JOB DESCRIPTION
| Job Title: | Communications Assistant |
|---|---|
| Division/Programme: | Polynesia Regional Office |
| Location: | Nuku'alofa, Tonga |
| Reporting to: | Polynesian Regional Office Director |
| Number of Direct Reports: | 0 |
| Purpose of Role: | The Communications Assistant supports the Polynesia Regional Office (PRO) in planning, coordinating and delivering high-quality communications and visibility activities that strengthen SPC's impact across Polynesian member countries and territories. The position will identify, develop and disseminate compelling stories, multimedia products and communications that showcase SPC's work, promote regional priorities and enhance engagement with governments, partners, donors, media and communities. The role also supports regional events, digital communications, media engagement and member visibility initiatives, ensuring alignment with SPC's corporate communications standards. The role has a public-awareness and visibility mandate: to build broad recognition and understanding of SPC and PRO across SPC'S membership, reaching communities, schools, young people, governments, development partners and other stakeholders. |
| Date: | September 2026 |
Organisational Context and Organisation Chart
The Pacific Community (SPC) is the principal scientific and technical organisation in the Pacific region, supporting development since 1947. We are an international development organisation owned and governed by our 27 country and territory members. In pursuit of sustainable development to benefit Pacific people, our organisation works across more than 20 sectors. We are known for our knowledge and innovation in such areas as fisheries science, public health, geoscience, and conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.
The Regional Offices (ROs) in SPC exist to support the delivery of SPC services across its membership. The intention of the sub-regional offices is to have a geographical focus and ultimately having more 'localised' expertise available across all SPC programmes.
The PRO, the newest regional office for SPC, will lead on strengthening engagement and relationships with members towards better coordination, planning and delivery of regional programmes and services across the Polynesia sub-region. This includes strengthening integrated programming efforts and development of
strategic approaches to country programming in Polynesian countries to increase sustainable development impacts and results for SPC members in particular progressing their Sustainable Development Goals. As part of programming, the work of PRO will also facilitate the harmonisation of approaches and contextualised models for programme execution in Polynesia.
The PRO, the newest regional office for SPC, will lead on strengthening engagement and relationships with members towards better coordination, planning and delivery of regional programmes and services across the Polynesia sub-region.
Key Result Areas (KRAs):
The performance requirements of the Key Result Areas are broadly described below
| Jobholder is accountable for | Jobholder is successful when |
|---|---|
| Content development and storytelling (40%) - Working closely with the Regional Director to contribute in developing a Polynesia sub-regional content plan aligned with PRO priorities, member engagement objectives and SPC corporate communications campaigns. - Assisting with public-awareness campaigns and creative initiatives that make SPC and PRO relevant, accessible and memorable to different audiences, including schools, youth, communities, government and development partners. - Identifying and documenting stories and achievements across Polynesian countries and territories. - Producing communications products including feature stories, news articles, media releases in formats that strengthen SPC and PRO brand recognition. | - A consistent pipeline of high-quality communications products showcases SPC's work across Polynesia. - Member impacts are effectively translated into compelling stories and visibility products. - Regional content regularly contributes to SPC-wide communications campaigns and corporate communications outputs. - Communications materials meet corporate standards and are published within agreed timelines. - SPC and PRO have a consistent, recognisable and memorable public presence across Polynesia, with content reaching audiences beyond traditional government and development-sector networks. - Awareness activities are organised regularly and attract participation from youth, communities and other target audiences. |
| - Organising awareness activities including school quiz competitions and other youth/community initiatives, to increase knowledge of SPC's role, work and contribution in Polynesia. - Contributing to a planned stream of daily or weekly digital content to maintain a consistent and recognisable SPC/PRO presence. - Ensuring technical and programme information is translated into accessible, audience-focused communications products. - Contributing regional content to SPC internet, intranet and social media platforms by using SPC-established communications workflows, platforms, content repositories and planning systems. | - Daily/weekly digital content is delivered consistently, with appropriate use of formats. - Audience reach, engagement and awareness of SPC/PRO are monitored and used to improve future content and campaigns. |
|---|---|
| Media relations and engagement (25%) - Building and maintaining relationships with media and communications focal points to secure regular opportunities for SPC/PRO visibility across Polynesia. - Monitoring regional media coverage and identifying proactive opportunities to enhance SPC visibility. - Maintaining a media engagement calendar (radio, television, digital, key events, international days or member priorities). - Supporting the preparation of media releases, key messages, speaking points and briefing notes or public-information segments that explain SPC's work and bring SPC/PRO closer to communities. - Liaising with government communications offices, regional organisations and partners on joint communications initiatives. - Coordinate with SCOPE on sensitive, crisis related or reputational communications, media enquiries, high-level announcements and content requiring corporate clearance. | - SPC achieves regular, positive and targeted media coverage across Polynesian member countries with content tailored to community and public audiences. - Media requests are coordinated efficiently and professionally. - Regional stakeholders have increased awareness of SPC programmes and achievements. - Increased public understanding of SPC's work, areas of expertise and contribution to Polynesian development. - Strong working relationships are maintained with national and regional media, enabling proactive rather than only reactive coverage. |
| Regional engagement and member visibility (15%) - Producing event materials including programmes, presentations, signage, social media coverage and post-event communications products. - Coordinating photography, videography and branding requirements for regional events. - Supporting an annual SPC Day or SPC Week and other public engagement initiatives in | - Regional events are supported by effective communications and visibility plans. - Event-related communications products are delivered on time. - SPC branding and donor visibility requirements are consistently met. - Communications increase engagement and audience reach. |
| collaboration with members and SPC programmes. - Organising opportunities such as 'A Day with the Regional Director' to connect SPC leadership with students, communities, media, government and stakeholders. - Organising Development Partner Talanoa sessions and stakeholder engagement activities to strengthen relationships, information-sharing and visibility of SPC. - Supporting community-level, school-level and stakeholder-level engagement activities that explain what SPC does, how members can access SPC expertise and how SPC contributes to development priorities. | - SPC Day/Week and other public engagement initiatives are delivered with strong participation and visibility. - Stakeholder engagement activities are held regularly and generate stronger awareness, collaboration and connections around SPC's work. - SPC's work is visible and understandable from community and school level through to senior government and development-partner level. |
|---|---|
| Corporate Communications and One SPC Alignment (10%) - Supporting implementation of SPC corporate communications policies, branding standards and One SPC communications approaches within the region. - Coordinating communications inputs from SPC programmes, SCOPE and other communications focal points to ensure public-facing campaigns, awareness activities and content remain aligned with One SPC messaging and corporate priorities. - Supporting internal communications and regular contributions to the SPC intranet. - Contributing to SPC-wide campaigns, commemorative days and strategic communications initiatives. - Maintaining simple communications performance tracking. - Participate in SCOPE communications planning, networks/Communities of Practice and coordination with divisional communications teams. | - PRO's public-facing communications are consistent with One SPC standards while remaining relevant to Polynesian audiences. - Communications products consistently meet SPC quality and branding standards. - Effective coordination occurs between the Regional Office, SCOPE and programme communications focal points. - The Polynesia Regional Office is recognised as an active contributor to SPC-wide communications efforts. - Communications performance is regularly reviewed to refine content, campaigns and audience engagement. |
| Other Administration (10%) - Supporting routine PRO administration, including filing, records management, finance-related administrative tasks, tax refund documentation, procurement and processing of routine administrative paperwork. - Providing administrative and logistical support for meetings, missions, venue/logistics coordination and follow-up. - Maintaining contact lists, media lists, stakeholder records, content schedules. - Assist with travel, accommodation, meeting arrangements, correspondence, document preparation and other administrative tasks as requested by the Regional Director or PRO team. | - All other tasks are completed. |
|---|
The above performance requirements are provided as a guide only. The precise performance measures for this job will need further discussion between the jobholder and supervisor as part of the performance development process.
Most Challenging Duties Typically Undertaken (Complexity):
- Coordinating communications across multiple programmes and member countries while maintaining a coherent One SPC narrative.
- Translating highly technical and scientific information into engaging content for diverse audiences.
- Working across geographically dispersed island countries with varying communications capacity, infrastructure and media environments.
- Building and maintaining relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders.
- Managing competing priorities and short deadlines.
- Capturing and demonstrating the impact of integrated SPC programming at country and regional levels.
Functional Relationships & Relationship Skills:
| Key internal and/or external contacts | Nature of the contact most typical |
|---|---|
| External Key external contacts are: - Government - Regional and local media - Members and project's partners - Communications suppliers (designers, videographers, photographers) | - Liaising, collaborating, promoting. |
| Internal Key internal contacts are: - Regional Director - PRO - SCOPE | - Implementing, assisting, collaborating, reporting |
| - SPC technical and scientific staff |
|---|
Level of Delegation:
Routine Expenditure Budget: 0
Budget Sign off Authority without requiring approval from direct supervisor: 0
Personal Specification:
Qualifications
| Essential: | Desirable: |
|---|---|
| - Tertiary qualification (e.g. diploma) in communications, journalism, digital media, marketing, business, international development or a related field, or equivalent body of knowledge and experience. | - Degree in Communications or similar. |
Knowledge/Experience
| Essential: | Desirable: |
|---|---|
| - 5 years professional experience in communications or closely related sector - Experience in content creation across multiple digital platforms. - Knowledge in translating technical or scientific information for non-specialist audiences. - Good interpersonal and communication skills, and ability to work effectively in a cross-cultural environment. - Understanding of Pacific regional development contexts, cultural values, and communications sensitivities. - Proven ability to coordinate communications activities across multiple stakeholders. - Ability to multi-task and work on multiple initiatives concurrently. - Strong working knowledge of English (spoken and written). | - Experience in the development sector, international organisation or a related context. - Knowledge of a Pacific Island language would be advantageous |
Key Skills/Attributes/Job Specific Competencies
The following levels would typically be expected for the 100% fully effective level:
| Expert level | - Content development and translation of technical information into impactful communications - Organisational and logistic skills |
|---|
| - Prioritising and task coordination - Design skills for graphics, photography and visual layouts. Writing - English proficiency | |
|---|---|
| Advanced level | - Digital communications planning and execution - Meticulous attention to detail - Brand compliance and quality assurance - Stakeholder coordination and relationship management |
| Working knowledge | - Vendor/publications workflow coordination, including design file management and production tracking - SPC brand standards and One SPC coordination - Monitoring and reporting on communications performance (KPIs), especially on social media - Digital tools |
| Awareness | - SPC Regulations and Policies |
Key Behaviours
All employees are measured against the following *Key Behaviours** as part of Performance Development:*
- Change and Innovation
- Interpersonal Skills
- Teamwork
- Promotion of Equity and Equality
- Judgement
Personal Attributes
- High level of professional integrity and ethics
- Friendly demeanor
- Demonstrated high level commitment to customer service
Change to Job Description:
From time to time it may be necessary to consider changes in the job description in response to the changing nature of the work environment – including technological requirements or statutory changes. Such change may be initiated as necessary by SPC. This Job Description may also be reviewed as part of the preparation for performance planning for the annual performance cycle.
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