Job # 111504
Job Title : Communications Officer
Job Family Communications
Location Washington, DC
Appointment International Hire
Job Posted 04-Aug-2011
Closing Date 18-Aug-2011
Language Requirements English [Essential]; French [Desired]; Spanish [Desired]
Appointment Type
Background / General description
CGAP is an independent policy and research center dedicated to advancing financial access for the world’s poor. It is supported by over 30 development agencies and private foundations who share a common mission to alleviate poverty. Housed at the World Bank, CGAP provides market intelligence, promotes standards, develops innovative solutions, and offers advisory services to governments, financial service providers, donors, and investors. Access to financial services is a fundamental tool for improving a family’s well-being and productive capacity. Poor people need to borrow, save to accumulate assets, use insurance to mitigate risks such as weather that might threaten crops, and they need remittance services to transfer money to family and friends. CGAP is dedicated to helping achieve full financial inclusion so that poor households can manage their household cash flow more effectively, and at lower cost, empowering poor families by enabling them to seize opportunities, and reduce their exposure to risk. About the Position CGAP’s Technology and Business Model Innovation Program aims to improve the lives of millions of poor people by helping to expand access to financial services through the innovative application of technology, including mobile phone networks and card-based systems (“branchless banking”). Effective use of technology can dramatically reduce the cost of delivering financial services and provide convenient access to a broad range of affordable financial products to low-income populations. In some countries, it has already done so. The Program is co-funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK Department for International Development (DFID), and CGAP. The Technology and Business Model Innovation Program at CGAP advises a wide range of actors including policy-makers and regulators, technology and telecommunications firms, financial institutions, investors, and donors. CGAP has played a pivotal role in advancing the sector: developing a common language for the microfinance industry, encouraging institutions of all types to adopt good practices, informing the media and general public, and building consensus and standards among the industry’s many and varied stakeholders. Our commitment to the development of knowledge and information in the field of access to finance is considerable, and we see our investment in communications as central to our success as a thought leader and knowledge center to advance access to financial services for the poor. The Technology and Business Model Innovation Program at CGAP is organized around four streams of work.
1. Learning how branchless banking works for consumers, providers and other parties in the value chain. CGAP conducts cutting-edge research on business models, value proposition for low-income, unbanked customers, and building viable networks of cash-handling agents. Much of this analysis is released first through the technology blog (http://technology.cgap.org/)
2. Work with markets. The team has chosen to focus its work in six markets that have exhibited conditions that can support successful implementations: (a) significance in the global landscape, possessing regional influence and a sizeable unbanked population; (b) an engaged regulator that supports branchless banking; and (c) active implementations and credible business partners with which to work. We expect that this combination of conditions will make it more likely to have successful implementations that reach scale, creating more reference cases from which the industry can learn. The six focus countries are India, Pakistan, Mexico, Brazil, Ghana, and South Africa. The team is currently considering adding the West African Economic and Monetary Union to this list. To learn more about the branchless banking opportunities and challenges in the focus countries please read our blog series Branchless Banking Country Notes (http://technology.cgap.org/series/branchless-banking-country-notes/).
3. Policy and Regulators. Help policymakers and regulators develop the enabling environment for branchless banking which is open to innovation from business and safe for consumers and financial system stability. More detail on work in this space is available at (http://www.cgap.org/p/site/c/template.rc/1.11.1772/).
4. Leveraging large financial flows to the poor. Remittances and government-to-person (G2P) payments provide substantial income to hundreds of millions of poor people worldwide, but they are rarely linked to safe, convenient and affordable financial services for recipients to manage these funds. CGAP advises governments and industry on how to link these flows and services via technology. The opportunity and challenges are described at (http://www.cgap.org/p/site/c/template.rc/1.11.137601/).
Duties and Accountabilities
As part of CGAP’s global communications strategy, the Communications Officer is responsible for planning, designing, executing, monitoring and evaluating communications activities around the development of new business models and the ecosystem of stakeholders needed to create impact for poor people globally. Within the next few years we see this work focusing particularly on six focus countries: Mexico, Brazil, India, Pakistan, South Africa, and Ghana. The work is organized around five major areas:
1. Strategic planning. Lead communications strategy for the Technology and Business Model Innovation Program. The Communications Officer should be a creative and strategic thinker, capable of identifying new opportunities, assessing risks, and most importantly, impacting audiences CGAP seeks to influence.
2. Outreach. Leverage diverse channels for outreach campaigns and community engagement, which will include conceptualizing and writing web content, organizing (virtual and in person) events and conferences, advising on team participation in global events, engaging through social media, writing press releases, managing the CGAP Technology blog, and editing and contributing to the writing of blog posts and CGAP publications. The Communications Officer will play a critical role in evaluating and developing new communications opportunities for the Technology Program to further develop effective relationships and influence the global community coalescing around branchless banking.
3. Greater global impact. In coordination with team members who lead work on specific learning agendas and work in focus countries, design and implement communication plans to make this work more effective.
4. Relationship management. As required, manage relationships with key external partners and stakeholders e.g. donors, GSMA, AFI, etc. in co-ordination with other CGAP staff.
5. Monitoring communications impact. Measure and track the impact of specific communications and outreach activities for the program as part of CGAP’s overall communications impact measurement. The Communications Officer will report jointly to the Head of the CGAP Technology and Business Model Innovation team and CGAP’s Head of Knowledge Products and Communications.
Selection Criteria
• Highly strategic, creative, pro-active, and energetic; an idea generator and implementer;
• Masters degree in professional discipline (Communications, International Relations/Public Affairs, Journalism, Marketing, Political Science, or other related field) plus 5 years of relevant experience, or a Bachelors degree in a relevant field plus 10 years of relevant experience;
• Outstanding verbal and written skills, particularly the ability to synthesize complex messages and tailor them into simple, clear and non-academic language for different audiences;
• Able to work independently as well as in teams; ability to work in loose unstructured environment with fast-emerging opportunity;
• Talent for motivating team members to produce deliverables, within a non-hierarchical and fluid team structure;
• Cutting-edge knowledge of social media, with experience in web editing and proven track record managing Web marketing campaigns and online communities;
• Ability to write strong copy and produce well written press releases, feature articles, and publications. 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.
To Apply:
http://extjobs.worldbank.org/external/default/main?pagePK=64273552&piPK=64273556&theSitePK=1058433&JobNo=111504&order=descending&sortBy=job-req-num&location=WAS&menuPK=64262364
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