Communications Officer

Hatua Network empowers Kenyan youth living on less than $1 per day to build successful careers that break the cycle of poverty for their families. Over 92% of alumni earn an average of KES 53,000 in monthly income—5x their families total income at entry. Hatua recruits academically strong primary school students whose families cannot afford secondary school. Our 9-year program provides scholarships, soft skills training, and career mentoring through high school, university, and into professional careers.

1. Communications Officer

Key Responsibilities Include

1.  Communications Strategy and Planning

• Work closely with the Development Coordinator and program teams to ensure communications support Hatua organizational priorities.
• Identify Hatua key audiences and develop relevant messages and calls to action aligned with program and fundraising goals.
• Develop and manage an annual communications calendar covering annual reporting, newsletters, social media, campaigns, blog posts, and other communications.
• Ensure all external communications are accurate, engaging, consistent with Hatua brand, and appropriate for their intended audiences.

2. Content Creation and Digital Communications

• Write, design, and distribute quarterly newsletters, insider newsletters for key stakeholders, and end-of-year fundraising campaign materials.
• Plan and create regular social media content that increases Hatua visibility, demonstrates its impact, and encourages engagement.
• Write and publish at least two blog posts each month.
• Maintain Hatua website, ensuring its stories, photographs, testimonies, program information, and organizational updates remain accurate and current.
• Design graphics, presentations, brochures, organizational profiles, and other communications and publicity materials.

3. Storytelling and Visual Asset Management

• Conduct regular program site visits to collect stories, photographs, testimonies, and videos from students, alumni, staff, and program activities that demonstrate Hatua work and impact.
• Work with program staff to collect accurate information and evidence of program activities, results, and impact.
• Manage Hatua photograph and video library in Google Photos, ensuring albums are clearly named, organized, categorized, and backed up.
• Obtain and document appropriate consent for the collection and use of stories, testimonies, photographs, and videos.
• Maintain an organized archive of important communications materials for future use.

4. Fundraising, Donor Communications, and Student Sponsorship

• Work with the Development Coordinator to create compelling communications materials for donor outreach, proposals, and fundraising campaigns that attract new supporters and strengthen relationships with existing donors and partners.
• Coordinate the writing, design, and production of Hatua Annual Report and annual appeal, using compelling stories, photographs, graphics, and other content to communicate Hatua work and impact.
• Support the growth of Hatua individual student sponsorship program by developing creative recruitment campaigns and communications materials.
• Manage the administrative onboarding of new sponsors, including preparing and sending personalized welcome packages.
• Manage ongoing sponsor communications by maintaining an accurate schedule and coordinating with program staff and students to ensure sponsors receive timely and engaging updates featuring photographs, letters, and other news from their sponsored students.

5. Monitoring and Continuous Improvement

• Track the performance of Hatua social media, website, newsletters, blog posts, and communications campaigns using relevant metrics.
• Prepare regular updates on communications performance and use the findings to improve content and audience engagement.
• Monitor progress against the communications calendar, agreed goals, and deliverables.
• Stay informed about relevant communications trends, tools, and good practices and recommend appropriate improvements.

Qualifications

• A diploma or bachelor degree in Communications, Journalism, Public Relations, Marketing, Graphic Design, Media Studies, or another relevant field.
• Candidates with qualifications or work experience may be considered if they demonstrate relevant communications experience and a strong portfolio of written and visual work.
• 1 - 3 years of relevant work experience in communications, journalism, public relations, marketing, digital media, or content creation.
• Experience producing written and visual content for social media, websites, newsletters, reports, or campaigns.
• Nonprofit or youth-development experience is an advantage.

Technical Skills

• Proficiency in Google Workspace, including Docs, Sheets, Forms, Slides, and Drive.
• Experience using Google Photos to organize, manage, and share photograph and video archives.
• Experience using communication channels such as WhatsApp, social media, and email newsletters; familiarity with EveryAction or a similar email-marketing platform is an advantage.
• Experience updating websites using WordPress or a similar content-management system.
• Graphic-design skills and experience using Canva or a similar design platform, along with photography and basic photo- and video-editing skills.
• Ability to use AI tools effectively and responsibly to generate ideas, strengthen content, improve efficiency, and support areas where additional skills or experience may be needed.
• Familiarity with Airtable or similar database platforms is an advantage

Other Requirements

• Strong verbal communication skills in English; knowledge of Swahili is an advantage.
• Ability to work respectfully with students, alumni, donors, staff, and other stakeholders.
• A portfolio of relevant written, graphic-design, social-media, or other communications work.
• Highly self-motivated, with the ability to manage priorities independently and consistently meet deadlines.