Strategic Communications Director

4 days ago


Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa Smartstart Full time

About the Role:

The Societal Communications Head will lead the SmartStart network's efforts in utilizing social influence to collect people's efforts and change behaviours and mindsets. This role will build and inspire a country-wide movement to establish early learning as a societal priority.

The successful candidate will leverage the power of the SmartStart brand to accelerate network growth and wider progress towards early learning for all, focused on those most excluded.

This role reports to the Chief Ecosystem and Partnerships Officer and is a member of the Hub Exco.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Develop coherent, clear, informative, engaging, and influential communications to SmartStart's national network of practitioners, parents, and frontline staff.
  • Stimulate and influence multi-way communications within and across the network in service of SmartStart's purpose and strategy.
  • Drive the development of communications campaigns that move people themselves to influence and 'convert' others to take action for the societal cause of quality early learning for all.
  • Lead the targeting and creation of appropriate communications that stimulate and reinforce changes in behaviour.
  • Engage role-players with overlapping and/or complementary interests, e.g., basic education, gender justice, and employment and micro-(social-)enterprise and social justice.
  • Build a popular South African movement for early learning as a societal cause.
  • Collaborate with partners to create popular demand (economic & political) for and expectations of quality, affordable early learning for all.
  • Widely share the progress made towards, and benefits of, quality early learning for all.
  • Co-develop and communicate relevant popular education content on topics including care about and concern for children's interest; the benefits and importance of early learning for all; key practices for quality early learning; as well as inclusive education, gender justice, and social justice.
  • Lead internal-organisational communications across the network of SmartStart partner NGOs and within the network Hub organisation.
  • Co-develop and conduct appropriate SmartStart network and wider social research to yield insights for segmenting, differentiating, and/or targeting communications.
  • Develop appropriate approaches to monitor, investigate, and understand the intended and unintended effects of communications and respond appropriately.
  • Strategically explore opportunities and partnerships across a few (southern) African countries.


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