Communications Officer P3

WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles. Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance.

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide.  The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes.  Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies, building prosperity and supporting a sustainable future for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change. WFP’s Japan’s mission is to raise awareness of WFP’s work amongst the public and partners in Japan – one of the top-ranking and consistent donor countries.   The WFP Japan Office acts as a partnership hub, fostering strategic partnerships with Japanese institutions, liaising with the Government as well as the private sector, including the Japan Association for the WFP (JAWFP), a non-profit entity in support of WFP, and strengthening advocacy to key stakeholders to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2, zero hunger.   In WFP Offices, job holders report to the Office Director with functional supervision from the Director of Communications or the designate at Headquarters. The Communications Officer, P3, is expected to work with a high degree of independence to carry out his/her work plan using technical knowledge and experience to analyse data, prepare reports, provide advice and solutions to problems, and identify opportunities for improvements. The role is carried out daily in both Japanese and English.

• Develop, maintain and update an appropriate work plan for the assigned area, which implements the corporate communications strategy, in order to maintain and enhance the visibility and reputation of WFP, and support fundraising activities, ensuring alignment with WFP strategy.
• Plan, manage and evaluate communications campaigns and events that favourably impact the views of the public, opinion leaders and donors in order to raise WFP’s profile and support fundraising activities.
• Prepare communications products that effectively convey the desired message to targeted audience(s).
• Maintain and develop a contact list of journalists and media outlets, and manage the regular flow of news/information about WFP’s work to the media, ensuring reputational risks are identified and managed.
• Manage the WFP Japanese language website, and lead the content development, translation and maintenance process.
• Define a social media plan for the assigned area which leverages social media content, platforms, networks and partners to enhance coverage and support of WFP’s activities.
• Generate and/or facilitate the production of donor specific visibility content including, text, photos, videos and audio for use across a range of integrated online and offline platforms, in order to support fundraising activities in Japan, ensuring consistency with corporate messages.
• Track and analyse traditional and online media, to identify trends and/or issues, and propose solutions and ideas to improve the effectiveness of communication strategy and activities.
• Provide marketing expertise to analyse the market's trend, formulate schemes and campaigns to enhance WFP's brand and contribute to fundraising activities.
• Identify and maintain relationships with celebrities supporting WFP, including the WFP National Ambassador, and coordinate all aspects of their activities which contributes to awareness and fund raising for WFP.

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• Coordinate with Japan Association for WFP (JAWFP), a non-profit entity in support of WFP, to ensure brand consistency and alignment with corporate messages, and to generate synergy effects with their communications and fundraising activities.
• Build capacity of WFP and JAWFP staff in all aspects of external relations communication, providing advice,strategic guidance and training to ensure consistent, quality communications activities that deliver the desired impact.
• Manage junior communications officers/team, develop work plans, monitor performance against objectives, and ensure appropriate development to enable high performance.
• Coordinate and prepare accurate and timely reporting on communications activities that enables informed decision-making, evaluation of objectives and consistency of information presented to stakeholders.
• Work in close collaboration with counterparts to align activities and ensure a coherent approach to communications within WFP.
• Contribute to preparedness actions, providing technical recommendations and guidance and monitoring the management of communications specific risks.
• Other duties as required.

• Minimum of five years of relevant professional experience
• Experience in specialised communications and marketing practices as well as experience in developing and implementing communication, marketing, advocacy and outreach strategies/plans/campaigns.
• Knowledge and experience of humanitarian, development, SDGs or related areas in an international environment.

  Education: Advanced University degree in Journalism, International Relations, Public Relations, Communications, or other relevant field, or First University degree with additional years of related work experience and/or trainings/courses.   Languages:

• Fluency (level C) in both English and Japanese.
• Intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second official UN language: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and/or Portuguese, which is a WFP working language. (You do not need to currently hold or provide a certificate, but your language proficiency will be tested by WFP if you progress through the recruitment process.)

• Knowledge and/or experience of communications, marketing and advocacy in the Japanese market.
• Experience in planning, gathering and producing tailored multimedia content.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Has managed small teams of staff with related areas of expertise in the delivery of innovative communications projects
• Well organized and detail-oriented with strong judgement/decision-making skills.
• Experience in fundraising would be considered an asset.
• Ability to understand what audiences need and how they want to consume it.
• Ability to plan and organize work and communicate effectively.
• Ability to handle a large volume of work and to meet strict deadlines.

*Please note, only applications submitted in English will be considered   Non-Rotational Nature:  Mobility is and continues to be a core contractual requirement in WFP. This position is however classified as “non-rotational” which means the incumbent shall not be subject to the regular reassignment process.   WFP offers an attractive compensation and benefits package, including basic salary, post adjustment, relocation entitlement, travel and shipment allowances, 30 days’ annual leave, home leave, an education grant for dependent children, pension plan and medical insurance.   Please visit the following websites for detailed information on working with http://www.wfp.org  Click on: “Where we work” and “Our work” to learn more about WFP’s operations. For more information on the salary please visit: http://icsc.un.org  Click on: Quick Links > Salary Scales > by date

Sunday, 19 July 

  Female applicants and qualified applicants from developing countries are especially encouraged to apply WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status. No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.