Communications Specialist

Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

In the East and Southern Africa Region (ESAR), UN Women has a presence in 12 countries namely: Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa (Multi Country Office), South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The Multi Country Office covers Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU) countries namely: Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland. The Office in Ethiopia is both a Country Office for Ethiopia and a Liaison Office to the African Union and Economic Commission for Africa. The region has a Country Programme in Somalia. The East and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) in Nairobi oversees all the ESAR countries.

Reporting to the Regional Director (ESARO), the Communications Specialist will collaborate closely with the Headquarters, Regional, Multi-Country Office and Country Offices’ (RO/MCO/CO) colleagues to ensure communications strategies, media relations and organizational outreach efforts are aligned with corporate communications policies and initiatives.

Duties and Responsibilities

Lead the development and implementation of communication and outreach/advocacy strategies and plans for the region, including for MCOs and COs:

• Conduct communication needs assessments for Regional Office, including projects, programmes and corporate change initiatives.
• Design, develop, and implement communication and outreach/advocacy strategies, including media strategies; ensure gender perspective.
• Integrate communication, advocacy and outreach strategies into proposals for project/programmes and other initiatives.
• Participate in UN inter-agency Communications Group meetings and contribute to UN system efforts.
• Launch in-country UN Women/ UN system corporate and local/regional campaigns and special events.
• Provide advice and guidance to and coordinate with CO/ MCOs in the region.

Lead the development and dissemination of public advocacy materials for the region:

• Develop and produce communication and advocacy instruments and materials, including briefing materials, press releases, and articles and coordinate its dissemination through effective channels according to UN Women corporate standards.
• Identify and leverage opportunities, activities, approaches and platforms and partners.
• Provide advice on advocacy materials and coordinate launch of flagship initiatives and publications in the region.
• Lead the engagement and supervision of video producers and other communication specialists to produce audio/ visual material on UN Women’s regional work.
• Develop brochures, factsheets, stories from the field to inform media and general public at the regional level.
• Follow guidelines from and report to HQ.

Coordinate regional communication knowledge building and sharing initiatives:

• Coordinate with HQ Communications regularly, through meetings, updates and calls to ensure timely adaptation of corporate communications priorities.
• Attend trainings hosted by HQ Communications, to stay abreast of corporate policies and workflows.
• Ensure leadership and coordination from the Region to communications personnel in MCOs and COs in the region.
• Provide training and workshops on communication and advocacy as appropriate to MCOs and COs, based on corporate communications policies.
• Identify and synthesize best practices and lessons learned from RO, COs and MCOs ensure exchange of information.
• Monitor and analyze media, web and social media and prepare analytical reports.

Manage web, social media and news media relations for the Regional Office:

• Ensure media strategies are implemented in line with corporate guidelines to enhance the positioning of UN Women with the media, with a special focus on regional priority areas of concern.
• Lead relationship building with press in country; maintain and update database of relevant contact.
• Respond timely and clearly to media inquiries and to a variety of inquiries and information requests; identify impactful success stories/ issues, media talking points, news-related development, and coverage of interest.
• Facilitate interviews with senior and thematic managers; connect media with UN Women subject experts.
• Pitch and write impactful programme stories for corporate platforms: global website, social media channels regularly.
• Provide technical and coordination support to the expansion of UN Women’s Media Compact in the region.
• Organize press conferences, and press briefing sessions with internal experts and external partners.

Build and maintain communications and advocacy focused partnerships:

• Identify and develop new communication partnerships and alliances to enhance visibility; manage and nurture existing partnerships;
• Liaise with advocacy partners and undertake outreach to civil society organizations, governments, and other groups to ensure that newsworthy information reaches the public and donors;
• Guide and collaborate closely with communication colleagues in other offices to ensure consistency with corporate policies, messaging and initiatives;
• Provide inputs to resource mobilization leads with programme/ results-oriented communications.

Oversee the RO’s web/online presence and social media platforms:

• Oversee and maintain (regional) websites, including developing content regularly.
• Keep the RO’s web-presence updated and in the line with corporate web policy.
• Oversee and manage (regional) social media accounts in line with corporate social media policy.
• Coordinate the management of regional social media accounts in line with corporate social media policy or provides inputs to global corporate social media accounts.

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: The incumbent will lead a team of three personnel.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: 

Functional Competencies

• Ability to communicate sensitively, effectively, and creatively across different constituencies.
• Strong knowledge of managing web-based knowledge management systems.
• Strong understanding of production, graphic design, and photography standards.
• Strong knowledge of social media platforms and experience in social media outreach.
• Strong oral and written communication and editing skills.
• Strong communication, networking, and advocacy skills.
• Ability to provide advice and be strategic and analytical.
• Good knowledge of local country media landscape.
• Knowledge of gender and human rights issues is desirable.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in communications, public relations, journalism or relevant field is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• At least 5 years of professional work experience at national or international level in public relations, communications or advocacy, including in media relations is required.
• Experience in the use of social media is required.
• Experience in media relations is desirable.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from: . Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.