Community Manager at Food For Education

Position Overview

The Community Manager is a senior field-facing role responsible for driving Food4Education’s community engagement and stakeholder buy-in strategy across diverse groups—parents, teachers, BOMs, farmers, school leaders, and grassroots arms of national and county government. The role ensures successful penetration, adoption, and sustained support of F4E’s programs while safeguarding community trust and alignment with our public mandate.

Your responsibilities will include

 Strategic Community Engagement

• Lead the design and implementation of F4E’s community engagement strategy at school, village, and county levels.
• Cultivate trusted relationships with headteachers, parents, BOMs, religious and cultural leaders, and farmers involved in supply chains, in close collaboration with the Government Relations team.
• Design and roll out targeted community activation forums, barazas, and sensitization campaigns.
• Monitor and manage community sentiment, including early identification and de-escalation of resistance, misinformation, or stakeholder conflicts.

Grassroots & Security Liaison

• Act as F4E’s on-the-ground liaison with chiefs, sub-chiefs, local administration, law enforcement and other national government officials, in collaboration with the Government Relations team.
• Engage security actors (e.g. police, community policing units) to ensure smooth program operations, particularly during periods of unrest, protests or heightened circumstances.
• Ensure Community team representation in official barazas and forums at the ward and sub-county levels.
• Collaborate with the Public Affairs Director to ensure security dynamics are integrated into risk management.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Work closely with the Government Relations, Technical Operations, Expansion, and Communications teams to align messaging, resolve implementation blockers, and escalate critical issues affecting communities.
• Support Tap2Eat adoption by promoting buy-in, providing resources and staff during registration drives, and resolving grassroots resistance.
• Represent the Public Affairs team in kitchen launches, Tap2Eat rollouts, and community events.

Team Leadership

• Lead and mentor a nationally deployed team of Community Associates.
• Build team capacity on diplomacy, risk management, data reporting, and stakeholder mapping.
• Drive consistent performance management, learning loops, and knowledge sharing across the team.
• Invest in learning about F4E’s history of community engagements, particularly from the Government Relations team.

Data, Insights & Reporting

• Track and report community engagement activities and outcomes using Salesforce or other systems.
• Prepare briefs, dashboards, and reports to inform national Public Affairs strategy and risk positioning.
• Ensure that community intelligence is captured and acted upon to protect F4E’s brand and license to operate.

Minimum Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in public affairs, community development, education, or grassroots mobilization
• Strong interpersonal and diplomatic skills to manage multiple layers of stakeholders
• Deep understanding of Kenya’s local administration, political, and education systems
• Excellent perception of community dynamics in relation to project implementation and buy in 
• A strong team leader with experience managing field teams spread across the country
• Fluent in English and Kiswahili; local languages an added advantage
• Strategic thinker with hands-on field execution experience
• Emotionally intelligent, assertive, credible, and respectful
• Experience working with law enforcement or local security personnel an added advantage
• Familiarity with Salesforce, Power BI, or digital reporting tools preferred