Officer, Communications

In 2016, Liberia’s President and its Ministry of Education announced Partnership Schools for Liberia (PSL), an innovative public private partnership designed to transform the primary public education system. Eight education providers – with proven track records in delivering high-quality education – were paired with public primary schools across Liberia; while teachers remained on the Government payroll. After a change of  national Government, PSL became the Liberian Education Advancement Programme (LEAP).

LEAP is now in its fifth year; supporting 226 schools overall across the country; within that we support 171 and 50,000 students. Our schools are based in some of the most remote counties, such as Maryland in the south-east.

Government teachers have been re-trained, supported and equipped to succeed in the classroom. Four Independent Studies and Randomised Control Trials have  shown the efficacy of the programme. For us there was a statistically significant improvement in learning outcomes.  In a gold standard RCT, students supported in our programme were found to benefit by an equivalent of 2.5 years more of learning in just 3 years.

LEAP was designed to be self-sustaining once the Ministry of Education raises its education budget to $100 a child per year; until that moment it remains reliant on philanthropic support.

Today, we work across the country, in 11 of Liberia’s 15 counties, to ensure that all children have access to a high quality education and that Sustainable Development Goal 4 focussed on Quality Education becomes a reality for all children in Liberia.

You will join a group of dynamic and passionate Liberians taking concrete action to help address the education crisis in Liberia and ensure a better future for the children of Liberia.

Strategy Group

The Strategy Group is responsible for our overall direction in education service, designing our verbal and visual brand, communicating our work internally and externally, providing insight into the ecosystems within which we work, measuring the impact of our programs, engaging our government partners in programming, ensuring regulatory compliance, and expanding the reach of our services into new geographies. Creative, Communications, Insights, Impact, Quality Assurance, Policy & Partnerships, and New Opportunities are all departments within the Strategy Group. Collaboration between and coordination of each of these department’s functions is critical to ensure that every child has access to an education that develops her full potential and creates the foundation for prosperity for the country.

Communications Department

The Communications team is housed with the Strategy group. It collaborates across departments and programmes to create and execute compelling strategies; locally and globally.

Communications has a wide portfolio of responsibilities including external and internal relations, advocacy, strategy, digital, reputation management and media relations. We are focussed on ensuring that the exceptional achievements being made across a wide portfolio of programming are effectively and impactfully communicated.

We lead, develop and support strategies in multiple programmes and continents simultaneously; shaping and influencing the external environments in which we work. We pride ourselves in being able to respond quickly and effectively at all times

About the Role

●         We are looking for someone to support Bridge Liberia through external communications. The role will include telling the Bridge Liberia story across all channels, creating content, and strengthening communications.

●         Our ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of all mass communications channels in Liberia and the ability to design content that optimises news and social media. The candidate should be capable of running digital media and handling websites. They will be an extremely effective written communicator, a planner, and creative. They should possess a  keen sense of ownership and quick execution.

What You Will Do

●        Develop powerful and compelling multimedia content and collateral from across the Bridge Liberia schools in the LEAP programme.

●        Plan and collect compelling content from the Bridge Liberia schools across the country

●        Support management and updating of the Bridge Liberia website regularly by creating rich and engaging content.

●        Help create and manage engagement strategies that will build a network of powerful and committed advocates across Liberia’s counties.

●        Support, maintain and upload digital communications to social media platforms sharing relevant content, photographs and videos on a regular basis.

●        Carry out research through a range of sources, including the Internet, Intranet, publications and other external contacts, including government bodies, organisations and other charities, in order to obtain relevant information that can contribute to communications strategies.

●        Analyse and present research findings in a written or verbal format, including preparing briefing notes, press releases, operation notes, summarising papers and publications and making recommendations in order to contribute to the agreed departmental strategy plans and standards.

●        Draft and produce written correspondence such as press releases, quotes, operational notes, letters, reports and other documents as required, using word processing, databases and spreadsheets to required standards.

●        Work within short term and long-term communications plans as conveyed by the Communications Director.

●        Undertake specific communications projects as necessary.

What You Should Have

●        A 2:1 Degree, or better

●        3 + years experience in a communications team with a political, campaigning, or social impact focus.

●        Proven ability to produce compelling content for external audiences.

●        Proven ability to collate, produce and edit multimedia content: extensive experience of editing using Premiere Pro, preferred.

●        Well-developed written and verbal communication skills to develop effective working relationships with internal and external stakeholders

●        Proven ability to prioritise and organise own workload effectively and efficiently and meet deadlines.

●        A background of working in matrixed organisations with internationally based and remote working colleagues.

●        A willingness and ability to travel to the communities we support.

●        A robust, confident, can do attitude.

You’re also

●        A detailed doer – You have a track record of getting things done. You’re organized and responsive. You take ownership of every idea you touch and execute it to a fine level of detail, setting targets, engaging others, and doing whatever it takes to get the job done. You can multi-task dozens of such projects at once and never lose sight of the details. Likely, you have some experience in a start-up or other rapid-growth company.

●        A creative problem-solver – Growing any business from scratch comes with massive and constant challenges. On top of that, Bridge works in often fragile, sometimes volatile low-resource communities and with complex government systems. You need to be flexible and ready to get everything done effectively, quickly, and affordably with the materials at hand.

●        A relentless advocate – The children we serve and teachers we empower never leave your mind. You know them, get them, have shared a meal with them (or would be happy to in the future). You would never shrink back from shaking a parent’s hand or picking up a crying child, no matter what the person was wearing or looked like. Every decision you make considers their benefit, experience, and value.

●        A malleable learner – You believe you can always do better. You welcome constructive criticism and provide it freely to others. You know you only get better tomorrow when others point out where you’ve missed things or failed today.

●        A data-driven decision-maker – When making decisions, you don’t rely on your intuition alone. You collect data, you analyze it and make decisions with clear justifications.

●        A curious investigator – You ask why a lot. You don’t just take what you see and accept it. You wonder why it is that way, and are aware that the world we see is created by human choices and actions – and it could be different. You wonder, and see the world as wonderful even when you want to change a part of it that is unjust.