Corporate Communications Officer

Vacancy Number: REF: CCO/IPP/09/14
Department: Institutional Planning and Partnership, Communications & Knowledge Management
Duration: 3 years’ Contract

International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) seeks to recruit a Corporate Communications Officer to work directly with ILRI’s team leader for Communications, Awareness and Advocacy and also closely with ILRI directors, managers, scientists and other program staff as well as consultants to support the organization’s corporate communications needs, particularly the need to influence decision-making. The jobholder will help ensure timely as well as high-quality execution of day-to-day work producing and disseminating high-quality print, multimedia and online communication products that demonstrably help ILRI meet its three strategic objectives: to change practices, influence decision-making and develop capacity in livestock-related issues affecting poor people in developing countries. S/he will help develop, maintain and distribute a suite of print, multimedia and online ‘public awareness’ materials (e.g., messages, summaries, articles, opinion pieces, photoessays, slide presentations, video productions) that effectively communicate ILRI’s mission, vision, major messages and achievements to key audiences and stakeholders.

 ILRI works with partners worldwide to enhance the roles that livestock play in food security and poverty alleviation, principally in Africa and Asia. The outcomes of these research partnerships help people in developing countries keep their farm animals alive and productive, increase and sustain their livestock and farm productivity, find profitable markets for their animal products, and reduce the risk of livestock-related diseases. 

ILRI is a not-for-profit institution with a staff of about 700 and, in 2014, an operating budget of about USD83 million. A member of the CGIAR Consortium working for a food-secure future, ILRI has its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, a principal campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and offices in other countries in East, West and Southern Africa and in South, Southeast and East Asia.

CGIAR is a global agricultural research partnership for a food-secure future. Its science is carried out by 15 research centres that are members of the CGIAR Consortium in collaboration with hundreds of partner organizations. 

Responsibilities:

 Public Awareness

• Help produce and disseminate ILRI’s annual corporate highlights, calendar and other materials.
• Support consultant work to produce articles, photographs, videos and multimedia productions.
• Help draft major news articles on ILRI channels, following ILRI guidelines and standards.
• Publish ILRI corporate photographs and videos on Flickr and YouTube, assisting in their effective curation according to ILRI guidelines and standards.
• Weekly curate ILRI materials for the CGIAR website.
• Help ensure that the physical spaces at ILRI headquarters and other offices are regularly supplied with fresh posters and other updated materials that serve our corporate communications and branding needs.
• Regularly scan all media (print, broadcast, online) for mentions of ILRI and for livestock research news of strategic interest to ILRI and forward/recycle/repackage/respond as warranted.
• Build and support exhibit/displays across ILRI campuses and offices and at outside events that support ILRI and CGIAR activities that have specific ambitions to influence audiences. 

News Media

Help implement ILRI’s news media strategies by overseeing some of the following: inviting journalists for news briefings, press conferences and related events; organizing journalist interviews of staff and visits to our labs and field sites; organizing and reporting on media-related events, including roundtables and news conferences; researching and/or drafting and fact-checking press releases; pitching stories to the media; promoting and monitoring pick up of our stories; responding to media enquiries; and generally building good relations with local and international, specialized and mass media, journalists.

Social Media

• Help implement ILRI’s social media strategies, particularly to better target and serve key online ‘influencers’, by developing contacts for major influencers in ILRI’s areas of interest; by drafting, targeting, monitoring and responding to tweets; by building up ILRI’s profile and readership on Twitter; by making strategic use of Pinterest, LinkedIn and other social media channels; and by prolonging and sharpening use of our social media conversations via aggregation sites such as RebelMouse and Storify.
• Help give effective social media support to key corporate events.
• Regularly engage in conversations on ILRI’s corporate social media sites and help raise ILRI’s voice and issues on other relevant and influential online platforms.

Teamwork

• Contribute to the ILRI-wide communications and knowledge management (CKM) community of practice; participate in CKM learning, reviewing and planning activities and ensure that these activities follow ILRI standards and agreed channels.
• Provide administrative support as needed to the Communications, Awareness and Advocacy team.
• Any other duties as may be assigned.

 Requirements

• Master’s degree in communications, journalism, English or related field, or bachelor’s degree and demonstrated experience.
• At least five years of post-degree work demonstrating increased responsibilities in communications, with a focus on creating content.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Demonstrated skills in writing (particularly strategic messaging and summarizing) as well as copyediting and proofreading.
• Computer savvy.
• Ambitious to make a difference through standout communications.
• Problem solver.
• Helpful, useful and responsive team player.
• Highly organized multi-tasker able to focus, prioritize, handle and complete on time myriad streams of work.
• An appetite for the diverse behind-the-scenes kinds of mundane work (e.g., scrupulous filing, complete categorization of online repository materials, careful budgeting, attention to administrative details) that are the foundation of the more creative aspects of communications work.
• Strong desire to work in a mix of highly diverse cultural, ethnic, national, intellectual and institutional environments.

Advantages:

• Experience in translating scientific or technical publications and conversations into articles, stories and other materials that remain scientifically credible but are readily understood by general public.
• Experience in working within a scientific, humanitarian or development context and working on projects funded by international donor agencies.
• Experience in news media work (drafting substantive news releases, organizing media events, overseeing journalist enquiries, managing good relations with East Africa’s best news reporters).
• Experience in social media work: professional blogging; astute regular user of social media serving organizational objective.
• Knowledge of industry-standard communications software (e.g., Photoshop, InDesign, Final Cut Pro).
• Excellent judge of and/or skilled in photography, graphic design, audio recording or video production.

Terms of appointment: This is a nationally recruited staff (NRS) position based at ILRI’s Nairobi campus and is for a 3-year contract period.

Job level and salary: This position is job grade 2D with a starting gross salary of KES154,711 per month. In addition to salary, ILRI offers Medical insurance for staff and dependents, Life insurance, Pension at 12.5% employers contribution, Annual holiday entitlement of 30 days+ public holidays within ILRI’s National Recruited Staff Scheme.

How to apply: Applicants should send a cover letter and CV explaining their interest in the position, what they can bring to the job and the names and addresses (including telephone and email) of three referees who are knowledgeable about the candidate’s professional qualifications and work experience to the Director, People and Organizational Development, through our recruitment portal: http://ilri.simplicant.com/ before 3 October 2014. The position title and reference number REF: CCO/IPP/09/14 should be clearly marked on the subject line of the online application.

ILRI is an equal opportunity employer