Communication Officer

Food and Agriculture Organization

Mogadishu, Somalia

Experience: 5 to 10 Years

Skill Required: Media and Communication

The FAO Representation in Somalia supports the national government in developing policies, strategies and programmes aimed at accelerating the implementation and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in areas tied to FAO's mandate and the FAO Strategic Framework. FAO works to address national needs and priorities in food security, reducing hunger and malnutrition, developing agricultural, fishery and forestry sectors, the sustainable use of natural resources, and responses to recurrent emergencies.
The objective of this assignment is to increase effective visibility of FAO's humanitarian, resilience and development programming in Somalia in terms of both external and internal communication.

The Communication Officer will provide strategic leadership and effective management of the Communication Unit to establish FAO Somalia as a leading UN Agency in efforts to combat hunger, reduce poverty and ensure food security. The Communication Officer will lead the development and implementation a national communication strategy and workplan designed to enhance the visibility and reputation of FAO in the country and wider region, ensuring a high standard of quality, fit-for-purpose content to engage key audiences, in alignment with FAO strategic objectives and FAO global communication standards and best practices. The incumbent will guide and manage the Communication team within the Strategy and Resource Mobilization Unit (SRMU) to ensure high-level communications, editorial standards and creativity in multimedia, editing and publication products

The Communication Officer reports to the Head of Strategy and Resource Mobilization Unit (SRMU), under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative in Somalia, and the Senior Programme Officer (Head of Programme), with a second reporting line to the Communication Officer based in the Regional Office for Africa (RAF), and receiving functional guidance from the Office of Communications (OCC) at FAO headquarters in Rome, in close coordination with the Office of Emergencies and Resilience (OER) in particular with its Resource Mobilization and Communication Team.

Technical Focus:

  • Media relations, press releases, communication for development and feature stories.

Key Results:

  • The planning and delivery of OCC programmes, products and services and the development of related policies and specialized tools and systems, through the use of comprehensive communication and publishing expertise.

Key Functions:

  • Leads projects and/or work teams, leads and/or participates on Office teams, provides services and/or professional expertise in internal 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 the effective media relations and internal as well as external corporate communication;
  • 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, promote capacity development;
  • Develops relevant performance criteria and indicators to evaluate programmes, products and services.

Candidates Will Be Assessed Against The Following:

Minimum Requirements:

  • Advanced university degree in communication, social science, journalism, political science, or a related field;
  • Seven years of relevant experience in communication, 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).

Technical/Functional Skills:

  • Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions is desirable;
  • Experience with high level editing, meeting rapid and constant deadlines;
  • Understanding of FAO policies and programmes is considered a strong asset;
  • Extent and relevance of experience in the field of communication services for prominent organizations, particularly at the international level, including substantive experience in journalism;
  • Extent and relevance of experience in drafting high-quality written materials for a wide variety of audiences.

Source: https://jobs.fao.org/careersection/fao_external/jobdetail.ftl?job=2303345