Request for Proposals: Communication Strategist (Two months)

About the Girls First Fund

The Girls First Fund works to radically expand resources to community-based organizations to deliver locally relevant, girl-centered, gender-transformative strategies that accelerate reductions in child marriage and drive positive shifts toward gender equality. A collaborative fund (currently 10 donors among leading philanthropies) in our third year of operation, the Fund has an annual budget of approximately $8 million. We support over 140 partners in six focus countries (DRC, Dominican Republic, India, Nepal, Niger, Uganda), with plans to reach partners anywhere in the world. The Fund provides both funding (small- to medium-sized grants) and support to mentor, accompany, and connect grantee partners. GFF has a dozen staff, based in the US and the Fund’s focus countries, and is governed by a committee composed of our donors. GFF is a fully-virtual organization, fiscally-sponsored by Capital for Good.

Position Overview

We are seeking an innovative, knowledgeable, and bold communications leader to support the work of the GFF as we shift into a more visible phase in our organizational history. The GFF works to ensure that all girls have the ability to realize their full rights and potential and decide who, when and if to marry.
To date, our communications work has been limited. However, as we enter our expansion phase we are seeking to strategically raise the visibility of the Fund. We aspire for a strategy that will provide a roadmap to amplify the voice of our partners, lift up our learnings, and support our efforts to effectively engage with different audiences among peer grantmakers, funders, and partner CBOs.
Our approach to communication will reflect our values of being a grantee-centered and collaborative Funder; reflect our commitment to the women, girls and communities we partner with; and reflect the warm, dynamic and flexible spirit that we bring to the work.

Primary Responsibilities

The consultant will lead the creation of a two-year strategy over a two-month period. This will entail:

• Collaborate with the GFF director to clearly articulate objectives and goals to be achieved
• Assess the GFF communications needs (both in the Global North and the Global South)
• Occasionally participate in team meetings as needed
• Review existing communication tools, materials and mechanisms that have been developed to date to build on them, suggest improvements, or redirect them towards the objectives of the proposed strategy
• Create a communications strategy document and a spokesperson strategy for the Fund Director

The consultant might be retained for the second phase of the strategy roll out, which will include setting up the core elements of the communication tools proposed as proposed in the strategy.

Timeline, Primary Outputs and Deliverables

The position will start no later than July 1st. Key deliverables are due by end August 2021 and include a communications strategy, a budget, and a spokesperson strategy for the Fund director.

Reporting and Collaboration

The position will report to and work closely with the Fund Director. The consultant will liaise with the GFF team (in particular the Operations Director and the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer); and will liaise as needed with the Girls First Fund’s sister organization, VOW for Girls to explore and maximize opportunities for partnership as s/he develops content for the strategy. Consultant will provide and manage a simple project/production schedule with key dates for the communications work, and update it weekly or as needed.

Qualifications

• Experience developing and implementing a wide-ranging communications strategy in the philanthropic sector
• Familiarity with international gender justice, child marriage, and/or girls rights
• Excellent written communication and editing skills
• Ability to produce cutting edge, inspiring and engaging content
• Experience making updates in a website Content Management System such as WordPress
• Comfort with social media metrics and analytics such as Facebook Insights, Twitter Insights, and Google Analytics, and using them to inform social media strategy and tactics.
• Experience with design software like Photoshop or Illustrator, meme & gif generators, and/or apps like Canva a plus
• Fluency in English (both oral and written)
• Outstanding interpersonal skills, with the ability to build strong relationships with a variety of stakeholders across cultures
• Self-motivated and self-disciplined with the ability to work with autonomy, meet deadlines and manage competing priorities
• Ability to coordinate with other colleagues to ensure consistent messaging.

The Girls First Fund is committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion. We strongly encourage applications from Global South candidates, women, people of color, people with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Compensation

GFF will entertain proposals of up to $6,000 per month, inclusive of routine expenses.

To Apply

Please submit an expression of interest via email to recruitment@girlsfirstfund.org. Please write in the subject line: Communication Strategist—-GFF. Your application should include a link to your portfolio (if available), your CV, and speak to your experience and qualifications to carry out the duties described. The deadline for application materials is June 11th, 2021.