Communications Consultant

Purpose

CEEW seeks to hire a candidate with exceptional rural marketing skills, stakeholder management, project management, outreach strategy and writing and editing skills to enable sustained outreach and communication for CEEW’s Sustainable Livelihoods team, primarily the Powering Livelihoods programme (with secondary support for the Green Economy programme). 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 extensive experience in rural marketing and should have engaged with agencies on both on-ground and digital activation. The candidate should also have storytelling skills to showcase the impact of the Powering Livelihoods programme through grassroots stories. Knowledge of the Indian media landscape and experience engaging with news channels such as Doordarshan, DD Kisan, Sansad TV is a plus. Candidates with communications and rural 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

• Design, implement, and evaluate marketing strategies for enterprises in the Powering Livelihoods portfolio to generate demand, leads and eventually sales in target markets/geographies. Successfully promote DRE technologies in key geographies by engaging with local leaders, hyper-local influencers, local fairs, and relevant Whatsapp groups/communities.
• Collaborate with local groups and go-to-market partners to develop grassroots marketing efforts that align with the programme’s goals.
• Monitor the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and strategies through clearly identified metrics of success.
• Identify relevant influencers in key geographies and partner with them to produce and disseminate enterprise and programme-specific content, with the primary objective to ignite demand and sales.
• Support the development of branding, packaging, and communication materials for enterprises.
• Lead the strategic communication and outreach and ensure a steady flow of content on the Powering Livelihoods programme.
• Collaborate with various stakeholders such as programme partners, donors, enterprises or community leaders for the rural marketing campaigns, collateral and content – identification, creation and compilation of on-ground stories – and regular updates. 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 to explore partnerships and speaking opportunities to communicate Powering Livelihoods' impact.
• Ensure regular, streamlined updates to donors on outreach wins for the programmes to strengthen donor communication.
• Work closely with the Communications Specialist (Media) to inform and develop a media strategy for the programme. 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.

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

Secondary Responsibilities

• Support the Communications Specialist and Senior Communications Manager on the Green Economy programme, as and when required.
• Support the outreach team on content-related and coordination activities as and when required.
• Support the Strategic Communications Lead and Senior Communications Manager on special projects.
• Ensure strict adherence to CEEW branding guidelines.

Selection Criteria

Educational Qualification

• Master’s/Bachelor’s degree in Rural Marketing, Marketing, or any related field.

Work experience and other skills

• Minimum 5-10 years’ experience in designing and implementing rural marketing campaigns, a strong understanding of consumer behaviour and rural markets, especially in agri and allied sectors, with experience in promoting agri equipment or technologies.
• Excellent project management and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to engage stakeholders at various levels, including rural communities.
• Proven track record of delivering high-quality rural marketing campaigns and 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, and 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.

Application Process

CEEW is an equal opportunity employer, and the selection process does not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, caste, ethnicity, religion, or sexuality. Women and candidates from marginalised sections are strongly encouraged to apply. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis with a written test for selected candidates. Interested applicants are advised to apply at the earliest possible. Only shortlisted candidates will be notified by us. We appreciate your interest.