OVERVIEW

Reports To: Associate Vice President, Africa

Matrixed Manager: Director, Marketing

Location: Ghana or East Africa

ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILE:

For more than 43 million people, blindness is a daily reality; another 295 million suffer from moderate to severe vision impairment. 90% of these people live in low-and middle-income communities where access to eye care is limited and the challenges for those who can’t see are severe. But, there is hope: 80% of this burden is treatable or preventable. For example, 17 million blind people could be cured with a 10-minute cataract surgery. Millions more suffer from corneal blindness, which is often preventable or treatable. At the Cure Blindness Project, we believe avoidable blindness can – and must – be overcome. For more than 30 years, we have worked alongside a capable network of collaborators to help people around the world retain and regain their sight by developing high-quality, cost-effective eye care systems in underserved areas of the world. With the help of partners in more than 30 countries, Cure Blindness Project has provided more than 1.6 million sight-restoring surgeries and screened more than 16.5 million people to provide care and basic treatments. We’ve trained more than 20,100 eye health professionals, and have established 5 eye hospitals. There is more work left to do, but we can overcome the mountain of global blindness, together.

Cure Blindness Project is expanding its team to meet new challenges, scale its work, and broaden its reach. We are seeking individuals who are passionate about changing lives and want to be a part of a team that works together to reach new heights. We want leaders who can aim high, make things happen, and are invested in building a positive team dynamic to bring the work to life.

VISION: We will be the catalyst to create a world in which no one is needlessly blind.

MISSION: We enable countries to end avoidable blindness by developing high quality, cost-effective eye care systems in underserved areas of the world so everyone everywhere can regain or retain their sight.

SCOPE OF WORK:

The Communications Manager, Africa will work collaboratively with regional and global marketing leadership to develop and bring brand and communication strategies to life to represent Cure Blindness Project’s work within the Africa region, seeking to increase visibility of Cure Blindness Project’s mission and achievements and compel key audiences to action. This is a role for a communications professional with a blend of strategic, creative, and analytical skill sets. The role reports directly to the Associate Vice President, Africa and will work closely with global marketing colleagues to support marketing goals and initiatives.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

The Communications Manager, Africa will lead key marketing initiatives, manage communications tools, and facilitate work with Cure Blindness Project vendors. The ideal candidate will demonstrate a willingness to work across multiple communications channels as well as coordinate and engage staff in communications activities and opportunities.

• Work with the marketing team to develop a Marketing/Communications strategy within the Africa region to drive greater awareness of Cure Blindness with key audiences
• Lead storytelling initiatives within the Africa region to capture and tell the story of the organization’s work within the region, highlighting the multiple pillars of programming focus areas to drive audiences to begin/continue to support Cure Blindness Project
• Manage multiple projects and drive the content creation process from start to finish, collaborating with multiple stakeholders to deliver the most effective work product on time in a fast-paced environment
• Continuously refine communications products and channels, in particular materials that represent Cure Blindness Project’s work in Africa
• Provide marketing support to Africa regional Cure Blindness Project teams to ensure they have on-brand, effective materials to enable their work
• Be a Cure Blindness Project brand ambassador; create and maintain key messages to be on-brand, effective and highlight the dignity and resilience of the people we serve
• Leverage project management tools, client/customer satisfaction tracking mechanisms and content activation calendar to fuel effectiveness and operational excellence
• Provide complete media and social media, branding, and (sometimes) design support, for key Cure Blindness Project milestone events

QUALIFICATIONS

To be successful in this role, the individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Required Skills/Knowledge/Abilities:

• Excellent writing/editing and verbal communication skills. Able to create turnkey content that works across multiple platforms. A curious interviewer who is able to dig deeper with subjects to tell compelling, interesting stories
• An organized self-starter with a data-driven mind and strong problem-solving skills
• Demonstrates a fundamental respect for the dignity of others. Works collegially, values diverse perspectives, leverages individual strengths while building a collaborative, positive team dynamic
• Values collaboration with cross-functional partners to deliver strong results at the organizational level in addition to department level
• An innovator, capable of creating or seizing opportunities to improve marketing effectiveness and outcomes and build strategic partnerships with other organizations
• Dynamic, energetic, team-player with strong work ethic, confidence, and sense of humor
• Flexibility to work off hours, nights, and weekends when needed
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally up to 20% of the time

Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Public Relations or related field
• Minimum of four years of experience in marketing, communications, and public relations, including significant experience in the Africa region, preferably within a non-profit or a global organization

Additional qualifications include:

• Excitement to join a nonprofit institution poised to expand global operations
• Outgoing personality that can collaborate with a variety of personalities at all levels of the organization, building relationships and shared goals across departments and partner organizations
• A sense of discretion and a high degree of professionalism is required, ability to maintain confidentiality of highly sensitive information
• Demonstrates a highly professional and cooperative demeanor with supervisors, coworkers and partners
• Strong interpersonal, communication, facilitation, and presentation skills.
• Detail-oriented and able to efficiently prioritize tasks
• Flexibility to adjust and contribute to continually evolving work situations and changing priorities
• Excellent computer skills and technical aptitude; proficient with Google Workspace, MS Office, Asana (and other cloud-based software), MacOS; and experience with Apple hardware
• Committed to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion

Physical requirements:

• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at a time.