Community Relations Manager, East at Lafarge Cement

Lafarge CementCross River, Nigeria Digital Marketing

Full Time

Lafarge Africa Plc is a leading Sub-Saharan Africa building solutions Company and member of the LafargeHolcim group. The vision of Lafarge Africa Plc is to be the most trusted and preferred partner of African construction professionals and home builders by delivering cement, concrete, aggregates and other building solutions that are best in quality, environmentally sustainable and nationwide available at affordable cost. Making urbanization a success is one of the challenges of this century and at LafargeHolcim, our ambition is to contribute to Building Better Cities. As a world leader in building materials, LafargeHolcim supports the metamorphosis of cities with innovative solutions that provide cities with more housing, making them more compact, more durable, more beautiful and better connected. For many years, Lafarge Africa Plc has been committed to a deliberate strategy of sustainable development that combines industrial know-how with performance, value creation, respect for employees and local cultures, environmental protection and the conservation of natural resources and energy. We put certain values at the forefront of the way we do business viz: health and safety, environmental protection, corporate governance (Ethics) and social responsibility (in the areas of education, health, youth empowerment, and shelter). We develop a highly competent workforce to operate our plants and businesses, through intensive training and exchange programmes. The company is committed to progress and attentive to the ever- changing needs of local communities. This is demonstrated by contributing to the improvement of their quality of lives in a sustainable manner through setting up local development programmes in key areas that have direct impacts on socio-economic well being of the people and their environment. More importantly, Lafarge Africa Plc endeavors to create more value for our customers, providing them with innovative and high quality products and solutions. Our well-known brands - Ashaka Portland Limestone Cement, Elephant Cement, Powermax Cement, Supaset Cement, UniCem Cement as well as Readymix Concrete and Aggregates - all stand for quality, consistency and long term strength which help deliver solutions that contribute to more housing for people, more compact buildings, better connected communities, more beautiful structures and more durable construction. For our concrete operations, we leverage on the Group's 50 years of experience in innovative concrete solutions and this puts us in the position to provide quality solutions that are designed to meet the specific needs of today's builders. Today, Lafarge Readymix operations have a production capacity of 3.5 cubic million metric tonnes in Nigeria. Building solutions Lafarge works with all actors in the building industry of Nigeria, from do-it-yourself builders to large construction companies, architects and local artisans. Whether supplying high-quality cement to a craftsman or helping leading architects explore and deliver creative possibilities, Lafarge Africa Plc is committed to providing solutions that fit the needs of all its clients. Lafarge Africa Plc's clients benefit from the technical expertise and product innovation that are the hallmark of LafargeHolcim, an international leader in building materials with a global presence in 90 countries and decades of experience. In Nigeria, LafargeHolcim offers a range of innovative and high-performance products.

About the job

The role involves developing and implementing a community relations and public affairs plan to promote the organization's work and support its lobbying and campaigning objectives. It also includes providing high-quality public relations services to raise the organization's profile, promote its goals and activities, and build and maintain relationships with both internal and external stakeholders to foster a positive reputation.

What you'll be doing

Ensure compliance of terms of Memoranda of Understanding, Community Development Agreements and other legal documents that guide the relationship between LAP and its communities.
Organize,implement and document monthly community events and other stakeholder engagement platforms.
Ensure prompt and effective dissemination of information through approved channels of communication: correspondences, newsletters etc
Facilitate and ensure the implementation of community development CSR programs as approved on an annual basis while ensuring the monthly and yearly reporting of same across required LH platforms.
Coordinate with Communications & Public Affairs Manager various sustainability programs as required.
Design calendar of events targeted at the Community yearly while ensuring compliance to all timeframe for various community events.
Work with location volunteering champions for the effective implementation of annual volunteering programs across locations
Community Relations Executive would from time to time also be the mouthpiece for an organization should there be need for a community briefing as approved by all relevant internal stakeholders
To assist the Communications & Public Affairs Manager and other organisational representatives to pursue lobbying, policy and campaigning work and objectives with Host Communities.
Ensure accountability and transparency in all related transactions
To draft policy briefings and consultation responses for internal and external use.
Monitor and conduct intelligence activities on community activities which impact on LAP’s business
To participate in staff training, organisation/team meetings and events, as required.
To comply with the organisation’s health and safety, confidentiality, data protection and other policies.
To promote equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practices.
Develop a monthly community issues log to highlight risks, mitigations and action plans
Any other duties deemed appropriate by the Head of Public Affairs, subject to time and commensurate with level of responsibility and salary.
Develop and maintain relationship with local government and other relevant stakeholders such as traditional rulers and their councils, NGOs etc
Analyze and maintain comprehensive knowledge of local issues and local CSR demands such as bills, laws etc.
Ensure optimal level of customer satisfaction for all community requests.
Provide, monitor and control financial budget to all key community issues.

Who you'll be working with

Human Dimension: Reporting to Communications & Public Affairs Manager with dotted line to Plant Manager
Organizational Dimension: Ability to engage, monitor, network and resolve conflicts at community level and provide advice to as directed by the Communications & Public Affairs Manager and Plant Manager

Job Dimesions

List of direct reports:

Key interfaces, stakeholders and relationships:

Communications, Public Affairs & Sustainable Development Director
Head, Corporate Brand & Sustainable Development
Head Public Affairs
Head, Corporate Communications
Communications & Public Affairs Manager
Senior management team
Politicians, parliamentarians and government officials
The public and private sector

What we are looking for

Level of education/qualifications normally required:

Educated to degree level or equivalent experience that demonstrates ability.
Experience of working in a senior PR or public affairs role.
A proven track record of achievement in the field of PR or public affairs.

Technical / Functional Skills:

Excellent communication (oral and written) and interpersonal skills.
Ability to lead, motivate and manage staff.
Ability to produce high quality written reports on information and publishing for internal management purposes and for trustees.
Good IT skills and computer literacy.
Flexible approach to work and highly organised working practices.
Ability to work as part of a team.
Ability to plan, execute and evaluate social media campaigns.

Behavioral competence: