Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia
The Communications Officer contributes to strengthening the positive public profile of CIDRZ and good donor relationships by creating high-quality audio-visual and written content for the CIDRZ website, social media, and newsletter and interpreting CIDRZ/donor design needs with high visual impact solutions.
Main duties
- Works closely with all CIDRZ projects to promote and report on their activities on various CIDRZ communication platforms per the organisation’s communications policy, strategy and guidelines.
- Supports efforts to strengthen the visibility of CIDRZ’s work to key Stakeholders through timely production of Information, Education and Communication materials such as written success stories, internal/external newsletter (quarterly) and other communications materials to highlight project successes, challenges, and lessons learned.
- Provides high-quality, high-resolution photo and video clips of CIDRZ/donor programme activities, obtaining quotes and interviews, and creating draft content for publication on CIDRZ social media platforms, newsletters, annual reports and other donor and organisational PR documents.
- Gathers information and develop required concepts for organisational and programme-specific internal and external communication strategies and plans.
- Supports the management and maintenance of the website and intranet by employing strategies to increase traffic and making sites the first point of call for information by external and internal stakeholders.
- upport the drafting, design, development, production, and management of all CIDRZ social media content
- Ensures adherence to CIDRZ Communications Policy, guidelines donor branding rules and research-oriented communications, rules and regulatory requirements.
- Covers workshops, conferences and other meetings as requested.
- Assists in developing and delivering training materials and activities to build the communication capacity of the CIDRZ department and programme staff.
- Mentors CIDRZ programme staff to identify potential stories and how to cover them so that they can create useful draft copy, photos and videos etc., for submission to the Communications Department.
- Supports monitoring and analysis of CIDRZ website and social media visitor trends/statistics for feedback and reporting purposes.
- Supports coordination of communications team’s initiatives in graphic design and is responsible for developing visually effective outreach and communications materials, including developing infographics and formatting key outreach materials.
- Ensures that all press releases, speeches by CIDRZ, etc, are available on the website in real-time or shortly after they are released or delivered through other means.
- Attends internal or external events hosted, supported, or attended by CIDRZ staff to provide media coverage, through capturing and documenting success stories for real-time online dissemination.
- Supports the outsourcing process for select digital engagement campaigns; develops and edits videos and public service announcements for social media and multimedia; and maintains a database of local and regional media houses available to assist in soliciting multimedia campaign services.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in communications or its equivalent with a minimum of three years of work experience within the public health/NGO field.
- Knowledge of Adobe Suite & other design software
- Experience using Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Publisher is required; experience with Microsoft Visio is strongly preferred.
- Strong written and oral communication skills with report writing and presentations experience.
- Excellent interpersonal and communications skills
- Fluency in English required
- Be registered with the Zambia Institute of Public Relations and Communication (ZIPRC)
Suitably qualified candidates are invited to apply. However, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.