Advocacy & Communications Officer

Reports to: Program Manager, Free to be Me

Region: East Africa

Office: Nairobi

Number of hours: 40 Hours a week

Application deadline: Continuous Process - We will review applications and conduct interviews on an ongoing basis.

Apply Now: If you are interested and meet the qualifications, we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

ABOUT HIVOS

Hivos is an international development organization guided by humanist values. Together with citizens and their organizations, we aim to contribute towards just, inclusive and life-sustaining societies where people have equal access to opportunities, rights and resources. We work in partnership with others in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America on three impact areas: civic rights; gender equality, diversity and inclusion, and climate justice. Our approach is solution driven, and we build wider movements for change by amplifying and connecting voices.

Job Context

Hivos is looking for an Advocacy and Communication Officer who will be responsible for producing & curating content that contributes to Hivos’ positioning and leading campaign efforts on LGBTIQ+ rights.  They will work with external and internal audiences to deliver key advocacy and communication initiatives for the promotion, coordination, and advancement of the human rights of the LGBTIQ+ community.

Your responsibilities:

Advocacy and Campaign Management

• Develop advocacy and campaign guidelines for the project in the region

• Support community advocacy efforts for policies promoting online safety, and protection of LGBTQ+ rights in online and offline spaces.

• Organize convenings with policymakers to enhance support for human rights for all

• Collaborate with existing networks and regional bodies in the protection and promotion of LGBTIQ+ rights

• Support efforts to counter the anti-rights/ anti-gender movements in the region

• Support creatives in the design and dissemination of new and empowering narratives

• Connect communities of action to networks of creatives in the design and dissemination of powerful alternative narratives

Communication strategy and implementation

• Develop and implement a project specific communication strategy in line with Hivos’ global corporate communications strategy in East Africa
• Implement an annual budgeted editorial calendar by working with various vendors and consultants in execution
• Provide communications advice and counsel to the Free to be Me program closely weighing possible (security & reputational) risks

Online strategy and content development

• Develop and play a lead role in implementation of the program's digital advocacy strategy.
• Produce, edit and/or curate (multimedia) content for the main hivos.org website through blogs, news items and opinion articles, illustrations, videos, and infographics
• Contribute to Hivos East Africa’s social media channels on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Movement building & strengthening

• Pro-actively gather intelligence in the environment through issue management and advise program and executive leadership where appropriate
• Map out and work closely with movements in the region and mobilize allies of human rights defenders
• Capacity strengthening of media organizations on positive messaging that promotes non-discrimination
• Continuously seek targeted opportunities to position Hivos’ work in East Africa through global bilateral and multilateral events, media interviews, Op-Eds amongst others

Engagement with the International Communications & Program Teams

• Work in partnership with the Corporate communications team based in the Netherlands, and our global Communications Officer to co-create campaigns, strategy, pro-active and reactive content pieces, amongst others.
• Actively participate and contribute as an advocacy and communications team member from East Africa.
• Work closely with the Program Officer for East Africa in engagement with societal leaders

Your Profile

• Degree in Sociology, Media/ journalism/ communications, public relations, or a human rights-related field from a recognized institution
• At least five years of work experience in an international organization or working in a regional setting
• Experience in advocacy strategy development and implementation
• Experience in human rights advocacy and/ or campaign management is essential
• High-level interpersonal skills including the ability to build relationships internally and externally
• Must possess excellent journalistic and photographic skills
• Ability to craft messaging for effective advocacy including production of video and audio documentaries
• Exceptionally good writing skills.

We particularly welcome applications from the lesbian, bisexual, queer, gender non-conforming persons, trans and /or intersex people (in the broadest sense of each of these terms). We offer a contract based on Hivos East Africa's local labor conditions, with remuneration commensurate with the experience and expertise requested.

Keywords

AdvocacyCommunicationsCampaign ManagementStrategyImplementationContent DevelopmentMovement BuildingStrengtheningEngagementHuman RightsJournalismPublic Relations