Position: Regional Communications Manager – EAMWIO, Global Conservation

Regional Program Location: WCS Regional Office in Kigali, Rwanda

Reports To: Regional Director EAMWIO

Expected travel: Frequent travel to Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Madagascar

Duration: Full-time position

Background

The Wildlife Conservation Society is an international NGO headquartered at Bronx Zoo in New York City, USA, working to save wildlife and wildlands and to meet global challenges in over 50 countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas and the world’s oceans. WCS believes that the conservation of nature and natural resources is essential to life on earth, the future of humanity, and the well-being and cultural identities of Indigenous Peoples and traditional and local communities.

Program Overview

The East Africa, Madagascar, and Western Indian Ocean (EAMWIO) Region is one of WCS’s 13 Global Regional Programs, spanning Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Madagascar. This rapidly growing program has a diverse and expanding portfolio of donors, partners and projects. The region presents a set of complex conservation challenges to biodiversity and wildlife habitats. WCS field programs are addressing these through several initiatives including protected area management, community engagement, sustainable livelihoods, policy reform and sustainable financing. The WCS EAMWIO Region is based in WCS’s Africa hub in Kigali, Rwanda, which hosts a growing team of technical specialists and supports country programs and field offices initiatives across the continent.

General Position Summary:

The Regional Communications Manager will be responsible for developing and implementing a communications strategy for the region that also responds to the needs of our funders and builds the communications capacity of our country and field programs. The position holder will need to appreciate the complexities and challenges of diverse and remote programs and use a wide range of communication tools to respond to situations while also having the foresight to develop materials proactively. Candidates need to demonstrate the necessary experience and skills to manage communications within dynamic and complex programs operating in remote locations. The position is based at the WCS Regional Office in Kigali, Rwanda with frequent travel to WCS offices in the region. The Communications Manager will also liaise with the WCS HQ Communications Team and Senior Program Manager based in New York as well as partners (both state and non-state).

Responsibilities

• Develop the communications strategies for target field sites, country and regional programs in coordination with field and country program offices, including aspects such as branding and targeted marketing at reserve/park-level, provincial, national and international audiences among a wide range of target groups
• Communications and stakeholder engagement including (but not limited to) national and provincial government actors, donors and partners, local civil society, and communities.
• Develop and implement monitoring metrics and evaluation systems to measure communications reach and to analyze successes/impact of specific communications campaigns.
• Develop project content to be disseminated via social media, websites, newsletters, press releases and any other distribution channels
• Assess communications capacity needs across the region and support the recruitment and onboarding of communications staff as appropriate
• identify and propose alternative communications service providers to support site or national communications, where appropriate
• Proactively identify communications opportunities to promote the regional/country/site strategy and content – including paid, earned, shared and owned (PESO) media channels
• Increase visibility of programs on various WCS websites and social media platforms based on strategy and in accordance with donor and WCS requirements
• Contribute to business development and fundraising efforts through presentations, videos, graphics and other media products
• Support region, country and field offices in meeting and monitoring project and donor-specific communications requirements (i.e. development and/or implementation of communications plans and branding strategies, where appropriate, support graphic design and review of reports)
• Contribute to WCS internal, board, and annual reports, as well as other ad hoc communications, with content from the EAMWIO region.
• Support regional and country-level events with targeted communication plans and event-specific content
• Support strong liaison and coordination between field programs and Global Communications and Fundraising teams in NY

Qualification Requirements

• A Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, Communications, Marketing or any related field, and at least five years’ experience developing and implementing communications strategies. A Master’s Degree will be an added advantage.
• Significant experience engaging with international, national and local media
• Demonstrated experience engaging a diversity of target audiences using a broad range of contemporary media and tools across the PESO model
• Understanding of the tools that can be used to track and measure the success of communications
• Proven experience working in Africa
• Demonstrated experience, creativity and flexibility in operating effectively and sensitively in different socio-cultural environments
• Ability to work and write professionally and fluently in English; sensitivity to local languages – especially in the development of communication materials. Portuguese and/or French language skills will be an added advantage
• Skills in graphic design, communication product development are an added advantage
• Ability to work effectively in a large multi-cultural team
• Willingness and ability to travel to remote locations in East Africa, Madagascar and the West Indian Ocean Region
• Interest in wildlife conservation and environmental issues