WORLD BANK - Communications Officer

The Development Research Group (DECRG) is the World Bank’s research department, and is the largest department within the Development Economics Vice Presidency, under the Chief Economist. DECRG’s research programs generate and disseminate knowledge about development that is essential for the achievement of the World Bank's ultimate objective—reducing poverty in a fiscally, environmentally and socially sustainable manner.

To help in this task, DECRG needs a Communications Officer dedicated to help the Group reach out to diverse audiences including: client governments as well as donors, researchers in developing countries, leading academic institutions, academic publishers, think tanks, operational staff around the Bank Group as well as sector experts working in the networks; and DEC staff and Senior Management.

The job requires a strategic focus on internal and external communications and an ability to leverage DEC’s knowledge and showcase its experts. Since DECRG’s work is primarily in the field of economics the job will also require an ability to understand and interpret economic research, notably to translate the findings from research into terms that can be more broadly understood.

The Communications Officer will be expected to:

• Report to DECRG Director and work with the DECRG Management team to assist in the outreach of DECRG’s research products.
• Serve as a member of DEC's communications team, helping to implement the DEC-wide communications strategy and, for this purpose, have a parallel reporting line to the Senior Communications Officer for DEC.
• Work with DEC experts to make their research material and findings more widely available and accessible. This will include working with researchers to improve on research briefs and other summary materials they already produce and supporting researchers to write op eds, blog commentaries, and articles, and arrange for them to be placed or publicized in news outlets.
• As needed, take responsibility for writing articles on DECRG research for use on the web as well as in news releases, fliers and other written products (including co-authoring with them if appropriate).
• Arrange media and presentation training for DEC experts.
• Work on positioning DECRG more strongly with the media, especially through placement of references to the unit’s research products in key media outlets .
• Develop dissemination plans for key research products, including Policy Research Reports, global poverty updates, and working papers on newsworthy topics.
• Participate in Corporate Communications meetings so as to keep abreast of EXT and EXC priorities – find synergies between Bankwide campaigns and DECRG research.
• Work with others involved in DEC’s web overhaul to update and improve DECRG sites.
• Work with social media specialists in DEC/EXT to help promote DECRG’s “Development Impact” blog and DEC’s “Let’s Talk Development” blog.

Communications Officer