Communications Consultant at International Budget Partnership

Scope of Work: The International Budget Partnership Kenya (IBPK) is looking to contract a Communications Consultant to provide communications support for key activities and undertakings for the remainder of 2017. The Consultant will work closely with the IBPK Country Manager, the Senior Technical Advisor, other IBPK members of staff, and relevant staff from the global IBP organization, to complete work in the five task areas detailed below. The Consultant will be expected to be available through the end of December 2017, and deliver on the tasks below. It is projected that no more than 77 days is required to produce the high quality communications work products detailed in the tasks below. The payment schedule will be based on the tasks’ deliverables to be incorporated into the consulting agreement.

Task One: Develop and implement a strategic communications plan for disseminating key messages from research work produced by IBPK. This includes research products completed recently (Analysis of Budget Implementation Reports, Cash Flow Analysis) and ongoing or upcoming research products (Public Deliberation work, Analysis of Public Debt, to name a few). The communications plan will detail the main audience groups, the key messages from the research that need to go out to these audience groups, the timings for getting these messages out, and the main channels for communicating with these audiences. The Consultant will implement the communications plan once this is approved by IBPK.

Task Two: Draft and implement a strategic communications plan for Equity Week 2017. IBPK will be implementing Equity Week 2017 in the second half of 2017. The Consultant will prepare a strategic communications plan for Equity Week 2017, in close coordination with the IBPK Team, and other CSOs and groups that that are co-organizing Equity Week 2017. The Consultant will also implement this plan.

Task Three: Draft and implement a strategic communications plan for the proper implementation of County Budget and Economic Forums (CBEFs) in 2017 and beyond. IBPK has been intensively involved in supporting the establishment of fully functioning CBEFs as platforms for public participation in county budget processes. After the August national elections, county governments are expected to begin constituting, orienting and convening new CBEFs. The communications strategy will identify the key actors involved in the establishing CBEFs at the county level, draft the main messages about their roles, identify how these messages go out to the different actors, and timings and frequency of the communications.

Task Four: Produce content for and monitor IBPK Facebook page and twitter accounts in coordination with other team members.

Task Five: Work to publicize further materials developed by Pesacheck.

The Communications Consultant will

• have a Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant discipline;
• have at least 3-5 years of experience in organizational/corporate communications; at least 2 years managing or working with digital communications platforms (including websites, social media and mass email distribution software); and at least 2 years working with civil society, non-profit or public interest groups;
• have demonstrated ability to communicate effectively in English (both written and spoken); able to edit, proof, and coordinate design of high-quality publications and other communications content; and will have exceptional attention to detail in communications (grammar, spelling); high proficiency with Microsoft Office software applications;
• be able to synthesize complex and technical findings into simple messages; and have the ability to adjust how these messages are conveyed to different audience groups;
• have strong interpersonal skills and will be able to thrive in and contribute to a culture of collaboration and team work; be highly organized and able to prioritize tasks to meet multiple deadlines; and
• presently reside in Nairobi and possesses all legal permissions to live and work in the county.