Program Background

PETCO Ethiopia is implementing a 5-year consortium project jointly  with Center of Accelerated Women Economic Empowerment (CAWEE) and Ethiopia Enterprise Development. The program is a MasterCard Foundation partnership program  to Enable Young Women and Men to Find Dignified and Fulfilling Work opportunities in Manufacturing in Ethiopia by capacitating existing SMEs. The program aims to:

• Build SME capacity to sustainably create new jobs and improve existing ones through offering tailored business capacity building and mentorship; enhancing access to markets and raw materials flow; and improving SMEs’ human resources capacity to create safe and inclusive working conditions for young women and men.
• Improve Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) offerings to better prepare women and youth to enter the workforce (facilitate school-to-work transition).
• Facilitate a robust financial ecosystem to help SMEs access tailored financial services that allow them to grow and increase employment opportunities for young women in particular, and to invest in infrastructure that can improve young women and men’s working conditions.
• Strengthen the enablers (ecosystem) to foster private sector engagement, stakeholder coordination synergy, and policy development for sustainable and scalable job growth.

Roles  and responsibilities

We are seeking a highly-skilled Communications Specialist to join our team and contribute towards bringing impact on young people . The Communications Specialist will have the following key responsibilities:

• Develop a program communications strategy in consultation with the consortium partners and the Mastercard Foundation Public Affairs and Communications (PAC) team.
• Design and develop clear and engaging communication material including but not limited to guidelines, handbooks, newsletters, blogs and posters for the different target groups. ]
• Identify appropriate media channels (social, online, and mainstream) to disseminate information  to different target groups.
• Plan and execute stakeholder engagements and events, working closely with program  teams to develop creative assets.
• Support the program team in preparing progress reports including quarterly to be submitted to the Mastercard Foundation
• Stay up-to-date with the manufacturing industry and SMEs trends and best practices, integrating them into communication strategies where appropriate.
• Maintain the Mastercard Foundation’s and the consortium member organizations’ values and adhere to the project’s Communication guideline.
• Monitor and analyze the consortiums’/project media coverage and provide regular reports on communications performance.
• Research and write press releases, and content for the organizations’ website, info-graphics, blogs, and newsletters.
• Acquire and maintain a detailed knowledge of the company’s policies, principles, and strategies, and keep up-to-date with relevant developments.
• Arrange and coordinate press conferences, and plan events.
• Prepare risk mitigation and crisis management plan
• Adhere to the company’s style guide, ensuring that we produce a high-quality and error-free copy.
• Work with key internal role-players to brainstorm content ideas, in line with the company’s strategy and in support of various brand initiatives.
• Support and evaluate results of communication campaigns with the team.
• Build and maintain relationships with journalists and key external role-players

  Category: Program management

  Report to: Senior Program Director

  Salary: Competitive salary and a range of additional benefits

  Employment Term: Annual contract, renewable based on fund