UN Women: Communication Specialist

Background

The duration of the assignment is until 31 December 2024. Whereas an external candidate will be offered a temporary appointment; subject to release agreements, staff members in UN Women may be administered as a temporary assignment and staff members in the UN Common system may be administered under a loan arrangement.

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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations System efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

The Policy, Programme, and Intergovernmental Division (PPID) is responsible for providing the vision and strategic direction on UN Women’s programmes and policy initiatives globally and integrated support to regional and country offices. UN Women’s engagement with International Geneva reflects the deep partnership between the UN System and Switzerland, and an evolving ecology of international assistance and development. UN Women, as the recognized leader within the UN System for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, partners with Geneva-based UN Agencies and Organizations to leverage UN-System wide resources and capabilities. UN Women Geneva presence is focused on invigorating its role in this vibrant network and contributing essential knowledge and influence to catalyze progress in line with international commitments and agreed-upon standards for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls across the fields of humanitarian action, human rights, disaster risk reduction, economic empowerment, as well as peace and security. Some of the main goals of the office are:

• Lead the United Nations System commitment to gender equality, women’s empowerment, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a new way that leverages the powerful complementarity of normative, coordination and operational elements of the organization’s mandate; and ensure linkages across the humanitarian-development and peace/resilience agenda.
• Influence normative, inter-governmental decision-making processes to incorporate a gender perspective in the resolutions of the Human Rights Council and other relevant mechanisms and platforms, increasing collaboration among UN Women’s partners and stakeholders including member states, UN agencies and civil society organizations.
• Catalyze results for advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment commitments in sudden onset humanitarian emergencies and protracted crises through UN Women’s membership in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance.

In 2023, a record 339 million people need humanitarian assistance – a significant increase from 274 million people at the beginning of 2022.[1] Across humanitarian contexts, the gendered impacts of crises are starkly evident, and too often ignored. In recognition of this, there is a sustained call for UN Women to strengthen its role in the humanitarian system, particularly in light of its ascension to the IASC in October 2022.

UN Women’s Humanitarian Strategy 2022-2025 guides its response to the world’s most complex humanitarian crises, seeking to leverage its triple mandate to support humanitarian actors deliver for women and girls. Through this strategy,

UN Women seeks to:

• Facilitate the integration of gender equality, and the leadership of crisis affected women, into the coordination and implementation of UN-led humanitarian and refugee responses, to strengthen accountability to gender in humanitarian action commitments (Gender in Humanitarian Action coordination); and
• Strengthen protection and livelihood support to crisis-affected women and girls.

Strengthening strategic communications on gender impacts of humanitarian crises and UN Women’s approaches and partnerships is included as a top priority in the operational plan guiding the implementation of UN Women’s humanitarian strategy during the last two years of the Global Strategic Plan.

Under the guidance and direct supervision of director of UNWOMEN Geneva/Chief of Humanitarian section, the communication specialist will lead the communication and advocacy activities of the UNWOMEN Geneva office and 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. The Communications Specialist also collaborates with RO/MCO and CO colleagues to support outreach campaigns, resource mobilization and donor relations initiatives with a strong focus on sudden onset emergencies and protracted displacement/humanitarian crises; The Communication Specialist mobilizes support in conjunction with intergovernmental processes and support the activities and special events organized for UN Women.

[1] OCHA (2022). Global Humanitarian Overview 2023. https://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-humanitarian-overview-2023-enaresfr.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Lead the development and implementation of communication and outreach/advocacy strategies and plans, with a specific focus on media, including on communications in humanitarian crises

• Conduct communication needs assessments for UNWOMEN Geneva office hosted thematic programme areas 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;
• Monitor and analyze print and social media and prepare reports;
• Launch in-country UN Women/ UN system corporate and local/regional campaigns and special events;
• Provide advice and guidance to and coordinate with programme managers and team leads on the programme /project specific communication tools & strategies.

2. Lead the development and dissemination of advocacy materials in the UNWOMEN Geneva office with focus -among other areas- on UN Women’s humanitarian programming in relation to GIHA coordination and service delivery as well as partnerships with local actors, including local women led organizations

• Develop and produce communication and advocacy instruments and materials, including briefing materials, press releases, and articles and coordinate its dissemination through effective channels;
• Identify and launch information opportunities, activities, approaches and platforms and partners;
• Provide advice on advocacy materials and coordinate launching 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 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.

3. Manage media relations for the UNWOMEN Office

• Lead relationship building with press in country; maintain and update database of relevant press;
• Respond timely and clearly to media inquiries and to a variety of inquiries and information requests; prepare related correspondence; identify topics, background information, news-related development and coverage of interest;
• Organize roundtable discussions, press conferences, and briefing sessions with press;
• Facilitate interviews with senior managers; connect media with UN Women subject experts;
• Finalize talking points.

4. Build and maintain partnerships and maintain relations with donors

• Identify and develop new communication partnerships and alliances to enhance visibility; manage and nurture existing partnerships including ensuring visibility of UN Women’s approaches, results and partnerships in humanitarian settings;
• 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;
• Submit packages for programme initiatives for donor review.

5. Oversee the UNWOMEN Geneva office online presence

• Oversee and maintain UNWOMEN Geneva office websites and interanet page, including developing design and content;
• Coordinate the office web-presence in the line with corporate web policy;
• Oversee and manage Geneva office social media accounts in line with corporate social media policy.

6. Facilitate knowledge building and sharing

• Identify and synthesize best practices and lessons learned from UNWOMEN Geneva office directly linked to programme goals and activities and ensure exchange of information;
• Design and facilitate training on emergency communications also facilitating joint initiatives and dialogue with RO and CO communications specialists covering emergencies and humanitarian crisis contexts.
• Provide training and workshops on communication and advocacy as appropriate.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation.

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: https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values

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, including on aspects related to communicating in crisis contexts
• 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.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of professional work experience at national or international level in public relations, communications or advocacy, including in media relations;
• Experience in the use of social media;
• Experience in media relations is an asset.

Languages

• 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: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc. 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.