Communications Manager at Generation

Job purpose:

• The primary responsibility of this role is to support the organization in managing internal and external communications strategy, write and disseminate publicity material, respond to inquiries from the public and media, and coordinate promotional events.

Reporting to: Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Location: Nairobi, Kenya with frequent travel to counties
Type of position: Functional Lead
Contract Term: One year renewable
Role Overview:

• The Communications Manager role is a contractual full-time managerial role, which will report to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). This is a critical position for leading Generation Programme Kenya’s (GPK or Generation Kenya) efforts in promoting the organization’s brand, mission, vision and values. H/she will be responsible for creating communications materials (that includes but not limited to marketing and advertising materials) through a variety of means, including press releases, websites, blogs, brochures and among other relevant promotional items. H/she will also produce materials to be used at relevant conferences such as PowerPoint presentations, hand out fliers and brochures. H/she could also be called upon to present at key events to help promote GPK’s brand awareness.
• As a key member of the organization’s management team, the position holder will be involved in working alongside other members of the management team to support the achievement of organizational strategic goals and contribute to the scale up of team efforts and results, including the successful launch of new programs, locations (i.e., counties) and relevant strategic partnerships (e.g., with government, learners, alumni and employers).
• The Communications Manager will also be instrumental in creating materials that would be used to attract funding from targeted donors. The job description below outlines a broad scope of responsibilities. These may be subject to change based internal and external factors that may impact GPK’s work.
• INTERESTED candidates please submit your applications to genkcareers@generation.org attaching your latest resume and application. The deadline for submissions is 12th May 2023. Kindly indicate in the Email subject: Communications Manager. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

TO BE SUCCESSFUL YOU'LL NEED:
Knowledge, Qualifications And Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in communications, marketing, public relations, journalism or related field.
• A minimum of five (5) years’ relevant — hands-on — professional experience in a communications role.
• Embody values and understand the future challenges and opportunities for youth empowerment and is passionate about creating an impact in Kenya’s employment ecosystem.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with proven track record writing press releases, developing blog content and creating social media posts in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience in developing and executing communication strategies across multiple channels.
• Comprehensive knowledge of content management systems, Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.), and social media platforms.

Skills And Abilities

• Excellent oral/presentation skills.
• Strong teamwork orientation, with an ability to lead and work effectively with a range of media partners and colleagues.
• Strategic and innovative with an ability to identify ways to improve communication efforts and sell the vision of Generation.
• Ability to explain complex ideas in easily accessible way tailored to different audiences.
• Be adaptable/flexible in order to respond to a fast-changing environment.
• Strong project planning and management skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

Required Competencies and Mindsets

• Excited by the idea of working in a fast-moving environment, balancing the opportunity to engage in a wide range of work with the necessary adaptability and flexibility to do so.
• Passion for working in a mission-driven environment.
• Proactive collaborator, willing to propose solutions and ideas to challenges based on expertise, debate their merits, and make final recommendations.
• Self-reflective and open to receiving and giving frequent feedback.
• A positive, solutions-oriented attitude, drive for excellence, and ability to be a team player.
• A strong sense of ownership (takes personal responsibility for meeting objectives) and timeliness.
• Ability to comfortably navigate new technologies.
• High level of attention to detail and interactions.

Personal Qualities

• Resourceful Self-starter with confidence and ability to drive things with minimal oversight.
• Ability to think strategically and identify ways to improve communication efforts.
• Commitment to respect and value equality and diversity and understanding of how this applies to own area of work.
• Ability to develop and maintain positive relationship with a wide range of media stakeholder.
• Commitment to own continuing personal and professional development.
• Demonstrate high levels of integrity and aligned with Generation vision, mission, and values.

Other requirements

• Ability to travel frequently within Kenya, and potential occasional travel in the counties.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

• Ensuring Generation Kenya presents a consistent brand and engaging content to its targeted audiences, specifically young people aged 18 – 35 years, employers, government, development partners and other identified key partners. You will spotlight and amplify the great work being done by Generation Kenya to support unemployed and underemployed young people. Activities will include media relations, campaign management, social media, content creation (including writing, editing, design) and general marketing initiatives.

General responsibilities

• Developing and implementing communication strategies to promote the organization’s mission and vision.
• Delivering marketing activities and communications campaigns to engage key stakeholders (including donors, employers, students and government organizations) and monitoring their success.
• Conducting research and analyzing data to measure the effectiveness of communication strategies and make recommendations for improvement. ▪ Writing, editing and managing content for a range of communication channels, including newsletters, press releases, website copy, social media posts, and other marketing materials. This will include but not limited to developing and /or revisions of pitch documents (in MS Word, PPT, etc.,) to support fundraising efforts.
• Planning and executing events and campaigns to raise awareness of the organization’s work — internally and externally.
• Review, update and create awareness on GPK’s brand guidelines. This includes but is not limited to ensuring consistency in communications materials across all functions and programmes within Generation as per GPK’s brand guidelines.
• Proactively engage with the global communications team to contribute to global communications efforts.
• Responsible for building a stories and content repository (both written and visual) from the different stakeholders (ie, alumni, employers, funders to feed current and future external communications). This repository will need to be well organized and catalogued for easy access and use by colleagues.

External communications

• Proactively managing press relations and creating informative, creative and interesting press releases, press kits, newsletters & related marketing material. This could include reaching out to influencers, media and beyond in order to arrange story placement on a national and global level.
• Managing and writing of copy and content for a range of media including print and digital
• Developing an effective digital marketing strategy.
• Managing social media channels for Generation across a range of channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn), working with relevant functions like the Learner and Alumni Engagement, BD and Operations in developing and testing content to increase reach.
• Represent the organization at events and press conferences
• Supporting in external communication via taking queries and giving correct information, through the official Generation Programme Kenya phone line.

Internal communications

• Create internal communications protocols and initiatives that will foster employee morale.
• Plan, design and disseminate relevant communications trainings for staff. This includes but not limited to media training for staff who will participate in media events, etc.
• Managing the bulk messaging function in ensuring accurate and consistent messaging, where needed.
• Any other responsibilities as may be assigned from time to time.

Key Working Relationships

• Media Relationships — collaborate with while maintaining strategic media partnerships and advocate for Education-to-Employment promoting support for Generation Kenya’s work.
• Kenya & Global Partnership Team — support and advice the CEO on global and local Communication strategy development and implementation.
• Generation Kenya Program Team — in liaison with the CEO, regularly engage, advice and support internal teams in Generation Programme Kenya as the communications advisor, on best practice in communications to ensure delivery of high quality and timely information dissemination and management.