Deadline: Expired

Bridge Kenya is a community school programme that partners with parents, communities and teachers to provide a life-changing education and gateway to success.

Bridge Kenya transforms lives and opens the door to a successful future for its pupils. Together with its teachers, school leaders, families and communities, it creates schools that deliver academic excellence, build the essential skills for success, and provide a caring, nurturing community that supports growth.

In 2009, Bridge Kenya opened its first school in Nairobi’s Mukuru Kwa Njenga. Since then we have iterated and innovated, building a transformative community school programme that is data-driven evidence-based and accountable to families. We have re-engineered every part of the education system, from teacher training and support, to lesson delivery and design, construction, and administration; making community schools as effective and transparent as possible. Our success in Kenya has enabled us to create other community school programmes in Africa and beyond.

Since 2015, Bridge Kenya’s national (KCPE) exam results have continued to prove academic excellence, significantly outperforming national averages. Every year, tens of pupils from some of the most underserved communities in the country score 400+ in their KCPE with 1000s’ or more scoring over 300 marks. Our Community school graduates have gone to top secondary schools and universities; both within Kenya and the US. These graduates continue to excel in various top national secondary schools in Kenya including Maranda High, Starehe Boys, Alliance Girls, Pangani Girls and MPESA Foundation. In addition, some of our first cohort of pupils are now in top universities including Nairobi University, Kenya and Amherst College in the US.

Outside of the classroom, our pupils participate in extracurricular activities such as debates and sports to help them build confidence, teamwork skills and independence. They continue to prove their co-curricular prowess – with schools competing at the national level co-curricular competitions every year and participating in East Africa regional competitions.

We are not just a community school programme, every day we work to transform lives. We are nurturing children holistically, by empowering teachers and teaching pupils to be disciplined and confident using positive behavioural techniques and approaches. These traits empower pupils to lead and have a successful future long after they graduate.

Our community school programme has a long legacy of success and has opened the door to opportunities that many of our pupils and their families could never have imagined.

A quality education has the power to transform the opportunities for Kenya’s children. In joining us, you will join a group of dynamic and passionate Kenyans taking concrete action to help ensure a better future for the children of Kenya.

Group

The Corporate Affairs group is the eyes, ears and public face of the organisation. It leads on strategy and is responsible for influencing and strengthening the internal and external landscapes that surround and impact our growing portfolio. The Corporate Affairs group is responsible for the public reputation of our portfolio, creating environments that support programmatic growth through engaging with stakeholders, influencing policy making and designing impactful communications.

The Corporate Affairs strategy is based upon a deep understanding, and awareness of, national and global trends, policies, regulatory changes and current affairs. It leads the overall strategic direction and implementation of initiatives and strategies across multiple channels, audiences and geographies.

The Corporate Affairs group always takes both a national and global perspective and is highly attuned to the nuances of frequently evolving politics and policy issues. Its work is based upon both an in-depth understanding of our organisation, its programmes and the broader global and national education landscapes in which it operates. Through this, it devises strategies that connects our programming with a diverse, and ever-expanding set of stakeholders.

Communications

The Communications team is housed in the Corporate Affairs group. It collaborates across departments and programmes to create and execute compelling strategies; locally and globally. Corporate Affairs has a wide portfolio of responsibilities including external and internal relations, advocacy, strategy, digital, reputation management, and media relations. The communications team is focused on ensuring that the exceptional achievements being made across a wide portfolio of programming are effectively and impactfully communicated. We lead, develop and support strategies in multiple programmes and continents simultaneously; shaping and influencing the external environments in which we work. We pride ourselves in being able to respond quickly and effectively at all times

About the Role

Working closely with the Communications Director, this role is pivotal in helping drive the communications and engagement strategy. The position holder will be assisting in the management of the organization’s reputation which safeguards the organization’s integrity and image. The position holder will be successful at creating high-quality communications materials to maximize impact, learning, and knowledge of our programs. The person will be responsible for maintaining our digital archives and supporting the Director, Communications in content creation, events, and campaigns. This position reports directly to the Communications Director.

What You Will Do

Support the development and distribution of publications, press releases, website content, photographs, videos, partnership marketing resources/materials, and other strategic and targeted communications as required to communicate Bridge Kenya and Uganda’s mission and impact.
Support the development and implementation of internal and external brand and communication strategies that align with the organization’s mission and audience needs as well as align it to progressive changes if any.
Provide support and participate in campaign activities directly handled by the communications team.
Keeping Bridge images and video libraries updated.
Support the Communications Director in compelling positioning and developing marketing collaterals.
Support the maintenance of social media platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp); by generation and posting of content on the sites to increase visibility and foster positive engagement; Support the design and implementation of strategies to increase the number of followers at each site and website management.
Collect and document success stories, best practices, and impact stories from the field to share with donors and external audiences.
Support events in Kenya and Uganda by preparing communication materials and documenting events through photography and videography for promotional use.
In collaboration with the technical leads, initiate or accompany field visits to collect quality photos, quotes, and materials suitable for success stories and use in the communications work.
Ensure all communications materials are aligned with Bridge Kenya and Uganda brand guidelines, maintaining consistency across all platforms.
Monitor media alerts and relevant publications.
Create timely reports for all communication campaigns.

What You Should Have

A Degree in Communications or any other related field.
Proven ability to produce compelling material and stories for external audiences.
Proven ability to collate, produce, and edit multimedia content.
An awareness of the media and political landscape both locally and nationally.
Well-developed written and verbal communication skills to deal effectively, efficiently, and appropriately with internal and external stakeholders including the media.
Ability to successfully influence and negotiate with individuals and achieve objectives through excellent relationships.
Experience of collecting data from various sources, and ability to analyze and present findings clearly for internal and external communications including for press releases.
Proven ability to prioritize and organize own workload effectively and efficiently and meet deadlines.
Well-developed ability to work well with others as part of a team, provide support as required, and build and maintain effective working relationships.
Understanding and experience in using digital media and social media channels.
Membership of PRSK is an added advantage.

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 business from scratch comes with massive and constant challenges. On top of that, Bridge 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 data-driven decision-maker – When making decisions, you don’t rely on your intuition alone. You collect data, you analyze it and make decisions with clear justifications.
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.