Communication Specialist

Organizational Setting

The cooperation between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Government of Ukraine has been designed to reinforce national capacities and to contribute to a broader development of agriculture, sustainable management of forests and fisheries, and animal and plant disease control. FAO is providing technical support for climate change adaptation, as well as working with civil society to mitigate soil erosion and degradation. FAO is also contributing to building resilience and boosting development in conflict-affected regions by supporting the economic recovery of farmers and rural communities. FAO’s presence in Ukraine has upscaled and is distributed by offices in Kyiv, Lviv and Dnipro under the overall responsibility of the Head of the FAO Office/Designated Responsible Officer in Ukraine. The recent and large-scale escalation in hostilities in Ukraine is exacerbating the already dire food security situation of the most vulnerable rural households and small farmers. In response to the evolving situation, FAO Ukraine is scaling up its emergency humanitarian and resilience programming in conflict affected areas of Ukraine. including previous programming areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson; and Lviv and Zakarpattia in the West; as well as newly affected areas. In order the address to rapidly deteriorating situation, FAO has established a Rapid Response Plan (RRP) that is in line with the UN Flash Appeal and intended to provide life and livelihood saving interventions for the most vulnerable smallholder farming households impacted by the conflict.

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of the Head of the Office/DRO and the direct supervision of the Communication Officer and technical guidance of REU Communication Officer for Europe and Central Asia.

Technical Focus

The Communication Assistant will contribute to raising the visibility of FAO’s ongoing work in Ukraine.

Tasks and responsibilities

In accordance with FAO’s corporate communications policies and practices, the Communications Assistant will perform the following duties:

• Drafts news stories and media advisories for dissemination to national and regional media, when appropriate, in a timely and professional manner; • Drafts feature stories to be published on FAO website in the section “Ukraine diaries”; • Assists with addressing queries from editors and journalists, and facilitating media field visits to FAO project locations; • Helps strengthen FAO’s media relations and public visibility, as well as FAO relations with other multilateral, national development partners, institutions, donors, governments; • Builds up and maintains an up-to-date and detailed list of media stakeholders and partners; • Does weekly media monitoring of FAO mentions in top Ukrainian media, to be shared with REU comms; • Does a monitoring of the latest news on agrarian sector of Ukraine and share it with the team on a regular basis; • Promotes FAO activities and donors’ visibility, in line with FAO communication policy and donors’ requirements; • In regular consultation and coordination with the Communication Specialist, ensures coherence with FAO’s corporate communication policy and operational guidelines for all communication and information outputs; • Develops a variety of communication and promotional materials for projects (project briefs, brochures, leaflets, success stories, video and photo materials, printed banners and backdrops, etc.), in accordance with FAO corporate brand guidelines and donors’ visibility guidelines; • Liaises with local technical teams to select appropriate communication channels and messages for farmers; • Reviews drafts of communication materials developed by field technical experts (task reports, letters, surveys) targeting external audience, and ensures they adhere to FAO and donors’ visibility guidelines; • Ensures that all communication materials are appropriately targeted and gender-sensitive; • Collects good photos on FAO projects and submits them for inclusion in the corporate photo database; liaising in advance with FAO photo library to ensure compliance with technical specifications and guidelines; • Contributes to planning and organizing public events (conferences, presentations, training events, visits of officials, field visits, etc.) to ensure consistency of messages and enhance FAO and donor visibility; • All communication materials will follow FAO clearance processes and comply with FAO standards, including: FAOSTYLE (English: https://www.fao.org/3/cb8081en/cb8081en.pdf; French: https://www.fao.org/3/AC339FR/ac339fr.pdf; Spanish: https://www.fao.org/3/ac339s/ac339s.pdf; Arabic: https://www.fao.org/3/ac339a/ac339a.pdf; Chinese: https://www.fao.org/3/ac339c/ac339c.pdf); FAO terminology http://www.fao.org/faoterm; FAO Names Of Countries https://www.fao.org/nocs/en; Story guidelines http://intranet.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/occ/Quick_Guides/UPDATED-Digital-Storytelling-Guide-EN-FINAL.pdf; Story template http://intranet.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/occ/Quick_Guides/FAO-Stories-Template-UPDATED.pdf; UN map standards (available to staff); FAO Brand and policy book (available to staff). • Performs other related duties as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Secondary School Education • Four years of relevant experience in office/management support work • Working knowledge (Level C) of English, French or Spanish • National of Ukraine

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Very good knowledge of the MS Office applications, Internet and office technology equipment

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• FAO does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing)
• Incomplete applications will not be considered. If you need help please contact: [email protected]
• Applications received after the closing date will not be accepted
• Please note that FAO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/
• For additional employment opportunities visit the FAO employment website: http://www.fao.org/employment/home/en/
• Appointment will be subject to certification that the candidate is medically fit for appointment, accreditation, any residency or visa requirements, and security clearances.