Partnership and Communications Associate

Opportunity:
Join a mission-driven, entrepreneurial team and help drive its start-up phase to build out system-changing initiative that will transform health systems for people with disabilities.

Title:
Partnership and Communications Associate

Location:
Remote. Ideally based in Nairobi, Kenya

Type:
Full-time, 6 months contract; possible extension afterwards

Desired start date
: November 10, 2025

Background and Purpose

There are 1.3 billion people with disabilities globally, and on average they experience a 14-year life expectancy gap as well as a range of poorer health outcomes. Health systems, therefore, need to adapt to better meet the needs of people with disabilities. The Missing Billion Initiative (MBI) is a new agenda-setting initiative that has taken on one of the biggest unaddressed health inequity issues of these times: health access and outcomes for people with disabilities. MBI tackles this by disseminating evidence, developing solutions, and building movements through partnerships.

The Initiative started in 2020, following the 2019 report "The Missing Billion - access to health services for people with disabilities", and is still in start-up phase.

The Missing Billion Initiative is a true example of a catalyst, with a nimble, entrepreneurial, and highly effective team. Join us in driving real change at scale in this long-neglected, yet critical, area of work. You will be working alongside a group of experienced global health experts and leading partners from around the globe in helping to shape this important initiative.

This role reports to the CEO of the Missing Billion Initiative. The role will also work closely with the Heads of Programs and Operations, and at times, the MBI Board members.

Key Areas of Work

1. Communication
   . Serve as MBI's primary communicator: create, curate, and share updates about MBI's work, maintain and update website to reflect current projects, news, and priorities, manage MBI's social media presence (e.g., LinkedIn, Instagram) ensuring consistent branding and engagement, support development and distribution of newsletter (content gathering, editing, layout, distribution), support drafting, editing, and developing reports and other written materials.
2. Events.
   Organise all aspects of key movement-building events: define clear objectives and outcomes for each event, aligned with MBI's strategy, identify and leverage strategic opportunities (partners, themes, audiences) to enhance reach and impact, support MBI leadership in engagement, manage logistics and speakers, prioritising accessibility.
3. Partnerships.
   Assist MBI leadership team in identifying, developing, and maintaining both funding- and non-funding partnerships that align with MBI's mission and strategic goals:
   help to assess potential partners, their value proposition, and compatibility (values, capacity, reputation), facilitate relationship-building and ongoing communication with partners to ensure mutual benefit, trust, and long-term sustainability, monitor partnership outcomes and performance, gathering feedback, documenting lessons learned, and using these to strengthen future collaborations

Key Deliverables (for the first 6 months)

Communication
:

o Coordinate and disseminate 2 newsletters

o Update website (maintained on Squarespace) on an on-going basis

o Regular posts (weekly posts, at a minimum) on social media

Movement Building Events

o Lead on all aspects of the Disability Inclusion Leader cohort for the
Skoll World Forum (April 2026)
– establish mechanism to identify leaders, select/recruit partners, manage preparation and communication for Leaders, organise logistics (including travel, visa, accommodations)

o Organise 1-2 events to support dissemination and research uptake for the forthcoming Lancet Commission on Disability and Health

Partnerships

o Support the submission of 3-4 partnership and/or project proposals, together with the MBI leadership team.

You

We are looking for an experienced do-er who is excited and comfortable building this organisation with us and who takes initiative in getting things done. The ideal candidate has strong communication, organisational, and administrative skills, is proactive, brings energy to the team, and is curious to learn about the work of the Missing Billion Initiative.

Essential:

1. Bachelor's degree, or above
2. 5-7 years of relevant work experience (in a partnership development, communications role)
3. Excellent written and oral communication skills
4. Experience working in the health sector or disability-related work
5. Experience in supporting or developing (social) media communications
6. Experience in managing websites (with user-friendly platforms like Squarespace)
7. Experience facilitating/organising events
8. Comfortable working with common IT-tools, i.e. Microsoft Office, Slack, Zoom.
9. A high degree of "start-up-drive" and ability to manage and complete tasks independently
10. Energy and passion for helping build this initiative and being comfortable with start-up nature
11. Fluency in English (written and spoken)

Desirable:

1.     Master's degree or above in a relevant field

2.     Based in a low- or middle-income country

3.     Demonstrated experience working within the disability sector

4.     Person with disabilities

5.     Experience with a common project management tool like Asana, and working with changing content in Squarespace

How to Apply

Please send a short cover letter and a current CV/resume to with "Application: Partnership and Communications Associate" in the subject line.

The application deadline is October 29, 2025.

Preference is given to candidates with disabilities.

The Missing Billion Initiative is fiscally sponsored by the Financing Alliance for Health.