Knowledge and Community Specialist (2 year renewable contract)

The World Economic Forum, committed to improving the state of the world, is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.

Team description

The Forum engages the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. Together with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Forum is part of the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation, a pioneering global initiative to bring together government donor support with business community skills and experience to accelerate the implementation of trade facilitation reforms that deliver commercially meaningful impact, growth and development.

Reporting lines and interactions

The role is based in Geneva within the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation team. The incumbent reports to the Knowledge and Community Lead, Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation. Internally, he/she works with colleagues in the Alliance team based at the Forum and International Trade and Investment Centre for Regions, Trade and Geopolitics. Externally, he/she works with a broad range of stakeholders, including Alliance host organisations and implementing partners, private sector partners, donors, universities, and multilateral and non-governmental organisations.

Breakdown of main responsibilities:

Community engagement within the Forum team at the Alliance is about supporting the delivery of the Alliance’s objectives through building, maintaining and deepening relationships with public and private stakeholders. The Knowledge and Community Specialist will focus on leveraging the Forum’s networks and capabilities in order to deepen and widen the Alliance’s relationships with stakeholders that are key to its success: global business partners, donor and beneficiary governments, and international organizations. Specifically, the Knowledge and Community Specialist performs the following key functions:

Engage stakeholders through the Forum’s networks:

• In close collaboration with the Partnerships team at ICC, identify priority target companies within the Forum’s networks for Alliance membership, and coordinate the outreach (coordination of calls, meetings, preparation of materials, identifying opportunities for engagement through Forum meetings, communications, etc)
• Work closely with colleagues in the Forum’s regional teams to identify and coordinate high-level engagement with governments in order to support the development and implementation of Alliance projects, and to support the work of regional teams by sharing the Alliance’s content and impact.
• Build networks with a range of platforms and initiatives across the Forum in order to create concrete linkages with the Alliance’s work. For example, this includes fostering and maintaining connections with Forum teams working on supply chain issues, climate action, the humanitarian agenda, food security, and other areas with potential synergies to the Alliance's work.
• Coordinate the Alliance’s sessions and engagement at events and meetings organized by the Forum, including the Annual Meeting.

Internal reporting and communications:

• Maintain and grow the Alliance’s visibility within the Forum by proactively updating our content and key information on Forum sites, including Salesforce, WeLink, and Toplink
• Update and maintain key Alliance tracking tools, including the community engagement tracker, stakeholder engagement tracker, public-private dialogue tracker, and events calendar, to ensure accurate and up-to-date information for effective planning and decision-making
• Coordinate Alliance contributions to internal reporting and communications, including inputs for Trade & Investment platform highlight reports, newsletters, and LinkedIn posts
• Coordinate inputs for Alliance monthly, quarterly and annual reports

Support the Alliance’s engagement with donors, beneficiary countries and the trade facilitation community:

• Support the Alliance’s outreach to the trade community including through trade-related events. Key areas of work will include:
• Coordinate Alliance participation (registrations, preparation and submission of papers & presentations, engagement with partners, speakers) in WTO TF Committee meetings and other WTO events (Ministerial Conferences, Public Forum, Aid for Trade review)
• Coordinate Alliance participation in other IO events and meetings (e.g. UNCTAD, ITC, UNECE)
• Support the coordination of the Alliance’s engagement with donor and beneficiary governments’ missions in Geneva.

Support on Knowledge and Mainstreaming

• Support the knowledge and mainstreaming function, as required. For example, through supporting background research and assist in organizing the development of research studies, papers, and tools, supporting the sharing and external dissemination of Alliance Lessons Learned

Preferred requirements and experience:

• Master’s degree in business, international affairs or related discipline; understanding of international trade is an asset.
• Minimum of 3 years’ professional experience in an international environment; experience in international organizations is an asset.
• Experience of Forum systems and procedures for constituent engagement and the organization of Forum events is a plus.
• Experience with relationship-building and stakeholder management;
• Excellent communication skills and command of English; fluency in another language relevant to the Alliance portfolio is a plus.
• Team-player who enjoys working in a highly collaborative environment.
• Strong analytical and organizational skills.
• Mastery of Microsoft Office (PowerPoint, Excel, Word); experience with Salesforce a plus.
• Motivated self-starter who is comfortable working in ambiguous environments requiring strong adaptability.

Why work at the Forum:

The Forum believes that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to improve the state of the world by building awareness and cooperation, shaping mindsets and agendas, and driving collective action. Join us and become a driver for positive change!