JOB OPPORTUNITY
Job title: Communication Specialist
Number of Vacant Position: 1
Department/Unit: Nepal Country Office
Place of Assignment: Kathmandu, Nepal
Position is: For Fixed
Supervisor: Program Manager
Date of revising JD: 16.12.2022
Other reporting responsibilities and internal cooperation parties: FCA Nepal Country Office (NEPCO) Senior Management Team (SMT), Program Team, Finance & Admin Team; FCA’s Head Office “Service and Accountability Center” (SAC)
About FCA
FCA is the largest Finnish organization for development cooperation and for humanitarian assistance. FCA specializes in three thematic priority areas: Right to Peace, Right to Livelihood, and Right to Quality Education.
FCA is seeking full time position for its activities as part of the Green Resilient Agricultural Productive Ecosystems (GRAPE) project. The activities are in the process of donor approval. Hence, the contract of this position is subject to funding agreement with donor.
About the Project-Green Resilient Agricultural Productive Ecosystems (GRAPE):
The GIZ led GRAPE project supports Nepal to improve framework conditions for inclusive local economic development and to adapt agricultural practices to climate change. This is to improve the incomes of marginalised households. Socially disadvantaged groups and women in particular should benefit from greater participation in value chains.
Description
Primary purpose of the position:
- coordinate the establishment and management of the Community of Practice (CoP) on Climate Resilient Agriculture (CRA)
- develop communication and learning packages on CRA targeting various GRAPE project audiences
CoP: The Communication Specialist will build, engage and manage relations with civil society actors and other stakeholders working in the sector of CRA for creation of a collaborative space for networking, peer learning, cross-learning opportunities, upscaling of models and developing advocacy agenda to promote CRA.
Communication: The Communication Specialist will develop and manage evidence-based high-quality content on CRA targeting different audiences e.g. farmers, cooperatives, journalists, decision-makers etc.
The position is responsible for leading and coordinating the production of print, audio and video products, contributing to increasing the project’s visibility. The specialist will ensure that the communication products are in line with the donor’s and FCA’s visibility guidelines.
Main tasks
Community of Practice
- Conduct interest and needs assessment with civil society actors working in the sector of CRA for CoP membership and engagement.
- Coordinate the development of CoP Terms of Reference and deliverables.
- Manage registrations for the CoP and information to all registered members.
- Conduct one 1-day kick-off conference for the CoP formation.
- Organise logistics and content of CoP meetings, learning and sharing events, and capacity building sessions in coordination with relevant thematic resource persons and prepare minutes from these.
- Manage information, knowledge and data shared during different CoP sessions.
- Develop and manage a user-friendly digital platform with resource library on CRA which the CoP membership will be given access to.
- Organise one 1-day end of year conference with external stakeholders including feedback loop to determine the way forward for the CoP
Communication
- Liaise with GIZ GRAPE project communications teams to help position and respond to communications and media needs for different audiences in the working areas.
- Design and produce learning documents of good practices in coordination with the participating CoP members.
- Develop content and support in designing pictoral handbook and infographic videos on climate change, agriculture, CRA & existing government policies.
- Collect stories and images from the GRAPE project working areas and disseminate using appropriate channels of print, audio/visual media, online platforms and social media.
- In coordination with identified service providers, design/develop:
- Series of sessions/episodes for expert call-in in radio on CRA targeting farmers and home-gardeners.
- Series of radio features on CRA targeting general population, decision makers.
- Coordinate the facilitation of media fellowship programme including providing support on training to journalists, selection of journalists for fellowship and support and monitor to selected journalists for media fellowship.
- Coordinate and collaborate with media to ensure and maximise media coverage to promote the GRAPE project’s results and CRA practices.
- Prepare articles, press release and any other materials for media that contribute to promote the project’s results.
- Monitor, record, evaluate and report on key social media performance statistics.
- Contribute to promote visibility of the advocacy activities conducted under the GRAPE project through various communications platforms,
- Where relevant, build capacity of the project actors on communications through appropriate trainings, access to information and knowledge sharing etc.
- Contribute with a communications perspective in preparation and compiling of quality narrative reports as per FCA and donor standards, including defining problems and mitigation measures/solutions.
- Ensure compliance of all the communication activities with the donor’s and FCA’s visibility and branding guidelines. Support and monitor the communication activities of other project actors and ensure it is compliant with the visibility and branding guidelines of the donor.
Collaboration, coordination and networking
- Coordinate with GRAPE partners, CSOs working in CRA and government officials.
- Represent FCA and the CoP in different forums as per need.
- Work closely with FCA’s Project Coordinator for the Climate Field Schools (CFS).
Competence, experience, skills, knowledge needed
- Minimum Master’s Degree in Mass communications, journalism, social science or equivalent.
- At least seven years of experience in communications or media engagement/relations.
- Experience in content preparation, copy editing, proofreading and communication material design and production. Skills on graphic design is preferable.
- Excellent communication skills and fluent in spoken and written English and Nepali
- Skill in writing human change stories for communications and visibility
- Strong meeting/training/workshop facilitation skills
- Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to effectively liaise with a wide range of actors/practitioners, partners, service providers and the general public.
- Good organizational and time management skills
- Ability to work independently under pressure in an organized and responsive manner
- Understanding of climate change and CRA.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, graphics presentations and other relevant applications.
- Experience from GIZ funded projects will be an added value.
Responsibilities and independence
- Problem solution requires finding solutions independently. Work is done mainly independently according to goals, plans and general instructions, and it may include financial and supervisory responsibility.
- The tasks require independency and sometimes responsibility in preparing problem solutions, and also making decisions. The position holder works as a specialist of a sub-sector of function. The work may include demanding responsibility for operations, finances or personnel.
Physical and psychological burden imposed
- Frequent travel to field locations, particularly Karnali and Sudurpaschim Provinces
- Instability (political)
- Fraud and corruption threats
Interaction needed
- Donor (GIZ)
- FCA SAC and NEPCO colleagues
- GRAPE project actors
- CoP Members
Substitution and representation
- Representing FCA and the CoP in different forums/events as per need
Application Deadline: Tuesday, 10 January 2023
Source: The Himalayan Times, 28 December 2022
