Communication Officer (Internal Surge for FAO Personnel Only)

THIS VACANCY IS OPEN TO FAO PERSONNEL ONLY

The scope of this Call for Expressions of Interest is to find qualified FAO staff members to support L2/L3 countries in the above functional area.

Qualified staff will be placed on an Internal Surge Team (IST). IST will enable the deployment of essential personnel to lead and support country-based emergency response on a short-term basis. These surge roles are designed to provide a punctual, time-bound support to country response and help establish longer-term mechanisms and processes.

• Support deployments are considered for staff members already in service of the Organization.
• Applications will be screened based on the information provided in your online profile (see “How to Apply”). We strongly recommend that you ensure that the information is accurate and complete including employment record, academic qualifications and language skills.
• Interested employees will be required to discuss upfront with their managers, who are encouraged to release employees to support, and to upload the signed pre-release agreement form at the time of the application.
• Selected candidates will receive a notification of their inclusion in the IST and from that moment they might be called for a surge support at any time, and in line with the duration of their contract.
• Selected candidates will be released of their function for a period which may vary according to country offices needs not exceeding three months, after which they return to their normal functions.
• Surge support must be provided in person, candidates in the IST will be required to have the following documentation ready in case of upcoming mission (Valid passport, Laissez-passer, SSAFE training).
• Staff members deployed will add the surge support as a separate objective in PEMS, and the supervisor of the surge assignment will be added as an ‘Additional Supervisor’ in the PEMS Year-Mid/End Appraisal phase. As such, this valuable experience will be documented in the performance evaluation of staff members.
• Applications received after the closing date will not be accepted.

Organizational Setting

FAO country offices, headed by an FAO Representative, are assisting governments to develop policies, programmes and projects to achieve food security and to reduce hunger and malnutrition.

The Office of Emergencies and Resilience (OER) is responsible for ensuring FAO’s efforts to support countries and partners in preparing for and effectively responding to food and agricultural threats and crises. This includes coordinating the development and maintenance of corporate tools and standards to enable Decentralized Offices to assist member countries prepare for and respond to emergencies and supporting organizational preparedness, surge capacity and responses to large-scale emergencies. OER also\: ensures humanitarian policy coordination and knowledge; liaison with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee as well as with humanitarian resource partners; co-leadership with World Food Programme of the global Food Security Cluster; supports food and nutrition security assessment and early warning activities related to emergency and humanitarian analysis and responses, and helps develop and lead the Organization’s programme to increase the resilience of agricultural livelihoods to threats and crises.

The Office of Communications (OCC) is responsible for the external and internal communications of the Organization. It aims at making FAO’s communications strategic, coherent, focused and impactful, while ensuring effectiveness and efficiency in communication-related operations. The Regional Office is responsible for leading FAO's response to regional priorities for food security, agriculture and rural development. It ensures a multidisciplinary approach, identifies priority areas of action for the Organization, in collaboration with Offices, Centres and Divisions at FAO headquarters and oversees FAO deliveries in the region. The Regional Office also supports policy dialogues facilitates regional partnerships and supports capacity development and resource mobilization for food security, agriculture and rural development in the region.

Reporting Lines

Staff members deployed for surge support report to the FAO Representative. The Communication Officer will work in close collaboration with the Resource Mobilization and Communications team in the Office of Emergencies and Resilience (OER) as well as the Office of Communications (OCC) and the Regional Communication Officer.

Technical Focus

Media relations, strategic communication.

Key Results

Contribute to the development and strengthening of external communication efforts, web publishing, digital content creation and media-relations activities of the Organization.

Key Functions
• Researches and analyzes technical, social, economic, environmental, institutional, and technology related information, data and statistics and/or related policy issues to support internal and/or external communication;
• Produces a variety of information and reports as well as input for communication-related documents and web pages
• Collaborates in the development of improved/updated tools, systems, processes, and databases;
• Participates on multi-disciplinary teams, and/or leads working groups/teams collaborates with other departments and agencies on work groups and committees and promotes best practices;
• Promotes knowledge sharing and best practices at international meetings and conferences and influences partners in stakeholder consultations.

Specific Functions
• Supports and/or leads in the planning, development and implementation of a communications plan for the regional/country office.
• Drafts initial public communication content at the onset/escalation of a crisis to ensure proactive FAO positioning, and provides regular updates as warranted through appropriate products and channels tailored to target audiences.
o Content to communicate early on may include\: what is happening on the ground (e.g. impact of crisis/shock on agrifood systems and rural communities); references to FAO’s know-how and value-added; and relevant FAO data, statistics and knowledge.
o Content to communicate as the situation evolves may include information and products that highlight FAO priorities/achievements in support of the Government and affected communities.
o Products can include, but not be limited to\: key messages; media talking points/holding lines; digital/social media assets); photos, videos and testimonies to produce multimedia human-interest stories; opinion pieces; publications (e.g. thematic reports, policy briefs, flagship publications, etc).
o Direct support should be provided to the FAOR as lead FAO spokesperson in the country, including managing media requests and drafting content for the FAOR's social media platform(s).
• Provides quality communication support to Senior Management in anticipating, mitigating and resolving communications/public relations issues/problems, crisis communications and risk / reputational risk management.
• Contributes to designing, planning and organizing effective media coverage of activities and events and arrange for media contacts, briefings (including at the biweekly Geneva press briefings and the daily New York noon briefings when appropriate), press conferences, interviews, media reportages to field projects, in collaboration with the regional and liaison communications officers and OCC media team.
• Establishes and maintains relationships with international and national media, working with national communications staff as appropriate.
• Organizes and coordinates communications aspects of high-level/Ministerial events.
• Serves as a FAO spokesperson when appropriate, in agreement with the FAO Representative.
• Participates in and represents FAO as a member of the UN Country Team (Humanitarian) Communication Coordination Groups.
• Develops strategic partnerships with key stakeholders to elicit support for and maximize impact of communication objectives.
• Engages with technical leads in the Regional Office, country office, UN partner agencies and other partners to develop content and implement campaigns.
• Develops or supports capacity building of FAO national communication focal points, when needed.
• Provides advice and expertise to technical staff and senior representatives in the area of communications from social media, external relations/outreach, media relations, donor engagements, etc.
• Ensures compliance of all communication materials with FAO guidelines, policies and clearance processes, including\:
o FAOSTYLE (English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese)

o FAO terminology http\://www.fao.org/faoterm
o FAO Names Of Countries https\://www.fao.org/nocs/en
o Story guidelines http\://intranet.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/occ/Quick_Guides/UPDATED-Digital-Storytelling-Guide-EN-FINAL.pdf
o Story template http\://intranet.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/occ/Quick_Guides/FAO-Stories-Template-UPDATED.pdf
o UN map standards (available to staff)
o FAO Brand and policy book (available to staff)
o Social Media policy https\://www.fao.org/communications/policy/social-media/en/
o Social media branding guidelines https\://www.fao.org/3/cb5044en/cb5044en.pdf
o Further guidance regarding FAO communications, policies and procedures can be found through the FAO intranet, OCC section
• Performs other duties as required.
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CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Experience in communication, public information, journalism, international relations.

Competencies
• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills
• Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions is desirable;
• Experience in humanitarian contexts is desirable.