Senior External Affairs Officer

Senior External Affairs Officer

Description

• Lead the design and execution of a strategic stakeholder engagement plan that deepens relationships across government, private sector, development partners, civil society, academia, media, and youth.
• Build high-level partnerships that expand WBG influence and support reform momentum.
• Provide advice to the Division Director, Country Managers and operational teams on engagement strategies, political dynamics, and stakeholder risks.
• Serve as the senior liaison with national and subnational organizations, strengthening trust and enhancing the visibility of WBG programs.
• Convene dialogues and public forums that support policy discussions and amplify support for critical reforms.
• Lead proactive two-way communications, capturing insights and feeding them back into country strategy, operations, and narratives.
• Proactively identify, assess, and elevate stakeholder-driven issues with the potential to cause reputational risk for the World Bank Group. 

• Position the WBG as a strategic partner in Mozambique and the other four countries in the unit, articulating how the integrated public-private WBG helps to accelerate reforms and maximize development impact.
• Develop high-impact communications strategies that shape country and regional narratives around jobs, private-sector-led growth, resilience, energy security, and institutional reform.
• Develop and manage a suite of marketing products including strong client testimonials to inform outreach to prospects (governments, companies) and partners; success stories; reform overviews showing progress; strategic business narratives; case studies; thought-leadership products.
• Identify and elevate flagship projects, reform milestones, and success stories that demonstrate results and generate demand for WBG engagement.
• Lead engagement with communications counterparts in WBG private sector arms to highlight private capital mobilization and private-sector solutions messages in the country program.

• Lead the design and rollout of high-visibility advocacy campaigns that mobilize stakeholders around reform priorities and WBG-supported initiatives in Mozambique.
• Coordinate participation in regional and global advocacy efforts by localizing messages and providing examples from the countries in the unit.
• Proactively profile the impact of the World Bank Group’s support in Mozambique, Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles showcasing development results across media, stakeholder engagement, and WBG platforms.
• Ensure consistent, selective, and strategically targeted messaging across all channels.
• Oversee production of speeches, op-eds, press releases, talking points, and multimedia content with high standards of clarity and quality.
• Translate complex policy and technical concepts into compelling, accessible narratives for diverse audiences.
• Strengthen the country office’s capacity to deliver impactful campaigns and digital storytelling.

• Anticipate, identify, and assess emerging political or reputational risks and proactively manage issues that may affect WBG engagement in Mozambique.
• Provide timely, senior-level advice to the Division Director and Country Managers, ECR management, and regional leadership on risk exposure, positioning, and response options.
• Maintain and contribute to weekly reputational risk report, ensure heatmap entries are up to date. Develop issue notes, one-minute briefs, scenario plans and other materials as needed.
• Lead mitigation strategies for sensitive operations and high-profile issues and inspection panel cases, ensuring coordinated institutional responses.
• Lead mitigation and response strategies for sensitive operations, high profile issues, and Inspection Panel cases, ensuring coordinated, institutionally aligned actions across WBG and ECR teams.
• Serve as the primary point of contact with ECR’s regional and corporate risk teams to ensure alignment, speed, and consistency of responses.
• Provide analysis on political developments that may have implications for WBG engagement.
• Facilitate political economy briefings from external experts for the Country Office, on issues including elections, governance and sectoral developments related to the Bank’s program.
• Guide media engagement and manage high-stakes inquiries with discretion and sound judgment.
• Review key corporate documents (for Operational Committee, OVP, IPN, etc.) for messaging, stakeholder issues, and reputational risk and provide written comments if needed. 

• Lead efforts towards a unified WBG narrative and leverage cross-institutional opportunities, by ensuring that both public and private perspectives/impact are reflected
• Maintain equal and solid understanding of IBRD, IDA, IFC and MIGA operations in the team under supervision, if any.
• Drive innovation in communications through creative approaches—such as content partnerships, influencer engagement, dissemination via key partner and client channels, third-party expert voices, digital storytelling, and data-driven communications—to amplify strategic campaigns.
• Represent the region in global ECR initiatives, contributing to professional development, best practices, and WBG-wide priorities.
• Mentor—and sometimes supervise —junior staff and contribute to strengthening capacity across the regional communications network.
• Support ECR management efforts to drive integration of communications function across WBG through active team collaboration, delivery against joint objectives, implementation of joint systems and processes.

Selection Criteria

• We require a relevant mix of education and experience: Master’s degree with 8 years of experience or equivalent combination of education and experience in a relevant discipline (communication, journalism, public affairs, international affairs, or other related fields).
• Experience working in an international environment and in-depth knowledge of international trends and political/economic issues related to development.
• Knowledge of and experience working in Mozambique, in government and/or public institutions, or other entities – private sector, business associations, CSOs, think tanks and other key local actors.
• An understanding of WBG operations; up-to-date knowledge of current development topics and issues, and ability to identify communications and reputation-related risks and opportunities in an international environment.
• Demonstrated political awareness and ability to diplomatically handle sensitive situations with target audiences and to otherwise cultivate effective, productive client relationships and partnerships.
• Experience working with senior executives including experience of managing reputational risks and issues, messaging, stakeholder engagement, and media engagement; and ability to think strategically and rapidly analyze diverse information from varied sources.
• Excellent English and Portuguese language skills and proficiency to write and edit complex communications products for purposeful structure, clarity of ideas, and logical, persuasive presentation, in an accessible way to different audiences.
• Knowledge of French and a local language of the region is advantageous.
• Demonstrated ability and the necessary personal organization skills to multitask, take initiative, personal ownership, and accountability to meet deadlines, work under pressure, and achieve agreed-upon results.
• Established network of media, government and broader stakeholder relationships in the region, or demonstrated ability to quickly build and maintain trusted relationships across government, private sector, and civil society to support strategic communications and advocacy.
• Demonstrated experience managing communications vendors and service providers—including designers, photographers, videographers, and digital content producers—ensuring quality, timeliness, and alignment with institutional standards and branding guidelines
•  Knowledge of digital content platforms and tools. Intermediate digital skills, including the ability to take high-quality photographs, draft social media posts, and produce or oversee production of basic visual and multimedia content.
• Teamwork orientation with strong diplomatic and interpersonal skills, and sensitivity to working in a multicultural environment.
• WBG culture attributes: Sense of urgency; Thoughtful risk-taking; Empowerment and accountability.
  

WBG Culture Attributes:

1. Sense of urgency: Anticipate and quickly respond to the needs of internal and external stakeholders.
2. Thoughtful risk-taking: Challenge the status quo and push boundaries to achieve greater impact.
3. Empowerment and accountability: Empower yourself and others to act and hold each other accountable for results.

World Bank Group Core Competencies

The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

Learn more about working at the World Bank and IFC including our values and inspiring stories.

HOW TO APPLY

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