India and wider Indo Pacific region are highly vulnerable to climate change, with the pace and severity of climate impacts increasing. Increased likelihood of floods, droughts, heat stress and storms affect everyone, but particularly the poorest and most vulnerable in society. We have a critical window of opportunity in the coming years to help communities and economies to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, and also to foster the systems transformations required at a regional and global level to adapt to a changing climate effectively.
Climate change remains one of the UK’s top priorities. In the Indo Pacific, our flagship programme on adaptation and resilience is Climate Action for a Resilient Asia, or CARA. One of the top ways to achieve great impact for the programme is through strong communications and engagement, which will help the programme and our teams engage effectively with governments, communities, businesses and other partners to foster the transformational change required and demonstrate UK leadership on climate change.
In addition, a smaller part of this role will support communication efforts for the wider team, FCDO’s Indo-Pacific Regional Department (IPRD), helping to drive engagement, internally and externally, on the amazing work the department does – from supporting children, women and girls and tackling forced labour, to responding to humanitarian disasters across the region, or unlocking regional economic development and trade.
Main purpose of job:
We are looking for a dynamic communications professional to work within IPRD team in Delhi on a range of internal and external communications, focusing on the large UK-led climate change adaptation and resilience programme, Climate Action for a Resilient Asia (CARA).
The post holder will work with colleagues from many UK government teams, based in the UK, Delhi and the Indo Pacific region; with the main Implementing Partners of the CARA programme, and with the CARA programme’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Partner, to lead and implement the communications strategy for CARA, and bring coherence and structure to our communications.
The role will also involve support and coordination for both internal and external engagements, and some events, with a range of different stakeholders.
The post holder will also work on communications and engagement for other IPRD work as a smaller part of the role (around 15%).
The role will be based in the IPRD team at the British High Commission in New Delhi, but occasional travel within India and the region, or to the UK, is likely.
Essential skills and experience:
At least 5 years of communications experience in a relevant field.
For preference, international communications experience. For example, from a communications role which covered multiple countries, or from within an international organisation.
Previous experience in media, marketing, journalism, public relations, or campaigning in India or the region. This could be as a journalist in traditional or digital media, as a campaign manager or in the wider communications field.
Excellent written and oral communication skills in English, including strong editing skills, the ability to draft press releases and communications materials, and proof-read.
Strong interpersonal skills and ability to develop good working relationships with a range of people.
Familiarity with different digital/visual platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn) and ability to communicate professionally and evaluate digital impact through these.
Some experience or understanding of research publishing or how to read and understand research, and how to communicate technical information clearly and effectively to different audiences (with support if needed).
