Head of Communications Bioversity International

Vacancy Announcement

Head of Communications

Background

Biodiversity is the basis of agriculture and natural ecosystems, and as such is the basis for human survival. But the extent and nature of biodiversity in agriculture depends on human activity. Unfortunately, in the past hundred years, approaches to increasing food production have largely been at the expense of biodiversity. There have been great successes, but we are also seein
Cache-Control: max-age=0
Origin: http://www.blogger.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1) AppleWebKit/535.2 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/15.0.874.106 Safari/535.2
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8
Referer: http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3097134179598734871
Accept-Encoding: gzip,deflate,sdch
Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.8
Accept-Charset: ISO-8859-1,utf-8;q=0.7,*;q=0.3
Cookie: PREF=ID=155efaa351562251:TM=1320079254:LM=1320079254:S=4qT__7kU8UEgPd3e; NID=52=emI2q5u_WzDXn83uFDtDBqUP4WTN5zxFWIkOdasaZBx2oed5KbVmdKeZMKKr0zswe8j4el_GzE6AEfrPTyIueLeCzXFkQIxwk39I23-HALCuADk2NDC0nqzf-H-KMFWz; blogger_TID=656ad0f990331b32; S=blogger=57I8U2dNCJ7LprjJBu_fLA; TL=-; blogger_SID=DQAAAM0AAADpTt_4sUKuV24i-KD_LP9OECsD-3uwn2Sc_kuNphKsQwYjlOY0jyJFYBQvmg2NRve-PsFA1tK_1Stsmi-UfYOpkMhnS_5TxQJgiYFwDldm55xPxUmtzkgbkDubyFs0sO5VA60KBfl41MQxQ6hNdQWu5_-bQ067smw-LssGpQBj8mzcQngBCcL6qyg-gS8VOk0RPl8KRtbRt8mkH-iG_Apr2CRGtIT0Yuazv8KBOCk5MEnrdH_RLSQa_9wxpnEsOnzVK_m32mH9LaCW-v-z5LZ4; __utma=150635877.1038782398.1315042284.1320591402.1320595649.33; __utmb=150635877.44.10.1320595649; __utmc=150635877; __utmz=150635877.13fective, creative and innovative communications will be central to our plans for the future.

Job Purpose

The Head of Communications will play a pivotal role in enabling Bioversity to achieve its vision, and will operate with a high degree of autonomy at a senior level. Reporting to the Head of Development, you will help us to significantly grow and enhance our profile and reputation, and broaden our sphere of influence. You will develop engagement strategies and plans and, through targeted communications channels backed by high profile actions, ensure that you position Bioversity at the forefront of researching and enhancing agricultural biodiversity for the benefit of poor smallholder communities in developing countries and for the health of the planet. A priority will be to develop compelling and engaging communications which enable the organization to mobilize resources and maximize funding opportunities internationally. You will develop communications activities to promote the organization, and gather and communicate our direct impact to unders. You will help build a reputation for Bioversity as a world class, effective and responsive research-for-development institute. This is a ‘hands-on’ role, and you will be joining Bioversity during a period of rapid change during which you have the opportunity to make a tangible impact on our ability to improves lives and conserve biodiversity.

Key responsibilities:

The Head of Communication will have the following key responsibilities:

• Develop a communications strategy including a highly targeted media program, digital and social media channels and niche communications programs for a range of stakeholders, and implement annual action plans to target key audiences.

• Increase visibility and understanding of Bioversity and its vision and purpose, particularly with funders internationally; this will include supporting relationships with key external stakeholders who can help to deliver our messages to a wider audience.

• Review and establish effective systems and cross-organizational processes to support scientific staff in promoting Bioversity’s work through a broad range of communication tools and integrated programs.

• Writing, editing and proofing activities for communications, including key institutional materials, digital content, annual reports and reviews, newsletters and e-newsletters, etc.

• Manage the process to develop the Bioversity brand, image and position, and ensure constant and seamless brand and message management.

• Manage Bioversity’s presence and visibility at major external events.

• Manage risk associated with external communications and leading on reputation management.

• Manage and support a small team of staff, interns, volunteers, external consultants and agencies.

• Direct the development and use of marketing databases and other communications channels, to support scientific staff to disseminate messages, materials and publications.

• Prepare management and other reports for the Senior Management Team and the Board of Trustees.

• Prepare and manage annual budgets.

Essential experience, skills and qualifications:

• At least 10 years’ successful track record in communications and marketing strategy and implementation, working across the marketing communication mix, at senior level.

• Superb written and verbal communications skills in English, with very strong copywriting skills.

• Considerable experience in creating successful strategic communications, marketing, and PR campaigns and materials, across private and non-profit sectors and ideally within a research, conservation or development context.

• Knowledge of fundraising strategy, processes and techniques.

• Considerable experience of managing new media and digital channels, including website development.

• Experience of market research, measurement and evaluation techniques.

• International media handling experience.

• A bachelor’s degree or equivalent in marketing, communications, or a related field.

• Positive staff management and development experience.

• Superb interpersonal skills and ability to interact with support with people at all levels, with different national, cultural and disciplinary backgrounds.

Desirable experience, skills and qualifications:

• Experience of fundraising and communications in international markets, including establishing new markets for fundraising.

• Significant organizational culture change and business improvement experience.

• Ability to communicate in other languages such as Spanish, French, Italian.

• Experience of working with Boards and high profile ‘ambassadors’.

• Masters’ degree or relevant professional qualifications in marketing, communications, or a related field.

Essential qualities:

• Ability to effectively work under tight deadlines and with a high degree of autonomy.

• Highly articulate and presentable.

• A personable and supportive team-oriented candidate.

• An upbeat and enthusiastic attitude.

• Strong organizational skills and keen attention to detail.

• Strong work ethics and integrity.

• Commitment to Bioversity International’s vision and aims.

Terms and Conditions: This is an internationally recruited position. Bioversity International offers an attractive remuneration package including a competitive salary of in the region of 70,000 Euros,
non-contributory retirement plan, medical insurance, housing allowance and leave provisions. All benefits are denominated and paid in US Dollars. The initial contract will be for a period of three
years subject to a probationary period of one year.

For more information please visit:
http://www.bioversityinternational.org/vacancy_head_of_communications

Applications: Please apply online through Bioversity Job Opportunities web page (http://www.bioversityinternational.org/about_us/job_opportunities.html) by clicking the “Apply” button, completing the online application and attaching the required information, no later than 30 November 2011. Interviews will be held in Rome on 15th and 16th December. Please note that in the application you are required to provide the contact details (address, telephone number and e-mail address) of at least three referees, which Bioversity will contact for short listed applicants.

Bioversity is an equal opportunity employer and strives for staff diversity. Women and candidates from developing countries are encouraged to apply.

Bioversity International, Bioversity for short, is the operating name of the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) and the International Network for Improvement of Banana and Plantain (INIBAP).