Head of Communications and Advocacy

Job Description

Devex Talent Solutions is supporting the Education Outcomes Fund (EOF) in its search for an exceptional Head of Communications and Advocacy. This senior position at EOF will guarantee that our efforts to support children around the globe are reaching the right audiences in the best way. This opportunity comes at a critical moment in EOF’s growth as we expand our country program portfolio and shift our strategy to place a greater emphasis on external engagement.

The Education Outcomes Fund (EOF) is dedicated to improving education and employment outcomes for children and youth globally. Our team is working at the cutting edge of development finance, leveraging our platform at the UN and our innovative, results-focused approach to change the way education is financed to support the next generation of youth.

THE OPPORTUNITY

The Head of Communications and Advocacy will report directly to the Chief Operating Officer. The primary responsibilities of this role are:

• Global Advocacy Campaigns: Design and execute campaigns that communicate EOF’s mission, programs, and impact on the global stage.
• Strategic Communications: Develop and implement a communication strategy that clearly articulates EOF’s impact on global education.
• High-Profile Event Planning: Strategically select, secure participation in, and manage EOF’s presence at major global events such as the UN General Assembly, WEF, and G7.
• Media Relations: Cultivate strong relationships with international media to amplify EOF’s initiatives and achievements.
• Brand Management: Oversee EOF’s brand to ensure it is compelling, communicated effectively, and reflective of our mission.
• Content Development: Produce and manage content that effectively distills EOF’s work, from thought leadership articles and podcasts to social media posts.
• Manage the Team: Build and lead a team of communication professionals to ensure EOF’s message is consistently impactful.
• Social Media and Website Oversight: Guide our digital presence to engage a global audience effectively online.
• Crisis Communication: Develop proactive strategies to maintain EOF’s reputation during challenging situations.

EOF is an entrepreneurial organization. The successful candidate will need to deliver at pace and be comfortable with taking ownership, responsibility, and set backs in their stride. We have high ambitions for our communication and advocacy work, so this is an immensely exciting opportunity. But it will involve managing ambiguity, being comfortable with transitioning from strategic leadership to directly ‘holding the pen’ and being highly motivated by the prospect of building something new.

This opportunity will be highly rewarding, with an opportunity to genuinely shape the external communications and engagement of an international organization operating at the forefront of development financing, education, and impact investing. Success in the this role will have a lasting impact on entire sector, with the potential to improve how international development is financed globally.

ABOUT YOU

We’d love to hear from you if the following sounds like you:

1. Education:

• An advanced degree is required in a relevant subject, such as International Development, International Studies, Education, Economics, Politics, Communications, Marketing, Journalism, or similar.
• A bachelor’s degree will be considered with an additional 2 years of relevant experience.

2. Work experience:

• A minimum of 10 years of relevant professional experience of progressively responsible roles within communications.
• A proven background in developing and executing communication strategies within complex, politically nuanced environments.
• Experience leading international advocacy campaigns; utilising both traditional and digital media.
• History of directly managing people, steering projects, and guiding teams towards achieving strategic communication goals.
• Exceptional writing abilities, able to distil intricate concepts into clear, compelling content tailored to diverse audiences.
• Experience working in a start-up/ scale-up environment; comfort and ability to thrive amidst ambiguity and to quickly (re-)adjust to new circumstances.
• Experience or interest in the global education sector is strongly preferred.
• Experience or interest with Results Based Financing is preferred.

3. Key competencies

We expect you to have the following skills and competencies:

• Exceptional problem-solving skills: You are intellectually dexterous, able to pull insights from complex information, and recommend action based on these insights.
• Clear and confident communication skills: You are comfortable communicating with a range of stakeholders and can adapt your style according to the audience.
• Drive to achieve results: You take responsibility for and ownership of your performance and are proactive in finding solutions to problems.
• Think and act strategically: You understand the big picture and are able to anticipate risks and identify strategic opportunities.
• Entrepreneurial mindset: You are dynamic and would be excited to contribute to EOF as a young and rapidly growing organisation. When you see things that could be improved, you put your hand up and help improve it, rather than being a passive bystander.
• Work collaboratively with others: You enjoy contributing to a wider team effort and collaborating with people from different backgrounds to achieve your goals, respecting differences and ensuring that all can contribute and succeed.
• Embrace change and uncertainty: You understand that our work is complex and dynamic, and respond to shifting priorities with composure and agility
• Demonstrate self-awareness and ethical awareness: You are self-aware of your own strengths, limitations, working style, and deeply held convictions and biases. You display ethical awareness through behaviours that are consistent and compliant with the standards of conduct for international civil servants, UNICEF’s values, and relevant UNICEF policies and procedures.

4. Languages

• Fluency in English is required.
• Proficiency in French, Arabic, Spanish, or other languages in the MENA region is preferred.

General information

• We have a global mandate and a global team, with staff based across most continents. However, most of our team are London-based, and candidates may need to be available during a significant portion of UK working hours (to be determined on a case-by-case basis).
• The indicative gross annual salary package is between GBP 90,000 – 110,000 with flexibility depending on the skills and experience of the selected candidate. This is for applicants based in London and will be adjusted based on the place of residence, in line with UN post adjustment rates. Upward mobility in salary and position is expected for strongly performing team members.
• This position will initially be for a 12-month contract, although we are looking for permanent, full-time staff to join and help grow the organisation, subject to performance. Contracts will be renewed annually for all core team staff subject to performance, and there is the potential for some long-term core staff to move onto UN staff contracts, again subject to funding and performance.

Unfortunately, due to the potentially large number of applications, we will only be able to contact applicants who are invited to the next stage of the process and will not be able to provide feedback to candidates that are not shortlisted.

EOF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. EOF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

About the Organization

There are few greater challenges faced by the global community than the twin crises of learning poverty and youth unemployment. In response, the Education Commission (chaired by Gordon Brown, former UK Prime Minister and UN Special Envoy for Global Education) and the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (chaired by Sir Ronald Cohen) came together with our founding CEO (Her Excellency Dr.) Amel Karboul to create EOF. We aim to improve the education and employment outcomes of 10 million children and youth, by supporting governments to utilize a range of innovative finance instruments at scale, including outcomes funds and other results-based financing (RBF) instruments.

EOF is backed by a range of world leaders who support us to shape our approach and achieve our ambitious aims, as well as leaders in education and impact investing.

EOF supports improvements in the quality of education and skills programs, with a special focus on girls and underserved populations, including those in the hardest to reach rural areas. It measures (and pays for) what matters – both core skills like literacy and numeracy, but also critical 21st Century skills such as socio-emotional skills, ICT skills, and other broader fundamentals of a quality education. It helps close the persistent gap between the skills needed by employers and those attained by today's youth.

For all the above, EOF pays primarily on the basis of the results achieved, ensuring that taxpayer-funded domestic resources, aid, and philanthropic funds are only used to pay for what works. This is a game-changing way to finance results in education, focusing attention and realigning systems on the most challenging but most important measure of a program's performance: whether it is improving lives.

Together with our supporters, we believe this is the early stages of a much larger movement, with huge potential to increase learning outcomes for children and youth around the world, though improved aid effectiveness and government spending.

Since our inception in 2018, EOF has:

• Partnered with governments in Ghana and Sierra Leone to establish the two largest outcomes funds to date in developing countries, mobilising ~$50M for these programs.
• Established itself as a leading global player in RBF, and the only dedicated center of expertise for RBF in education and skills.
• Become the first outcomes fund hosted by the United Nations within UNICEF, as a scalable platform to partner with governments around the world.
• Established a major partnership with the LEGO Foundation, to develop a scale portfolio of RBF programs in early childhood across a diverse range of countries, as well as to amplify the movement and ecosystem of partners around this approach.
• Had our innovative approach featured in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, FT, Economist, Brookings, and more.
• Built our institutional capacity to contract and implement large-scale outcomes funds more efficiently and effectively than historic impact bonds.
• Established a strong culture of performance and an active focus on ongoing professional development for all our team.

The next chapter of EOF’s growth is particularly exciting, as we look to build on this foundation in the coming years and significantly scale our impact. We will shift focus towards implementation of our first large scale programs, launched our next round of funds and developing public goods and policy insights on ‘what works’ both in education and RBF. Ultimately, we want to improve the way governments and donors fund and implement education programs around the world.