Communications Officer
World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA), Belgium

The World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) is a global not-for-profit professional organisation representing family doctors from 110 countries and territories (www.globalfamilydoctor.com).

We are looking for a Communications Officer to work for the Secretariat of WONCA based in Avenue des Arts, Brussels. We seek a highly motivated individual, with a strong ‘can-do’ attitude and positive mentality.

You will have the opportunity to work for a not-for-profit organisation with a mission to improve the quality of life of the peoples of the world by promoting the development of primary healthcare and family medicine globally.

As our Communications Officer, you will lead the development and execution of WONCA’s media engagement plans, ensuring innovative and effective communication strategies. Reporting to the CEO, you'll play a pivotal role in enhancing our global presence through diverse media channels.

1. Strategic/planning role

• Contributing to the development and update of WONCA’s Communication Strategy and developing an aligned work plan;
• Leading the development of strategic external communications that are adapted to diverse media channels;
• Seeking opportunities for media engagement and investigating ways to reach a wider member and stakeholder base;
• Monitoring emerging trends in communications and media channels, identifying opportunities for WONCA, and leading implementation of the organisation’s response;
• Developing and updating guidelines and standard operating procedures.

2. Editorial role

• Drafting statements, articles, press releases and other relevant materials for international media and key events (e.g., World Health Assembly);
• Commissioning and editing items for WONCA’s Newsletter (WONCA News), circulating at least 10 editions per year, and forward-planning the editorial calendar;
• Compiling the organisation’s weekly newsletter;
• Proofreading and editing documents written in English and improving their readability and appeal to a wide audience globally.

3. Curating the website and social media channels

• Designing and delivering campaigns and advocacy work, produce visual content by developing infographics, presentations, lay-outs and other visuals;
• Effectively using social media to push campaign messaging and engage audiences;
• Managing and updating WONCA’s website (www.globalfamilydoctor.com) including:
• Uploading items of news and other material as it come to hand;
• Actively seeking to maintain currency of pages that change frequently (e.g., those related to conferences or WONCA groups);
• Maintaining relationships with WONCA’s internal stakeholders to ensure content updating.
• Assessing its quality and making proposals for improving the contents, structure, taxonomy, navigation and user experience.
• Designing and organising WONCA’s communications and the booth at its events with a focus on visual and promotional content.

4. Quality assurance

• Reviewing content and ensuring that communications outputs are consistent, impactful and high quality according to WONCA’s quality guidelines and visual identity;
• Monitoring and evaluating the impact of the communication actions.

5. General

• Closely cooperating with other officers and providing support for other tasks as required;
• Participating in Secretariat meetings;
• Participating when necessary in Executive meetings;
• Attending some of WONCA’s Conferences.
• Be prepared to travel internationally for the organisation.

Requirements

• Proven experience in communications and/or journalism, previous work on social media and good knowledge of global and regional social media;
• Bachelor’s degree;
• Fluency in English language (CEFR C2 level in writing, reading and speaking; a certificate is desirable);
• Advanced knowledge of other languages, especially of Spanish, is an asset;
• Excellent drafting skills and ability to write compelling and engaging communication and policy messages;
• Ability to post messages with multimedia content in a variety of social media and networks;
• Ability to manage and engage with online communities;
• Good knowledge of methodologies of how to assess the impact of social media and of development and analysis of communication performance indicators;
• Competent with managing content (e.g., articles) with Content Management Systems;
• Ability to use an image editor (such as Photoshop, Canva);
• Basic skills in vector and layout editing with programs like Illustrator, InDesign or Canva, and ability and willingness to learn and imp

Job Rewards and Benefits