Communications Officer

**The Position**

The Communications Officer will help implement the communications strategy for the overall Resilience Program, focusing primarily on the portfolios of nature-based climate solutions, ecosystem-based adaptation, adaptation in Canada, and our activities on environment, conflict, and peacebuilding. They will lead the communications work of the Nature for Climate Adaptation Initiative (NCAI) and occasionally contribute to the communications activities related to the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Global Network.

The Communications Officer will be adept in the use of digital media and have a talent for making complex ideas accessible, while also being an excellent planner, organizer, and multitasker with a keen interest in international affairs and sustainable development.

**Responsibilities**

**Creative Content**
- Inform, manage, and implement communications plans for a broad range of projects, reports, campaigns, and events—particularly for the NCAI and other nature and peacebuilding work.
- Cooperating with internal and external stakeholders, they will ensure that communications timelines are adhered to, along with monitoring, evaluating, and reporting on the impact of these communications plans.
- In consultation with the Resilience team’s communications manager, help shape new communications strategies for those projects that fall under the communications officer’s areas of responsibility.
- Regularly share program work and collaborate with IISD’s core communications team to ensure alignment on key messaging and amplify programmatic expertise in broader, organization-wide communications activities. Contribute to the shared editorial calendar.
- Communicate with IISD’s donors to show how their support has made an impact.
- Track current events related to specific workstreams and communicate these to colleagues, identifying opportunities for further work and/or public engagement.

**Public Engagement and Social Media**
- Inform the social media strategy and manage the Resilience Program’s Twitter account, ensuring posts are relevant, timely, engaging, and targeted to the needs and interests of key audiences. This includes drafting and/or editing posts, organizing promotions, tracking trending topics and hashtags, and regularly monitoring the feeds of partner organizations to identify opportunities for cross-promotion.

**Media Outreach**
- Engage with journalists and influencers, with a focus on relationship-building, to secure targeted coverage for IISD research and initiatives in key media outlets in target geographies and policy areas. Build and maintain media lists.
- Facilitate media training for IISD experts in advance of speaking to the press.
- Conduct media monitoring on a regular basis for assigned areas of work. Provide reports on media coverage and digital performance using Cision, Google Analytics, and other available platforms.

**Digital Strategy**
- Working within content management systems such as Drupal or WordPress, upload and edit content for websites, adhering to IISD guidelines. This includes the NCAI website.
- Drafting and assisting program staff in developing articles, blog posts, stories, infographics, and videos that make IISD's work accessible to non-expert audiences.
- Review program-relevant pages on IISD websites and micro-sites for timeliness and update as needed.
- Working closely with IISD’s deputy communications director and other relevant colleagues, use analytics software to monitor, assess, and report on website traffic and engagement with our digital content, advising where appropriate on opportunities to improve.
- In collaboration with IISD’s design team, manage the production of digital content, including Twitter cards, posters, invitations, simple infographics, presentations, and other conference or workshop materials. Retouch and resize images as needed.
- Assist in finding and selecting images to communicate IISD’s work in publications, infographics, videos, websites, and other materials/platforms.

**Internal Processes**
- Ensure brand coherence and compliance with existing and new IISD communications practices.
- Manage internal processes related to the development and dissemination of communications products, including coordinating feedback from internal and external stakeholders, approvals, and copy editing.
- Maintain strong relationships with program staff to gain a deeper understanding of their research and policy objectives in order to translate their work into key messages and strategies that resonate with priority audiences. Provide editorial guidance to IISD’s experts so they have the necessary skills to communicate their work through different channels and act as public ambassadors for IISD.
- Continuously discover and share new industry best practices to maximize efficiency.

**Qualifications**

Qualifications (Essential)
- A university-level degree in journalism, communications, public relations, or other rela