plan for
the program, including event planning;
2)
supporting program work related to all publications including research, blogs,
case studies and e-newsletters;
3)
coordinating with the monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) of the program
to ensure broad communication of program learning, including consultants
deployed for certain written assignments;
4)
supporting communication planning, dissemination and implementation
activities.
The CO
will work internally to create communications strategies to promote
productivity and effective teamwork, as well as excellent coordination of
relationships with program partners.
Externally,
the CO will assist the Director of Strategic Learning and the Director of the
Program to communicate with the media and other interested parties to announce
initiatives and results to build market awareness and use of program learnings
and maintain a positive image of Mercy Corps and the program.
Essential Job Functions
Communication
and Public Relations:
- Support
the implementation of the program communications plan to capture lessons
learned and to effectively engage with program donor and stakeholders to
share access to program learning externally through multiple channels.
- Continuously
liaise with the Director of Strategic Learning and program managers to
ensure even communications across initiatives and to meet deadlines for
blogs and other written and on-line communications.
- Coordinate
delivery of high quality, consistent and relevant content that is both
engaging and stimulating for the program's online community.
- Assist
the Program Data and Information Manager to coordinate and monitor
research consultants to meet deadlines and efficiently work with partners
and Program Team staff on monitoring and evaluation outputs.
- Work
with the Program Team to write, edit, assemble, and ensure timely
submission of internal and external reports.
Documentation and Communications:
- Collaborate
with the Program Data and Information Manager to ensure the continuous
development and ongoing maintenance of the program website. He/she should
also support on content selection, editing, updates and improvements on
the AgriFin website
- Take
photos and videos of field activities for publishing online or in case
studies and program evaluation reports.
- Write
and coordinate development of blog posts about the program and publish
online.
- With
the relevant Program Team members establish and maintain traffic of our
Facebook, Twitter & You Tube accounts developing and maintaining a
"voice" for the program's online community.
- Maintain
overall program library, as well as global publications and best practices
for reference of the program, donors, stakeholders, and Mercy Corps
staff.
- Oversee
the preparation, printing and dissemination of documents, including
liaising with authors, printers and graphic designers in support of the
Program Data and Information Manager.
- Support
preparation of reports on M&E findings, as required, working closely
with Director of Strategic Learning. .
Liaison with External Parties:
- In
collaboration with the Program Data and Information Manager respond to the
wide variety of information requests from stakeholders in the project
area, including the media.
- Assist
with the work of short-term consultants and research firms, facilitating
their access to the information they require and provide other forms of
research assistance when required.
- Support
in event planning and country launches of research reports and project
engagements with partners of the program
- Participate
in external and internal missions and facilitate team members’ and donor’s
access to program learnings under the direction of the Director of
Strategic Learning.
- Understand
donor and Mercy Corps’ policies, procedures, branding rules and
regulations to assist in communicating learnings across a community of
practitioners in the digital finance services sector.
Organizational Learning: As part of our commitment to
organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning
organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities
they serve - we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning
activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.
Accountability: Mercy Corps team members are expected to
support all efforts towards accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries
and to international standards guiding international relief and development
work while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the
design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.
Supervisory
Responsibility: None
Reports
Directly To: Director,
Strategic Learning
Works
Directly With: Program
Data and Information Manager, Technical teams, Country Managers, Digital Farmer
Capability Lab Manager
Knowledge
and Experience:
- Minimum
BA/S or equivalent in journalism, public relations, communications,
marketing, international development, social sciences;
- Minimum
three years’ relevant working experience required; preference for
experience in private sector in marketing, advertising, event planning,
research assistance or public relations firm.
- Excellent
oral, writing and presentation skills with relevant experience writing and
disseminating formal reports, case studies, blogs, newsletters, and
articles;
- Working
knowledge of mobile technology, international development issues and
agriculture
- Excellent
interpersonal and cross-cultural communications skills.
- Strong
sensitivity to cultural, religious and gender issues.
- Willing
to undertake regular field visits and interact with different
stakeholders;
- Well
organized and detail oriented;
- A
self-starter, with demonstrated ability to work successfully in a team,
ideally in an international context;
- Full
proficiency with MS Office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)
required, and publishing software (MS Publisher, Adobe InDesign, etc.) preferred;
- Fluency
in English required;
- Enjoys
working in teams inside a dynamic customer-centric organization;
- Sense
of humor.
Success Factors: The
successful candidate will possess expertise in communications, journalism,
research, event planning and web-based information management.
She/he
will have demonstrated experience with professional applications to web
presentation and content and the production of multi-media work including
impact stories, audio and video editing.
The
most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong commitment to teamwork
and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make
effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.
Interested candidates who meet the above required qualifications and experience should submit a cover letter, detailed curriculum vitae (CV) listing three professional referees (including a recent supervisor) to afa-hr@mercycorps.org on or before Friday 11th March 2016 by 4.00pm.
The
email subject line must clearly show the job title.
Applications
without the right subject heading will be automatically disqualified.
Please
do not attach any certificates.
(Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. We will only get in touch with shortlisted candidates)
NB: Mercy Corps AgriFin Accelerate Program does not charge any fee at any stage of the recruitment process
