IFC Senior Communications Officer in United States 195 views

Description

IFC—a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group—is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in developing countries. In fiscal year 2019, we invested more than $19 billion in private companies and financial institutions in developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information, visit www.ifc.org

IFC’s Partnerships, Communications and Outreach Vice Presidency manages multilateral engagement and communications – both internal and external – across IFC. The Vice Presidency is responsible for content creation, branding, reputational risk management, relationships with shareholders in Western Europe and Japan, fundraising, and multilateral engagement.

The Global Business Partners Unit coordinates the communications network across the regions where IFC operates. The network’s objectives include supporting IFC’s operations, strengthening IFC’s brand and communicating its development impact to internal and external clients to demonstrate that IFC is the premier development institution focused on the private sector. It promotes IFC’s thought leadership and a better understanding of the key role of private sector in development, as well as managing reputational risks around IFC’s investments and policies. The Global Business Partners Unit is currently searching for a Senior Communications Officer to focus on blended concessional finance, low-income IDA countries, fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCS), and development impact measurement at a global level.

Role and Responsibilities:

The Senior Communications Officer will be the focal point for blended concessional finance, low-income (LIC) IDA countries, FCS, and development impact measurement in the Global Business Partners (CGB) Unit.

His/her main accountability is to provide strategic oversight on all communications work related to IFC’s global work in FCS, LIC IDA, blended concessional finance, and impact measurement and monitoring, in order to support management in the Private Sector and Development Economics VPU. He/she will collaborate with Regional and Industry Communication Leads in designing, executing, and monitoring/evaluating the impact of complex communications strategies, activities, and campaigns about IFC’s work in fragile markets, its use of blended concessional finance to support operations, and impact measurement and monitoring.

He/she will work closely with other communications leads in IFC’s Partnerships, Communications and Outreach Vice Presidency, operational staff and management in the Country Economics and Private Sector Development VPU, as well as with the corresponding World Bank Group teams focusing on IDA-FCS issues.

He/she will be an important member of the Regional CGB Leadership team, working in close collaboration with the Washington, DC based Manager of the CGB unit and providing operational support to the manager as needed.

Specific responsibilities include, among others, the following:

• Work closely with the leadership and operational staff in the Country Economics and Private Sector Development VPU to develop communication approaches and products related to blended finance, IDA-FCS, and impact themes.
• Work with the communications teams supporting LIC IDA-FCS countries in identifying and communicating high-impact projects/stories and engagements.
• Work with communications teams across the VPU to ensure the contribution of blended concessional finance is clearly articulated in press releases, stories, multimedia, and other content.
• Build and manage effective professional relationships with communications colleagues across the World Bank Group, internal audiences and external partners. Position IFC’s Blended Finance and Impact Measurement management and projects team as spokespersons and thought leaders in the private sector development space.
• Support the Regional Leads in proactively managing internal and external strategic communications in IDA-FCS countries in partnership with operational teams, and ensure that high quality, strategic communication plans are consistently implemented across this group of countries in both regions. This includes ensuring clarity, accuracy, relevance, and engaging writing in all materials that the regional communications teams produce.
• Guide the CGB communications team in contributing to global and WBG events relating to IDA-FCS issues in partnership with think tanks, WB and MIGA, and other IFIs, in close collaboration with relevant departments across IFC and the WBG.
• Guide the communications teams in IDA-FCS countries in developing creative and engaging feature and human-interest stories, blogs, profiles, and other materials for internal and external publication and supporting the Campaigns and Content team on their work in IDA-FCS countries in both regions.
• Oversee the proactive monitoring and mitigation of reputational risks and engagement with civil society organizations (CSOs) in blended concessional finance and FCS engagement. This involves providing support on reputational risk management, crisis management, and proactive CSO engagement in close partnership with the Risk and Public Affairs team.
• Work with the business teams in developing thought leadership activities that help identify development challenges in IDA-FCS countries in both regions and the potential solutions, with emphasis on the World Bank Group’s “Cascade” approach and IFC’s “Creating Markets” strategy.
• Work closely with other Regional Leads and communications officers in the Global Business Partners Unit to ensure high standards and consistency in strategic communications across IDA-FCS countries of IFC engagement.
• Work closely with colleagues in the Partnerships and Multilateral Engagement team on communication and risk issues related to blended finance facilities, FCS, and forced displacement.
• Work closely with World Bank colleagues in the Development Finance vice presidency and the Fragility, Conflict, and Violence global themes department.
• The candidate should be available to travel in difficult markets where security risks may prevail.
• The Senior Communications Officer will be based in Washington, DC.

Selection Criteria

• Master’s degree in Communications, Journalism, Political Science, International Relations, Public Affairs, Marketing, Business/Finance with 8 or more years’ experience in corporate communications, international relations, public affairs, political science, or other related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Strong knowledge and experience of private sector development and good knowledge of WBG instruments used to engage in IDA-FCS markets a plus.
• State-of-the art knowledge in field of strategic communications, and ability to address a range of issues related to a business group, including taking the lead on highly visible and sensitive assignments critical to the VPU.
• Highly developed verbal and written communications skills, ability to convey complex messages succinctly and diplomatically.
• Demonstrates in-depth understanding of target audience, highly effective writing style, and expertise in high-impact messaging to wider and more strategic audience.
• Crafts strategic, high-level company positioning in the market, linked to desired reputation and branding attributes
• Shows sensitivity when delivering politically sensitive communication to large group/public forums and/or strategic parties, especially in the context of fragile markets.
• Effectively counsels /coaches team members, senior management in their delivery of messages to a variety of constituents, even on challenging topics.
• Anticipates problems and opportunities; with potential problems, surfaces contributing factors and resolves them before there is negative impact.
• Coaches others in selecting and using appropriate problem-solving methods.
• Can proactively advise management on the implications and risks for IFC operations when choosing between certain communication strategies. Creates highly effective strategic vision and has an uncanny sense of how situations can unfold in highly volatile and uncertain market conditions.
• Experience in working closely with senior leaders on communications and in dealing with media.
• Proven ability to lead teams to produce high-quality, creative written and visual communications materials.
• Proven ability and flexibility to lead and manage teams to work simultaneously on a variety of complex tasks, meet deadlines, provide quality outputs.
• Proven ability to operate effectively in a multicultural environment.
• Understanding of multilateral development banks, including the World Bank Group, its policies and operations a plus, as well as basic understanding of current development topics and issues.
• WBG Core Competencies for all staff: Client orientation; Drive for results; Teamwork of collaboration and inclusion; Knowledge, Learning and communication; and Business judgment and analytical decision-making.

Poverty has no borders, neither does excellence. We succeed because of our differences and we continuously search for qualified individuals with diverse backgrounds from around the globe.