Communications Officer, West Africa Trade and Investment Hub at Creative Associates International

Location: Dakar, Senegal

Project Summary

• The objective of the West Africa Trade and Investment Activity is to improve private sector competitiveness with a focus on increasing the agricultural productivity and profitability of smallholder farmers in Nigeria and promoting West Africa’s regional and international trade
• The Activity comprises of three main components:
  • Design of a Competitiveness Fund for private sector partnerships;
  • Administration of the Competitiveness Fund to develop private sector partnerships and provide grants; and
  • Technical assistance (TA) that directly supports, coordinates, and organizes qualifying recipients (i.e., partners and grantees) to achieve USAID’s trade and food security objectives
• The Trade Hub will contribute to both USAID/Nigeria’s Feed the Future objectives related to increasing the agricultural competitiveness of smallholder farmers in Nigeria as well as USAID/West Africa’s objective to increase broad-based growth and resilience.

Position Summary

• The Communications Officer will be responsible for contributing to the writing, editing and outreach activities operations of a USAID-funded rural livelihoods project in West Africa.

Reporting & Supervision:

• The Communications Officer will report directly to the Operations Manager and work closely with the Senior Communications Officer.

Primary Responsibilities
Administration:

• Support the development and implementation of the comprehensive annual communications plan that aligns with WAHIT’s workplan that achieves the program’s internal and external communications goals;
• Follow USAID’s Branding and Marking Plan;
• Assist the Senior Communications Officer with activities that promote communication between WAHIT and the West Africa-based USAID Missions, including project content suitable for dissemination on USAID channels;
• Support the writing and/or editing USAID quarterly reports and other major USAID-required project documents;
• Provide administrative support to outside consultants (such as translators, photographers, videographers, etc.);
• Collaborate with HQ Communications team.

Writing & Editing:

• Identify and propose to the Senior Communications Officer suitable stories, photo essays and other content that would appear in the newsletter, website and social media channels;
• Write assigned success stories, features and briefs for publication in WATIH’s website and other channels, including USAID outlets;
• Place content on the program’s website, newsletter and social media channels; and
• Collaborate with HQ Communications to create and disseminate content through Creative’s channels.

Outreach & Events:

• Work on all communications aspects of events, including promotion, program content for program, registration materials and related items; and
• Setup, staff and pack up WAHIT exhibits at events.

Required Skills and Qualifications

• A minimum of two (2) years of work experience in Communications or other relevant fields, including Journalism or Public Relations;
• Experience in social media content production;
• Language: English required (French helpful); and
• Strong English writing and editing skills.

Desired Skills and Qualifications

• Experience with Adobe Creative Suite or other graphic design programs
• Candidates must be Authorized to work full time in Senegal
• Creative Associates International is an Equal Opportunity employer.