Communications Officer Employment Opportunity

The African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE), supported by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in Nairobi, Kenya, was established in 1993 and currently is made up of 132 member institutions (universities and colleges) in 35 African countries. The mission of ANAFE is to enhance Agricultural Education for Development. 

The network consists of four regional chapters known as RAFTs (Regional Agricultural Fora for Training ‑ one each in Eastern and Central Africa (ECA), Southern Africa (SA), the Sahelian countries (Sahel), and the Africa Humid Tropics countries (AHT)) ‑ and 21 National Chapters known as NAFTs (National Agricultural Fora for Training). Activities in each RAFT are spearheaded through a Focal Institution. 

The ANAFE Secretariat is based in Nairobi Kenya and supports the networking functions.

The position

Given the growth that ANAFE is going through, the network seeks to engage a Communications Officer to be responsible for the development and execution of ANAFE’s communication strategy.

Terms of Reference

The position is one year consultancy basis. 

The Communications Officer will be working at the Secretariat Office in Nairobi, Kenya and will report to the ANAFE Executive Secretary. 

Specifically the Communications Officer will:

• Develop and execute a communication strategy to ensure greater participation of ANAFE member institutions, partners and stakeholders in ANAFE activities.
• Provide communication advice including the crafting of relevant messages and use of the right media channels by critically developing strategic solutions to given communication challenges.
• Produce compelling news, stories, newsletters, presentation materials and other communications products reflecting ANAFE themes and priority areas.
• Produce communication resources for the ANAFE web and social media outlets.
• Design and package ANAFE outputs into periodic information briefs (e.g. brochures, newsletters and banners) for wide dissemination.
• Capture and publish photos and videos of events related to ANAFE activities in ANAFE documents and web space.
• Publish news, reports and major ANAFE activities on the ANAFE portal and blog.
• Develop strong media relations with relevant partners to promote ANAFE profile.
• Assist in improving the communication skills of staff.

Consultant Profile

The person should have:

• A Degree in either of Communications, Journalism or Public relations and post-graduate training with at least 5-10 years of relevant working experience.
• Working knowledge in Web platforms and publishing, Knowledge management, Graphic design and processing, Photo and Video shooting skills.
• Very good interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to work in a multicultural environment.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.

Other Requirements

Knowledge of both English and French languages will be an added advantage. The person must be flexible and be ready to travel and work under pressure and meet strict deadlines.

Applicants are invited to send a cover letter illustrating their suitability, together with detailed curriculum vitae, including names and addresses of two referees. All correspondence should be addressed to the 

Human Resources Unit, 

World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), 

P.O. Box 30677, 

Nairobi, Kenya 

OR via email: icrafhru@cgiar.org. 

Applications will be considered until 20th of June and should indicate “Application for Communications Officer” on the subject line on their application letters and email submissions. 

Aspects of remuneration will be discussed with shortlisted applicants.