Community Engagement Specialist

Organizational Setting

The cooperation between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Government of Ukraine has been designed to reinforce national capacities and to contribute to the broader development of agriculture, sustainable management of forests and fisheries, and animal and plant disease control. FAO is also contributing to building resilience and supporting early recovery in conflict-affected regions by supporting the economic recovery of farmers and rural communities. FAO’s presence in Ukraine has been scaled up across its five offices located in Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv and Dnipro under the overall responsibility of the Head of the FAO Office/Designated Responsible Officer in Ukraine.

The recent and large-scale escalation in hostilities in Ukraine is exacerbating the already dire food security situation of the most vulnerable rural households and small farmers. In response to the evolving situation, FAO Ukraine is scaling up its emergency humanitarian and resilience programming in conflict-affected areas of Ukraine, including previous areas of focus such as Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson; Lviv and Zakarpattia in the West; and newly affected and newly accessible areas. In order to address the rapidly deteriorating situation, FAO us guided by its Rapid Response Plan (RRP) that is aligned with the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) and the UN’s Transitional Framework for Ukraine land focuses on responding to immediate needs by providing life and livelihood-saving assistance to the most vulnerable smallholder farming households impacted by the conflict as well as to providing urgent support to the country’s agrifood sector which contributes to both national and international food security. Supporting the capacity of the Government of Ukraine to sustain critical food system services is also a key pillar of the Plan.

The role is in-office, based in Kharkiv.

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of Ukraine Head of Office and the Head of Programme, the direct supervision of the Programme Coordinator, in collaboration with the ARM Unit on its led activities, and in close coordination with the rest of the Mine Action and Land Rehabilitation Programme Team, the Community Engagement Specialist will be responsible for ensuring the effective engagement of programme stakeholders, collaborating closely with the ARM unit on activities under its lead.

Technical Focus

Community engagement and programmatic communications are critical for ensuring that farmers in mine-affected areas adopt safe agricultural practices, participate in programme activities, and benefit from land rehabilitation support. The Specialist will support with conducting community mobilization sessions, and supporting beneficiary outreach and data collection focus, as well as support with implementing the communications plan for the Mine Action team, and liaising with the Communications Team to facilitate the production of relevant communication materials. This role is programmatically focused, ensuring that communication and community engagement are fully integrated into project implementation to foster behaviour change, community ownership, and effective participation in Mine Action initiatives.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Support the implementation of the Mine Action programme's internal communications plan by liaising between units to ensure accurate and timely sharing of information and production of content that directly enables programme delivery.
• Translate complex technical information from agronomists, land rehabilitation specialists, and survey teams into accessible, plain-language content for farmers and local stakeholders, including key messages, briefs, summaries, and guidance notes.
• Develop outreach materials tailored to affected communities by drafting key messages, short video scripts, brochures, and social media content. Serve as the primary point of coordination with the FAO Ukraine Communications Unit for final production, quality review, and dissemination of all Mine Action communication products.
• Develop community engagement sessions using behaviour change communication principles, tracking adoption of safe agricultural practices among target beneficiaries
• Support procurement activities as outlined in the MA 2026 Communications Plan (raising PRs, finalizing POs)
• Support the field coordination and community mobilization for ARM-led farming community surveys (e.g., needs assessments, impact assessments) by facilitating community liaison and providing feedback on questionnaire accessibility for local contexts.
• Ad-hoc translation and interpretation support may be provided where operationally required but does not constitute a primary function of this role.
• Maintain a dedicated and structured liaison relationship with the FAO Ukraine Communications Unit, coordinating inputs, review cycles, and production timelines for all Mine Action communication materials in line with the MA 2026 Communications Plan.
• Provide logistical and coordination support for project activities including workshops, training sessions, stakeholder consultations, and field visits, ensuring necessary materials and resources are prepared and available.
• Document community feedback, concerns, and lessons learned during field visits and engagement sessions, providing structured reports to the programme team to inform adaptive management and future programme design.
• Support the drafting of project progress and donor reports coordinated by the ARM Unit, preparing concise inputs on community engagement activities and contributing narrative content as required, summarizing key outcomes, challenges, and success stories.
• Contribute to the beneficiary data collection and verification process led by the ARM Unit, by developing clear communication materials and guidance that help farmers understand how to update their information and apply for programme support.
• Provide project-level implementation updates and community engagement data to the ARM Unit to support the tracking of output and outcome indicators across active projects.
• Maintain good understanding of contractual commitments (what do we need to deliver, what are needs, what money do we have)
• Perform any other related duties as required to support the effective implementation of the Mine Action and Land Rehabilitation Programme.

FAO Standards and guidelines:

• Liaison with OCC will be maintained, either directly or through an agreed focal point/coordinator, to ensure compliance with OCC standards, aligned messaging, and appropriate review and clearance processes.
• All communication materials will follow FAO clearance processes and comply with FAO standards, including:
  FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31: https://www.fao.org/strategic-framework/en    
  FAO social media policy and guidelines: https://www.fao.org/2/socialmedia    
  Social Media Branding Guidelines: https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/cb5044en   
  FAOSTYLE https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/cb8081en    
  FAO terminology http://www.fao.org/faoterm    
  FAO Names of Countries https://www.fao.org/nocs/en       
  Story guidelines, Story template, UN map standards, FAO logo policy and related branding guidelines (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 Communications, Journalism, Development Studies, Rural Development, Agriculture, Social Sciences, or a related technical field relevant to community engagement and programme communications.
• At least three (3) years of relevant professional experience in programme communications, community engagement, behaviour change communication, or supporting implementation of development or humanitarian projects.
• Working knowledge (Level C or native) of English and working knowledge (Level C or native) of Ukrainian
• National of Ukraine

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Experience in drafting communication materials, translating technical information into accessible content, and coordinating with technical and/or communications teams.
• Graphic design skills and familiarity with basic design tools.
• Good knowledge of MS Office applications and ability to use information systems/databases for data entry, extraction, and reporting.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex technical information (e.g., agronomic, land rehabilitation, survey data) into clear, structured, plain-language communication products tailored to non-technical audiences.
• Field experience in humanitarian, recovery, or mine-affected contexts will be considered an advantage.
• Advanced-level degree will be considered an advantage.
• Able to work under pressure and adapt to an evolving and complex humanitarian context and within multidisciplinary and different cultural background teams.
• Team player with good interpersonal skills, and facilitation/motivational skills.
• Ability to work under pressure to tight timelines and without direct supervision.
• Knowledge of humanitarian principles.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION