Communication Officer

The Office of Communications (OCC) is responsible for both 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 post is located in the Office of the Director, OCCDD of the Office of Communications at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.

Reporting Lines:

The Communication Officer reports to the Deputy Director-General (DDG-B) and the Director of the Office of Communications (OCC).

Technical Focus:

Media relations, multimedia communications and internal corporate communication.

Key Results:

Planning and delivery of OCC programmes, products and services and development of related policies and specialized tools and systems, using comprehensive communication and publishing expertise.

Key Functions:

• Leads projects and/or work teams, leads and/or participates in office teams, provides services and/or professional expertise on Organization-wide committees and working groups and represents FAO at inter-agency meetings.
• Plans and delivers programmes, products and services including related policies, systems and tools to facilitate effective media relations, as well as internal and external corporate communications.
• Analyses information, data, statistics, relativities, trends, problems and/or issues to support effective communication delivery, new initiatives and the preparation of plans, strategies, reports, policies and/or other products.
• Provides specialist advice and expertise to internal and external partners on specific or complex cases, strategic communication, written communication, policy interpretation issues and/or best practices, etc.
• Manages special projects and provides guidance to consultants for the development and implementation of new products, tools and systems.
• Develops information, training materials and products to increase understanding of programmes, services and policies; promotes capacity development.
• Develops relevant performance criteria and indicators to evaluate programmes, products and services.

Specific Functions:

• Actively supports the development of communication plans, tools and relevant material as well as documents for events, meetings, webinars and other initiatives under the responsibility of the Deputy Director-General (DDG-B), in line with corporate communication strategies, policies and guidelines.
• Researches, prepares fact-checking, edits and produces professional communications materials for various audiences and ensures their timely dissemination via corporate and non-corporate communications channels, working closely with the Office of Communications (OCC).
• Contributes to high quality multimedia and digital content for dissemination via FAO’s intranet and global-level platforms in close collaboration with OCC.
• Provides advice and support on communication-related issues and liaises with Divisions/Offices/Centres in the Stream for proper and timely organization of events, meetings, conferences, webinars, etc.
• Drafts talking points, briefs, fact sheets, speeches, etc. for the DDG-B and Senior Managers in the Stream.
• Reviews and edits written documents, including speeches, prepared for Senior Management in close consultation with the subject experts.
• Coordinates communication initiatives in the DDG-B Stream.

Candidates Will Be Assessed Against The Following:

Minimum Requirements:

• Advanced university degree in communication, social science, journalism, political science, international relations or a related field of international relations.
• Seven years of relevant experience in communication, public information, international relations, web publishing and/or social media networks.
• Working knowledge (proficient – level C) of English and limited knowledge (intermediate – level B) of one of the other official FAO languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).

Source: https://jobs.fao.org/careersection/fao_external/jobdetail.ftl?job=2403113