Outreach and Engagement Advisor At Pacific Community

Leave a Comment / Fiji / By

Description

The Pacific Community (SPC) is the principal scientific and technical organisation in the Pacific region, supporting development since 1947. We are an international development organisation owned and governed by our 27 country and territory members. In pursuit of sustainable development to benefit Pacific people, our organisation works across more than 25 sectors. We are known for our knowledge and innovation in such areas as fisheries science, public health, geoscience, and conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.

The Strategic Communications, Outreach and Engagement Unit is a central function under the Office of the Director-General, which is responsible for driving a strategic, integrated and contemporary approaches to communications and storytelling that drives impact across our organisation and externally. The team provides central coordination, development of effective systems and processes, coordination of strategic and Pacific-led storytelling approaches, policies, procedures and impact-based communication actions. A central aim of this role will be to ensure culturally sensitive storytelling including capturing of Pacific-led and owned stories of impact and preservation of cultural storytelling in line with Pacific cultures and practices. A central aim of the division is achieving visibility of SPC’s results – achieved in collaboration with our members and development partners – through improved media engagement and coordination within SPC.

The role – Outreach and Engagement Advisor will be central to the strategic engagement, outreach and implementation of effective strategic communications practices internal and external to SPC across gender equality. The role will also support integrated and organisational wide gender equality coordination and work with internal systems and teams to strengthen the translation of policy to action.

The key responsibilities of the role include:

Engagement strategy design, implementation and strategic content to translate for SPC staff, partners and members in coordinated and integrated manners

  • Lead the development of the internal SPC engagement strategy with key partners (OneSPC, SPL, SCOE, WIL and O&I) ensuring change process and systems are translated into accessible, practical and innovative tools.
  • Drive meaningful engagement sessions with incentivised actions to increase engagement in partnership with OneSPC teams and partners across SPC in dynamic ways.
  • Demonstrate results show impact in improved engagement and understanding of the value and expected behaviours of SPC staff, vendors, partners and members and better understanding of policy in action around gender and integrated areas of work including the change management approaches underway in SPC.

Effective information development and dissemination through best practice design, strategic communications, outreach and engagement

  • Lead the development of best-practice dissemination channels including a quarterly Internal and Member’s Circular distribution with OneSPC, Director SCOE and Executive Office.
  • Implement the SPC Ambassador program in partnership with SCOE Outreach & Engagement team for staff including development of products, training and support in integrated and OneSPC focused manners.
  • Review and set clear standards for all SPC communications information internally to better inform action, understanding and engagement.
  • Manage the WIL and Gender Flagship digital web pages and content alongside SCOE team broadly and digital teams where needed.

Internal coordination and outreach between operations and integration and science and capability teams broadly

  • Coordinate, develop and disseminate inputs and elevation of gender equality and WIL content in digital and best practice ways across and alongside the broader practitioners and teams in SPC across all internal communications actions.
  • Lead the development of quarterly internal reports on SPC online and outreach performance for pivoting and learning purposes including use of pulse surveys through Culture Amp coordination.
  • Ensure key communications focal point for content development for internal communications and internal gender equality and WIL work in line with member direction and organisational institutional strengthening.
  • Lead the coordination of bringing together learning practices and sessions to ensure outreach and engagement of changing policies, behaviours, sensitisation of SOPs such as the Domestic Violence policy and wellbeing focal points is anchored by this role collectively with respective internal teams.

Data visualisation

  • Lead the coordination of using existing internal systems work with the Online Community Officer and Communications teams to support development of visual templates, in-house training packages using SPC’s Learning Management System, using Shorthand and other tools to promote understanding by our audiences (internal and external).
  • Ensure coordination of matrix line management team to ensure all documents are saved in appropriate folders for knowledge management, processes of change are captured, and all images and content is loaded to appropriate locations for auditing and use purposes.

For a more detailed account of the key responsibilities, please refer to the online job description.

Key selection criteria

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in communications, engagement, media, graphic design or equivalent body of knowledge and experience.

Technical expertise

  • At least 7 years of professional experience in strategic communications, development, or related area, with a strong focus on integration, digital and outreach tools and engagement.
  • Experience in digital analytics tools to track performance on internal and external platforms.
  • Excellent interpersonal and cross-cultural communications, outreach and engagement skills working across integrated and diverse teams.
  • Must be creative and tech-savvy.
  • Must be a passionate innovator that is adept to leveraging best-practice strategic engagement and relationships to drive engagement and growth internally and externally to SPC.

Language skills

  • Excellent English communication skills (oral and written) with a working knowledge of French being an advantage.

Interpersonal skills and cultural awareness

  • Ability to work in a multicultural, inclusive and equitable environment.

Salary, terms and conditions

Contract Duration – Until 31 July 2029 – subject to renewal depending on funding and performance.

Remuneration – The Outreach and Engagement Advisor is a band 10 position in SPC’s 2026 salary scale, with a starting salary range of 2,703‒3,379 SDR (special drawing rights) per month, which currently converts to approximately FJD 8,354–10,442 (USD 3,623-4,528; EUR 3,269-4,086). An offer of appointment for an initial contract will normally be made in the lower half of this range, with due consideration given to experience and qualifications. Progression within the salary scale will be based on annual performance reviews. Remuneration of expatriate SPC staff members is not subject to income tax in Fiji; Fiji nationals employed by SPC in Fiji will be subject to income tax.

Benefits for Staff in a position advertised internationally (EPAI) whose duty station is Suva – SPC provides a housing allowance of FJD 1,500–5,200 per month. Establishment and repatriation grant, removal expenses, airfares, home leave travel, health and life and disability insurances and education allowances are available for eligible employees and their eligible dependents. Employees are entitled to 25 working days of annual leave per annum and other types of leave, and access to SPC’s Provident Fund (contributing 8% of salary, to which SPC adds a 10% contribution).

Languages – SPC’s working languages are English and French.

Recruitment principles – SPC’s recruitment is based on merit and fairness, and candidates are competing in a selection process that is fair, transparent and non-discriminatory. SPC is an equal-opportunity employer, and is committed to cultural and gender diversity, including bilingualism, and will seek to attract and appoint candidates who respect these values. Due attention is given to gender equity and the maintenance of strong representation from Pacific Island professionals. If two interviewed candidates are ranked equal by the selection panel, preference will be given to the Pacific Islander. Applicants will be assured of complete confidentiality in line with SPC’s Privacy Policy.

How to apply

Application procedure

Closing Date: 30 August 2027 at 11:59pm (Fiji time)

Job Reference: JM000973

Applicants must apply online at http://careers.spc.int/

Hard copies of applications will not be accepted.

For your application to be considered, you must provide us with:

  • an updated resume with contact details for three professional referees
  • a cover letter detailing your skills, experience and interest in this position
  • responses to all screening questions

Your application will be considered incomplete and will not be reviewed at shortlisting stage if all the above documents are not provided. Applicants should not attach copies of qualifications or letters of reference. Please ensure your documents are in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format.

For international staff in Fiji, only one foreign national per family can be employed with an entity operating in Fiji at any one given time. SPC may assist on a case-by-case basis with submissions to Fiji Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their consideration and final approval. SPC cannot and does not make any guarantee whatsoever of approval for such applications to Fiji Ministry of Foreign Affairs and where an application is approved, the spouse or partner will subject to such terms and conditions as may be set from time to time by the Ministry.

SPC does not charge a fee to consider your application and will never ask for your banking or financial information during the recruitment process.

Screening Questions (maximum of 2,000 characters per question):

  1. Can you describe a time when you developed and implemented an internal communications strategy that helped support organisational change or improve staff engagement? What was your approach and what were the results?
  2. This role works closely with senior leadership, HR and divisional teams. Tell us about a situation where you had to influence senior stakeholders to adopt a communication approach, they were initially unsure about. How did you gain buy-in?
  3. In the Pacific context, how would you ensure internal communications are inclusive and meaningful for staff across urban and remote locations, different language groups, and varying levels of digital access?