Communications and Development Officer

Lwala Community Alliance

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Job Summary

Lwala Community Alliance (Lwala) is a community-led innovator proving that when communities lead, change is drastic and lasting.

Lwala village, a small community in rural western Kenya, founded the organization as a response to extreme health challenges. The region experiences some of the highest HIV, maternal mortality, and infant mortality rates in East Africa. As such, community members built their area’s first health center.

From these humble beginnings, we are now the largest provider of health services for a population of over 90,000. The work extends far beyond the original hospital as we support communities in their homes, schools, and farms to advance their own comprehensive well-being. We address the complex causes of poor health through a multi-dimensional strategy, which engages community members in driving their own change. 

Lwala’s reporting, development, and communications processes have been growing over recent years to better drive learning and feedback loops within the organization and to external stakeholders. These organizational elements are intertwined and require communication and coordination between them in order to drive impact, learning and growth.

The Communications and Development Officer will support Lwala’s Development and Program teams to make strides in improving its data systems, driving feedback loops, reporting, proposals and communicating externally.

This position offers exposure to executive-level strategy on communications, development, fundraising including: participating in institutional donor engagement, attending high-level conferences, supporting grants management, and developing program proposals.

Further, the Communications and Development Officer will support team members in growing their skills in writing and telling stories. Helping to build the capacity of team members in their ability to fully understand, talk about and share program results will directly benefit the overall mission of Lwala Community Alliance.

The Communications and Development Officer sits within the Development team, with significant collaboration with the M&E and Programs team.

Job Responsibilities

The responsibilities of Communications and Development Officer include, but are not limited to, the following:

Grants Management and Reporting

• Support stewardship and engagement strategy for institutional donors
• Support Monitoring and Evaluation team to maintain donor metrics tab, produce impact dashboard and manage workflow of reporting data
• Maintain comprehensive database of current grant funders and track reporting requirements and deadlines
• Draft reports to funders as needed, including quarterly Insider Reports
• Assist with creation of conference abstracts, research presentations, and donor presentations
• Provide support to the M&E team on integration of evaluation results with other ongoing monitoring, data analysis, data visualization, etc.,

Communications and Outreach

• Develop and implement organizational marketing and communications strategy
• Travel 2-4 times annually to Kenya to gather pitch resources and program/project updates
• Gather and adapt content for social media, marketing, and development purposes
• Create and produce content updates on social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram)
• Assist with the distribution of donor communication materials
• Support business development and new partner scoping

Proposal and Program Development

• Lead in outlining and drafting letters of inquiry, concept papers, and proposal submissions for new grants and grant renewals, with special attention to program narratives, work plans, milestones, and budgets
• Support Kenyan team in the development of program strategies, theories of change, work plans, and key performance indicators
• Work with Kenyan team to develop new programs, providing research and organization to the planning process

Grants Finance

• Work with Impact Director and Finance Manager to ensure high-quality grants finance management and accurate allocation of grant funding
• Maintain grants financing tracking sheet and coordinate with Kenyan team to ensure accurate financing reporting for donors

**Other duties as assigned

Qualifications

• A degree or relevant experience in international development, public health, public administration, statistics or related field, master degree preferred
• Experience working in a field-based position in East Africa preferred
• A background in research, data analysis, and/or support of M&E systems and design is preferred
• Strong writing abilities, both creative and analytical, preferably with strong editing skills
• Preferred experience with nonprofit grants, donor reporting and budgets
• Experience creating content and working with various social media platforms
• Process-oriented with capacity to develop and drive workplans and meet deadlines
• Maturity to tolerate nuance, handle competing priorities, and communicate with executive-level leadership
• Ability to learn quickly and take initiative
• Patience and resilience
• Self-motivation and resourcefulness
• A proven ability to work with teams
• Successful experience working with people from different cultural backgrounds
• Curiosity and a sense of humor

Additional Information

Benefits

How to Apply

Send your cover letter, resume, and 3 references to: development@lwalacommunityalliance.org

Details

• Date Posted: March 20, 2020
• Type: Full-Time
• Job Function: Analytics / Evaluation
• Service Area: Community Development
• Start Date: 05/01/2020
• Salary Range: 42,000-50,000
• Working Hours: 40 hrs/wk