Type of Contract: Fixed Term
Reporting to: Executive Director
Start Date: June, 2016
Duration of Contract: 12 months, renewable
Salary and conditions: Negotiable

About Us:

•   Established in 2001, the Youth Empowerment Synergy (YES-Ghana) is an ECOSOC-accredited NGO which is at the forefront of youth development policy, practice and research in Ghana. At YES-Ghana, we work to realise a vision: a world where every young person has a real chance to benefit from and participate in the development processes at local, national and international levels. Our mission is to promote policies and develop initiatives that help youth succeed in becoming life-long learners, productive members of society, materially sufficient and self-respecting citizens.

Overall Purpose:

•   Sitting within the broader Programmes Team, the Communications & Mobilisation Manager is responsible for engaging people in action online and offline, including maintaining an appropriate internal communication system for YES-Ghana, producing high quality content for YES-Ghana supporters and key external audiences, managing day?to?day off?line communications and online engagement across multiple channels, plus developing and delivering innovative digital communication across all programme deliverables. The Communications & Mobilisation Manager will work in close collaboration with other Programme Team members to enhance the organisation’s credibility and brand.

Key Responsibilities:

Overall communications & mobilisation function

•   Maintain a functional system of internal communications that encourages feedback and opens channels for horizontal and vertical communications across the organisation.
•   Produce advocacy and communication materials (e.g. organisational brochure, briefing notes, images, video, website contents, etc) that meet national and international standards.
•   Follow up on the production of advocacy and communication materials, including publications, press releases and clippings, photographs, audio-visual materials, web resources etc.
•   Maintain an up-to-date documentation archive of all advocacy and communication materials, including publications, press releases and clippings, photographs, audio-visual materials, web resources, etc.
•   Recommend appropriate information and communication materials for use in communication activities.
•   Recommend established contacts, networks, resources and processes to support communication activities.
Social media, web and digital engagement
•   Create and maintain an up-to-date social media, web and digital engagement plan
•   Manage social media properties (Facebook, Twitter, etc), including daily monitoring, posting and content development
•   Conduct on-going social media research and development, and create brand awareness
•   Develop and manage strategic partnerships online and establish relationships with the online community to identify key influences and communicators that fit YES-Ghana’s online strategy
•   Ensure maintenance of YES-Ghana’s website, including monitoring of the relevant web statistics and prepare monthly reports
•   Ensure ethical standards are protected on YES-Ghana’s website and all social media channels.
Media relations
•   Maintain and update media relations contact list/database. Ensure rapid and accurate information dissemination to the media
•   Assist in developing and maintaining close collaboration with mass media, as well as with groups and organisations whose support is essential to the achievement the organisation’s communications objectives
•   Lead in drafting and editing articles, press releases, human interest stories and other advocacy/information materials for both web-based and traditional media
•   Prepare background communication and promotional materials for briefing the media and other interest groups
•   Lead in collaborating with the media through briefings, project site visits, and facilitating media coverage, photography, and video footage, etc
•   Assist in planning, logistics and administrative arrangements regarding collaboration with the media
•   Maintain a library of coverage (clippings, footage, recorded news items, etc)
Celebrities, partners and special events
•   Maintain and update a contact list/database of individuals, groups, organisations and platforms whose support is essential to and can assist in achieving advocacy, communications, and fundraising objectives of YES-Ghana, and who support and are available to actively participate in special events and activities that further the organisation’s programme objectives
•   Help organise and generate public support for special events and activities to promote programme goals
•   Monitor and document process and effectiveness of working with these individuals and organisations
•   Prepare background communication and promotional materials for beefing and visits of celebrities, donors, and other special interest groups

Constituency building

•   Lead the development of an expansion and outreach strategy that ensures more youth across the country are participating in and benefitting from programmes and activities of YES-Ghana through its Voices of Youth Coalition, Do Something, and other platforms
•   Spearhead the development of an up-to-date, user-friendly online directory of youth groups and youth development stakeholders working in Ghana. Develop a promotional strategy to go with it
•   Lead the development of a secured, internal database of individual youth that captures their biographical and geographical data, with filtering functionality that enables effective targeting by male, female, location, age, etc
•   Coordinate the development and management of an interactive voice response (IVR) and short messaging system for mobile marketing targeting YES-Ghana’s constituents
Innovation, others
•   Take steps to be on top of current trends in development communications and community mobilisation strategies and bring those to the YES-Ghana workplace
•   Work with project teams to develop and implement project-specific communications and mobilisation strategies for new and on-going projects at YES-Ghana
•   Undertake any other tasks as assigned by supervisor

Qualification Required & Experience

Education and Experience

•   Advanced degree in Communications or related field
•   Minimum five years’ experience in communications, broadcasting, or interactive media
•   Demonstrated and extensive social media experience
•   Knowledge of local Ghanaian languages desired

Personal Attributes

•   High integrity and strong attention to detail
•   Excellent oral and written communication skills
•   A creative and innovative approach to all work
•   Ability to adapt in a fast changing environment
•   Ability to plan, prioritise and organise a complex workload with competing priorities
•   Ability to travel locally and overseas for short periods
•   Excellent and effective communication and interpersonal skills, including ability to establish and maintain effective working relations with staff, project participants and partners, as well as others in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity
•   Ability to initiate and complete assignments and to work under demanding circumstances with minimal supervision
•   Professional and independent working style, highly motivated and well-organised with the ability to work manage multiple tasks and projects at a time
•   Professional demeanour. Able to present a professional image of the organisation at all times

Location: Accra

How To Apply For The Job

Please submit a one-page motivation letter and a recent CV bearing your contact details and two references to:-

jobs@yesghana.org

Please indicate the position you are applying for in the subject line of your email. Be sure to highlight in the motivation letter how specifically you meet the criteria for this role. Due to capacity constraints, only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

Closing Date: 15 April, 2016