UN Women: Communications Specialist, UN Women Myanmar, Bangkok, Thailand, P3, Temporary Appointment

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.

The UN Women Myanmar Country Office works towards enhancing women’s participation and leadership in decision-making in relief and recovery, including gender in humanitarian action in support of women and girls in Myanmar. The programme covers: gender data and research; community resilience and recovery; gender-based violence prevention and response and livelihoods.

The Communications Specialist will lead the development and implementation of the communications workplan in line with the Myanmar Country Office’s Communications Strategy, Strategic Note, and corporate standards geared towards increasing the outreach and visibility of contribution. The incumbent will also ensure that communications capacity is strengthened in collaboration with the United Nations Country Team to continue to position UN Women’s work and position UN Women’s mandate and advocate for gender equality and women’s empowerment in Myanmar.

Reporting to the Country Representative, the Communications Specialist will collaborate closely with the Headquarters, Regional and Country Office (RO/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 and CO colleagues to support outreach campaigns, resource mobilization and donor relations initiatives. The Communications Specialist is a resource person for the leadership team of Myanmar Country Office and is expected to provide strategic communications advice to the Representative and other members of the leadership team, both in political contexts and in the context of humanitarian emergencies, including support for rapid response to sudden onset emergencies.  The Communication Specialist mobilizes support in conjunction with intergovernmental processes and support the activities and special events organized for UN Women.

The position is currently based in Bangkok, Thailand due to challenges in obtaining Myanmar visas. When this is resolved, the location will be reviewed.

Key Functions and Accountabilities:

Lead the development and implementation of communication and outreach/advocacy strategies and plans, with a specific focus on media 
•     Conduct communication needs assessments for Country 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; 
•     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 Country Offices/Regional Office. 

Lead the development and dissemination of advocacy materials in the country 
•     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, implement, and monitor advocacy campaigns on issues related to Gender Empowerment and Women’s Economic Empowerment, with a specific focus on International Women’s Day, the HeForShe Campaign and the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence;  
•     Develop strategic communications content in support of the leadership team including in the context of sudden onset emergencies;
•     Develop brochures, factsheets, stories from the field to inform media and general public at the regional level; 
•     Follow guidelines from and report to HQ. 

Manage media relations for the Country 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.. 

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;  
•     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. 

Oversee the Country Office web/ online presence  
•     Oversee and maintain (regional) websites, including developing design and content; 
•     Coordinate Country Office web-presence in the line with corporate web policy; 
•     Manage the Country Office Annual Communication Strategy, develop content and ensure proper management/ monitoring of the CO/MCO website and social media channels; 
•     Oversee and manage (regional) social media accounts in line with corporate social media policy. 
 
Facilitate knowledge building and sharing 
•     Identify and synthesize best practices and lessons learned from Country Offices and Regional Office directly linked to programme country goals and activities and ensure exchange of information;  
•     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 Organization.
 

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: N/A

Competencies :

Core Values:

Core Competencies:

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

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 
 

Recruitment Qualifications

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 is required. 
•     Experience in the use of social media is required. 
•     Experience in media relations is desirable

Languages:

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

Statements :

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.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.