Communications Officer III

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) seeks to recruit a Communications Officer to support the Rural Employment through Animal Feed production (REAP) Communications Manager in the day-to-day delivery, coordination, and quality assurance of the programme's communications strategy across consortium partners and country teams.

ILRI is an international organisation working for better lives and better planet through livestock. ILRI’s mission emphasises the interconnections between people, animals, and the environment, aiming to improve the lives of more than 300 million people in low- and middle-income countries through livestock science that supports equitable and resilient livestock systems, ultimately contributing to food systems transformation with climate and environmental benefits. This mission is delivered through two core strategic objectives: co-designing and deploying sustainable, science-based livestock solutions, and leveraging science to inform and influence policy and investment decisions.

ILRI is a member of the CGIAR, a global research alliance that works to transform food, land and water systems in a climate crisis and is the only CGIAR centre dedicated to addressing multiple development challenges through sustainable livestock solutions.

About the position: REAP is a five-year multi-country initiative intended to advance education and relieve poverty by enabling 1,000,000 financially disadvantaged young women and men, aged 18 to 35 years, to access new work opportunities in sustainable feed and livestock value chains across the seven countries. The Program will equip young people with technical, entrepreneurial, financial; digital and workplace capabilities linked to real economic opportunities and enable financially disadvantaged young people to access work, finance, productive assets, markets and income-generating opportunities that improve household resilience and wellbeing. Among its participants, the Program shall target 70% young women and at least 5% youth with disabilities and 20,000 refugees and displaced young people.

The programme will support youth-led and youth-inclusive enterprises to enter, stabilise and grow in feed and livestock markets; strengthen market systems, services, and commercial relationships; and improve policy, finance, innovation, extension, and other enabling systems required for youth-led enterprises to succeed and generate additional employment opportunities. Across these areas, it applies gender-transformative and inclusive approaches to address restrictive gender and social norms, reduce barriers to young women’s participation, and strengthen their agency, voice, leadership and access to resources and opportunities. Safeguarding measures are embedded throughout the programme to protect young people from harm and support their safe participation.

Led by ILRI, the consortium includes ICARDA, IITA, the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, and icipe, working with downstream delivery partners, enterprise-support organisations, financial institutions, government and private sector actors. The Director draws on partners’ expertise in feed and livestock systems, enterprise development, market systems, inclusive finance, digital innovation, policy, and gender and social inclusion to guide country delivery and achieve measurable youth work outcomes, adapting implementation in response to evidence.

Key Responsibilities:

• Support the design and delivery of REAP's communications strategy, coordinating implementation across the PMU and country-level communications teams to ensure consistent messaging and timely delivery.
• Coordinate the production of programme-wide communications outputs, including investment case documents, technical and policy briefs, results briefs, and donor reports, working closely with MEL and technical teams.
• Maintain REAP's cross-country influencer and ambassador database, coordinating consistent application of vetting, contracting, and brand-safety standards across country teams and tracking engagement and performance metrics for ambassadors and participant creators.
• Support the collection, curation, and circulation of internal learning briefs and impact stories, helping to break down silos and bring programme impacts to life across the consortium
• Coordinate cross-country content sharing, including webinars, internal e-letters, and quarterly retrospectives, to support shared understanding of progress, challenges, and emerging lessons.
• Manage REAP's digital presence, including digital asset repositories, ensuring systematic documentation of knowledge products.
• Provide quality assurance and editorial support across communications products developed by country teams, ensuring adherence to brand guidelines and messaging consistency.
• Support event and convening logistics, including annual learning and adaptation workshops, and other major programme communications events.
• Assist with donor and stakeholder reporting for the Mastercard Foundation and other REAP stakeholders, compiling inputs from country teams into consolidated reporting formats.
• Support monitoring of communication risks, helping to apply safeguarding, brand safety, and representation protocols across country-level communications activities.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Communications, Journalism, Public Relations, or a related field.
• At least 7 years of relevant experience in communications, preferably within international development or donor-funded programmes.
• Experience supporting influencer, ambassador, or content-creator programmes is an advantage.
• Experience coordinating communications across multiple teams or countries is an advantage.
• Strong writing, editing, and content coordination skills in English.
• Familiarity with influencer marketing and youth-relevant social media platforms (e.g., TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp).
• Proficiency with digital collaboration tools (shared workspaces, content calendars) and social media platforms.
• Good organisational skills and attention to detail; ability to manage multiple workstreams and deadlines.
• Team-oriented, with strong interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills.

Post location: The position will be based in Nairobi, Kenya

Terms of Appointment

This position is at job level HG15 and it is only open to Kenyan nationals. The position is a 3-year contract, renewable subject to satisfactory performance and availability of funding. ILRI offers a competitive salary and benefits package which includes pension, medical and other insurances.

How to apply: Applicants should send a cover letter and CV expressing their interest in the position, what they can bring to the job and the names and addresses (including telephone and email) of three referees who are knowledgeable about the candidate’s professional qualifications and work experience to the Head of People and Culture through our recruitment portal by clicking on "Apply Now" on or before 11 November 2026. The position title and reference number REAP/03/2026 should be clearly marked on the subject line of the cover letter.

We thank all applicants for their interest in working for ILRI. Due to the volume of applications, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

ILRI does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing or training). ILRI also does not concern itself with information on applicants' bank accounts.

To find out more about ILRI, visit our websites at http://www.ilri.org/

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