WASH Advocates - looking for a great Communications Manager

Please let all of your communications friends know! 

Thank you! 

 

NVF Project Name: WASH Advocates

Position: Communications Manager  

Location: Washington, DC

Status: Exempt, Full-time (Temporary for one year)

Reports to: CEO of WASH Advocates

Position Summary: WASH Advocates (WA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan initiative dedicated to helping solve the global safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) challenge. Our mission is to increase awareness of WASH challenges and solutions, and to increase the amount and effectiveness of programming and grantmaking devoted to those solutions throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America. WA seeks a Communications Manager to help develop and implement our overall communications strategy, with the goal of increasing the visibility, understanding, and reach of the WASH sector and our work.

The Communications Manager will strengthen WASH Advocates’ presence as a resource for the WASH sector and act as a main point of contact for those wanting more information on the global WASH challenge and sustainable solutions. Activities will align with and support WASH Advocates’ three main focus areas - WASH sustainability, strategic communications, and in-country advocacy.

Responsibilities

·         Develop and implement a 12 month (2015) communications strategy that will raise the profile of the WASH issue and its linkages to related development challenges; this will include key objectives, target audiences, specific opportunities, timelines, and messages;

·         Draft, refine, and disseminate WASH advocacy materials, including talking points, press releases, blogposts, case studies, Tech Notes, congressional briefs, sample letters and social media messages;

·         Build and maintain relationships with other communications experts in the sector and participate in relevant working group meetings, increasing coordination of partners active in WASH advocacy;

·         Coordinate WASH Advocates’ external communications with an independent, sector-wide voice, including a newsletter, website(s), social media outreach, and one-on-one grasstops outreach;

·         Cultivate new spokespersons for the WASH sector and maintain relationships with current spokespersons;

·         Cultivate relationships with journalists to pitch WASH stories and generate and respond to incoming media requests;

·         Develop and maintain a communications style standard for all external messaging; and

·         Plan and support events that raise awareness of the efforts of WASH Advocates and its partners, including for World Water Day (March 22), Global Handwashing Day (October 15), and World Toilet Day (November 19). 

Minimum Education and Skills

The successful candidate will have:

•        Masters degree or commensurate experience in mass communications, advocacy, marketing, journalism, or a related field;

•        5+ years of experience in communications and/or advocacy-related work;

•        Strong understanding and experience in communicating international development and ideally WASH issues;

•        Strong writing skills, particularly for web-based content, email action alerts, and press releases;

•        Excellent computer skills, particularly in using mass email platforms (Email Now, Constant Contact, MailChimp) and social media tools (Facebook, TweetDeck, HootSuite, Instagram, Flickr, Tumblr); and

•        Experience with developing and managing websites, ideally on Wordpress.

Necessary Competencies

To be successful, the Communications Manager will:

•        Have strong and persuasive oral and written communication, facilitation, advocacy, and stakeholder engagement skills;

•        Be able to work well in a small and highly productive team and foster collaboration among a diverse set of stakeholders;

•        Engage partners to actively participate and contribute to the WASH sector with time and resources;

•        Exercise creativity and opportunism in raising the profile of WASH issues;

•        Build relationships and networks, linking appropriate spokespersons within the WASH community with specific opportunities and needs.

Desired

• 2-3 years of experience with international WASH issues;

• Existing relationships and contacts with media.

How to Apply: Please send résumé and cover letter to John Oldfield at joldfield@WASHadvocates.org.

This is a one-year position, available starting immediately through December 31, 2015. Salary range is $45,000 - $55,000 per year. Successful completion of a writing test will be required. No phone calls please.

New Venture Fund Careers

WASH Advocates is a project of the New Venture Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity that incubates new and innovative public-interest projects and grant-making programs. The New Venture Fund is committed to attracting, developing and retaining exceptional people, and to creating a work environment that is dynamic, rewarding and enables each of us to realize our potential. The New Venture Fund's work environment is safe and open to all employees and partners, respecting the full spectrum of races, ethnicities, national origins, ages, sexual orientations, gender identities, beliefs, religions, faiths and ideologies, cultures, socio-economic backgrounds and levels of physical ability.

Water for the World Act Passes! Next stop, White House.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   PRESS CONTACT: WASH Advocates Cecilia Snyder, 202-293-4003 csnyder@WASHadvocates.org  Congress Passes Water for the World Act with Strong Bipartisan Support Legislation is Key to Solving the Global Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Crisis Washington, DC (December 15, 2014) - In an extraordinary bipartisan effort, the U.S. Senate tonight approved the Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2014 by unanimous consent.The bill was sponsored by U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Bob Corker (R-TN), cosponsored by Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ), and led by U.S. Representatives Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Ted Poe (R-TX)in the House of Representatives.    The Water for the World Act will build upon the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005, which established access to safe drinking water and sanitation as a priority of America's foreign policy. Today's vote reaffirms the legacy of Senator Simon's lifelong dedication to global safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and its importance as a fundamental building block to alleviate poverty and improve health. Patti Simon, wife of the late Senator, celebrated: "It's been almost a decade since the passage of the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005, and this year's bill is an important step toward increasing the impact of that original legislation. Paul would be proud of the momentum we're seeing to get safe, sustainable drinking water and sanitation to more and more people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America." The Water for the World Act is a cost-free approach with enormous positive impacts on health, food security and nutrition, environmental quality, girls' and women's empowerment, and economic development across the globe. It calls for an increase in monitoring and evaluation of projects, particularly after the implementation phase, and ensuring that programming is targeted to help the world's poorest. "This phenomenal bipartisan effort shows that water issues, particularly safe drinking water and sanitation, resonate with Americans, and they understand how they can tangibly help solve this problem," noted John Oldfield, CEO of WASH Advocates. "Our Representatives and Senators are following the impressive lead of their constituents around the country - church groups, Rotary Clubs, elementary schools, universities, and nonprofits - who are working to help solve this global crisis once and for all." The Water for the Poor Act has made a tangible difference in the world. Every year, U.S. WASH programs bring better WASH access to millions of people across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In FY11 and FY12, USAID provided almost 7 million people with improved access to drinking water supply, and almost 3 million with improved access to sanitation.