Communications Officer CDI
Tostan
Organisation overview
Tostan is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Dakar, Senegal, currently operating in five West African countries. At the strategic level, the organization is committed to continuing to develop its core competency of empowering education, and to document and scale the sustainable impact it creates on a range of issues. Tostan’s flagship model, the three-year Community Capacity Building Programme (CCBP), has already reached thousands of communities in West and East Africa since 1991. Results in governance, education, health, economic empowerment and the environment are currently being monitored, and Tostan is particularly proud to have played an important role in the large-scale empowerment of women and girls and in community abandonment of harmful practices such as female genital mutilation and child marriage. As part of its strategic engagement plan 2023-2030, Tostan focuses on strategic scaling. The organization is developing new implementation strategies to support community leadership by unlocking broader systemic changes at the regional level. It also creates new models for sharing and replicating its programs with other development partners and expands its capacity to share Tostan’s global approach to support and influence a range of local and global audiences. For more information, please visit : www.tostan.org
Role overview
Tostan has an exciting new role for a talented individual with a passion for community-centred communications for change. Joining our Partnerships team and working with dedicated communications colleagues, this position is an opportunity to contribute to the advancement and growth of Tostan’s digital communications. With a particular focus on content creation, social media, email, and web, the Communications Officer will join us at a time of ambition and growth as we enter a new phase of our strategy 2023-2030.
We are looking for a bilingual, enthusiastic communications professional who is motivated to work as part of a team and drive digital and content communications that support the delivery of our organizational goals.
Position summary
The Communications Officer will be a creative, highly organized self-starter, with experience in digital communications and enthusiasm for working in an international highly motivated team. They will be inspired by Tostan’s ambitious new strategy and will contribute to the advancement of our communications in line with this strategy. With a particular focus on social media, content creation and email marketing, the person in this role will have lots of creative ideas to build Tostan’s presence and reputation through our digital channels. They will have the ability to build relationships with colleagues from a range of different cultural and professional backgrounds, and will be able to follow processes as well as work flexibly and creatively when needed.
The Communications Officer will work closely with Communications Team colleagues working internationally to support the strengthening and diversification of Tostan’s income base, and support our growing reputation as a thought leader on community-led development and community well-being.
The person in this role will be able to identify opportunities to amplify Tostan’s messages to key audiences in innovative ways that connect to our organizational objectives, while always centring the communities we partner with.
This role is within the Communications Team, sitting within the wider Partnerships Team, and will report into the Chief Partnerships Officer, with day-to-day task management and guidance from the Communications Advisor.
Roles and responsibilities
Under supervision of the Chief Partnerships Officer, the Communications Officer will be responsible of:
General
- Contribute to implementation of the Communications Strategy and Annual Work Plan (philanthropy, institutional, programmatic and strategic), in line with Tostan’s organizational strategy and processes;
- Carry out administrative tasks as and when needed by Communications Team, including contract sourcing, database management, note taking, and research into trends, news, best practices, opportunities and challenges;
- Provide regular reporting on communications metrics as part of organizational KPI reporting;
- Contribute to weekly Communications Team and All staff meetings;
- Monitor Google Alerts and report to team on media coverage and other relevant events as they occur;
- Work in collaboration with the US based Communications Officer for a comprehensive and holistic approach to communications at Tostan.
Social media
- Manage Tostan’s social media channels with engaging and strategic content;
- Manage and moderate Tostan’s online communities – including Facebook groups and follower enquiries;
- Create high quality video, audio and image-based content for Tostan’s social channels including “reels”, graphics, GIFs;
- Stay on-top of social media trends and be proactive in suggesting and trialling new content formats for Tostan;
- Regularly monitor and report on social media engagement and suggest improvements.
Web
- Support the day-to-day maintenance and content creation and uploading for tostan.org, ensuring the website is kept fresh and engaging and using SEO best practices;
- Liaise with web developers and website host when bugs or issues arise;
- Support implementation of website projects, including re-development/design;
- Work with staff team to create content from subject matter experts.
Email newsletters
- Execute and contribute to Tostan’s email marketing strategy for external and internal purposes;
- Write engaging, meaningful content for Tostan’s email subscribers;
- Stay on top of best practices including writing for email and data protection;
- Regularly monitor and report on email marketing engagement.
This list is not exhaustive; the Communications Officer will be called upon to perform any other duties that may be assigned to him in connection with his skills or position.
Key relationships:
Direct line Manager: Chief Partnerships Officer
Immediate office: Communications Intern
Other colleagues: Communication, Influence and Resource Development colleagues within the larger Partnerships Team reporting to the Chief Partnerships Officer
Localisation: Thies, Senegal
Key qualifications required:
Education:
- Bachelor degree or at least 3-5 years’ experience in communications, marketing or a relevant discipline.
Language skills:
- Fluency in French (oral and written);
- a good level of English proficiency (intermediate, oral and written) is required;
- Portuguese is desirable but not essential;
- Knowledge of a local language in which Tostan works is welcome.
Knowledge and Experience:
- Experience working for a non-profit or impact-driven organization;
- Good eye for storytelling for digital audiences;
- Strong interpersonal skills and ability to build relationships with colleagues from a range of backgrounds;
- Understanding of international development and the West African context that Tostan largely operates;
- Advanced experience in social media content creation, including basic video editing skills;
- Experience in or understanding of content collection, including following consent and safeguarding procedures;
- Experience in using communications tools (or similar): Caneva, Hootsuite, MailChimp, Trello, etc.
Soft skills (characteristics)
- Ability to build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders;
- Self-motivated, collaborative, good eye for detail, and creative;
- Excellent written and oral communication skills in French and English, with the ability to clearly and concisely communicate complex information to a broad range of audiences;
- Ability to build strong working relationships, both in-person and virtually;
- Team player, comfortable in working with multiple deadlines, under pressure and in a multicultural environment;
- Believes strongly in Tostan’s mission to partner with communities to develop and achieve their vision of community well-being, and inspire large scale movements leading to dignity for all.
Type of contract: local contract
Our team is made up of people who strongly believe in Tostan’s mission to empower communities to develop and realize their vision for the future and inspire large-scale movements towards dignity for all.
Vision, Mission, Values, Problem definition
Vision
Dignity for all
Mission
Empower communities to develop and realize their vision for the future and inspire large-scale movements towards dignity for all.
Values
Love – integrity, respect and humility – learning and innovation – sustainability – partnership and dialogue –
passion and pride in our work.
Problem definition
Lack of access to empowerment and non-formal education, exacerbated by poverty and deeply rooted social norms, creates an environment that does not adequately prepare individuals and communities to realize their own vision of well-being. Sustainable communities.
How to apply
Send your resume, cover letter, and scans of your diploma and certificate of education and training by email to [email protected].
Please send an email with ” Coms Officer “ quoted in the subject line. We will accept applications until May 02th, 2023. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
Tostan is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate all applications in accordance with legal standards and without regard to race, religion, age, gender, origin or disability.
