Communications Specialist at Management Systems International

Position Summary:

The Communications Specialist will be a part of a communications technical team supporting the USAID/Somalia mission. The Specialist will participate in the full scope of strategic communication support tasks including the development and production of information products and publications, event coverage, field work, photography, social media management, strategy development, videography, and writing. The position will report to the Somalia Team Lead and be based from MSI’s Nairobi field office, with travel to Somalia as needed.

Responsibilities:

• Maintain a clear understanding of the mission’s portfolio and structure, as well as mission and Agency communications objectives.
• Contribute to the professional presentation and execution of communications products and services and contribute to systems to track metrics/indicators that will translate the effectiveness of these efforts.
• Produce compelling and relevant content that adheres to branding and style guidelines and uses a consistent tone, style, and language to communicate to target audience.
• Participate in and contribute to presentations at quarterly coordinating, strategy, and performance review meetings that assess MSI efforts during the previous quarter.
• Contribute to the accountability of the project by tracking/updating content and tasks using project management and filing systems.
• Contribute to the development of technical team communications strategies and content plans in their area of coverage.
• Provide daily monitoring and management of platforms to flag any sensitive issues.
• Contribute to the development of social media messaging and toolkits with draft messages, corresponding links, and appropriate images on a regular basis.
• Schedule and post social media content optimally as per the content calendar and checking that all edits have been made and approvals secured prior to publishing.
• Work with management on a daily basis to develop systems and workflows among the team that streamline social content development, approvals, and publishing.
• Provide analytics, including impressions, clicks, views, and other useful indicators of community engagement and growth.
• Contribute to a monthly catalog of news stories that will be further analyzed by an independent media monitoring organization on a monthly and quarterly basis.
• Facilitate travel, coverage, or otherwise liaising with journalists on site visits.
• Conducting interviews, taking photos, videos, or otherwise supporting field work or events, and assisting with other activities, such as assembling materials, setting up signage, tents, etc.
• Work with photographers and videographers to capture human interest stories.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field is required.
• Minimum five years of relevant professional experience in journalism or public relations, including demonstrated experience in digital technologies such as Meta Ads, Twitter Ads, Brandwatch, or others is required.
• Experience working and traveling in Somalia and in-depth understanding of Somali culture, geography, and development issues is required.
• Experience working with non-governmental organizations, donors and/or agency or mass media is preferred.
• Experience in building the capacity of others on how to develop content for social media is preferred.
• Social media or digital marketing certifications are preferred.
• Experience with managing influencers and user-generated content is preferred.
• Broad knowledge of digital (websites, social networking, email and blogging), photography and videography to seamlessly apply to multiple scenarios is required.
• Strong written and verbal fluency in English and Somali languages is required.