The Regional Content Manager will serve as Mercy Corps’ primary content and storytelling lead for Africa, helping bring the brand to life through compelling, community-centered narratives and multimedia content. Embedded within the region, this role will identify, capture, and produce high-quality stories, photography, video, and digital-first content that support fundraising, marketing, communications, media engagement, and brand awareness objectives. Working closely with country teams, regional leadership, and global communications and fundraising teams, the Regional Content Manager will build and manage a steady pipeline of timely, impactful content; strengthen storytelling capacity across the region; and ensure Mercy Corps is able to respond quickly to emerging opportunities and crises. This role is a critical investment in expanding the volume, quality, and strategic value of field-based storytelling to secure timely media coverage, engage supporters, reach new audiences, and support long-term unrestricted revenue growth. 

Essential Responsibilities  

CONTENT STRATEGY & PLANNING 

• Develop and execute a regional content strategy aligned with organizational priorities, fundraising objectives, media opportunities, and the Prosper Global brand.  

• Proactively identify and cultivate storytelling opportunities across country programs, campaigns, emergencies, and strategic initiatives.  

• Build and manage a regional content pipeline that supports Marketing, Communications, Fundraising, Media, and Donor Engagement teams.  

• Collaborate with global communications, marketing, fundraising, and creative teams to anticipate content needs and prioritize content collection efforts.  

• Support content planning and deployment for major organizational moments, campaigns, emergencies, and brand initiatives.  

CONTENT CREATION & STORYTELLING 

• Lead the collection and production of high-quality multimedia content across the region, including photography, video, written stories, interviews, and social-first content.  

• Capture timely and compelling stories that elevate community voices and demonstrate program impact.  

• Produce platform-appropriate content for digital, social, fundraising, donor engagement, media, and brand awareness efforts. 

• Manage freelance photographers, videographers, writers, and content creators as needed.  

• Ensure all content meets organizational standards for quality, ethics, consent, safeguarding, and brand alignment.  

REGIONAL CONTENT PIPELINE & SUPPORT 

• Serve as the primary regional focal point for content requests and content gathering efforts.  

• Coordinate with country teams to identify content opportunities, secure access, obtain permissions, and facilitate field visits.  

• Support global photography, media, and creative projects through advance planning, logistics coordination, and on-the-ground content support.  

• Respond rapidly to emerging crises and opportunities requiring real-time storytelling and content capture.  

• Maintain and organize regional content assets for use across organizational channels.  

CAPACITY BUILDING & COMMUNITY STORYTELLING 

• Train and coach country teams to identify compelling stories and generate high-quality user-generated content (UGC).  

• Build storytelling capacity among program teams, communications focal points, and local partners.  

• Promote community-centered storytelling approaches that elevate dignity, agency, and local leadership.  

• Develop tools, guidance, and best practices to strengthen content generation across the region.  

CROSS-FUNCTIONAL COLLABORATION 

• Partner closely with Marketing, Fundraising, Media Relations, Brand, and Creative teams to maximize the impact of regional content assets.  

• Contribute to donor communications, campaign development, media engagement, and thought leadership initiatives.  

• Support efforts to measure content performance and continuously improve storytelling effectiveness and audience engagement.  

SAFEGUARDING RESPONSIBILITIES 

• Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work, including safeguarding risks and mitigations related to their area of work.  

• Practices the values of Mercy Corps, including respecting the dignity and well-being of participants and fellow team members.  

• Ensures storytelling, photography, video, and content gathering activities adhere to organizational safeguarding, consent, and ethical storytelling standards.  

• Encourages openness and communication in their team; encourages team members to submit reports if they have any concerns using reporting mechanisms such as the Integrity Hotline and other options. 

Supervisory Responsibility

N/A

Accountability 

Reports Directly To: Senior Manager, Africa Communications & Media

Works Directly With: Global Communications Team, Country and Regional Teams, Philanthropic Growth & Engagement Team including but not limited to the Creative and Marketing teams, and External Content Consultants and Freelancers as needed.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholder

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills 

• Bachelor's degree in Communications, Journalism, Marketing, Media Production, International Development, or related field preferred.  

• 5+ years of professional experience in communications, journalism, content production, storytelling, digital media, or related field.  

• Demonstrated experience producing high-quality multimedia content, including video, photography, and written storytelling.  

• Strong interviewing, writing, editing, and storytelling skills.  

• Experience working in complex international environments, preferably in humanitarian or development contexts.  

• Experience managing freelancers, vendors, or creative projects.  

• Understanding of social media, digital content strategy, audience engagement, and content performance metrics.  

• Ability to travel frequently within the region, including to remote and challenging operating environments.  

• Experience with photography, video production, editing software, and digital content management systems preferred. 

Success Factors  

The successful candidate is a proactive storyteller who can identify compelling narratives, build trusted relationships across diverse teams, and translate complex programs into engaging, audience-centered content, including for media engagement. They are highly collaborative, organized, and comfortable operating in fast-moving environments where priorities shift quickly. They demonstrate strong editorial judgment, creativity, cultural sensitivity, and a commitment to ethical storytelling. Success in this role requires balancing strategic thinking with hands-on content production while consistently elevating community voices, supporting organizational growth objectives, and helping bring the Prosper Global brand to life through authentic, impactful storytelling. 

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions 

The position is based in Nairobi and it requires up to 40% travel which may include travel to insecure locations where freedom of movement is limited and areas where amenities are limited. 

Ongoing Learning 

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development 

Team Engagement and Effectiveness  

Achieving our mission starts with how we build our team and collaborate. By bringing together individuals with a variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives, we strengthen our ability to solve complex challenges and drive innovation. We foster a culture of trust and respect, where every team member is valued for their contributions, empowered to reach their full potential, and motivated to do their best work. 

We recognize that building a strong and effective team is an ongoing process, and we remain committed to learning, improving, and growing together. 

Equal Employment Opportunity 

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristics protected under applicable law.