Strategic Communications Manager

JOB PURPOSE

The Strategic Communications Manager leads communications for Amref Health Africa in Kenya. The purpose of the role is to protect and build trust in Amref among government, county, community, partner and donor audiences, and to turn that trust into influence that advances the organization’s advocacy, programme, partnership and resource mobilization priorities. The manager leads the country communications strategy, advises the Country Director and Senior Management Team on positioning, reputation and stakeholder engagement, and keeps Kenya’s communications aligned with Amref’s global strategy and brand. Success is measured on outcomes rather than outputs. The function is deliberately lean: the manager both leads the strategy and personally produces its flagship communications products.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic Leadership and Advisory

• Lead the implementation, monitoring and periodic review of Amref Kenya’s communications strategy and project-level communication plans, aligned with the Kenya Country Strategy and Amref’s global communications priorities.
• Advise the Country Director and Senior Management Team on organisational positioning, stakeholder engagement, emerging opportunities and reputational risk, and recommend responses.
• Translate organisational and programme priorities into clear messages and campaigns for defined audiences.
• Prepare the function’s quarterly report to the board’s Resource Mobilisation, Partnerships and Communications Committee and complete the actions the Committee assigns.

Media Relations, Reputation and Misinformation Readiness

• Build and maintain relationships with editors, journalists, health correspondents and producers across national, county, community, Kiswahili and vernacular media, including radio.
• Pitch stories, opinion articles, expert commentary and research findings; coordinate interviews, briefings and field visits; and serve as Amref Kenya’s primary media contact.
• Equip Ministry, county and Amref spokespeople, and community messengers, to speak in the languages their audiences use, rather than producing every product in-house.
• Monitor coverage for message accuracy, positioning and sentiment, and provide leadership with regular media intelligence.
• Maintain crisis communications preparedness and lead responses to reputational issues, in coordination with the Country Director and Group communications.
• Keep light-touch social listening for health misinformation affecting priority programmes and support rapid, evidence-based responses, with the Ministry of Health leading and coordination through WHO’s Africa Infodemic Response Alliance and Group.

Government and Public-Sector Communications

• Support the Ministry of Health and county governments with communications for joint engagements, launches and milestones, always positioning the Ministry or county as the lead and Amref as the supporting partner.
• Coordinate Amref Kenya’s communications contribution to national platforms such as health summits and technical working groups, and prepare materials for engagements with government principals with the Country Director’s office.

Thought Leadership and Advocacy

• Coordinate a thought leadership agenda that positions Amref Kenya’s technical experts as credible voices on priority health issues, with domestic audiences first.
• Place the Country Director and subject-matter experts through media interviews, opinion pages, keynote speeches, podcasts and policy platforms, and draft or edit speeches, talking points, opinion articles and briefing notes.
• Lead communications for Amref Kenya’s advocacy and policy priorities, including policy briefs, position statements and key national policy moments.

Content, Storytelling and Community Voice

• Maintain, with programme teams, a pipeline of impact stories, human-interest stories, innovations and research findings, and produce the annual report, newsletters, factsheets and advocacy materials.
• Practise participatory storytelling in which communities help shape and approve the stories told about them, with informed consent, dignity and fair representation throughout.
• Work with the Impact, Data & Insights function to turn programme evidence into accurate, data-driven stories of measurable change.
• Build programme teams’ communications capacity through training, tools and templates.

Digital Communications and Owned Audiences

• Oversee Amref Kenya’s digital presence, including the website, social media and digital campaigns, using analytics and audience insights to guide decisions.
• Build audiences Amref can reach directly, growing an email newsletter and WhatsApp broadcast and community lists, measured on genuine engagement rather than follower counts.
• Apply AI tools responsibly under Group policy and recognised professional guidance: disclose meaningful AI use, verify accuracy, and never publish synthetic imagery or content that could mislead.

Donor Visibility and Resource Mobilisation Support

• Lead donor visibility planning so that every funded project meets its branding, marking and acknowledgement requirements.
• Produce funder-facing products, including capability statements, project profiles and impact summaries, with the Business Development & Partnerships function, and coordinate communications for donor visits and co-branded moments.

Brand, Ethics and Communications Governance

• Act as custodian of Amref’s brand in Kenya, assure the quality of key products before publication, and ensure compliance with ethical storytelling, informed consent, safeguarding, data protection, copyright and image-use requirements.
• Adapt and implement in Kenya the communications policies and standards owned by Amref’s global communications function, and share country lessons to strengthen them.

Internal Communications and Staff Messengers

• Keep staff informed and engaged through internal communications, and support the Country Director and Senior Management Team with leadership communications and organisational announcements.
• Develop staff, technical experts and community health workers as credible messengers for Amref’s work, with simple guidance, talking points and practice.

Team and Resource Management

• Supervise, coach and develop communications staff, setting clear performance expectations and annual workplans.
• Manage the communications budget, assets, external agencies and service providers in line with organisational policies.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Success in this role is measured on outcomes; advertising value equivalence is not used. Five indicators, agreed annually with the Country Director:

1. Stakeholder trust and reputation. An annual perception pulse of government, county, partner, community, donor and staff audiences, designed and run with the Impact, Data & Insights function; baseline in year one, then tracked.
2. Quality and message alignment of media coverage. The share of coverage that carries key messages accurately, quotes a credible spokesperson and positions the Ministry or county as lead where relevant, with sentiment; coded quarterly from media monitoring and reported to the board committee.
3. Owned-audience growth and engagement. Newsletter subscribers, WhatsApp list members and returning website visitors, measured quarterly on growth and genuine engagement rather than follower counts.
4. Documented contribution to advocacy, policy, partnership and resource mobilisation outcomes. A quarterly outcome log validated with the Business Development & Partnerships function and programme directorates, synthesised annually; contribution, not sole attribution.
5. Donor visibility and ethical-content compliance. The proportion of active projects meeting branding and acknowledgement requirements, and of published human-interest content with documented consent and ethical sign-off, tracked quarterly.