Director, Communications at Kwara State Government

About the Role

As Director, Communications, you will be the communications lead for a large scale government education programme. You will support the government in the creation and delivery of communications strategies and ensure that the programme is being communicated effectively to a wide range of stakeholders both at a statewide, national and international level. You will be able to leverage relationships to influence communications approaches and build strong advocacy platforms to further the aims and ambitions of the work. You will create, write and design content that is both compelling and impactful; that places your programme at the core of the group communications strategy in Nigeria.

What You Will Do

• Manage the communications for a statewide government education programme.
• Act as the communications lead for a government communications team and programme.
• Develop compelling communications strategies for the promotion of the programme within Nigeria and internationally.
• Directly manage media engagement and cultivate media contacts.
• Pitch stories to both national and local media to achieve high visibility for in print, broadcast, TV and online media outlets.
• Evaluate opportunities for communications partnerships and platforms that will strengthen the programme.
• Act as a spokesperson and represent the programme in local and national forums.
• Build a strong advocacy engagement programme with national and multinational partners.
• Write clear and compelling pitches, press releases and articles.
• Support the government to develop content strategies for digital communications.
• Identify media trends, news cycle opportunities.
• Support internal communications initiatives to promote the programme.
• Analyse and measure results of communications initiatives.
• Work closely within the Nigerian communications group to ensure that the communications strategy for the programme is advanced and complementary to the group strategy. 

What You Should Have

• A Master’s degree
• 8+years relevant experience in communications.
• Experience of working with or for the government in a communications capacity.
• Experience in Nigeria of working in communications for political, campaigning, non-profit, or social enterprise. Experience with a multinational organisation is a plus.
• Experience working within a matrixed global organisation.
• Strong experience of creating and executing communications plans and strategies.
• An established network of local and national media contacts.
• Experience of being the lead external relations contact for media and stakeholders.
• A strong sense of the news agenda and ability to make issues and campaigns relevant.
• Experience of handling crisis communications.
• Experience of supporting the creation and delivery of social media and digital campaigns.
• Strong writing and editorial skills.
• A strong-sense of teamwork and ability to both manage and execute programmes.
• An extremely proactive and determined attitude.
• Prior experience within a fast-paced, disruptor, metric driven consulting or educational organisation is a bonus.

You’re also

• A detailed doer – You have a track record of getting things done. You’re organized and responsive. You take ownership of every idea you touch and execute it to a fine level of detail, setting targets, engaging others, and doing whatever it takes to get the job done. You can multi-task dozens of such projects at once and never lose sight of the details. Likely, you have some experience in a start-up or other rapid-growth company.
• A networking mastermind – You excel at meeting new people and turning them into advocates.  You communicate in a clear, conscientious, and effective way in both written and oral speech. You can influence strangers in the course of a single conversation. Allies and colleagues will go to bat for your ideas. You have an existing network from prior experience in the country, preferably in the regulatory, education, or business sectors.
• A creative problem-solver – Growing any organisation or programme from scratch and at scale comes with massive and constant challenges. On top of that, NewGlobe works in often fragile, sometimes volatile low-resource communities and with complex government systems. You need to be flexible and ready to get everything done effectively, quickly, and affordably with the materials at hand.
• A relentless advocate –The children we serve and teachers we empower never leave your mind. You know them, get them, have shared a meal with them (or would be happy to in the future). You would never shrink back from shaking a parent’s hand or picking up a crying child, no matter what the person was wearing or looked like.  Every decision you make considers their benefit, experience,
  and value.
• A malleable learner –You believe you can always do better. You welcome constructive criticism and provide it freely to others.  You know you only get better tomorrow when others point out where you’ve missed things or failed today.
• A curious investigator – You ask why a lot. You don’t just take what you see and accept it. You wonder why it is that way, and are aware that the world we see is created by human choices and actions – and it could be different. You wonder, and see the world as wonderful even when you want to change a part of it that is unjust.