Communication Expert (M/W) At Expertise France

Presentation of Expertise France

Expertise France is a public agency and the interministerial actor in international technical cooperation that will soon join the Agence française de développement Group (AFD Group). As the second largest agency in Europe, it designs and implements projects that sustainably strengthen public policies in developing and emerging countries. Governance, security, climate, health, education… It operates in key areas of development and contributes to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
To do this, Expertise France works in close collaboration with French public institutions and the European Union to meet the demands and needs of partner countries wishing to strengthen the quality of their public policies to meet these challenges. More specifically, the agency coordinates and implements national or regional projects in the main areas of public action:

• Democratic, economic and financial governance

• Peace, stability and security

• Climate, biodiversity and sustainable development

• Health and human development

Expertise France promotes the integration of gender issues in these four areas in a cross-cutting manner, at all the levels and stages of the development of projects. The agency thereby works for gender equality, an essential prerequisite of sustainable development.

Context of the creation of a pool of Communication Experts

Expertise France is implementing some 500 projects in the field in over 100 countries. The dynamics of these activities require communication support throughout the lifetime of projects, both at headquarters and in the field. The creation of a pool of communication experts will facilitate the recruitment of communication professionals to support the operations of Expertise France and its partners.

Based on needs identified on an ongoing basis by Expertise France’s teams, the experts may be mobilised to support the implementation of communication, marketing and awareness-raising missions at the key moments of the project cycle, at headquarters or in the field. They will contribute to the deployment of appropriate communication actions through the methodological support to the teams, taking into account existing tools, processes and resources, and will help develop the skills of the agency’s officers.

Objectives of the Communication Support Missions

In coordination with the Communication Unit and project officers from the Operations Department, the communication experts in the pool may be mobilised for missions to:

Type 1 missions: Design and implement a communication strategy and/or plan

Type 2 missions: Manage, implement and monitor communication actions

Type 3 missions: Support learning and experience capitalisation exercises

Description of the tasks to be performed

Depending on the needs and type of the support missions, the communication experts may be required to carry out all or part of the following activities and tasks:

Type 1 missions: Design and implement a communication strategy and/or plan**

• Assess the needs and objectives of the Expertise France project team and the project implementation partners and adapt them in terms of communication objectives
• Support the development of a robust communication strategy and plan built jointly with the project stakeholders, with respect to the commitments recommended by the Communication Unit, with details in particular of:
• The project context
• Expertise France’s position with regard to the project
• The target groups of the project or activity
• The analysis of the environment (communication risks…)
• The communication objectives
• The key messages
• The appropriate channels adapted to the target groups
• The communication activities and actions
• The KPIs
• Ensure the visibility of Expertise France and the donor in the project communication, in accordance with the guidelines of the agency’s communication strategy, as well as with the visibility and communication rules of the donors and partners.
  • Manage and monitor the project communication budget.
• Be familiar with the brand identity for projects and reference documents produced by the Communication Unit.

Type 2 missions: Manage, implement and monitor communication actions

• Implement communication actions, defined in advance with the project stakeholders and Communication Unit, that meet the objectives of the communication strategy. They may include:
• The organisation of events on-site or online
• The production of content and media: websites, articles, social network posts, newsletter for the project partners/beneficiaries, presentation brochures, reports…
• The production of videos, photo reports, podcasts… (with or without service providers)
• Produce communication materials and manage the stocks (brochures, leaflets, goodies, kakemonos, etc.)
• Manage relations with the local media (journalists in the country of operation): invitations, telephone follow-ups, press reviews, local press kits, etc.
• Manage the orders and relations with the communication service providers (printers, audiovisual service providers, graphic designers, event agencies, etc.)
• Create and update a mailing list.
• Develop quantitative and qualitative indicators to support the evaluation of the communication actions. Report regularly to the project teams, the country representation and the Communication Unit at headquarters.
• Make recommendations on any required adjustments and the operational strategy to ensure the communication objectives are reached, where necessary
• Support the final evaluation exercises to assess the relevance, coherence, effectiveness, impact and sustainability of the communication actions.
• Train and support the project team and partners for the activities implemented in order to facilitate their use and appropriation.

Type 3 missions: Support learning and experience capitalisation exercises**

• Support the preparation of capitalisation work to identify, document, promote and disseminate relevant or innovative communication experiences (good practices or lessons learned) developed under EF projects.
• Identify the lasting or significant changes, whether positive or negative, intended or unintended, brought about by Expertise France’s communication work in order to identify the gaps in the implementation approaches and methods.
• Lead feedback and exchange sessions with the teams to promote learning at all levels of the agency.

Expected outcomes

Details of the deliverables will be given in the purchase orders/terms of reference which will be specifically developed prior to each support mission conducted by the pool’s communication experts.

Desired profile for the Experts

· Higher education diploma relevant to the terms of reference (for example, communication, journalism, political or social science, international cooperation, project management or any other relevant field);

· 3 to 10 years of previous experience in the field of communication;

· Proven expertise in intercultural communication, public relations, project coordination;

· Excellent writing and relational skills;

· Ability to work in a team and remotely;

· Creativity;

· Autonomy, responsiveness and proactiveness;

· Teamwork;

· Command of Community management: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook; social network suites; FlickR;

· Command of the main tools of the Adobe Suite (Indesign, Photoshop);

· Command of the Outlook Suite;

· Languages required: fluent French and/or English. Other languages desired: Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic.