Specialist , Office of strategic Communications

Specialist, Storytelling and Content

Department: Strategic Communications

Entity: Aga Khan University

Location:     Nairobi, Kenya

Introduction

Chartered in 1983, Aga Khan University (AKU) is a private, autonomous, and self-governing international university, with 13 teaching sites in 6 countries over three continents. An integral part of the Aga Khan Development Network, AKU provides higher education in multiple health science and social science disciplines, carries out research pertinent primarily to low- and middle-income countries and operates 7 hospitals (soon 8) and over 325 outreach clinics, all at international standards. It has almost 2,500 students and 14,000 staff. The University is both a model of academic excellence and an agent of social change. As a leading international institution dedicated to excellence and change, AKU operates on the core principles of quality, relevance, impact, and access.

The Office of Strategic Communications promotes and protects Aga Khan University's reputation for excellence. Our team, based in Karachi and Nairobi, works with academic and administrative units across our campuses to tell AKU's story to a wide range of audiences around the world.​ ​We manage the University's website and the staff portal, five global and over 40 entity channels with over 1 million followers, the use of the AKU​ brand and logo, and offers an array of communications support and training to aspiring communicators across the University.​

Job Summary

This position is part of the global communications team whose mandate is to demonstrate the value and impact of AKU and, in so doing, building ambassadors and advocates for the organization among internal and external stakeholders. The incumbent of this role decides what stories to tell, through which print and digital channels and how to position them for maximum impact. The incumbent uses leading trends and communications best practice to amplify the University's priorities and showcase our community including staff, faculty, students, alumni, partners, and donors. The incumbent will also be responsible to evaluate the efficacy of the stories to determine target audience response and continuously improve processes and approaches to ensure stories are building AKU brand ambassadors. They will be a part of the Office of Strategic Communications working closely with entity communicators and freelancers to develop content for a variety of collateral ensuring that content is creative, accurate and aligned with AKU's overarching messaging.

Responsibilities

Identifying and consulting stakeholders in developing appropriate communications collateral.

Developing university-wide processes and channels for finding AKU stories.

Working closely with the Senior Manager, Storytelling and Engagement, to populate the AKU website and social media channels with powerful, compelling stories.

Being proactive in incorporating human/storytelling components into collateral.

Serving as a spokesperson for AKU by deciding what stories to tell on which specific mediums (print and digital) and positioning them for maximum impact.

Using leading trends and best practice of communications to amplify the University's priorities and showcase our community.

Providing professional communicators with advice on their material including brochures, advertisements and event-related material.

Evaluating and tracking effectiveness of communications collateral, responding to the feedback and experience of stakeholders to continuously improve and benchmark with the global communications strategy.

Evaluating the efficacy of the stories to determine the response of target audience and continuously improve processes and approaches to ensure stories are building AKU brand ambassadors.

Evaluating event communication processes and results, making changes to improve over time.

Regularly evaluating and reporting on the effectiveness of the stories and channels to ensure reach and impact (i.e., how the stories increase understanding of AKU's value and impact locally and globally and the extent to which the stories help to build and sustain brand ambassadors).

Support communications for selected AKU events, including developing event-specific key messages that are aligned with AKU priorities.

Identify storytelling opportunities to support key AKU events or campaigns.

Building and executing effective and dynamic internal and external communications campaigns.

Ensuring collateral is created thoughtfully and with a clear connection to strategy.

Collaborating with entity communications professionals to ensure consistency in messaging and strategy.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in communications, Journalism or Public Relations from a recognized University.

A minimum of three to five years' experience in marketing, media relations, public relations or related field.

Demonstrated experience in writing content for various platforms, required.

Demonstrated experience with digital, print communications, creating successful communications plans, event management experience and experience in brand building.

Demonstrated experience with communications best practice, required.

Must be familiar with branding principles, stakeholder management, social media and content marketing.