Director of Communications and External Relations

Overview:

Women for Women International works in some of the most dangerous places to be a woman. We serve women survivors of war in conflict and post-conflict areas around the world in 8 countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Eastern Congo, and Northern Nigeria. Our core belief is that stronger women build stronger nations; and with access to knowledge, resources, and a support network, a woman rebuilds her life and improves her community.

Our model works and we have the data to prove it. In our 26-year history, Women for Women International has reached over half a million women. The women we work with across 3 continents earn just $0.81 a day when we enroll them. At graduation, it’s $2.11, nearly tripled.

Our impact goes beyond income. The number of women who say at least one household member went to sleep hungry in the last four weeks has gone from 18% to 5%. And more women say they speak out against women's abuse: 26% report having publicly spoken in the last 6 months against physically abusing women.

When women have the right tools, they realize the power within themselves to transform their lives, their families, their communities, and finally their entire nations.

Purpose:

The Director of Communications and External Relations leads Women for Women International (WfWI) global brand, and US communications, public relations and other external facing activities.

The purpose of the role is to advance Women for Women’s mission to support women survivors of war to rebuild their lives, claim power, and achieve their full potential, by communicating that mission in the most compelling ways through earned and own media, events, and other forms of messaging and engagement with current and potential supporters.  The Director leverages their deep networks, excellent communications skills, and knowledge of all available media channels and/or humanitarian, development and women’s rights sectors to drive WfWI’s successful exposure and content development that aligns to our principles and values, and generates maximum support and respect for the organization and our mission.

The Director leads a team of five responsible for driving WfWI’s earned and owned media, Public Relations (PR), and events strategy in the US, and ensuring coherence and consistency in communications globally, working closely with country communications leads. The Director also works closely with Development, Marketing, the Global Programs Unit, (MDC)  to ensure consistent and cohesive messaging that is aligned with the organization’s strategic and operational plans. She/he will have a strong working relationship with Women for Women International colleagues globally to ensure that campaigns and opportunities are maximized for the benefit of the whole organization.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Strategy and Planning

• In partnership with the VP of MDC and marketing colleagues in the UK, develop a brand strategy in alignment with the 2025 strategic plan as well as the ten-year strategic vision
• Lead the development of a content strategy to create a consistent voice for the organization across all media channels
• Lead the execution of a global external engagement strategy in partnership with the Sr. Associate Director of External Engagement with input from colleagues in:  Global Programs; Business Development; Advocacy,  Marketing, Development, and country  program and fundraising teams  to position WfWI in a relevant and exciting way
• Develop and manage an annual calendar that supports the communications strategy as well as campaigns for the organization in partnership with the UK, and Country Offices

Earned and owned media management

• Build strategic framework to differentiate WfWI in our sector and to increase our share of voice in women’s rights, development, and humanitarian coverage across all channels
• Develop and implement a plan for maximizing WfWI’s exposure in priority media targets, including creative ways to pitch WfWI activities and impact
• Leads team to ensure appropriate synergies between social media and print, TV and, radio and digital mediums to increase number of supporters and amplify the voices of the women we serve

Content Creation, Quality Control and Managing the Voice of the Organization

• Create, oversee, and leverage WfWI’s media and asset collection ensuring high-quality content and consistency across Headquarters (HQ), UK, Germany, and Country Program Offices
• Oversee the development of new content (brochures, reports, videos, landing pages, etc.) creatively and cost-effectively across a variety of mediums that best illustrates the value proposition of the organization
• Oversee website and other digital properties to ensure our content and messaging reflects our current and future goals and strategies
• Lead team that reviews and signs off on all content generated within HQ for external audiences to ensure quality, accuracy, and brand alignment
• Identify, train, and support spokespersons for the organization at the Country Office and HQ level
• In partnership with the Marketing team, support the execution of the organizations online and digital fundraising efforts

Advertising Strategy

• Works with internal stakeholders to maximize creative opportunities in social media and digital advertising
• Build and oversee advertising campaigns and report on adverting efforts using multiple channels.

Communication

• Collaborate with members of the Communications team and work closely with others in HQ, UK and Country Offices
• Oversee the leveraging of our Global Programs Unit content to articulate WfWI’s impact and how WfWI fits into the broader policy dialogue
• Represent WfWI in a variety of community outreach activities, meetings, and public forums; speak to groups and individuals regarding WfWI's activities and mission

Leadership and Management

• Directly manage a team of five staff
• Be part of Departmental management by serving on the MDC Leads team
• Contribute to overall organizational strategy and planning through the Global Leadership Team or Leadership Team
• Contribute to/serve on cross-organizational initiatives and projects as and when agreed

Global Brand Management

• Lead on developing and managing the global brand overall
• Advise on use of the Brand with affiliates (Kosovo, Bosnia, Rwanda, UK, Germany)

The duties, responsibilities and activities of this job description may change, or new ones may be assigned at any time with or without notice.

Skills & Qualifications:

Required

• 10 – 12 years of experience in communications, media and/or external relations including managing a team highly desirable
• Master’s degree in related field
• A strong interest in and understanding of international women’s rights, preferably with exposure to issues of economic and social power, and women, peace and security issues
• Excellent judgment based on deep listening and knowledge of the media community and INGO sector
• Ability to advance creative approaches to increase media exposure in soft media and hard news media, in print, broadcast and online
• Experience in creating and implementing overall media and external engagement strategies, including producing visual content
• Experience with publication production (reports, policy position papers, etc.) and media production (interviews, news stories, documentaries)
• Ability to work in a multi-cultural institution, coordinating communications efforts across departments and across the organization globally
• Strong ability to speak to multiple audiences, synthesizing complex issues in both written and oral forms
• Commitment to Women for Women International Vision, Mission, and Values including building an anti-racist and pro-feminist practice and organization

Preferred:

• Personal or professional lived experience of the geographies in which we work desirable

Organizational Values:

Our global core values define how we are to behave as we pursue our mission, our vision, and our strategic objectives:

• Empowerment. We believe every woman is unique and powerful in her own right. Our people are our greatest strength and we will support them to achieve our aims by providing them with the information, rewards and power they need to take the initiative and make decisions to solve problems and improve our delivery and performance. As a learning organization - we encourage our people to take risks and make mistakes, we learn and grow and get better, stronger and smarter.
• Integrity. We will never communicate in any way that exploits or demeans the women we exist to serve, we will deliver a program of training that maximizes the impact for the women we serve to bring them the biggest benefits and facilitate the greatest long term positive change in their lives. we do what we say we are going to do, when we say we're going to do it. We act as good stewards of the organization’s resources.
• Respect. We believe every woman has the right to be treated with fairness and dignity. we trust each other implicitly, confident in the knowledge that we are all working towards the same goals. Equally, we hold each other responsible and accountable at all levels of the organization for the outcomes of our actions. We will be bold, clear and kind in our communication with our colleagues across the organization and not allow disrespectful behavior to go unchallenged.
• Resilience. We see every day the strength of women survivors of war and their ability to never lose hope despite having faced the greatest atrocities and horrors of conflict. They inspire us to stay strong, hopeful, focused and committed to our global purpose. We support each other to do the same.

Adhere to WfWI’s Code of Conduct and Safeguarding Policies and report concerns, and to the organizational values: Empowerment. Integrity, Respect, Resilience.

Application Instructions:

We will be reviewing applications on a rolling basis, so please apply at your earliest convenience through our career page here: https://www.womenforwomen.org/about-us/careers.

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.