JOB DESCRIPTION AND PERSONAL SPECIFICATION - Farm Africa

JOB DESCRIPTION AND PERSONAL SPECIFICATION
JOB TITLE: Communications Assistant
REPORTS TO: Media and Communications Officer
STAFF REPORTING TO POSTHOLDER: None
LOCATION: Farm Africa, London office
DURATION & HOURS: Six months fixed term, full time
PURPOSE OF THE ROLE
The role combines support for both the Media and Communications Officer and the Digital
Marketing and Publications Manager with the opportunity to undertake a number of projects
with regional and specialist media; management of audio-visual assets and production
publicity materials.
Working closely with the communications teams in our African offices and liaising with the
fundraising, communications and programme teams, this is fantastic opportunity to gain
broad experience within a dynamic international development charity.
KEY TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
• Provide media support to the Communications Officer with a particular focus on regional
press and on specialist (eg farming) press including follow up social media marketing.
• Provide support for the Digital Marketing and Publications Manager, including
researching and drafting marketing materials.
• Support the Communications Officer in the development of the internal newsletter,
sourcing news items from our African offices and from the teams in the UK office.
• Take responsibility for management of the photo resource database, ensuring that
images are uploaded and catalogued accurately.
• Liaise with our African offices to source case study materials and images.
• Work with the fundraising team to support the activities of speakers and community
groups.
• Assist with other ad-hoc tasks as necessary.
Farm Africa Communications Assistant – May 2013

The post holder will also form part of Farm Africa’s wider support team and will provide
general cover for the communications and fundraising teams when needed due to annual
leave, sickness etc.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Essential
Desirable
Education, qualifications & other knowledge
Educated to degree level
Knowledge of journalism and PR
A high level knowledge of MS office
Knowledge of content management
programmes, to include Outlook, Word, Excel systems
and PowerPoint
Experience
Experience of writing articles or press releases
Coordinating meetings or events
Excellent written English
Good verbal communication skills
Proactive and well organised able to manage
conflicting priorities
Able to work on own initiative, identifying and
implementing improvements
Commitment to completing work to a high
standard to tight deadlines
The ability to work in an international context
with colleagues from a variety of cultures
Evidence of interest in international affairs
Skills & abilities
Experience of working within a
communications team, selling stories to
the media
Experience of using social media
channels including Youtube, Facebook
and Twitter
Confidence in dealing with a wide range
of stakeholders and tact in handling
confidential information
Values
Farm Africa seeks to employ those who believe, as we do, that farmers can and will play a
key role in achieving long-term rural prosperity in Africa and who seek to deliver on
those beliefs by:
• being experts in our field, delivering insightful/impactful evidence-based solutions
• pushing boundaries, being creative with new and old solutions
• acting for the long-term, building relationships and delivering long-lasting change
for farmers
• working flexibly, taking advantage of the most effective solutions, whether from the
communities, private sector or government
• sharing knowledge with others, reaching more farmers than we do alone, ensuring
effective technologies are widely accessed.
Farm Africa Communications Assistant – May 2013