Organizational Setting

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) contributes to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda through the FAO Strategic Framework by supporting the transformation to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agrifood systems, for better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind.

The Office of Communications (OCC) is responsible for all corporate and internal communication activities of the Organization. It ensures coherence and consistency in FAO’s corporate messaging and communications’ outputs, as well as enables cost-effectiveness in use of communication-related resources across the Organization.

The post is located in the Digital and Multimedia Branch (OCCI) of the Office of Communications (OCC) at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.

Reporting Lines

The Content Specialist reports to the Communication Officer (Multimedia), multimedia pillar (photo, video, audio, digital asset management) in the Digital and Multimedia Branch, OCCI.

Technical Focus 

Managing audiovisual content, technical support to teams in managing their digital assets, knowledge management, metadata and digital asset organization.

Multimedia content management, curation and dissemination of audiovisual materials through FAO’s Digital Media Hub, FAO’s new digital asset management (DAM) platform, to increase FAO’s visibility, advance its advocacy and mobilize support for its beneficiaries. Contribution to the development and strengthening of FAO’s external and internal communications through capacity-building, training and support for multimedia digital asset content management at all levels of the Organization. Promotes knowledge sharing and best practices in digital assets workflow and management.

Tasks and responsibilities

•    Identify high-value audiovisual content for ingestion with high quality metadata into the FAO Digital Media Hub, FAO’s new digital asset management (DAM) platform.
•    Support OCC content teams and other FAO parties uploading content to the DAM.
•    Train and support field teams in uploading and processing audiovisual content.
•    Process, tag and organize new visual assets added to the DAM working closely with the Indexing Assistant.
•    Curation of collections of thematic story packages pertinent to key dates/as directed.
•    Cataloguing, auditing and archiving, metadata enrichment, user support and day-to-day management of a DAM systemSupport staff to ensure that assets have the relevant copyright and consent.
•    Maintain descriptive metadata standards for all digital assets to ensure consistency.

All communication materials will follow FAO clearance processes and comply with FAO standards, including:

•    FAOSTYLE https://www.fao.org/3/cb8081en/cb8081en.pdf (available in six languages);
•    FAO terminology http://www.fao.org/faoterm ;
•    FAO Names Of Countries https://www.fao.org/nocs/en;
•    Story guidelines http://intranet.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/occ/Quick_Guides/UPDATED-Digital-Storytelling-Guide-EN-FINAL.pdf ;
•    Story template http://intranet.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/occ/Quick_Guides/FAO-Stories-Template-UPDATED.pdf ;
•    UN map standards (available to staff);
•    FAO Brand and policy book (available to staff).
•    UN map standards (available to staff).

Further guidance regarding FAO communications, policies and procedures can be found through the FAO intranet, OCC section

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

•    University degree in Library Science, Archiving, Journalism, Public Relations, Communications, Videography, Photography or other relevant field.
•    1 years of relevant experience in archiving, cataloguing and managing multimedia assets.
•    Working knowledge (level C) of English and limited knowledge (level B) of another FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish). For PSA, working knowledge of English.

FAO Core Competencies

•    Results Focus
•    Teamwork
•    Communication
•    Building Effective Relationships
•    Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills 

•    Familiarity with IPTC metadata standards.
•    Filing audiovisual content using dedicated library (Digital Asset Management) system.
•    Experience in Digital Asset/Content Management with some foundational understanding of DAM language and methodology, preferred.
•    A good eye for recognizing quality of photography and an ability to quickly understand photo and video guidelines and standards.
•    Solid experience with digital technology. Experience with photo and video editing software.

Selection Criteria

•    Basic knowledge in video/photo editing.
•    Proficiency with audiovisual library systems and metadata standards.
•    Experience working with digital asset management systems.
•    Experience handling variety of audiovisual file formats.
•    Advanced University degree in Library Science, Archiving, Journalism, Public Relations, Communications, Photography or other relevant field, or First University degree with additional years of related work experience and/or trainings/courses.
•    Direct experience of writing captions, keywording.
•    Excellent interpersonal communication skills, ability to work with DAM contributors to improve/complete their content and to strengthen their ability to do so independently over time.
•    Experience in devising Database workflow, Data Governance, and Metadata schema.
•    Awareness of ethical issues in the context of audiovisual work and ability to deal sensitively with them. Ability to handle assets that contain sensitive and sometimes confidential information.
•    Awareness of legal issues in relation to audiovisual material.
•    Strong attention to detail, critical thinker, strong work ethic, and positive attitude while routinely exercising sound judgment
•    Self-sufficient, accountable and able to work autonomously with minimal supervision, proactively looking for ways to improve workflows and team efficiencies, and deadline oriented.
•    Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to explain processes and train colleagues.

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