Title: AGIP Communications & Engagement Officer
Functional Area: Adolescent Girls Investment Plan (AGIP) Secretariat
Reports to: AGIP Project Manager (project accountability); Akili Dada hiring manager
Direct Reports: No direct reports
Location: Nairobi, Kenya OR remote, Kenya.
Employment terms: Please note that we can only accept applicants with a right to work in Kenya.
Travel required: some travel requirements, approx. 10%.
Salary: 12-month contract from 01 January – 31 December 2024; Please note that the contract of this role is tied to a grant funding period. A candidate starting later than 01 January 2024 will still be offered a contract until 31 December 2024.
The range is between USD 1,300 – 1,700 per month for a 12-month contract.
Background of The Organization
The Adolescent Girls Investment Plan (AGIP) is a global, intergenerational partnership of civil society organizations, research institutions, and philanthropic foundations collaborating to drive political commitment and evidence-informed investments to shift outcomes for adolescent girls globally. AGIP envisions a world where girls have the voice, choice, and agency to determine their futures, supported by holistic investment that responds to the full complexity of their lives and needs. AGIP aims to influence political, intergovernmental, and funding spaces with accessible evidence and tools to support change for adolescent girls at the national and local levels, which measurable gains for girls have not consistently matched. In brief, AGIP’s goal is to achieve real change in the lives of adolescent girls by closing the large and persistent gap between evidence-informed action, investments, and accountability with and for girls.
The AGIP Project Manager seeks a Communications and Engagement Officer to join the AGIP Secretariat to support the coalition with internal and external communications, member engagement and development, and global-level influencing activities.
We seek an individual with strong communications and engagement skills and experience in partnerships and stakeholder management in gender, girls’ rights, and youth engagement. The AGIP Comms and Engagement Officer will play a crucial role as AGIP expands its membership to youth-led organizations based in LMICs, strengthens its influence at global policy opportunities, and continues to nurture an engaged community of members and associates.
About Akili Dada – the hosting organization
Akili Dada is an African leadership incubator anchored in the ethos that girls and young women CAN and DO LEAD. Our mission focuses on girls and women from underserved and underprivileged backgrounds, extending opportunities for access to education, leadership, and networks. Akili Dada serves as the hosting organization and the successful candidate may spend up to 10% of their time on activities within their hosting organization.
DIMENSIONS OF THE ROLE
This role will join the AGIP Secretariat to lead internal and external communications, stakeholder engagement, member development, and high-level influencing. The role will work with members from across the coalition, from affiliated youth activists to technical-level colleagues, as well as a wide range of global external partners, including government representatives.
You will be responsible for ensuring that AGIP members and affiliates are informed and updated on any recent developments by developing and implementing AGIP’s internal and external communications plan and managing all communications channels, such as, but not limited to, regular newsletters, AGIP’s webpage, and social media channels. Your activities will ensure that AGIP members are engaged with the coalition’s work and build an open and welcoming community beyond formal membership.
You will support the Project Manager in delivering AGIP’s ambitious advocacy and influencing activities. This role will primarily focus on developing creative, engaging, and powerful comms and campaign pieces that hold power-holders and decision-makers to account and advance AGIP’s advocacy strategy to ‘shift power and resources to adolescent girls.’
You will also play a crucial role as AGIP expands its membership and stays committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. You will implement our member development approach by identifying and onboarding new members and working closely with the Girl and Youth Engagement Specialist to ensure our processes meet the coalition’s safeguarding and youth engagement standards.
To succeed, you will enjoy working in a multicultural and dynamic team environment, have strong communications and stakeholder engagement skills, and experience designing and publishing engaging comms messages and materials. You have experience working with stakeholders from various backgrounds, including girls and young people.
The post holder will work with people in different time zones, cultural backgrounds, and organizational cultures. They must plan and communicate clearly and efficiently, ensure timely delivery of tasks and activities, and demonstrate a solid commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and AGIP’s goals and principles.
This role will require external engagement with stakeholders from community-based to UN organizations. The post holder must model Akili Dada’s and AGIP’s values and behaviors externally daily. To succeed, you will have experience working in a partnership, coalition, or movement-building environment, specifically focusing on building strong communities and fostering enthusiastic stakeholder engagement. We seek an individual who can unite a diverse group of stakeholders under a common goal and vision with a creative and energetic problem-solving approach.
Accountabilities
Manage all internal and external comms activities to ensure members and associates are well informed and up to date on AGIP’s activities and impact:
- Deliver AGIP’s internal and external communications plan
- Manage and maintain AGIP’s comms channels, including our external newsletter, social media channels, website, and internal member communications, specifically pre-, during, and post-live events and global moments.
- Edit and design AGIP’s annual report, focussing on the impact of communication.
- Support the Adolescent Girls Advisory Committee in promoting their messages and ideas via AGIP’s comms channels.
Advance AGIP’s influencing ambition through powerful and creative content that drives change for adolescent girls:
- Create and curate engaging comms pieces, content, and campaigns that communicate AGIP’s advocacy ambitions, specifically targeting power-holders and decision-makers.
- Create influencing messages aligned with AGIP’s advocacy ambition that speak to and bridge the gap between a broad range of stakeholders, such as youth activists and decision-makers.
- Design youth-friendly external comms materials suitable for AGIP’s external comms channels, including key messages and graphics.
Lead on member engagement and development.
- Manage and oversee AGIP’s membership development process that supports AGIP’s ambition to shift power internally and attract new and prospective.
- Members from LMICs specifically identify prospective members and develop a membership pipeline, coordinate all member applications, and steward new members during their induction period with AGIP, including youth-led and grassroots organizations.
- Work with the Youth Engagement Officer to ensure the member development process is girl- and youth-centric.
- Act as a primary focal point for new and prospective members and a broad range of external organizations, ranging from grassroots to UN agencies.
- Maintain AGIP’s membership database.
AGIP Secretariat engagement
- Lead on relevant AGIP Secretariat operations and administrative tasks aligned with AGIP Secretariat priorities, as and when needed.
- Support the Youth Engagement Officer with logistics of youth engagement activities, especially as added surge capacity during critical events and activities. Support the project manager in delivering in-person and virtual events.
Knowledge
- Significant experience working in multicultural environments, participation in networks and coalitions (informal or formal)
- Good knowledge of current feminist issues and trends in international development and global Girls’ Rights advocacy spaces
- Good knowledge of girls and youth safeguarding
- A basic understanding of Civil Society and research organizations is an advantage.
Skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Creative communicator with experience in creating, editing, and designing powerful comms messages and visuals, incl. graphic design skills with Canva, Illustrator, and similar programs
- Ability to produce and adapt messages for a wide range of audiences Experience in influencing decision-makers and advancing policy outcomes Professional, engaging, and authentic stakeholder engagement skills Experience working with adolescent girl and youth advocates, girl- and youth-led organizations
- Experience in coordinating in-person and virtual meetings and events Experience in partnership and stakeholder engagement.
Personal Attributes
- Inclusive collaborator committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion.
- A passionate girls’ rights advocate, able to model Akili Dada’s and AGIP’s values and behaviors with external partners.
- Ability to connect and build relationships with a wide range of stakeholders. A positive and energetic team player.
- Capacity to be flexible and able to support ad-hoc requests. Close attention to detail.
Recruitment schedule
We will review applications and conduct first-round interviews with suitable candidates on an ongoing basis – early application is highly encouraged!
Applications close on 24 November 2023, 5 pm Kenyan time.
Interviews and a competency-based task will be completed before 01 December 2023.
We aim to make a formal offer to the successful candidate on 01 December 2023.
How to Apply
Please send a CV and cover letter to Johanna (AGIP Project Manager) At johanna.schulz@plan-international.org and (Akili Dada Hiring Manager) at careers@akilidada.org.