Who is Natural Justice?

Natural Justice is an organization rooted in the struggles of communities in Africa. As a team of pioneering lawyers and legal experts, we specialize in human rights and environmental law in pursuit of social and environmental justice. Natural Justice strives to enhance people’s collective rights and protect the sacred relationships that indigenous peoples and local communities have with nature. Our work is informed by the values, knowledge, and self-determination of the communities with whom we stand in solidarity. Through legal empowerment, research, policy influencing and litigation, and as part of coalitions and campaigns, we support communities to defend and affirm rights to their lands and environments. To learn more about the work of Natural Justice, please refer to www.naturaljustice.org.

What are we looking for?

NJ seeks a full-time Communications Officer in Nairobi, with a flair for communications campaigning and experience in amplifying struggles for climate justice and human rights in Africa.

We seek a candidate who can help scale up content, build our brand identity and communication channels to increase awareness and visibility of our community projects, litigation, legal empowerment work with communities, and advocacy efforts across East Africa.

The officer will report to the Director of the East African Hub and work closely with the Head of Campaigns and Communications and collaborate with the communications officers in West and Southern African to ensure synergy across NJ’s communications and campaigning portfolios. The successful candidate will be based in our Nairobi office, with frequent local and occasional regional and international travel, and will be expected to begin work as soon as possible.

What’s on offer?

NJ is a close-knit and nurturing work environment that emphasises facilitating opportunities for its members’ professional and personal growth. NJ will offer a competitive salary commensurate with the candidate’s skills and experience. The successful candidate will work with a passionate continental team in a fast-paced environment and gain valuable international experience on law, human rights and environmental justice.

Key duties and responsibilities

Under the guidance of the Hub Director and the Head of Campaigns and Communications, the communications officer shall:
• Ensure relevant programme materials are developed and disseminated directly through social media and traditional media.
• Assist the organisation’s Communications and Campaigns team in updating of the Natural Justice website and integrated news feed as well as all social media through daily monitoring, posting and content development in collaboration with programme staff.
• Assist in developing and implementing the communication strategy for the overall organization while leading in establishing a localized strategy for the East Africa Hub that feeds into the overall strategy.
• Assist the communications team in managing a database and lists for Natural Justice partners and members, including the media.
• Support the programs and Research and MEL team in building their thought leadership, including developing and publishing case studies, news blogs, op-eds, media interviews, etc.
• Develop newsletters, reports and any other internal documents.
• Track relevant news items via social media and distribute these among relevant staff members.
• Assist in developing a communications calendar for the Hub and the wider Natural Justice team.
• Coordinate media engagements, manage relationships and develop and maintain a database of media contacts.
• Provide input into fundraising and project design phases to identify and include appropriate communication activities for respective projects.
• Ensure timely and quality production of advocacy and branding materials such as newsletters for internal and external distribution, annual reports, picture stories, and videos.
• Archive all communication materials, including digital publications, press releases and clippings, photographs, audio-visual materials, web resources, etc.
• Support special events, meetings, and campaigns through relevant communications tools, including publications, flyers, blogs, or online campaign strategies.
• Developing a deep knowledge of environmental justice issues in East Africa.
• Supervise the East Africa Hub’s communications fellow and other junior communications staff.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree in communications, journalism, public relations, environmental studies, or any related fields.
• At least 4 years of similar work experience is required.
• Experience in building media relations and contacts.
• Experience in multi-media content creation writing press releases and newsletters.
• Demonstrated social media management experience (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram use and analytics), including growing a social media follower base.
• Experience in advocating for social or environmental justice.
• Fluent in English and Kiswahili. French is an added advantage
• Ability to work with minimum supervision and guidance from supervisors.
• Be self-motivated, reliable, with the ability to prioritize, pay attention to detail, take initiative, and deliver on agreed actions and tasks on tight deadlines.
• Be a self-starter, reliable, can prioritise, pay attention to detail, and shows initiative at work.
• Have high integrity, accountability, and punctuality.
• Be a team player.
• Experience in or knowledge of online newsletter distribution (MailChimp).
• Basic website management (WordPress) and Google Analytics an advantage.
• Be a Kenyan citizen or have authorization to work in Kenya.
• Women and feminists are encouraged to apply.

Application process

Deadline: 22nd November 2022

Please email your application to admin.nbo@naturaljustice.org with the job title in the subject line.

Please be advised that only shortlisted applicants will be contacted. Applications must include: 1. A motivation letter that indicates a) why you are interested in this position and what inspires you about this post; and b) aspects of your background that demonstrate the required competence for this role. 2. A detailed CV with three contactable references; and 3. Links to three samples of your recent written and published work (for example, press releases, articles, or op-eds), together with any multimedia newsletters or publications you’ve coordinated. If you’d like to share other work, like multimedia products and social media campaigns you’ve led, feel free to share further links.