Job Description
The World Bank Group (WBG) is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for development solutions. The vision of the World Bank Group (WBG) is to end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity by fostering sustainable and inclusive growth, building human capital, and strengthening the resilience of the countries it serves. To achieve that vision the WBG leverages the strengths of its global presence and partnerships to deliver customized development solutions backed by finance, world-class knowledge and convening services. It has three components: (1) maximizing development impact by engaging country clients in identifying and tackling the most difficult development challenges; (2) promoting scaled-up partnerships that are strategically aligned with the goals; and (3) crowding in public and private resources, expertise and ideas.
The Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice, with a central mandate to enable the achievement of universal health coverage, is one of thirteen Global Practices working in concert with the WBG regions to design solutions to address clients’ most pressing developmental challenges, and ultimately, enabling the WBG to meet its twin goals of eliminating extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. The Global Practices perform the following functions:
• Defining Strategic Direction: (i) define strategic priorities to deliver solutions and achieve results based on country and regional demands and interactions and global priorities; (ii) define/implement integrated resource strategies, (iii) engage in selected, high-priority partnerships, and (iv) establish robust monitoring and reporting systems.
• Developing and Deploying Expertise Globally: (i) lead the development and delivery of solutions to clients by deploying the right technical staff where and when needed; and (ii) invest in developing technical talent.
• Delivering Integrated Solutions: (i) deliver operations, while Regions ensure fit for purpose; (ii) develop public-private integrated solutions that draw on GPs, CCSAs, MIGA and IFC; and (iii) hold the “Concurrence” role in all project/AAA approval steps, ensuring that all technical quality, safeguard and fiduciary requirements (if applicable) are met.
• Capturing and Leveraging Knowledge Effectively: (i) ensure that knowledge is used effectively to deliver solutions to clients; (ii) assign staff roles and accountabilities in creating, capturing, sharing and using knowledge’ (iii) reward knowledge sharing and learning, in performance management and career development; and (iv) develop knowledge base around key development challenges and solutions sets.
GLOBAL FINANCING FACILITY CONTEXT
The global community has made considerable progress over the past 25 years in improving the health and well-being of women, children, and adolescents. Rates of preventable death have dropped significantly in many countries and improvements have been seen across a range of key measures of health and well-being. But the progress has not been enough: too many women, children, and adolescents have been left behind, dying and suffering from preventable conditions, in considerable part because of a large financing gap, estimated at US$33 billion annually.
The Global Financing Facility in Support of Every Woman Every Child (GFF) was launched at the Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa in July 2015 as part of a global conversation about how to finance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which requires a shift from thinking about billions of dollars to recognizing that we need trillions to achieve the ambitious targets that we have agreed upon. This shift is only possible through new approaches to financing that recognize that countries themselves are the engines of progress and that the role of external assistance is to support countries both to get more results from the existing resources and to increase the total volume of financing.
Over the past two years, the GFF has created a new model with countries in the driver’s seat that brings together multiple sources of financing in a synergistic way to support national priorities. A key element of this model is drawing on the other sectors that influence health and nutrition outcomes, such as education, water and sanitation, and social protection. The GFF supports countries to get on a trajectory to achieve the SDGs by:
- Strengthening dialogue among key stakeholders under the leadership of governments and supporting the identification of a clear set of priority results that all partners commit their resources to achieving;
- Getting more results from existing resources and increasing the total volume of financing from four sources: domestic government resources, financing from IDA and IBRD, aligned external financing, and private sector resources; and
- Strengthening systems to track progress, learn, and course-correct.
The GFF recently launched its first replenishment for the GFF Trust Fund to respond to the demand from countries that want to be part of the GFF. It seeks to mobilize an additional US$2 billion to enable the GFF process to be expanded over the period 2018–23 to 50 countries facing the most significant needs. The opportunity for impact is enormous: These countries collectively account for 96 percent of the US$33 billion annual financing gap and 5.2 million maternal and child deaths each year, with billions of dollars lost each year to poor health.
The GFF partnership, including its external relations strategy, is led by the GFF director; the day-to-day management of the GFF team is the responsibility of the GFF practice manager. The GFF secretariat, which is based at the World Bank and is situated in the HNP Global Practice, works to deliver on the GFF objectives. This includes working with countries to develop quality investment cases, managing the GFF Trust Fund, technical assistance to regional teams, and support to the GFF Investors Group, the governance mechanism for the GFF.
The GFF’s communications, advocacy and partnerships team plays a key role in realizing the ambition of the GFF, which is empowering countries to tackle the greatest health and nutrition issues affecting women, children and adolescents. The GFF is seeking a talented and motivated communication professional to be part of this high-impact team, working to deliver on the goals of this dynamic partnership.
NOTE: This is a Trust Fund-supported position. If the selected candidate is a current World Bank Group staff member with a regular or open-ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her regular or open-ended appointment. All others will be offered a two-year renewable term appointment
Note: If the selected candidate is a current Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment. All others will be offered a 2 year term appointment.
The communications officer will work under the direction and guidance of the GFF Secretariat’s communications lead to support the global strategic communications work program of the GFF, and will report to the GFF practice manager.
The communications officer will work as a fully integrated core member of the GFF communications, advocacy and partnership team, with responsibilities that include: design and implementation of strategies and plans to communicate the vision, progress and results of the GFF; strengthening engagement and relationships with stakeholders and partners; and managing opportunities and risks in the greater global environment in which GFF operates. The communication, advocacy and partnerships team works in close collaboration with the WBG and HNP Global Practice teams, and draws on the expertise and support of a contracted communication firm, as well as additional vendors and consultants as needed, to deliver impact and quality across its wide-ranging global strategic communication program.
The communications officer will support and take on a range of responsibilities across a dynamic work program, that would include, but not be limited to:
- Strategic Communications: Contribute to the overall development of GFF’s strategic communication plans and work program, with the current GFF replenishment as a priority.
- Relationship Management & Stakeholder Engagement: Contribute to ensuring open and effective channels and relationships with key partners, whose effective engagement is critical to the GFF’s impact and outcomes.
- Digital Channels: Spearhead the GFF’s digital content strategy, including planning, monitoring and managing (with vendors and consultants as needed) implementation of digital strategies and campaigns to ensure effective online communication, positioning and engagement across the GFF’s website and social media channels.
- Multimedia: Conceptualize and spearhead the creation of multimedia products to engage stakeholders around the GFF’s core mission and impact. This includes planning missions to GFF countries to collect and produce written, photographic and video evidence of the GFF’s impact in countries.
- Messaging: Reviewing, writing, editing and/or leading the creation of an array of communications products and vehicles, including (but not limited to) briefings and speeches, events or launches, news releases, stories, talking points, op-eds, short summaries, blogs, etc.
- Risk Management: Providing strategic and timely advice on high-profile or sensitive internal or external communications issues, including potential reputational risk issues, and keeping abreast of relevant developments in the global health arena.
Events: Help to guide GFFs strategic engagement in key global opportunities, including supporting the planning and execution of key stakeholder engagement and advocacy events
The successful candidate will have:
- A Master’s degree (Communications, International Relations/Public Affairs, Economics or other related field) plus a minimum of five years of relevant work experience or a Bachelor’s degree with at least 10 years of relevant work experience.
- Communication in International Development: Demonstrated ability to communicate with internal and external partners, based on understanding their communication needs and possessing experience with international development topics and issues. Solid understanding of global development topics and ability to identify communications-related opportunities and risks in an international environment. Knowledge of or experience with global health is a plus.
- Message Clarity: Excellent English language skills and proficiency to write and edit complex communications products for purposeful structure, clarity of ideas, and logical, persuasive presentation.
- Strategic Communications: Experience with developing and implementing strategies for online channels. Able to leverage new or upcoming communication tools and media to ensure effective communication. Experience using digital and social media to stimulate conversations with stakeholders, including developing strategies to position across websites, blogs and other channels.
- Relationship Management: Demonstrated ability to nurture and maintain relationships and communications with critical internal and external constituencies and stakeholders. Experience with complex partnerships is a plus.
- Demonstrated ability to think strategically and rapidly analyze diverse information from varied sources.
- Demonstrated ability and the necessary personal organization skills to take initiative, personal ownership and accountability to meet deadlines, work under pressure, and achieve agreed-upon results.
- Demonstrated ability for teamwork in a multicultural environment.
- Resource mobilization experience desirable.
- Capacity in French a plus.
The World Bank Group is committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, nationality, culture and educational background. Individuals with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.
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