Policy Communications Officer At Stockholm Environment Institute

Title: Policy Communications Officer Type: Full-time, fixed-term

Unit: Communications Centre and location: SEI Asia

Reporting to: Head of Communications (Asia) Purpose: New hire

Posting date: 27 September 2022

Last application date: Sunday, 30 October 2022, Bangkok local time

Starting date: End of December 2022 or early January 2023

Local intro

Based in Bangkok, SEI Asia has a diverse team of multinational experts that integrates scientific research with participatory approaches to co-develop and share knowledge, build partnerships, and influence policy for resilient development. It focuses on gender and social equity, climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction, water insecurity and integrated water resources management, transitional agriculture, renewable energy and urbanization.

SEI Asia is an affiliate of Chulalongkorn University (CU), Thailand. SEI and CU have a long-term agreement until 2023 to foster innovative scientific research combined with effective policy engagement on development and environmental challenges in Asia. The key areas of collaboration are intellectual engagement for joint research applications and fund mobilization, lecturing and seminars for CU’s students, post–graduate supervision and examination and CU-SEI employee links.

The role

SEI Asia is seeking an experienced and highly motivated Policy CommunicationsOfficer with a proven background in development and policy communications.

The Policy Communications Officer ensures the effectiveness of SEI’s internal and external communications in Asia through close collaboration with SEI colleagues in Asia and the SEI global communications team. Under the guidance of SEI Asia’s Head of Communications, the Policy Communications Officer will be responsible for designing and implementing communications plans, tasks and activities.

The Policy Communications Officer will support the overall policy engagement strategy of SEI Asia and help drive the policy engagement activities of each research cluster. As part of their overall policy communications work, he/she/they will take specific responsibility for the Mekong Think Tanks (MTT) programme set to begin implementation in 2023.

The Policy Communications Officer helps SEI Asia Centre Mekong Think Tanks (MTT) programme and other projects to identify key audiences, especially targeting policy influencers and engagement for their work and formulate key message in suitable formats targeted to specific audiences and in line with the different programme needs.

In this position, the person will be in charge of producing high-quality content that effectively communicates scientific research in different formats and for a range of audiences with emphasis on policy audiences.

The Policy Communications Officer will report directly to SEI Asia’s Head of Communications and work in close collaboration with the policy cluster under the overall supervision of SEI Asia’s Centre Director.

Key duties and responsibilities

• Lead all policy communications activities for SEI Asia and its various projects in bridging science to policy and strengthen SEI Asia’s policy communications efforts
• Undertake an in-depth analysis of SEI Asia’s Mekong strategic policy communication approaches and provide a mapping of the most suitable policy communications approaches for SEI Asia
• Collaborate closely with different project teams and related researchers in SEI Asia and others in the consortium to produce a strategic communications and knowledge management plan
• Support SEI Asia’s Mekong Think Tanks (MTT) programme in policy communications activities

o Offer guidance and support to researchers to channel their work and research into the appropriate decision-making channels to achieve lasting policy impact

o Integrate the successful policy communications approaches into the program/project strategic communications plans

o Produce a range of high-quality written and multimedia outputs that support SEI Asia, MTT programme and other relevant communications activities especially for strategic policy engagement in the Mekong Region

o Lead all communication activities for SEI Asia’s MTT programme, including events, internal and external communications, and stakeholder meetings on communications

o Support capacity building efforts in the policy-media interface, including writing op-eds for media outlets, interviews for media, outreach with media experts, communications planning for MTT partners and other relevant projects

• Review and ensure consistency in all communication products including blogs, features and opinion pieces, as well as infographics, videos and podcasts
• Connect with Mekong and regional media partners to ensure coverage of appropriate SEI and MTT’s work in the Mekong Region
• Support SEI Asia comms unit to grow SEI Asia’s online audiences especially in our social media channels
• Liaise with SEI global communications team on editorial and media activities

Who you are

We are looking for a dynamic communications professional with an extensive experience in policy-related communications, journalism, multimedia production and social media management. Previous work experience on science communication in Asia with a focus on Mekong environmental issues is required; a portfolio showing writing ability in different formats is necessary. Knowledge of at least one Mekong Region language (Thai, Khmer, Lao or Vietnamese) is highly desirable.

Formal qualifications and knowledge

· Master’s degree with a minimum of 5 years’ experience, or bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 7 years of experience, in the field of social sciences or policy communications, public relations or related communications disciplines

· Good familiarity or working knowledge of environmental issues in the Mekong Region

· Familiarity with a large and diverse professional network (contacts) of development practitioners, researchers, policy- and decision makers

· An excellent knowledge of relevant forums, events, meetings and conferences in the Mekong Region and other countries in Southeast Asia that can be used to showcase SEI’s work

· Demonstrated and proven English language writing or journalistic writing skills for producing web news stories, publicity materials, and social media posts, including Twitter and Facebook. (Candidate needs to provide a portfolio of their written outputs to illustrate competency in writing in different formats and outlets)

· Demonstrated ability to conceive of, write, edit and deliver effective and memorable key messages and talking points, and media outreach materials

· Strong ability to prioritize work and meet deadlines

· Demonstrated planning and communication skills for events and display booths

· Familiarity with social media and communication technologies

· Capacity to prioritize and manage a diverse range of tasks and activities

· Able to work well both independently and within a variety of teams, contexts and cultures

· Excellent in English communication skills (speaking, writing, and reading)

· Working knowledge of Microsoft Office

· Familiarity with multimedia or design software (Adobe Indesign, FinalCut Pro, etc.) is an advantage

Desirable qualifications

· Fluent in one of the Mekong Region languages (Thai, Khmer, Lao or Vietnamese)

· Experience working in an international and multi-cultural environment

· Experience with producing and assessing communication products and outreach strategies

Personal skills required in the position

· Proven capacity to drive, plan and deliver on work/projects within the area of expertise

· Proven capacity in task leadership and/or people management skills

· Ability to act as a role model within the organization

· Ability to delegate effectively, follows up on actions and holds people accountable

Additional information

With a team comprising over 20 nationalities, SEI welcomes global applicants for all posts and provides an internationally competitive level NGO salary and benefits package, with all employee contracts under Thai labour law.

About SEI

SEI is an independent, international research institute founded in 1989. Its mission is to support decision-making and induce change towards sustainable development around the world by providing integrative knowledge that bridges science and policy in the field of environment and development. SEI is ranked as the top environment policy think tank in the world in the Global Go To Think Tank Report 2019, compiled by the University of Pennsylvania’s Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program.

SEI has about 300 employees working at research centres in seven countries around the world. Our Headquarters are located in Stockholm, Sweden with other centres in Estonia (SEI Tallinn); the United Kingdom (SEI York and SEI Oxford); the United States (office in Boston, Seattle and Davis); Thailand (SEI Asia Centre); and Kenya (SEI Africa Centre).