This is an opportunity to work with an Ashoka Fellow
Ashoka Fellows are leading social entrepreneurs that have been taken through a rigorous selection process, testing the quality of their ideas and character, to become part of the Ashoka Fellowship and Network. Ashoka Fellows take on the challenges of building innovative system change ideas to make and spread social impact in a world wrought with challenges. They refuse to let the ‘impossible’ stand in their way to creating a better world.
This is an unpaid, volunteer opportunity
About The Affiliated Organization
Flipflopi was founded on the belief that plastic pollution is not the root problem, but a visible symptom of deeper systemic failures — economic models that prioritise extraction over community wellbeing, and waste systems that have never reached the shoreline communities most exposed to their absence. Rather than treating plastic pollution as a purely environmental issue to clean up, Flipflopi set out to prove that tackling it could be a gateway to transforming the systems that produce it. Central to this is a founding philosophy that heritage holds solutions to contemporary problems: that communities can eliminate plastic pollution in ways rooted in their own indigenous knowledge, craftsmanship, and culture, rather than through externally imposed, capital-intensive recycling models. Flipflopi's primary beneficiaries are remote shoreline communities in the Lamu Archipelago, Kenya — starting with waste collectors, artisans, fishers, and Beach Management Unit (BMU) members who previously had little or no formal waste infrastructure and, in many cases, no prior alternative income. This includes fisheries-dependent communities on Pate Island, women and marginalised groups (60% of participants in the OCEAN Grant buy-back scheme are female, including groups like the Pate Disable Self Help Group), and young people trained through the Heritage Training Centre. Beyond Lamu, the work is designed to benefit East African coastal communities more broadly — both through direct replication of the model in other shoreline locations, and through regional policy change (the EAC Single-Use Plastics Bill) that would reduce plastic pollution across all eight EAC member states.
Flipflopi works through three interlocking pillars — Educate, Innovate, Influence: Educate: vocational training, school programmes, and open-source toolkits build local skills and understanding of circularity, rooted in indigenous knowledge systems. Innovate: community-owned collection systems and a Materials Recovery Facility turn recovered plastic into income — through Flipflopi Designs (furniture and homeware) and boatbuilding (the Kubwa dhow) — paying collectors and artisans fairly for material that previously had no value to them. Influence: evidence generated on the ground (tonnages collected, livelihoods created, health impact) is translated into policy briefs and coalition-building, most concretely the EAC Single-Use Plastics Bill, which originated from Flipflopi's community-level evidence and has been approved for tabling at the East African Legislative Assembly. Underpinning all three is a commitment to economic democracy — cooperative ownership, dignified wages, and enterprise models where value stays with the people doing the work, rather than being extracted by external capital. The Lamu Archipelago holds roughly 69% of Kenya's mangrove forests, critical nursery habitats supporting over 25,000 coastal livelihoods and one of the country's most significant carbon sinks — yet these ecosystems are heavily contaminated with plastic waste, directly threatening the food security and incomes of the people who depend on them. Left unaddressed, plastic leakage into oceans will continue to accelerate, deepening environmental degradation and reinforcing the structural inequality that leaves remote shoreline communities excluded from formal waste systems altogether. Flipflopi's model demonstrates a genuine alternative: over four years it has recovered 550,000 kg of plastic, reduced waste entering dumpsites by 22%, and delivered a 152% average wage increase for collectors who mostly had no prior alternative income. It was independently ranked #1 globally for projected health impact among plastic recycling initiatives by UNCTAD and UK-FCDO, with an estimated 24 years of life gained for every 1,000 tonnes of plastic recycled. Because the model is community-owned rather than externally imposed, it offers a template that can travel to other shoreline communities across East Africa — meaning the value of the work extends well beyond Lamu itself, toward a genuinely regional shift in how plastic pollution and coastal economies are managed together.
For more information, please visit https://www.theflipflopi.com/
Job Description
Flipflopi is seeking a part-time, Social Media & Content Coordinator to take over the writing, scheduling, and light content-gathering for Flipflopi's social media channels, blog, and newsletter — working closely with, and under the advisement of, the Communications Lead. Key responsibilities include:
Content development
- Develop the monthly blog post and newsletter, in collaboration with and under the advisement of the Communications Lead.
- Draft 4-5 IG/FB posts per week and 2-3 LinkedIn posts per week, reworking core content for LinkedIn's more professional tone and audience rather than cross-posting as-is.
- Use Claude (AI) as a drafting aid where appropriate, following Flipflopi's prompting approach and always substantially reworking and fact-checking output before use; training provided.
- Maintain Flipflopi's established brand voice — plain, factual language over effusive claims, and correct terminology
Planning and scheduling
- Co-develop the monthly content calendar with the Communications Lead initially, working towards independently owning the calendar over time.
- Schedule all approved content across IG, FB, and LinkedIn.
- Complete Flipflopi's monthly reporting framework.
Community engagement
- Spend regular time actively engaging with relevant content on other accounts to build Flipflopi's reach and visibility.
- Post short, low-risk "stories" content autonomously; all other posts, and any public-facing queries or complaints, are referred to the Communications Lead.
- Refer any sensitive or potentially contentious content or comment threads to the Communications Lead before responding or posting.
Content gathering
Carry out basic photo/video editing to prepare field content for posting.
Newsletter & lists
- Co-manage the newsletter mailing list and distribution initially, with the goal of taking over full ownership over time.
Why Social Media Storytelling Matters for Flipflopi: Social media is one of the primary ways Flipflopi makes its conservation work visible, credible, and fundable in a crowded environmental space. Storytelling turns abstract policy work into something people connect with. Flipflopi's mission spans plastic policy advocacy, through to creating a fair and equitable circular economy for collectors, communities and employees. A well-told story makes that work tangible and shareable. Without it, real impact stays invisible to the people who could fund, support, or amplify it. Consistency builds the credibility that funding and partnerships depend on. Donors, partners, and prospective market contacts increasingly check an organisation's public presence before engaging. Sporadic posting signals an under-resourced organisation, regardless of how strong the on-the-ground work is. Regular, well-crafted content is quiet due diligence that makes every other ask land better. Reach compounds, but only with sustained attention. Growing an audience across platforms requires active engagement, timely capture of field moments, and content adapted per platform — not passive posting. That takes dedicated time. Content anchored to real activity is what makes non-profit storytelling trustworthy. Building posts around actual monthly blogs, newsletters, and project activity — rather than generic messaging — is what separates authentic conservation storytelling from performative content.
Volunteer Logistics
Estimated hours required per week: 10
The estimated duration of the project is: Ongoing
This position is Virtual (Remote)
Language Requirements
English
Desired Skills And Experience
- Excellent written English, with the ability to maintain a consistent brand voice
- Prior experience with social media content creation and scheduling (Buffer or similar tools)
- Ability to work independently to deadlines Basic photo/video editing skills (e.g. Canva, CapCut, Lightroom or similar)
- Comfortable using AI tools (e.g. Claude) as a drafting aid within a structured workflow
- Working knowledge of, or willingness to learn,nanalytics and basic performance reporting
- Strong organisational and follow-up skills — able to coordinate with field teams to gather content
- Creative thinker with fresh ideas for storytelling formats
- Genuine passion for ocean conservation and storytelling
