Reporting and Communications Officer (RCO)

1. Organizational Overview

ELGIA-Electoral Law and Governance Institute in Africa; is a regional electoral law, governance and institutional reform expert organization based in Kenya. ELGIA works to strengthen electoral processes, advance constitutional governance and electoral reforms, and provide institutional support to political and electoral institutions, collaborating with regional and Kenyan organizations dedicated to improving and advancing integrated, locally driven governance solutions. Our staff includes experts in Governance, Democracy, Elections Management, Political Parties, Gender Equality and Research analysis, thus creating a unique mix of capabilities to address today’s interrelated democracy and governance challenges. Our Strengthening Electoral Accountability and Inclusivity Project-SEAIP is funded by the US Government (USAID), yet we also work directly with and receive funding from a range of other donors. Projects implemented in Kenya are managed and overseen by ELGIA’s office in Nairobi Kenya.

1. RFA Reporting and Communications Officer (RCO)

ELGIA’s office in Nairobi Kenya is currently seeking a qualified Reporting and Communications Officer (RCO) to help us to successfully implement our programs. We are hereby soliciting applications from individuals who have expertise in this area and are interested in being considered for employment.

1. Job Description

The Reporting and Communications Officer (RCO) will be a key role within ELGIA, existing at the intersection of programs and program support, ensuring and working to improve key aspects of overall program quality within ELGIA’s program portfolio. He/She will work to support all project teams to ensure the smooth running of existing and new programs. Overall, he or she will be responsible for: Coordination and quality of programmatic reporting for all active and upcoming projects for ELGIA and Promotion of ELGIA communications and visibility (internally and externally).

JOB RESPONSIBILITY 1: Reporting Coordination & Quality Control.

Review, edit, and coordinate the finalization and submission of all reporting deliverables for all active and upcoming projects within ELGIA, including:

• Communicating and following up with Project/Program Managers and Coordinators/Directors as well as Sub-award partner teams to ensure timely submission of reports;
• Establishing and working with the project teams to establish and respect proper (internal and external) reporting and report submission timelines;
• Ensuring the use of donor/stakeholder and ELGIA-approved reporting outlines/templates;
• When necessary and appropriate (and agreed upon with his/her supervisor), sharing key reports or related documents directly with donors or participating in key meetings/communications of representation spaces with their teams to ensure that reports are accurately reflecting the most accurate qualitative and quantitative information;
• Ensuring that reporting deliverables are consistent with donor guidelines and (internal and external) contract requirements (e.g. donor contracts) all while working to produce deliverables of high quality;
• Update and maintain filing of reports and associated deliverables, including confirmation of final submission (and related documents) as appropriate (information management of reporting deliverables);
• Working closely with the ELGIA Monitoring, Evaluation and learning teams and staff members to ensure that reports are reflecting ELGIA’s most accurate quantitative and quantitative data;
• Building capacity of the Project & MEL teams to improve their reporting skills and so that they are implementing reporting best practices.

JOB RESPONSIBILITY 2: Internal & External Communications & Visibility Promotion.

The RCO will be responsible for promoting both internal and external communications and visibility for all activities/programming for ELGIA. This includes predominantly:

• Producing and assisting with the development (and then maintenance) of ELGIA’s Communication Plan/Strategy and related Social Media Plan/Strategy (with support from the Program & Program Support staff as deemed necessary);
• Establish/Update and maintain various communication platforms to showcase and present the activities carried by ELGIA in Kenya and in the region; this should include, but is not limited to, Workplace, ELGIA Website, Social Media Accounts (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc…), all while respecting ELGIA’s policies and procedures related to communications practices; this includes “gatekeeping” and moderating access to such platforms, working closely with all staff to collect and develop key content to post/share;
• Developing and updating capacity statements for ELGIA (aligned across strategic intervention sector and with the ELGIA program strategies) which can be shared with key internal and external stakeholders to help establish and/or maintain key partnerships and collaborations;
• Developing Fact Sheets on a consistent (either semester or quarterly basis) outlining ELGIA’s reached targets and activities for the given period (which can also be used to share with key stakeholders);
• Act as the main focal point for communications and visibility content gathering missions with external consultants or carry out content gathering his or herself when possible-this is especially important for key International Days, for example;
• As appropriate and requested by the Executive Director, work to manage external communications in the media and press;
• Build the capacity of project managers and teams on communications/visibility best practices and skills (e.g. photo taking, how to develop messaging for social media sites, etc, communications & visibility best practices, etc); and
• Update and maintain filing of communications & visibility deliverables on the ELGIA filing system against established minimum standards, including those that may need to be stored on an external hard drive due to (large) file size.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in communications, journalism, marketing, new media or related discipline from a reputable international or Kenya institution (Master’s degree is desirable).
• At least 3 years of experience in the field of communications, knowledge management, and external relations, with proven track record of managing media platforms, website management, community management and social insight reporting.
• Excellent writing, proofreading, editing and presentation skills.
• Strong understanding of the Development, Governance and development context in Kenya;
• Ability to work with a diverse team and work well as a team;
• Ability to be a self-starter and proactive in their daily work;
• Fluent English and Kiswahili language skills;
• Familiarity with basic Microsoft Word applications, including Word, Excel & PowerPoint;
• Photo & Video production and editing skills;
• Ability to leverage proper marketing across key social media and communication platforms;
• Strong writer and analytical reader, especially for deliverables to be developed for external stakeholders (e.g. donors & partners);
• Understanding of key donors (e.g. USAID/USG, GIZ, UN Agencies, other EU Delegations, DANIDA, FCDO, SIDA, etc) and their requirements;
• High critical-thinking skills and ability to produce high-quality work and support colleagues.
• Project management training/skills;
• Flexible and adaptable, working in a face-paced work environment.
• Strong multi-tasker (able to manage many tasks and deliverables at once.

Additional Information.

• Data analysis & other related MEAL (monitoring, evaluation and learning) skills.
• Notions of information management and retention.
• Familiarity with ELGIA’s approaches and/or programming.