Strategic Communications Consultant

Organizational Setting

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) leads international efforts to defeat hunger and to support development in member countries in the areas of agriculture, fisheries and forestry. FAO’s mandate is to raise levels of nutrition, improve agricultural productivity, better the lives of rural populations and contribute to the growth of the world economy.

The FAO Liaison Office for North America, located in Washington, DC, plays a key role in advancing FAO’s mandate to end hunger, malnutrition and poverty worldwide, while achieving the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. Toward this end, the Liaison Office engages in partnership-building, policy dialogue, information sharing, and raising the visibility of the Organization in the region.

Reporting Lines

The Strategic Communications consultant will report directly to the Director of LOW, and will interact regularly with the Senior Liaison Officer. The incumbent will contribute to a team that includes a personnel who is responsible for events and partnerships communications and an intern who will execute the social media plan, summarize analytics and monitor media coverage of FAO and key topics.

Technical Focus

The Strategic Communications Consultant will be the brand champion within the office - developing, gaining buy-in and executing the external communications objectives, strategy and annual plan for FAO US/Canada.

There will be a specific focus on improving brand awareness for FAO among key stakeholders within the region. This should include improved media relations for the liaison office and increased press coverage for FAO in the North America market.

The incumbent will need to ensure coherence with FAO’s corporate communications policies and operational guidelines for all communication and information outputs. Furthermore, the incumbent will provide technical advice in the design and implementation of communications and outreach products, ensuring that the FAO brand is well-represented and tailored to the North American audience.

In addition, the incumbent will be responsible for internal cooperation, in particular collaborating with OCC and other FAO offices/units and will serve as point-person for OCC Regional Comms Officer.

Tasks and responsibilities

Strategy:

• Elaborate the objectives, strategy as well as priorities for FAO’s external communication in North America. Manage execution of the annual communications plan.
• Ensure that FAO North America’s positioning is understood within the liaison office (particularly among partnerships and legislative affairs officers)
• Coordinate with FAO global communications (OCC) for branding, planning and content, as appropriate.
• Evaluate impact of key communications and advocacy activities as part of the implementation of FAOLOW’s communications strategy

Media and Social Media:

• Build and maintain working relations with media representatives in Washington, DC and Ottawa and respond to their inquiries.
• Prepare talking points, media briefs and blogs.
• Research and write news releases, op-eds and web stories in collaboration with partnerships and legislative affairs officers.
• Compose promotional content and targeted communications on FAO’s work for distribution via social media, including Twitter. Develop region-specific content as needed.
• Develop and articulate key messages for external communication and advocacy purposes.
• Manage FAOLOW’s website, including by drafting and posting engaging, timely content for FAO on North America web pages
• Manage FAO in North America Twitter account, create and post content, monitor and build engagement, in line with corporate priorities and in close collaboration with OCC.
• Manage production of social media assets in line with the corporate guidelines outlined in https://bit.ly/faosmbranding.
• Support the organization of events and lead on promotion of events

Other

• Implement and oversee usage of team planning tool (Trello)
• Create Canva graphics for social media messaging.
• Maintain LOW communications toolkit on Sharepoint.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree in a field related to marketing, political science, public administration and/or agriculture development
• At least five years of relevant and current experience.
• Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of French or Spanish.

FAO Core 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
• Demonstrate ability to establish good working relationships and team spirit both inside the Organization and with the external partners such as government officials, UN partners, donors and/or NGOs.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Familiarity with digital media platforms
• Excellent content writing experience for various media platforms