Communications and Knowledge Management Officer- Biosciences at International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) seeks to recruit a Communications Officer to support corporate communications and information sharing activities for the program. The Biosciences communicationsofficer supports both the Feeds and Forages and Livestock Genetics programs as well as the Bioscience facilities and Bioscience 4 Africa hub and the ILRI Genebank.

Key Responsibilities

Bioscience Directorate Support

• Strengthen internal program communications and deliver effective workflows, systems, and other support necessary for the program to achieve its goals to assist the Program Leaders and other members of the management team - this will include convening and supporting program-level learning and science events
• Support to the DDG of Bioscience in delivering science, making powerpoint presentations and attending events.
• Help facilitate internal meetings and sharing as well as maintain the Sharepoint systems 
• Maintain an inventory of program activities, events outputs and publications in various repositories

Program support to the Bioscience Program and leads

• Identify a regular list of stories, multimedia products, infographics and videos and liase with CKM unit to get these produced
• Identify media worthy stories and science and liase with CKM unit for writing and disseminating these
• Write news stories for the program and manage content on the program’s page on the ILRI website
• Develop and maintain relationships with program leaders and scientists in the programs
• Lead the coordination of support to the ADGG,TGPS, B4A and Forage Genebank communications
• Work with programs to support publishing of science and research products (briefs, research papers, journal articles, etc.) and coordinate these with ILRI Publishing unit
• Input knowledge products from the programs into CGSpace and other multimedia platforms (FLICKR, Youtube, Sharepoint, etc)
• Support and facilitate events for the programs as necessary
• Promote communications through appropriate social media channels

CKM and CGIAR

• Participate in ILRI CKM planning and sharing meetings
• Ensure compliance to ILRI communication guidelines and procedures
• Coordinate all communication activities with relevant CGIAR Research Initiative Coordinators

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in journalism, advertising, communications or related subject area
• Relevant professional Certification
• Seven years of relevant experience
• Experience in relationship building with diverse stakeholder groups
• Experience in supporting communications and/or media relations in agricultural/environmental research for development is an added advantage.
• Experience in marketing and advocacy will be an added advantage 
• Ability to think strategically and to develop and execute a strategic communication planning
• Ability to read, understand and assimilate complex technical information to produce clear, well-written summaries.
• Ability to present and package scientific information into various formats to suit specialist and non-specialist audiences.
• Knowledge of and skills in desktop publishing, HTML, photography and photo editing.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and well within teams.
• Fluent English language skills, both written and spoken.