UN WOMEN Jobs - 12036- Regional Communications Officer

Regional Communications Officer

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Nairobi, KENYA

Type of Contract :

Service Contract

Starting Date :

01-Oct-2009

Application Deadline :

09-Sep-09 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

SC-5

Duration of Initial Contract :

1 year

Languages Required :

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

In East and Horn of Africa, UNIFEM Sub-regional Office based in Nairobi covers eight countries among them seven Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) countries and three East African Community (EAC) countries. These are Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and Tanzania. UNIFEM has country programme offices in Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Tanzania and manages programmes from distance in Somalia. Djibouti and Eritrea are countries where UNIFEM support the UN Country Teams on need basis.

In the East and Horn of Africa, UNIFEM collaborates and cooperates with the state institutions and civil society, in particular, women's rights organizations for the promotion and protection of women's human rights, economic rights security, governance and transformative leadership, HIV-AIDS, and peace and security. UNIFEM does this by supporting programmes and strategies, particularly through technical backstopping for the state institutions, financial assistance to the civil society, and advocacy with member states, bi-laterals and multilaterals for the adoption, implementation and full compliance with the international and regional instruments. UNIFEM also assists the governance and civil society institutions, including women's movement, and sister UN agencies to foster women's empowerment and gender equality by managing trust funds, basket funds and joint programmes geared towards securing women's human rights, and engendering policy and programmes outcomes and outputs.

Throughout its work, UNIFEM interacts and cooperates with diverse audiences. Effective communication constitutes vital part of UNIFEM's work in its efforts to provide accurate information to diverse constituencies on its national, regional and global programs. UNIFEM is also keen to optimize the opportunities that effective and strategic communication can provide.

It is against this background that UNIFEM is seeking to employ services of a Regional Communications Officer who will be able to develop, map, coordinate and implement advocacy and communication activities as well as associated products on an ongoing basis, with the objective of supporting UNIFEM's core function to promote awareness, respect and support for women's human rights.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Regional Program Director, technical supervision of the Deputy Regional program Director, and in coordination with the Country Program Managers, the Communication Officer will be responsible for overseeing and implementing strategic communications work of UNIFEM for internal communications, country programmes and/or external corporate communications in East and Horn of Africa Sub-regional office.

The RCO will provide leadership for Strategic Communications and implementation of UNIFEM's Communication Policy, including:
1. Development & implementation of an overall, coherent, balanced & integrated regional communications strategy designed to maximize programme impact and build a clear and motivational image of UNIFEM (5%).
2. Assist each country programme in developing & implementing a communication strategy and workplan to support their strategic development and management outputs (15%).
3. Strengthening the capacity of key partner organizations in each country in communications & support implementation. (5%)
4. Developing & maintaining database and relationships with media based in region and with the national media (5%).
5. Administer and manage UNIFEM EHARO Website (10%)
6. Put stories as appropriate in the national and regional media and on UNIEM EHARO website (5%)
7. Write press releases & respond to media requests as needed (2%).
8. Hold overall responsibility for video, web & e-communications such as for producing a monthly pdf newsletter targeted at the partners including donors (15%).
9. Hold charge of quality control of all documents to be published by the country offices and the regional office, both in terms of editorial pre-approval and design pre-approval (ultimate authority to approve lies with the RPD) (10%).
10. Organizing and assisting in holding regional events and meetings (5%) to assist the delivery of programme and management outputs.
11. Draft terms of reference, participate in the selection of media consultants, backstop their work and finalize media related documents, including brief programme descriptions, media brief, concept papers, media work plans and budgets(5%).
12. Monitor agreed media activities in the countries and ensure that those are progressing according to plan. This includes assisting programme/project staff in problem-solving and implementing corrective measures, and requires undertaking of visits to the country programmes in the field (5%).
13. Monitor and report on the expenditures under activities for which she/he is responsible, and maintain regular financial controls of those activities (2%) .
14. Serve as the media focal point for the region and the country offices (5%).
15. Carry out other duties as may be assigned by the supervisor or unplanned activities that would be required to be taken on(6%).

The time allocations are indicative and vary depending on the need and urgency at any given point.

The RCO will work in the UNIFEM Regional Office for East and Horn of Africa, which includes the Regional Programme Director (RPD), the Deputy Regional Programme Director (DRPD), a Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, an Operations Manager, and other staff. The RCO will be under general supervision of the RPD and technical supervision of the DRPD. The RCO will develop a workplan based on this ToR and in collaboration with the RPD and DRPD. The workplan will serve as a benchmark for performance appraisal. The RCO will participate in the Regional Programme Management Teleconferences and other meetings as assigned.

Competencies

Strong people & facilitation skills
Demonstrable creativity, particularly a very good sense of design
A team player who works well in multi-cultural environment, communicates readily & shares learning with colleagues, partners, community particpants & public functionaries
A sound commitment to gender equality, women's empowerment, development, human rights & social justice issues
Knowledgeable of communication and media ethics and demonstrated ability to apply them
Ability to multi-task and work under deadlines
Capable of understanding and applying guidelines of the UN System in general and UNIFEM in particular and adhering to the required approval processes and protocols
Confidence to work alone but to judge when help is needed or opportunity to share learning.
Experience in supporting advocacy & campaigns, including women's mobilization
Some photography/video experience.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

A post-graduate degree in communications, journalism, public relations, sociology or media management or related field.

Experience:

At least 7 years of similar employment experience, preferably with a development organization with minimum 5 years of experience in web-content management and production of communication material.
Demonstrable experience in developing communications strategies.
Demonstrable experience of communicating to a variety of audiences using different communication formats.
Demonstrable proofing and editing experience
Excellent command of English; knowledge of Arabic or Kswahili an advantage.
Comprehensive computer skills including proficiency in at least one publishing software, and web-applications including website maintenance and content management
Excellent story-writing, and written and oral presentation skills
Good knowledge of the media environment in the region or ability to develop the knowledge fast
This vacancy is open only for Nationals of Kenya.