Regional Communication Officer - Africa at Mercy Corps

The Position

As an integral member of the global communications team, the Regional Communications Officer will focus on raising the profile and influence of Mercy Corps in Africa through earned media, messaging, and storytelling for defined issues and topics to our global target markets and within the regions, we work.

The Communications Officer will stay abreast of the media landscape in Mercy Corps regions and support the team to anticipate and respond to news cycle moments and land media coverage in Mercy Corps' global and regional target markets. The officer is expected to demonstrate initiative and be a self-starter who will generate ideas and drive content forward, providing compelling case studies, images and videos, spotting strong news lines, and writing engaging headlines and news content.

Essential Responsibilities

• Write, edit and distribute press releases, talking points, fact sheets and other media relations and communications materials.
• Build relationships with regional, national and international journalists, including non-traditional media influencers, who can help tell the Mercy Corps story.
• Generate story ideas; liaise with program staff, fundraisers and others to keep up-to-date on potential stories.
• Develop and implement media outreach plans; coordinate with social media and web content experts to maximise the value of outreach and engage non-traditional media influencers.
• Deploy to program locations when needed to research stories, conduct media outreach, and gather stories and visual assets. 
• General support for Mercy Corps communications team, including overseeing internal team reporting, systems and analytics.
• Conduct media coverage analyses and report on trends in mainstream and social media.
• Monitor the news cycle daily and update the team on relevant topics, drafting responses to emergency news cycle moments as appropriate.
• Research and create targeted media lists.
• Stay abreast of the media landscape in Mercy Corp's programmatic regions across Africa.
• Provide media training to country-level and regional spokespeople.
• Other duties as necessary.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• BA/S or equivalent in journalism, marketing, public relations or international relations required; MA/S in related fields preferred.
• University degree in a relevant subject or equivalent field experience.
• At least five years of professional experience in media relations in an international development agency and experience in dealing in the international media environment OR as a journalist in a credible news organization.
• Established track record of generating positive media coverage; relationships with media in or reporting for regional or international news markets.
• Superior written and verbal communications skills a must; ability to "translate" technical language into compelling stories needed.
• Experience in implementing training in communications and media skills.
• Politically and culturally sensitive with qualities of patience, tact and diplomacy
• Experience in international development or knowledge of development issues preferred.
• Knowledge of photography and video editing software is an added advantage
• Fluency in French is preferred.