Communications Specialist (Sustainable Livelihoods) - CEEW

Purpose

CEEW seeks to hire a candidate with exceptional stakeholder management, project management, outreach strategy and writing and editing skills to enable sustained outreach and communication for CEEW’s Sustainable Livelihoods (Powering Livelihoods programme and Green Economy) research teams. Powering Livelihoods is a CEEW-Villgro initiative that aims to boost India’s rural economy by scaling up the penetration of clean energy-powered appliances for livelihoods. The initiative supports cleantech enterprises to undertake large-scale commercial deployment of their solutions through an integrated gendered lens and use the evidence generated to catalyse the sector.

The candidate will have the opportunity to work with top policy researchers to bring sustainability from the margins to the mainstream and get exposure to the inner workings of one of India’s leading think tanks. An ideal candidate should have experience writing and creating interesting content for various platforms such as social media, newsletters, articles and blogs. The candidate should have excellent story-telling skills to showcase the impact of the Powering Livelihoods programme through grassroots stories. Knowledge of the Indian media landscape is essential, experience engaging with news channels such as Doordarshan, DD Kisan, Sansad TV is a plus. Candidates with communications and digital marketing experience in the clean energy, startups and rural livelihoods sector will be preferred.

The candidate should be detail-oriented and work well under pressure. In addition to the duties and responsibilities below, the individual should be prepared, as and when necessary, to take on additional responsibilities.

Job Duties and Accountabilities

Primary Responsibilities

• Lead the strategic communication and outreach and ensure a steady flow of content on the Powering Livelihoods and the Green Economy programmes.

• Collaborate with various stakeholders such as programme partners, donors, enterprises or community leaders for content - identification, creation and compilation of on-ground stories - and regular updates and promote impactful case studies from the space across media platforms/ programmes/channels of national repute (such as Doordarshan, DD Kissan, Akashvaani), international forums, and social media.

• Identify high-level partners at the national and international level with whom partnerships can be explored to communicate Powering Livelihoods' impact.

• Successfully promote DRE technologies in key geographies by engaging with local leaders, hyper-local influencers, local fairs, and relevant Whatsapp groups/communities.

• Ensure regular, streamlined updates to donors on outreach wins for the programmes to strengthen donor communication.

• Identify national, international, government and industry events where our Sustainable Livelihoods (Powering Livelihoods and Green Economy) work can be featured - speaking slots, panellists, side events, (poster) presentations, etc.

• Work closely with the Communications Specialist (Media) to inform and develop a media strategy for the programme teams (Powering Livelihoods and Green Economy). Identify journalists writing stories on rural livelihoods, technology for development, and clean energy, and support the Communications Specialist (Media) in pitching interesting stories to relevant media.

• Identify innovative written formats, such as debates and explainers, to publicise research and updates and make our analysis (Powering Livelihoods and Green Economy) consumable for various audiences.

• Work closely with CEEW’s digital communications team to support in scriptwriting for short and snackable videos for Powering Livelihoods and Green Economy.

• Identify international and national awards where entries for the Powering Livelihoods programme impact can be submitted.

Secondary Responsibilities

• Support the Communications Manager on events, media, and strategic partnerships.

• Support the outreach team on content-related and coordination activities as and when required.

• Support the Strategic Communications Lead and Communications Manager on special projects.

• Ensure strict adherence to CEEW branding guidelines.

Selection Criteria

Educational Qualification

• Master’s/Bachelor’s degree in English, Journalism, Public Relations, Development Communications or any related field.

Work experience and other skills

• Minimum 6-10 years’ experience in strategic communications, with some experience in PR/journalism.

• Excellent project management and stakeholder management skills.

• Proven track record of delivering high-quality written content (films, newsletters) for different mediums.

• Excellent grasp of the English language, communication skills and eye for detail.

• Keen on understanding the clean energy sector, sustainable livelihoods, rural India.

• Natural penchant for storytelling across different mediums (films, newsletters, social media).

• Experience in influencer and digital marketing is a plus.

• Ability to navigate difficult situations with empathy and kindness.

• Demonstrated abilities to manage multiple priorities, projects and internal/external resources in a fast-paced environment, while meeting deadlines and quality standards.

• Strong drive and initiative, a self-starter.

CEEW operates in a dynamic environment and the candidate will be required to show flexibility in undertaking various tasks.