Schools2030 Global Communications Officer

Schools2030 is a ten-year participatory learning improvement programme based in 1000 government schools across ten countries – Afghanistan, Brazil, India, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uganda and Portugal.

Led by the Aga Khan Foundation, Schools2030 launched in 2020 with the goal to equip children and young people with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values they need to build positive livelihoods and contribute to their communities. To do this, the programme focuses on improving teacher agency: recognising and amplifying teachers as leaders, innovators, and active agents of change. Using the principles of humancentred design and focusing on the key transition years of learners aged 5, 10 and 15 years old, Schools2030 supports schools and teachers to catalyse classroom-based education innovations that can inform systems-level approaches for improving holistic learning outcomes.

Schools2030’s ‘Three Step Model for Educational Change’ forms the heart of its operations for effecting school-driven change. These steps – Assess, Innovate, Showcase – allow teachers to: identify gaps in student learning; design low-cost, scalable innovations to address these gaps; and take their ideas to the national and global stage for scale and replication.

Schools2030 is seeking a Communications Officer who can support global and countrylevel communications as we embark on Phase 2 of the programme, which looks to strengthen the connection between the work at school level and national and global policymakers and education system leaders. The appointed person will become an integral member of the Schools2030 Global Secretariat and will help drive our programme’s vision for education systems change across our countries and at the global level.

The Schools2030 Global Communications Officer will work closely with the Schools2030 Global Communications and Advocacy Manager and other members of the Secretariat team and network of partners to support on collecting, developing and disseminating stories and evidence of our successful model implementation that is emerging from across our programme workstreams. Working closely with the Global Communications and Advocacy Manager as well as Schools2030 teams in each country, the appointed person will work to implement the Schools2030 Global Communications Strategy through a range of visual, written and digital assets and ensure that these assets reach their target audience through a variety of channels, including via the Schools2030 website, social media channels and digital newsletter, as well as supporting the creation of communications products needed by the global and country teams for inperson events and meetings, such as powerpoint presentations and banners. They will also work alongside the Schools2030 Global Communications Manager to support the creation and delivery of evidenced-based communications assets (position papers, reports etc) that can support the critical showcasing step of the Three Step model and ultimately influence the education landscape at global and national levels.

The role will ensure Schools2030 and its lead implementer the Aga Khan Foundation become recognised thought leaders on education in all contexts – including development, humanitarian, and protracted crises – and will support in elevating the status and professional expertise of teachers as leaders of learning. The role will help connect and bridge education school-level, evidence and teacher professional development with national-level policy and wider sectoral change.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Work alongside the Global Communications and Advocacy Manager to support the implementation of the Schools2030 Global Communications Strategy (Phase 2).

Help to grow and adapt the Schools2030 website as needed, adding additional content pages and ensuring that the website remains the most comprehensive, up to date repository of information about the programme.

Develop and implement a social media strategy aligned to the wider Communications Strategy, which will include creating content for, administering and monitoring Schools2030’s social media channels.

Work alongside the Global Communications Manager to gather content for and develop the monthly newsletter and identify opportunities to grow its audience.

Work closely with Schools2030 country teams to gather content for success stories and ensure these stories are written to a high quality with a clear narrative that delivers the messages laid out in the Global Communications Strategy.

Work alongside the Global Communications Manager and country teams to identify opportunities for impactful campaigns and campaign strategies at global and national/sub-national levels.

Support the delivery and formulation of Schools2030 evidenced-based communications assets – including but not limited to reports, one-pagers, presentations, case studies – for targeted key audiences within each country and globally.

Support the formation of communications assets for Schools2030 countries to ensure they are wellequipped for important meetings or moments in the education calendar for dialogue with key stakeholders

Support the design, planning and organisation of the Schools2030 Global Forum – an annual event that showcases our programme and connects education practitioners, donors, civil society organisations, researchers and policy-makers for sector dialogue

Other tasks as directed by the Schools2030 Global Communications and Advocacy Manager in support of the objectives outlined in the Communications Strategy. 

QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS, EXPERIENCE, ATTRIBUTES & INTERESTS

Qualifications

• Bachelors Degree or higher in a relevant subject.

Skills & Experience

• Demonstrated expertise in third sector communications 

• Demonstrated experience in implementing communications strategies

• Demonstrated expertise in managing and building websites, particularly with WordPress

• Expertise in graphic design (knowledge of Adobe Suite highly desirable)

• Demonstrated knowledge of running and growing social media channels and audiences

• Knowledge of Mailchimp, Canva and Microsoft Office Suite essential

• Strong understanding of the education and international development sectors, both globally and at a country level

• Ability to manage multiple demands, meet deadlines and prioritise workload whilst remaining adaptable and flexible. • Excellent written communication skills, including writing, graphic design

• Fluent in written and oral English language

• Excellent presentation skills and meeting facilitation skills, including online meetings and workshops

• Experience coordinating conferences or similar events (experience coordinating research/knowledgesharing events is strongly desired)

• Experience working in a diverse and multicultural team

• Ability to work to deadlines and to a high professional standard Attributes & Interests

• A passion for education, international development and policy advocacy

• Ability to produce deliverables to deadlines and to a high professional standard.

• A consultative and collaborative mindset

• Demonstrates equity, transparency and integrity with high personal and organisational ethical standards; is fair, honest and trustworthy with respect for confidentiality; inspires and builds trust and respect

• Respectful of diversity; sensitive toward others, open and understanding toward other people’s cultures, values, autonomy, and faiths; demonstrates compassion and empathy; is courteous to others with respect for their background, religion, gender and age

• Committed to acting ethically and upholding safeguarding standards towards all staff, volunteers and beneficiaries of the organisation.

TO APPLY

• Applicants must have right to work in the UK

• Must include CV and a supporting statement that outlines why they want the role, why they want to work for AKF and the Schools2030 programme and how their experiences and skills to date will make them the most suitable applicant for the role.

• To apply: Please send your CV and supporting statement (outlined above) alongside samples of previous work where possible. These could include, but are not limited to: written articles/blog posts, social media graphics or text, websites or videos you may have been involved in creating, any graphically designed materials (posters, presentations etc).