Job Description

Background:
The Government of Ghana led by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), in collaboration with the World Bank and USAID has, over the past two years, been  implementing the Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (GCAP).
The project is to improve the investment climate for agri-business and establish inclusive PPPs aimed at increasing on-farm productivity and value addition in selected value chains. The project has four components:

• strengthening investment promotion infrastructure and facilitating secure access to land;
• securing PPPs and small-holder linkages in the Accra Plains;
• securing PPPs and small-holder linkages in the area under the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA); and
• Project Management and Monitoring & Evaluation.

The broad activities under each Component are as the following:
Component 1: Strengthening investment promotion infrastructure, facilitating secure access to land. This component promotes a secure investment climate that clarifies and strengthens the rights and obligations of investors, government and affected communities, and support an improved mechanism for facilitating access to land by reducing the search costs to potential investors through an expansion of a database of land suitable and available for investors and by building on nascent mechanisms for actively matching potential investors with suitable land owners.

Component 2; Securing Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and smallholder linkages in the Accra Plains. This component focuses on the identification and realization of private investments in the agricultural value chain through irrigation-based PPPs in the Accra Plains, (ii) New focus on rehabilitation of selected smaller irrigation schemes. There exists a number of other non-performing irrigation assets in both the Accra Plains and the SADA zone, rehabilitation and modernization of which presents a profitable entry point for GCAP investment.

Component 3: Securing PPPs and smallholder linkages in the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) region. This component involves the identification and realization of private investments in the agricultural value chain through PPPs. Investors could be local or international and would cover both production and processing activities as well as ancillary businesses. It will also strengthen community benefit sharing mechanisms by directly supporting smallholder linkages through out-grower schemes and contract farming arrangements as well as other improved arrangements for benefit sharing through corporate social responsibility and revenue management at the local level

Component 4: Project Management and Monitoring & Evaluation. This component finances ihe operational costs of project management including monitoring and evaluation activities. It would also include necessary training and capacity building for the staff.

Objectives Of the Assignment:

• The Communications Specialist will be part of the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) of the Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project and will assist in providing leadership in designing and implementing an effective communications strategy to sustain project activities, assure a high level of transparency and access to information, provide venues for feedback to all stakeholders and mobilize support and appreciation for the various reforms and policies needed to move and improve Ghana's agribusiness climate.
• Reporting to the GCAP Coordinator, the Communications Specialist will ensure that the GCAP has a unified and accurate public image. !n so doing, he or she will develop both internal and external communications and presentations, set design standards and guidelines for communication materials. He or she will inter alia cultivate relations with the media, civil society and other stakeholders, monitor the news regularly, establish a network of communications persons at all levels. The complete list of essential duties and responsibilities is presented below.

Scope of Services:
The Communications Specialist will undertake, inter alia, the following tasks:

• Develop a Communications Strategy and Work Plan for the project
• Lead the development of a communications strategy; prepare an implementation plan for the strategy.
• Begin the implementation of the communications strategy.
• Refine and review the communications strategy, its objectives and audience segmentation.
• Inform and educate relevant stakeholders about the GCAP.
• Develop a series of materials - press kits, newsletters, information briefs etc. - aimed at explaining the Government's policy on the projects as well as giving details on individual measures.
• Establish a calendar of "Key dates" around which to build communications events".
• Devise a media relations plan to ensure proper understanding of the individual economic reform measures and promote interest on related topics.
• Answer reporters' queries and facilitate their research.
• Write and disseminate press releases on newsworthy events
• Co-ordinate the different government communications efforts on the project
• Determine the suitability of individual activities to be sub-contracted to local media agencies and provide inputs to the Terms of Reference for these contracts.
• Co-ordinate full and open communications across government.
• Build consensus and rally support for the project.
• Establish a network between the GCAP, Ministry of Food and Agriculture and other departments and audiences to facilitate the flow of information.
• Co-ordinate workshops/seminars for top officials of departments and other stakeholders.
• The specialist shall be in charge of ensuring the production and dissemination of quality documents produced the auspices of GCAP (e.g. documents produced by Consultants that have to be edited by a professional editor and then turned into attractive publications).

Performance Criteria:
The consultant will be expected to deliver in a very time conscious manner outputs for the overall implementation of the GCAP communications component. These include but are not limited to:

• Produce a comprehensive communications program for the project, within the first 30 days commencement of this job.
• Produce an implementation plan outlining proposed campaign methodologies and timelmes within the first 45 days of commencement of this job.
• Lead and coordinate the implementation of the communications program and show tangible and measurable results by the end of the contract period.
• Establish a system of effective and efficient internal communications to ensure that all internal stakeholders are well informed and updated about project implementation within the first 30 days.
• Produce relevant IEC materials including a Q&A brochure and a project brief document within the first 60 days of commencement of this job.
• Produce a disseminate quarterly project newsletter.
• Establish a good feedback mechanism necessary for on-going improvement of the communication strategy to ensure that the messages developed for each target audience are tested with the first three months of commencement of this job.
• Prepare a set of monitoring indicators for a quarterly evaluation of the performance of each activity based on the objectives set for the communications strategy.
• Work with MOFA ICT unit for MOFA website update on the project.

Common Considerations:

• Remuneration:   Competitive salary
• Terms of Payment: Payments will be made in equal end-of-month payments of agreed amount subject to completion of core reporting responsibilities as laid out in the Assignment Work plan.
• Location: Accra (but with country-wide scope}
• Duration:  Two (2) years (renewable yearly based on satisfactory performance)

Required Skills or Experience

Successful applicants will have a strong knowledge of communications processes. As the position involves dealing with a wide range of stakeholders and organizations, it is also important that the Communications Specialist has good knowledge of how the government operates in Ghana or in similar environments. The prospective candidate should have:

• An honors degree in communications, social sciences or related field.
• At least 5 years post-qualification experience in public communications.
• Experience in handling, managing or overseeing public communications under international donor funded projects will be an advantage.
• Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Required.

Must demonstrate:

• Excellent strategic thinking as well as proven capacity to carry out similar
• assignments
• Strong managerial skills and proven record of achieving results
• Solid understanding of communication tools and mechanisms
• Working knowledge of the laws and ordinances governing public communications
• Appreciation of ICTas a powerful communication tool
• A working knowledge of personal computers including word processing, and presentation applications
• Knowledge of/experience with World Bank basic fiduciary procedures desirable
• Ability to communicate effectively (orally and in writing), speak persuasively, express complex issues in simple terms and present ideas clearly and concisely
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with employees, other departments, vendors and the public
• Demonstrated interpersonal and diplomatic skills
• Proven ability to seize opportunities as they arise, work with a variety of
• stakeholders and promote their participation in the project implementation process
• Experience in conveying complex technical information to different audiences, packaging it accordingly and distilling essential messages
• Capacity to work under tight deadlines and to handle potentially controversial and/or very sensitive issues that require clarity, accuracy and speedy responses
• Proven ability to work in a collaborative, team environment
• A working knowledge of Ghana's agriculture sector.