Background

The impact of the Syrian crisis on the development trajectory of countries in the region can easily span a decade. The magnitude of the conflict has not only led to a high loss of human life and massive population displacement both within and outside of Syria, but it has also destroyed the social, economic and political fabric and has seriously compromised the future of the country and the region.

The scale of the refugee influx and its impact on host countries calls for dedicated action, as coping mechanisms are stretched and resilience is eroding. There is increasing recognition amongst concerned governments and the international community that the crisis has begun to compromise development gains and that overall stability of many countries is at risk, as social tensions continue to increase, as evidenced by declining human development and growth trends, and increasing levels of vulnerabilities. The development loss is amplified in the sub-region, which is reliant on intra-regional trade and a vibrant private sector.

This requires long-term vision that guide short and medium term interventions and that generate immediate, concrete changes in lives of people affected by the crisis while simultaneously arresting development loss. Countries affected by the Syrian crisis are in the middle-income bracket, which suggests that there are domestic resources available and systems in place that international support can build upon.

The situation in the region is protracted and a more sustainable approach, utilizing the comparative advantages of UNHCR and UNDP is required to meet the identified needs and vulnerabilities of both refugees, host communities as well as national, sub-national and local institutions.

On 17 December 2013 UNDP and UNHCR signed a regional MOU in order to consolidate the cooperation between our two organizations, and to draw on the comparative advantages of humanitarian and development organizations in order to address the range of needs on a timely basis and at an appropriate scale.

One of the key elements of this partnership is the establishment of a UNDP-UNHCR Joint Secretariat that will support Country Offices by addressing knowledge gaps, and provide the required operational framework, and analytical and programmatic tools.

The Joint Secretariat is hosted in the UNDP Sub-Regional Response Facility to the Syria Crisis, under the Supervision of the UNDP Sub-Regional Coordinator (SRC) and management of the Policy & Coordination Specialist (PCS).

Duties and Responsibilities

Key Functions:

Under the Supervision of the Policy & Coordination Specialist (PCS) the Communication, Outreach and Reporting Specialist will produce a number of deliverables including products and services to support the work of the UNDP-UNHCR Joint Secretariat in the sub-region.

• Develop and implement an communications and outreach strategy in support of the visibility and resource mobilization efforts of the Joint Secretariat (JS) with strong focus on quality written materials and clear messaging
• Support to the JS events and activities to boost visibility and business development;
• Promotion and dissemination of corporate advocacy materials for launching flagship initiatives and knowledge products in coordination with relevant staff members;
• Review and edit all knowledge products and reports developed by the Joint Secretariat, this includes editing and fact checking as requested by the PCS;
• Management of digital media monitoring, archiving and dissemination system;
• Prepare communication and advocacy instruments including presentations, briefing material for dissemination to different audiences as need be in coordination with supervisor. These include, for instance, donor bulletins, brochures on key interventions, updated information leaflets, etc;
• Identification and development of storylines for publications and substantive articles contributing to debates on key development issues from across the sub-region;
• Timely and effective responses to inquiries to media as well as for public information materials;
•  Writing, editing and supervising translation of speeches and public statements for the Joint Secretariat;
•  Identification and synthesis of best practices and lessons learned directly linked to the JS implemented activities;
• Contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice including corporate communications repositories.
• Maintaining good working relationship with communication and public Information staff in involved UN agencies, and particularly with UNHCR and UNDP, and contributing to joint initiatives as required;
• Maintaining and populating organized and searchable digital databases for text and images;
• Compiling specialized media coverage press packages for initiatives and events as deemed necessary and planning dissemination to strategic target audiences.
• Contribute and coordinate the Joint Secretariat quarterly narrative report.
• Any other tasks assigned by the PCS .
  

Competencies

Functional Competencies

Advocacy/Advancing a Policy-Oriented Agenda

• Creates effective advocacy strategies;
• Contributes to the elaboration of advocacy strategies by identifying and prioritizing audiences and communication means;
• Uses the opportunity to bring forward and disseminate materials for advocacy work;
• Building Strategic Partnerships;
• Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing
• Makes the case for innovative ideas documenting successes and building them into the design of new approaches;
• Identifies new approaches and strategies that promote the use of communication tools and mechanisms.
  

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise

• Understands more advanced aspects of primary area of specialization as well as the fundamental concepts of related disciplines;
• Continues to seeks new and improved methods and systems for accomplishing the work of the unit;
• Keeps abreast of new developments in area of professional discipline and job knowledge and seeks to develop him/herself professionally;
• Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments;
• Excellent Arabic and English writing and editing skills and a demonstrated ability to clearly communicate development ideas and experiences;
• Develops promotional activities based on monitoring/evaluation information identifying areas requiring higher visibility;
• Develops messages for use by the JS staff when working with partners, internationally and nationally;
• Reviews documents and materials intended for use within and outside the organization in order to ensure consistency and validity of messages;
• Creates effective advocacy messages/strategies;
• Contributes to the elaboration of a advocacy strategy by identifying and prioritizing audiences and message.
• Conceptual Innovation in the Provision of Technical Expertise;
• Leverages different experiences and expertise of team members to achieve better and more innovative outcomes.
  

Client Orientation

• Anticipates client needs;
• Works towards creating an enabling environment for a smooth relationship between the clients and service provider;
• Demonstrates understanding of client’s perspective.

Core Competencies

• Promoting ethics and integrity, creating organizational precedents;
• Building support and political acumen;
• Building staff competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation;
• Building and promoting effective teams;
• Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication;
• Creating an emotionally intelligent organization;
• Sharing knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning. Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member;
• Fair and transparent decision making; calculated risk-taking.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

•  Master's degree in development communication, media relations, journalism, publishing or related fields.
  

Experience

• A minimum of 3 years of relevant experience at the national or international level in public relations, communications or advocacy;
• Previous experience with a multilateral or international organization is desired, especially within the UN system
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages, good knowledge and experience in handling of web-based management systems;
• Experience in conceptualizing and managing the production of printed materials, including detailed reports, is an advantage;
• Experience in developing video and photographic materials in-house and in commissioning films is an advantage.
• Demonstrated experience in designing and implementing communication and/or media outreach plans in support of overall corporate goals is desirable;
• Demonstrated experience in developing content that clearly communicates development ideas for media, web, print production, and audio-visual productions;
• Experience in editing knowledge product in both English and Arabic language is a strong advantage;
• Experience in overseeing translation work is an asset.

Language:

• Fluency in English and Arabic required

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information as one file to demonstrate their qualifications. Candidates that fail to submit the required information will not be considered.

•  Resume;
• Cover Letter (not more than 250 words);
• Daily and/or monthly rate on a lump-sum basis (financial proposal);
• Three professional references (emails and phone numbers) .
  

Financial Proposal 

The financial proposal shall specify a daily and/or monthly rate on a lump sum basis. Payment will be made in monthly installments.