Communication Advisor, Finance for Peace

Type of contract: Fixed term until 31.12.2024, with possibility of extension

About Finance for Peace

Finance for Peace is a new independent initiative that seeks systemic change in how private and public investment supports peace in the world’s developing and fragile contexts. It aims to create multistakeholder approaches that can co-develop the critical market frameworks, networks of political support, partnerships and knowledge required to scale peace finance – investment that has an intentional and positive impact on peace. Peace Finance seeks to reduce risks for both investors and communities and bring high levels of additionality. Finance for Peace has been incubated by Interpeace, an International Peacebuilding organisation that has worked on conflict resolution and peacebuilding throughout Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Latin America for over 27 years.

Since April 2022, the Finance for Peace Initiative has established a Peace Impact Lab and Peace Standards Lab to kickstart a process of harmonizing metrics, norms, guidance and standards on how the private sector can positively impact peace in fragile and conflict affected places. These are critical pillars of knowledge and guidance required to grow the market for peace finance in ways that are conflict sensitive and potentially peace responsive. The Initiative seeks to develop new partnerships, market intelligence, political and technical support across a diverse array of actors including DFIs, Donors, researchers, scholars, peacebuilding and civil society organizations, as well as the finance sector to develop supporting market infrastructure and knowledge to scale peace responsive private sector activity.

The initiative has four proposed areas of activity to the end of 2024. (1) Providing the Regulatory Enabling Environment for Peace Finance, (2) Providing Critical Market Intelligence for Peace Finance (3) Developing Supportive Policy and Partnerships for Peace Finance, (4) Develop research workstreams on Ukraine Peace Finance, Digital verification, and Mapping of sub-national risk premia.

The initiative will have a finance and investment industry orientation and seek to bridge the gap between the related parts of the finance sector, including investors, asset managers and financial institutions and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) peace and development actors including practitioners, civil society, governments, and multilateral institutions. The Finance for Peace Initiative is supported by the German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO) and builds on feasibility research supported by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) on a new sustainable investment category called peace bonds.

Background Rationale for the Initiative

Currently, most of the world’s extreme poor – some 1.8 billion people, almost a quarter of the world’s population, live in 57 conflict affected countries. Because of growing conflict, instability, and violence none of these countries are on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Sustainable development and peace ultimately require conflict sensitive and peace responsive private investment, but much investment cannot find its way to places of great need and opportunity because of risks related to peace, whether real or perceived. It is well known that greater investment is possible, the world’s financial resources of almost 300 trillion dollars dwarf the cost of achieving the SDGs.

Herein lies the problem – the peace actions that could reduce conflict and fragility risks and open these markets to greater investment are underfunded and poorly aligned. This is why we need to fundamentally rethink how peace and development is financed, and how private investment can better reduce risks for both investors and communities.

While blended finance approaches have significantly grown and have successfully catalysed significant private capital in developing countries, existing approaches largely do not focus on peace impact. Further, more work needs to be done to ensure blended approaches minimize not just risks to investors but also to communities in fragile and conflict affected settings.

The Finance for Peace initiative seeks to build on the policy momentum across the world’s major DFIs to scale up investment in the world’s fragile emerging markets as well as on the extensive regulatory activity within the EU and connected growth in categories of sustainable investment to scale up peace responsive investment.

Position within the Finance for Peace Initiative

The Communications Advisor will work with the rest of the Finance for Peace team to support the execution of the four key workstreams listed above, with a particular focus on supporting the activities of the Peace Impact and Peace Standards Lab. These are multistakeholder consultation and engagement platforms that seek to identify, understand, and collate the latest research on private sector impacts on peace and conflict in fragile and conflict affected settings, and look to feed this knowledge into other larger impact, ESG/SDG frameworks. In this context, the Finance for Peace Communications Advisor will be tasked with overseeing the submission process and inputs of relevant stakeholders into the initiative’s work, with the aim to systematise the feedback received while continuing to grow the number of people engaged in Finance for Peace. Through his/her work, the Communications Advisor will also facilitate the maintenance of key networks and partnerships related to the initiative.

The Communications Advisor will initially report to the Interpeace Head of Research and Senior Peacebuilding Advisor, and will subsequently report to the Executive Director of the Finance for Peace initiative once that position is filled. The Communications Advisor will also closely collaborate with Interpeace communications team. It is envisaged the Finance for Peace Initiative will be hosted by Interpeace until the end of 2024, after which it will become a fully independent entity.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance of Interpeace’s Head of Research and Senior Peacebuilding Advisor initially, the Communications Advisor will carry out the following duties and responsibilities:

• Develop and execute outreach strategies to key stakeholder groups including DFIs, donors, investors/funds, peacebuilding/development/civil society organisations, norm setting and market investment actors.
• Manage the communications and stakeholder engagement related to the submission process and inputs of relevant stakeholders into key Finance for Peace work, particularly the Peace Impact Lab and Peace Standards Lab and development of the Peace Finance Impact Framework (PFIF).
• Systematize the feedback received on key documents and resources related to Finance for Peace and publish it.
• Organize logistics, event agendas and planning for Finance for Peace events and governance meetings.
• Provide support to key research deliverables – their editing, typesetting and dissemination strategies, developing summaries for different audiences
• Maintain the Finance for Peace website – https://financeforpeace.org/
• Manage relationships with external communications consultants and the brand guide.
• Contribute to internal communication across Interpeace to inform key stakeholders including the Global Management Team (GMT), the Policy and Learning Advisory (PLA) Team and Country Programme teams of major developments in the Finance for Peace initiative.
• Coordinate with the Interpeace Communications team to share information.

Communications strategy

• Develop collaboratively and lead in implementing, monitoring and periodically updating a Communications Strategy for the initiative that advances the achievement of strategic goals and objectives of the initiative.
• Proactively manage external strategic communications for the initiative, in close collaboration and coordination with the GCT, and ensure that high quality, strategic communication plans are consistently implemented. This includes ensuring clarity, accuracy, relevance, and engaging narratives in all materials that are being produced.
• Plan, develop, and implement effective communications actions to support the initiative and initiative branding and messaging priorities, using the full range of modern communication tools, including social media and digital publishing.

Content creation

• Draft and edit a wide array of written content, including web stories, press releases, media alerts, blog posts, content for Vlogs, speeches, Op-Eds, human interest stories, key messages, talking points and video scripts for Finance for Peace
• Undertake research and generate content for Finance for Peace websites, and social media platforms as well as preparing draft presentations and infographics.
• Select graphic content for media outputs and obtain graphic/visual content when required from stock image platforms.
• Write, edit and publish engaging content for various social networks, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram of the initiative and develop video content scripts for social m
• Select and upload appealing images and videos to complement text on social platforms that describes and updates initiative’s latest news and work.
• Monitor and report on social media insights (traffic, engagement, shares, conversion rates) for the Initiative

Events, media and public relations

• Manage aspects related to media engagement of the initiative. This includes the creation of a network with relevant national and international journalists and media.
• Liaise with national, regional and international media for press releases and events, establish media connections and aim to get maximum media attention for press releases, special events, press interviews either through broadcast or print media.

Analysis and Monitoring and reporting

• Regularly track the web and social media statistics and prepare reports.
• Develops key performance indicators to track the successful implementation of the communications strategyy of the initiative.
• Monitors the overall planning and budget of the communications efforts, ensuring they are properly administered, and utilized. Prepares and submits timely progress/status reports.
• Effectively monitor and evaluate various communications tools and activities, to measure the impact on achieving the overall objective.

Qualilfications

Candidates with relevant qualifications, experience, and fluency in English are invited to apply. Relevant experience and qualifications may include:

Education

• Undergraduate or master’s level degree in communications, international studies, development economics, finance, social or political science, or other relevant fields.

Experience

• 6 + years of experience working in technical communications roles in at least one, or some combination of, private finance, a Development Finance Institution, peacebuilding, development or government donor environment.
• Familiarity with technical and political issues associated with sustainable finance, SDG, ESG investing, impact investing, blended finance, peacebuilding, donor policies in development and peacebuilding.

Competencies

• Strong communication skills and ability to craft communication to a critical number of policymakers, private investors, key DFIs, Governments, Multilateral banks and international organisations.
• Relevant domain knowledge of technical and political issues related to the Finance for Peace Initiative, or ability to quickly learn and adapt knowledge to effectively communicate key concepts of the initiative
• Excellent spoken and written English, with French as an advantage.

Success factors

• Excellent social and inter-cultural skills, outstanding communication skills to a variety of stakeholders from very different backgrounds.
• General understanding of peacebuilding, development, finance and the landscape of international development finance institutions and private financial institutions.
• Ability to write and communicate for different audiences
• Commitment to positively changing how private actors can build peace, and to the values and working principles of Interpeace.
• Creative team player with a commitment to inclusiveness and consensus building.
• Political tact and a high adaptation capacity.

Interpeace Competencies

• Collaboration and Weaving
• Communication
• Drive for results
• Adaptability and Continuous Learning
• Respect for Diversity