Program and Communications Officer, Capacity Development Center
JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. (JSI) is a public health management consulting and research organization dedicated to improving the health of individuals and communities throughout the world. For more than 30 years, JSI has provided high-quality technical and managerial assistance to public health programs worldwide. JSI is committed to improving the health of individuals and communities worldwide. JSI works in partnership with governments, organizations, and host-country experts to improve quality, access and equity of health systems worldwide. World Education, Inc. (WEI), a JSI affiliate, seeks to improve the lives of marginalized children, families, and communities in over 25 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the United States through initiatives that link education to health, economic, social, and civic development.
Capacity development is at the core of our work. Across all of JSI and WEI projects, in almost every corner of the globe, we aim to develop stronger systems, and enable organizations and individuals to maximize impact and mobilize funding to make lasting social change.
JSI and WEI launched the Center for Capacity Development (CD Center) in 2012 to institutionalize this ongoing work. The Center brings together the best learning from over 6,000 JSI and WEI projects in over 80 countries, including the United States. The CD Center promotes best practices, draws on state-of-the-art resources from around the world, promotes innovation, and shares tools and approaches across projects, disciplines, and contexts. It serves as a responsive, flexible service provider to JSI/WEI projects and affiliates and partner organizations; coordinates learning and knowledge management around capacity strengthening; positions JSI and WEI as trusted capacity strengthening providers; and grows new business related to capacity strengthening.
The Capacity Development Center Program and Communications Officer will lead Center communications and support coordination of day-to-day center activities, including Center work-planning and progress tracking, managing Center priorities, new business development, and will support other Center initiatives as needed.
The Program and Communications Office works under the supervision of the Director of the Capacity Development Center. This position can be based in either Boston, MA or Arlington, VA. JSI is currently operating on a hybrid work schedule and the candidate is expected to be in the office 2-3 days per week.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Communications:
- Work with Center leadership and Corporate Communications to set the Center’s communication plan and coordinate the implementation of that plan. This includes maintaining a schedule of blog posts; keeping track of key awareness days and preparing original content for the JSI/WEI websites and social media; producing and editing success stories, infographics, videos, and other communications products.
- Draft the Center’s quarterly internal and external newsletters by putting out a call for content, synthesizing and organizing content, and ensuring its review by the Center Director and Deputy Directors;
- Maintain both Center intranet and JSI.com pages and listservs by writing, editing, or requesting relevant content from colleagues for the website;
- Assist the team to prepare presentations and technical papers;
- Lead communications work plan activities;
- Monitor key domestic and international conferences, track and coordinate the progress of abstract submissions, edits, and final poster/presentation creation, and support conference logistics as needed.
Operations support:
- Track learning hours attendance and disseminate recordings;
- Maintain and update Calendar Invites including meeting reminders and agenda for core team, steering committees, leadership meetings, and other meetings
- Take notes and organize internal team meetings;
- Develop & maintain other internal systems and tools for Center management;
New Business Development (NBD) support:
- Assist proposal teams as requested, which may involve research, writing, and/or logistics support;
- Assist the Center team to track new business opportunities.
QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor’s degree required, preference for a degree in the field of public health, health communications, or journalism (not exclusively limited to this list);
- At least two years of professional experience working in a relevant setting, preferably in the field of communications or a public health;
- Must be a very strong writer and able to synthesize technical material into concise communication pieces and tailor content to diverse audiences;
- Excellent written and oral communication skills;
- English fluency required;
- Understanding of and experience in drafting content for various social media channels;
- Demonstrated ability to manage complex processes to ensure high-quality products that meet tight deadlines;
- Ability to work effectively and harmoniously with diverse staff and across multiple teams in various countries in a fast-paced, highly-collaborative work environment;
- Excellent organizational and multitasking skills;
- Keen attention to detail, both organizationally and editorially.
- Proven interpersonal skills and ability to work successfully in a multicultural, team environment;
- Ability to work independently and manage various projects in a team setting with minimal supervision;
- Interest in public health in domestic and international settings;
- Familiarity and comfort working with the Google suite of office products and MS Office Suite;
- Experience with the following software and technology: social media platforms, email/marketing platforms (e.g., MailChimp), Adobe Pro, and familiarity with knowledge management and project management tools (airtabel, asana, etc.)
- Ability and willingness to travel internationally, up to 10% of the time.