Communications Officer

About UWEAL:

UWEAL was established in 1987. UWEAL is an apex woman in business organisation with 5.7 million women benefiting from its programmes with presence in 109 districts/chapters. The women are segmented in 14 clusters including Agribusiness, manufacturing, professional/service, textiles, Art and craft, tourism, oil and gas among others.

Since its establishment, UWEAL has remained a force to reckon with in promoting women's entrepreneurship in Uganda. Rooted in its core pillars of advocacy, capacity building, networking, and Institutional development. UWEAL has been instrumental in fostering an inclusive and prosperous business environment for the last 37 years.

Over the past three decades, the organization has played a pivotal role in advocating for women's active participation in business, aiming to create a more equitable and dynamic business landscape in the country.

Project Overview:

The GROW project (Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises) aims to increase women's income through gender-transformative policies and enhance access to finance and markets for women entrepreneurs. The project supports the implementation of Women Entrepreneurs Platforms (WEPs) across multiple regions, contributing to Uganda's economic development through women’s empowerment.

The Role

It's an exciting time to join UWEAL, especially as the organization is embarking on implementation of projects in 3 regions of Uganda in partnership with the Government of Uganda and a number of Development Partners and Donors. This role is therefore at the forefront of telling the story of our organization, our activities and our members, and celebrating some of our achievements over the years. This therefore means that UWEAL’s communications need to be at their peak - across multiple platforms and channels to inform and engage as many people as possible and grow our community. As part of the Programs and Communication Teams, you will have an important and dynamic role in raising awareness and visibility of UWEAL’s work, developing our digital channels and helping us deliver the aims and outcomes of our new Strategic Plan. You will achieve this by engaging with new audiences as well as existing members and chapters through social media, the web, PR, print and emails.

The main purpose of the role is to:

• Raise and enhance the profile of UWEAL as the leading organization for anyone interested in women entrepreneur’s economic empowerment.
• Shape and deliver communication activities supporting UWEAL’s Strategic Plan.
• Lead on proactive content creation appropriate to different channels including digital platforms and other key publications.
• Develop UWEAL’s growing digital and social media presence, which will also include updating the organization’s website.
• Act as an authoritative source of specialist advice and guidance for colleagues in the areas of communication,

The Person

We are looking for a talented, energetic and above all creative individual to help us shape our story. If you come with a knowledge of the multi-media digital world, we live in, you will have an opportunity to build your own knowledge and experience by supporting our objectives for the future. With experience in a media, digital communication platforms, computer science, or PR background, your skills will add to our team and move UWEAL in a bold direction.

Key Responsibilities

1. Communications

• Support the creation and implementation of annual communications and content plans to help deliver the aims and outcomes of the UWEAL Strategic Plan and Communications Strategy,
• Support membership growth and brand visibility using a creative and proactive approaches to storytelling and developing content for web, email, social media platforms, and print media,
• Contribute to the development of a team of "ambassadors" to promote the work and strategic aims of UWEAL,
• Collaborate with UWEAL staff and teams to support the development and delivery of communication campaigns, events and other activities,
• Create and source images and further develop a video/image library for use across digital and print publications and platforms,
• Develop relationships with external suppliers including design, PR, media and research agencies to deliver projects within agreed budgets and timeframes,
• Ensure all communications are delivered in line with UWEAL’s and Donor brand guidelines, policies and strategic framework, and actively promote equality, diversity and inclusion.

2. Social media

• Develop, coordinate and implement social media content plans across all UWEAL social media platforms,
• Create and schedule targeted social media content for key platforms and audiences, both day to day and as part of seasonal and stand-alone campaigns,
• Actively engage with key partners and groups on social media to promote UWEAL membership,
• Identify and engage with social media influencers to support UWEAL’s campaigns and messaging for specific audiences,
• Monitor social media channels and respond to enquiries, comments and messages in accordance with UWEAL’s Communication Strategy and social media guidelines and policies,
• Contribute to the research and analysis of social media trends, including engagement data, to improve social media presence, campaign effectiveness and efficiency.

3. Media

• Maintain and cultivate positive relationships with media contacts to maximise opportunities and ensure UWEAL is known as the expert voice on all things related to women’s entrepreneurship,
• Actively seek opportunities to promote UWEAL and its work, and lead on development of news stories and case studies to support media activity,
• Draft and adapt press releases for distribution to media contacts, partners and other networks where appropriate.

4. Website and email marketing

• Create and publish regular news articles for the UWEAL website,
• Update website content and monitor regularly to ensure information is accurate,
• Contribute to the continuous development of UWEAL’s website, including supporting staff to update and create new content,
• Support the development, promotion, and onboarding of Women Entrepreneurs onto UWEAL’s iSOKO online platform.
• Lead on the production and development of monthly members e-news and other regular email marketing to members and potential new members,
• Ensure UWEAL’s contact information is kept up to date.
• Ensure each district Women Entrepreneurship Platform has website.

5. Print and publications

• Plan, source, edit and proof-read a range of features, articles and images, which entertain, inform and reflect the interests of UWEAL’s membership,
• Ensure design quality, copy and images consistently meet the required specification, error-free and within budget,
• Provide editorial and design support for the creation of internal and external publications including policy and guidance documents, annual report and member resources,
• Support the creation and distribution of marketing materials including flyers, posters, banners and merchandise,
• Monitor and reorder stocks of promotional materials including flyers, posters and branded merchandise as required and within agreed budgets.

6. Monitoring and measuring effectiveness

• Provide regular analysis and reporting of social media, email marketing, website, PR and campaign activity through google analytics and social media insights,
• Ensure effective monitoring and reporting of press and media activity,
• Act on insights to evaluate content performance, make improvements and identify new opportunities.

7. Member services

• Support the Member Services team as required to provide a friendly and professional response to email and phone enquiries,
• Work with other members of the Member Services & Communications team to support strong, clear, coordinated and engaging communications with members,
• Proactively promote member on-boarding through all communication channels.

Person specification

Essential attributes

1. Experience

• Proven track record and experience in a communications, PR, marketing or digital role.
• Use of communications channels in a professional capacity, including social media, email marketing and web to deliver marketing and/or educational campaigns,
• Creating, editing and tailoring written and visual content for a wide range of audiences for publications, marketing materials and digital channels,
• Experience of working in a team, with proven ability to work collaboratively and form effective working relationships with internal and external stakeholders,
• Experience of updating websites using content management systems, preferably with a working knowledge of HTML and CSS.

2. Skills

• Articulate and confident, with excellent written and verbal communication skills,
• Excellent organisational and planning skills, with ability to work on own initiative, take direction and work to tight deadlines,
• Proven ability to work in a fast-paced environment and manage a busy workload with competing priorities,
• Creative thinking, excellent attention to detail and strong eye for design,
• Experience of planning, creating and scheduling content for social media, including Facebook, X [formerly Twitter], Instagram and TikTok.

3. Knowledge

• Confidence and competence using and learning IT and digital communications tools including Mailchimp (or similar), image/graphics and video editing software (eg Canva, Adobe Creative Suite) and web content management systems,
• Good working knowledge of MS Office, Outlook, Teams
• Understanding of the media landscape including relevant print, broadcast, and online platforms as well as social media,
• Awareness of social media and other digital trends in Uganda,
• Understanding of data protection legislation and practice in relation to communications activity.

Desirable attributes

• An interest in and understanding of the work of UWEAL,
• Experience of or interest in producing newsletters, journals or magazines,
• Advanced user of Adobe creative suite especially Photoshop, Indesign, Premiere Pro,
• Video production and editing experience,
• Experience creating podcasts/audio content,
• Experience of producing online events/webinars,
• Managing online advertising campaigns eg Google Ads, Facebook,
• Understanding of Google Analytics and other insights platforms to measure and improve effectiveness of communications,
• Journalism, blogging or other writing experience.

Expectation

The post holder is expected to understand, and where appropriate, apply the policies and procedures contained in relevant UWEAL Manuals.

Reporting

The post holder reports to the Chief Executive Officer.

Working Hours

This is a full-time position [working 40 Hours per week] during normal office hours with occasional evening/weekend working and the option to work flexibly to be agreed on appointment. The contracted place of work will be UWEAL’s Head Office in Kampala. However, there is the potential for some home/remote working subject to negotiation with the Line Manager.