UNDP Jobs - 81343- Public Relations Professional, Water Business

Public Relations Professional, Water Business

Location :

Riyadh, SAUDI ARABIA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Dec-2018

Application Deadline :

21-Oct-18 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

1 Year Renewable

Languages Required :

Arabic English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

During the last years, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture (MEWA) initiated an ambitious program for the investigations of its major surface and groundwater resources, for the monitoring of these resources, for the study of hydrological resources (research side), and for the management of the resources (management side). While most of these tasks have been completed or are about to come to an end, the implementation of most of the necessary measures is in its very early stages and hampered by the increasing workload in the ministry. The still rapidly increasing population mainly counteracts the successes the Saudi government and MEWA have achieved in sustainable resources water management through its reforms. In addition, newer and more precise predictions of the effects of climate change indicate that Saudi Arabia will be affected more than had been assumed only a decade ago.

To make a transition from the current patterns of water administration to sound water management mode, two things must happen. First, there is strong need to strengthen the technical and organizational capacities of the MEWA to deal with the triple challenge of water exploitation and distribution (operational side), research for additional resources and cutting-edge technologies to satisfy the increasing demand (research side), and rigid control and administration of all water-related aspects (control side). Second, a sound information base covering data on groundwater availability, quality, withdrawal, and usage is about to be put in place.

The transformation of this information into an all-encompassing water resources management requires sustained long-term efforts, especially since the MEWA has limited capacity and experience in this field. An UNDP program has been designed to initiate a systematic process of capacity development to help in sustainable development of water resources and management of water-related affairs the Kingdom to ensure permanent and sufficient supply. The program has five pillars: Groundwater Resources Management; Secondary Water Resources; Water Supply Management; Public Relations; and Capacity Building, each represented by a working group.

Duties and Responsibilities

The tasks and responsibilities of the UNDP Expert are to:

Establish and maintain social media accounts for the Undersecretaries of Water Affairs.
Exert quality control on MEWA publications before their distribution to corresponding media and the public.
Monitor public trends and the general opinion on Deputy-Ministry for Water Affairs activities.
Induce positive attitudes towards the Ministry’s policies and initiatives related to the implementation of the national water strategy through design and implementation of coverage strategies to facilitate wide coverage of all sorts of MEWA issues and objectives.
Develop the outlines of media campaigns for raising public awareness of the water sector.
Organize seminars and symposia to reflect government efforts for water rationalization

The objective within the Framework of this Contract:

A first step in raising public awareness was a water-saving campaign that addressed domestic and non-domestic consumers and led to a recognizable per-capita water consumption reduction. This saving campaign combined a public awareness program with strict regulatory measures and the pricing of water to reflect its strategic importance and scarcity. Guidelines were developed for the agricultural sector in order to reduce water-intensive crops but simultaneously maintain the basic nutrition demands of the population. However, MEWA realized that an isolated and singular campaign alone would not lead to the desired general awareness about the problems of the water sector. Hence, together with UNDP, a set of measures is developed that shall overcome these shortcomings. As part of these measures, an interface is needed between MEWA and the public including the media.

For this reason, MEWA is about to establish a “Water Extensional Education Center”. The Ministry of Environment, Water & Agriculture (MEWA) has asked UNDP for assistance in selection of qualified and competent international Public Relations Professional, Water Business to be the above-mentioned interface and this Service Contract is part of the UNDP project.

Competencies

People Management:

Empowers team managers to act independently
Holds units accountable for setting challenging goals
Sets high peer standards for measuring success and provides encouragement
Anticipates and solves organizational conflicts
Models best corporate practices and highest ethical standards
Creates atmosphere of trust; builds acceptance and seeks diverse views, cultures and individual needs within the team
Actively mentors and develops leaders

People Skills:

Promotes a learning and knowledge sharing environment
Facilitates the development of individual and multi-cultural/team competencies

Managing for Results:

Plans and prioritizes work activities to meet organizational goals
Strategic approach to problem solving

Partnering & Networking:

Builds and sustains relationships with key constituents (internal/external/ bilateral/ multilateral/public/private; civil society)
Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside of the project
Demonstrates ability to handle working relationships with senior officials, academics and technical experts.

Innovation & Judgment:

Conceptualizes and analyzes problems to identify key issues, underlying problems, and how they relate
Generates creative, practical approaches to overcome challenging situations
Devises new systems and processes, and modifies existing ones, to support innovative behaviors
Provides technical backstopping to the short-term consultants and coordinate and facilitate their operations;
Advises and assist in designing, implementation and enforcement of the monitoring assessment framework;

Required Skills and Experience

Minimum of ten years of experience in Public Relations in the water business (international organizations, university, public, etc.). A multi-disciplinary background is desired.
Excellent leadership and influence skills.
Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
Demonstrated ability to anticipate future trends/consequences and create innovative strategies and flexible plans for public relations.
Excellent communication and writing skills in Arabic and English.