Head of Community Engagement

The Head of Community Engagement reports to the Director of Operations and is a member of the Executive Management Team. The primary purpose of this role is to institutionalize Community Engagement (CE) strategically and operationally across all departments including Operations, Medical, Advocacy, Communications, and HR. The role ensures people and community-centeredness, protection, equity, empowerment, and Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) in all projects and decisions.

Tasks & Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Lead the development, implementation, and institutionalization of the Ubuntu Community Engagement Framework, including related policies, standards, and operational tools.
• Embed People-Centred and Protection principles across all operational departments (Medical, Logistics, HR, Advocacy, Communications).
• Integrate Information, Education, Communication, and Health Promotion (IECHP) strategies into the CE framework to ensure communities receive timely, accurate, and culturally relevant health information.
• Advise the Director of Operations and Management Team on CE strategy, alignment, and performance.
• Ensure CE approaches reflect the 7 Cs and MSF’s operational values of interdependence, equity, and solidarity.
• Promote interdepartmental collaboration and coherence across CE, AAP, Protection, Inclusion, Safeguarding, and IECHP workstreams.

Context Analysis, Security Management, and Access Negotiations Support

• Work in close coordination with the access and security teams to provide community-level analysis that informs security risk assessments and access strategies.
• Develop community networks and provide insights on local tensions, power dynamics, and perceived threats to support acceptance-based security management.
• Support the access and security teams in the development and implementation of nuanced security management and access approaches grounded in community acceptance.
• Facilitate engagement and sustained community dialogue to build trust, relationships and assist access negotiations.
• Analyse community perceptions and relationships with non-state actors to assist the access and security teams in enabling access to hard-to-reach and contested areas.
• Support negotiated access processes to ensure programming proceeds safely and with informed community consent.

Technical Guidance and Project Support

• Provide expert support to programmes, countries and projects for the practical integration of CE into planning, assessments, project design, implementation, and evaluation.
• Strengthen participatory mechanisms such as community committees, dialogue platforms, and patient charters to enable community leadership and shared decision-making.
• Oversee the development and delivery of IECHP initiatives, including community awareness campaigns, educational sessions, and communication materials tailored to local needs.
• Supervise the integration of social science, anthropology, and qualitative research into operational design to improve contextual understanding and local ownership.
• Ensure all departments in the projects and in the OD embed community engagement as a transversal, cross cutting issue.
• Ensure CE and IECHP learnings inform adaptive programming, protection strategies, advocacy, and health promotion interventions.

Safeguarding, and Inclusion

• Apply established safeguarding and protection frameworks within community engagement activities, in close coordination with Safeguarding, DEI, and Medical teams.
• Ensure community engagement approaches are ethical, culturally appropriate, and protection-sensitive, in line with organisational DEI and safeguarding standards.
• Support project teams to engage meaningfully with diverse and historically marginalised community groups, based on guidance and priorities defined by the EDI function.
• Act as a technical resource to programme teams on inclusive and safe community engagement practices, without assuming policy or compliance ownership.
• Build partnerships with external experts, IECHP specialists, and humanitarian protection networks to strengthen Ubuntu’s community outreach and health promotion competencies.

Knowledge Management and Capacity Building

• Develop and implement a Community Engagement Learning and Knowledge Management Strategy in collaboration with Operations and L&D teams.
• Oversee CE and IECHP-related training materials, toolkits, and learning modules (including integration in Tembo and MSF CE Communities of Practice).
• Mentor CE focal points, IECHP teams, and programme leaders (HoPs, MedCos, Project Coordinators) to build a strong leadership pipeline in both CE and health promotion.
• Coordinate documentation and dissemination of best practices, lessons learned, and operational innovations in CE and IECHP.

Representation and Partnerships

• Represent MSF Ubuntu in MSF international platforms on CE Technical Working Groups.
• Build and maintain strong partnerships with civil society organisations, CBOs, patient and survivor networks, local health systems, academic institutions, and IECHP networks.
• Engage with regional advocacy coalitions, research forums, and humanitarian coordination bodies to advance Ubuntu’s CE and IECHP agenda, in close coordination with AARN department.
• Promote knowledge sharing, advocacy, and cross-learning between MSF OCs, IECHP experts, and external partners.

How to Apply

Interested and qualified candidates should apply online through the MSF portal at https://www.myjobmag.co.ke/apply-now/1155401.