External Relations Manager

Job Type: Full-time

Location: Maputo, Mozambique

Reports to: Country Director

Level: PM

About this role

The External Relations Manager role is a key managerial role in GiveDirectly Mozambique’s leadership team. Alongside the Country Director, the External Relations Manager will be responsible for developing and implementing an external outreach strategy to create awareness of GiveDirectly’s work and ensure buy-in at all levels of government. The External Relations Manager will engage new and existing donors in Mozambique to ensure GiveDirectly can sustain and expand its programs. The External Relations Manager is also responsible for understanding and tracking in-country external risks and developing mitigations for these. The role will involve working with our communications team to record high-quality recipient stories and attract positive coverage from the media. The role rewards an exceptional understanding of local and national government in Mozambique, a highly autonomous working style, and the ability to develop strategically advantageous relationships.

Responsibilities:

Government relations

• Build relationships with national and local government officials to improve GiveDirectly’s cooperation with the government and identify allies and champions of our work.
• Support GiveDirectly’s expansion into new areas and maintain existing operations by securing national and local government approvals.
• Represent GiveDirectly at government events and meetings at the national and local level.
• Develop high-quality reports for national and local government authorities.
• Provide support to field teams that guarante  adherence to national and local government protocols.
• Collaborate with the Country Director and country management team to ensure regulatory compliance.

Fundraising & partnerships

• Build relationships and support for GiveDirectly with donors and potential implementing partners in Mozambique.
• Support national fundraising efforts by identifying opportunities, supporting proposal development and producing pitch materials.
• Communicate GiveDirectly’s program activities to donors and implementers through outreach, reporting and presentations.
• Participate in multilateral fora such as technical working groups and humanitarian cluster coordination meetings.
• Organize donor visits and events.

Media Relations 

• Develop strong relationships with key members of the local and national Mozambican media, including journalists, presenters and other influencers. 
• Source story ideas from across GiveDirectly projects and translate them into compelling and effective content.
• Serve as a liaison between the communications team in NYC and local  programs team, both proactively and reactively.
• Work closely with the Senior Manager Programs to monitor Community relations risks and provide mitigation alternatives that cushion GiveDirectly from reputational and existential risks.
• Manage internal and external communication on sensitive issues relating to our program.
• Monitor mass, online and social media to ensure that the right messaging around the organization is being delivered.

External relations tracking

• Track the priority and health of our relationships and proactively design new strategies to improve our  engagement with stakeholders. 
• Maintain a comprehensive stakeholder matrix for GiveDirectly in Mozambique.
• Identify possible future risks and areas of non-alignment with stakeholders and work with different teams to implement preventative actions.
• Liaise with the internal audit team on any risks flagged from field investigations that have external relations risks.

Desired qualifications:

• Bachelor's or master's Degree in a relevant field.
• At least 5 years experience in the development sector.
• Detailed understanding and demonstrated experience working with national-level government in Mozambique.
• Demonstrated experience in resource mobilization. Experience with key donors such as USAID and FCDO is preferred.
• Experience working with and representing organisations to national media.
• Outstanding interpersonal skills, comfortable representing Give Directly across a wide range of stakeholders.
• Exceptional communication (written and verbal), organizational, and analytical skills.
• Demonstrated success in a high-performance work environment.
• Ability to approach tasks with resourcefulness and to work in a self-directed manner.
• Professional fluency in Portuguese and English.
• Strong interest in advancing the values and mission of GiveDirectly