Communications Manager - Association for Women's Rights in Development, SA

The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID). Cape Town, South Africa (preferred, but flexible).

Description:

The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) is an international feminist membership organization working to strengthen the voice, impact and influence of women's rights advocates, organizations and movements internationally. We are currently seeking a Communications Manager to work out of our office in Cape Town, South Africa.

Overview of Position:

The Communications Manager is responsible for strategically leveraging information produced by AWID, and developing effective organizational messaging to advance our mission and expand our membership base. This is a new position and the incumbent will be responsible for:

• Developing a communications strategy for AWID, implementing and evaluating this strategy.
• Developing and upholding quality standards for all AWID communications
• Developing communications strategy frameworks for use by AWID’s Strategic Initiatives (SIs) and supporting SI managers in their application and adherence to quality controls
• Developing dissemination strategies for AWID publications (general and SI-specific)
• Developing and implementing the communications strategy and messaging for AWIDs international Forum
• Strategic and day-to-day content management of AWID’s website – www.awid.org
• Developing and overseeing implementation of AWID’s membership strategy, including outreach and recruitment of members

Qualifications:

Experience:
At least 5 years experience:

• In a senior communications role, preferably in women’s rights or nonprofit setting
• Writing, editing and producing a wide range of print publications
• With developing and implementing a an organizational visual identity/branding strategy (from start to finish)
• With developing and implementing a strategy for engaging mainstream media (has led a media strategy from start to finish)
• Managing and developing content for a dynamic multi-lingual website
• Supervising staff and consultants
• Developing quality standards, communications strategies

Academic Qualifications:

• University degree in communications or related field
• Courses or certificates in women's/feminist studies considered an asset

Expertise & Skills:

• Excellent writing skills and impeccable editing skills
• Experience with online communications and website management, particularly content management systems and web 2.0
• Ability to formulate communication policies and procedures appropriate to the organization and its target audiences
• Familiarity with Quark or InDesign
• Proactive, ability to work with minimal supervision
• Strong conceptual ability and problem-solving skills
• Strong project and people management skills

Knowledge and Other Requirements:

• Strong understanding of the role that communications play in advancing women’s rights
• Strong understanding of design and its relationship to messaging
• Sound knowledge of the latest communication technologies.
• Experience developing communications policies and procedures and knowledge of best practices
• Keen attention to detail
• Able to manage conflict effectively
• Able to work independently and as part of a team
• Fluent in French or Spanish
• Committed to the principles and values of feminism and anti-racism

Assets:

• Experience managing multi-lingual publications a plus
• Experience working in a decentralized, virtual organization
• Knowledge of multimedia tools, particularly audio and video
• Knowledge of eZ Publish CMS
• Knowledge of MYSQL
• Trilingual (English, French, Spanish)

Responsibilities:

Organizational Communications

• Propose and develop organizational policies, protocols and controls to clarify and ensure proper approvals in the production and dissemination of materials
• Develop and implement overall organizational branding (standard look and feel) and cohesive messaging (standard text), as well as “mini-brands” for AWID’s strategic initiatives (building on existing organizational branding strategy)
• Write, edit and produce all external organizational (non-SI specific) publications, including the annual report and the organizational brochure
• Manage AWID’s website - www.awid.org: ensuring adequate quality control, maintaining updated information about AWID and its initiatives, liaising with SI managers to establish and maintain new or expanded areas of the site related to SI themes, monitoring the site’s effectiveness.
• Market AWID publications to relevant actors
• Develop communications strategy and messaging for the AWID international Forum
• Respond to media requests, in coordination with the Executive Director, as necessary
• Works with Executive Director to develop public statements for release
• Provide support on legal issues (copyright, digital rights, permissions, etc) and develop templates for staff use
• Maintain general organizational mailing and emailing lists for dissemination
• Develop and maintain an “image bank” for organizational and SI publications
• Develop translation policies and protocols, monitor quality of translations and coordinate regular feedback to translators
• Create and maintain Style Guides in English, Spanish and French, as well as Glossaries (of acronyms and terms) in Spanish and French
• Provide occasional writing and research assistance to the Executive Director on position papers and public statements
• Monitor and assess impact of AWID communications, suggesting improvements as necessary

Communications Support and Inputs to the Strategic Initiatives (SIs)

• Support SIs to develop their SI-level communications plans and dissemination strategies
• Develop and oversee the production schedule for all AWID publications and proactively resolve issues to ensure timely production
• Act as the primary editor for AWID, editing all major publications
• Work with SIs to determine appropriate levels of editing, design and dissemination support for larger SI publications, like books and large research papers.
• Set out protocols and practices to ensure quality control and consistency of SI publications with branding strategy
• Train relevant staff within SI teams in design and layout for smaller projects, and provide oversight to their activities, to ensure quality control and consistency
• Train and monitor relevant SI staff in proofreading, and assign proofreading work based on levels of skill and experience
• Maintain a list of external translators, editors, and designers for SIs to draw upon
• Be forward looking and bring new communications ideas to the SI managers
• Liaise with office administrators in their coordination of translations

Membership

• Develop (with input from directors and SI managers) and oversee implementation of AWID’s membership strategy (including an outreach strategy)
• Oversee production of AWID’s quarterly e-newsletters and other relevant membership-related materials
• Oversee design and implementation of AWID’s bi-annual membership survey
• Ensure timely and appropriate communication with AWID members and responses to requests

Financial and Human Resource Management

• Implement and adhere to internal financial controls
• Adhere to established communications budget, monitoring expenditures on a day-to-day, quarterly and annual basis, providing detail and explanation of any variances
• Delegate responsibilities and duties associated with the membership strategy to relevant staff
• Supervise Communications and Membership-support staff
• Ensure the effective implementation of all project and individual workplans of direct-reports

Leadership

• Maintain professional conduct, confidentiality and ethical standards
• Lead the planning and execution of activities in the areas of communications and membership
• Ensure that communications and membership initiatives are evaluated and recommendations developed and implemented to increase the organization’s impact
• Take an active role in the leadership of the organization, participating in managers meetings or other committees/groups
• Proactively identify new communications strategies and opportunities for the organization and SIs, particularly around emerging ICTs
• Proactively identify procedural/policy gaps or inefficiencies, filling or fixing them as required

To Apply:

Please submit a current CV, along with a cover letter that addresses how you meet the necessary qualifications and outlines why you want to work for AWID, by fax (+416 594 0330) or to jobs@awid.org. Please include ‘Communications Manager’ in the subject line of the email.

The application closing date is October 16, 2009.

No phone calls please. Only email and faxed applications will be accepted. We thank all those who apply, but only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. AWID encourages, promotes and supports diversity in all aspects of its work.

To learn more about AWID and our programs, please visit our website at http://www.awid.org.