The Government of Ukraine is in urgent need to secure the availability of the State Programme medicines and essential health commodities at affordable prices and in sufficient quantities. Acknowledging the challenges of the State procurement and supply management system and following adopted legislation, allowing the selected international organizations to provide procurement support services, as an emergency measure the Ministry of Health of Ukraine has requested the UN to support the procurement and distribution of a number of State Programme medicines and other medical products.

UNDP in Ukraine is fully committed to play this role in resolving the immediate crisis and to support the Ministry of Health of Ukraine in its mid- and long-term efforts to reform its procurement and supply management system. UNDP brings its extensive expertise in establishing the procurement system that corresponds to the highest standards of transparency, accountability, cost-efficiency, equity and sustainability.

Since 2015, UNDP implements the ”Procurement Support Services to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine” project that aims at strengthening the national health care procurement system and thereby improving the effectiveness of diagnosis and treatment of the patients of Ukraine. Specifically, in the framework of the project, UNDP does (i) procure medicines and medical products for the National Public Health Programmes, (ii) strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Health to ensure transparency, accountability and effectiveness of the public procurement of medicines and other medical products.

The HIV epidemic continues to increase in Ukraine, especially among key populations at higher risk of HIV. The most affected by HIV are people who inject drugs (75% are men and 25% are women; 22.6% HIV prevalence), prisoners (96% are men, 4% are women; 8% HIV prevalence), men who have sex with men (7.5% HIV prevalence), sex workers (5.2% HIV prevalence). As per UNAIDS division of labour, UNDP continues cooperation with city administrations (including Fast Track cities), law enforcement representatives and judges to reduce stigma and discrimination towards people living with HIV and people affected by TB as well as LGBTIQ+ people in order to support the government in achieving the 90-90-90 targets and Sustainable Development Goals.

The ”Procurement Support Services to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine” project is a part of the Health and Transparency Programme (H&T Programme), which also includes “Strengthening National Council on TB&HIV/AIDS in Ukraine”, “Serving People, Improving Health” projects. The UNDP H&T Programme is aimed to support the implementation of the health reform in Ukraine through strengthening the medicine procurement capacity, enhancing the efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability of the national healthcare procurement system and address the social, economic and environmental determinants of HIV and health, under UNDP Democratic Governance Portfolio.

Also, COVID-19 had a tremendous impact in the Ukraine. Specifically, the pandemic delayed significantly the process of preparation and implementation of the national public health programme 2021, brought additional delays and hurdles in the UNDP H&T Programme procurement and development activities, increased risks to health and well-being of the project staff. Through the “Serving People, Improving Health: support to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic” project UNDP will reduce inequalities and social exclusion resultant of COVID-19, promote effective and inclusive governance for health and support the resilience and sustainability of the Ukrainian health system. Furthermore, all activities foresee end-to-end implementation assistance to intensify policy engagement to promote enabling environments for vulnerable and marginalised populations to access COVID-19-related services.

Under the direct supervision of Programme Manager (Health), in coordination with the Country Office Communications Unit, the Communications Officer will undertake the following tasks related to the UNDP Health and Transparency Programme communications: 

1) Implementation of communications strategy for the Programme:

• Elaborates the communications approach and coordinates its implementation through different communications channels of corporate, national and regional levels; 
• Ensures  communications plans are in place to adequately and positively communicate highlights and success stories; plans and designs communications activities to support achievement of the Project objectives and relevant SDGs targets for Ukraine;
• Monitors and measures the impact of the communications strategy and makes adjustments accordingly;
• Coordinates the implementation of communications activities with UNDP Ukraine communications team, regional hub and headquarters to promote health related messages and amplify them at national and international levels.
• Supervises development and publication of Project promotion and information materials such as human stories, success stories, articles, as well as controls its quality and timely production;
• Drafts and/or edits a range of materials, including press releases and advisories, speeches for UNDP management, news briefs, fact sheets for inclusion in media kits and further public outreach;
• Coordinates and maintains a system of monitoring and reporting of Programme activities;
• In compliance with Communications approach ensures broad and targeted distribution of Project reports and information materials;
• Identifies and proposes information opportunities, activities and approaches, considering the situation/topic and target audience;
• Establishes and maintains close working relationships with the media, including editors and journalists for reaching main donors, partners and general public audiences; organizes PR and media activities themed on health care reform;
• Develops partnerships with various individuals, groups and organizations, whose support is essential to the achievement of communication objectives;
• Coordinates identification of and reporting on best practices and lessons learned in line with communications goals and objectives;
• Ensures that a library of reference materials, such as communications tools, booklets and photographs of project activities, is established, regularly updated and documented in a way that is easy for retrieval;
• Regularly briefs Programme and CO senior management on ongoing communications, and coordinates efforts to follow up on identified communications needs, and potential opportunities for improving visibility. 

2) Leads implementation of the Project’s advocacy plans and media outreach:

• Implements communications plans and advocacy campaigns in line with Project and UNDP Ukraine communications strategies, and UNDP global communications practices;
• Manages Project reputational and communications risks;
• Promotes, advocates and raises awareness of the UNDP Health and Transparency Programme 
• Liaises with media outlets and development partners to promote the Project’s communications products;
• Coordinates and manages timely responses to the inquiries raised by media, donors and other stakeholders;
• Develops, recommends and issues responses to negative press about UNDP Ukraine’s projects and UNDP mitigating risk to institutional reputation;
• Provides communications support to UNDP senior management.

3) Organizes press-conferences and other media related events as part of the Project activities.

4) Supports regular updates of the UNDP Ukraine website(s) and other UNDP Ukraine communications channels with latest relevant information related to the Health and Transparency Programme:

• Coordinates preparation of health-related content for UNDP and partners’ websites, ensuring consistency of the materials.
• Supports the management of UNDP social media channels with contributions related to health communications, including social media campaigns, identification of correct hashtags and partners, outreach to relevant groups etc.

Measurable outputs of the work assignment:

• Communications strategy is fully and timely implemented at the national and regional levels;
• The impact of communications activities is systematically assessed and corrective actions are timely implemented;
• Project results are regularly updated on UNDP website;
• Advocacy/public awareness/policy related events are held;
• Communications materials and reports are produced and disseminated to the target audience;
• A library of reference materials is created and lessons log is systematically updated in part related to communications issues.

Performance Indicators for evaluation of results:

• Communications annual work plan is fully and timely implemented;
• Project related reports are timely prepared and disseminated;
• Information and communications activities are well coordinated and implemented, inputs from all the stakeholders considered.

Core Competencies - Level 2

• Achieve Results
  • Demonstrate focus on achieving quality results and impact.
  • Consistently strive to meet or exceed excellence standards.  
• Think Innovatively
  • Look beyond conventional approaches and established methods. 
  • Propose new ideas, approaches and solutions to problems. 
• Learn Continuously 
  • Actively pursue opportunities for learning and self-development professionally and personally. 
  • Keep abreast of new developments in one’s professional area. 
• Adapt with Agility 
  • Be flexible in handling change, and adopt new ideas, approaches and ways of working. 
  • Seamlessly adapt to working within new situations or contexts, with new people, and in different ways. 
• Act with Determination
  • Pursue everything with motivation and drive. 
  • Not give up in the face of adversity and setbacks; demonstrate resilience and composure. 
• Engage and Partner
  • Act in a way that demonstrates empathy and emotional intelligence, showing consideration for the needs and feelings of others. 
  • Demonstrate and encourage teamwork and co-creation internally and externally to achieve joint objectives and results. 
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion
  • Treat all individuals with respect, consider ethical implications and respond sensitively to all differences among people.
  • Fully accept and value all people, creating an inclusive environment.

Cross-Functional Competencies

• Strategic Thinking  
  • Ability to develop effective strategies and prioritized plans in line with UNDP’s objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, potential risks and opportunities; linking the vision to reality on the ground, and creating tangible solutions.
  • Ability to leverage learning from a variety of sources to anticipate and respond to future trends; to demonstrate foresight in order to model what future developments and possible ways forward look like for UNDP
• Knowledge Generation
  • Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need.
• Knowledge Facilitation
  • Ability to animate individuals and communities of contributors to participate and share, particularly externally.
• Integration within the UN
  • Ability to identity, and integrate capacity and assets of the UN system, and engage in joint work; knowledge of the UN System and ability to apply this knowledge to strategic and/or practical situations.
• Communication
  • Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience.
• Digital Awareness and Literacy
  • Ability and inclination to rapidly adopt new technologies, either through skillfully grasping their usage or through understanding their impact and empowering others to use them as needed.
• Working with Evidence and Data
  • Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making.

Technical Competencies

• Event planning and execution
  • Ability to plan, manage and execute of public and private events to ensure that they support and amplify individual communications and advocacy initiatives, as well as UNDP's overall brand and mandate.
• Public Relations
  • Ability to build and maintain an overall positive public image for the organisation, its mandate and its brand, while ensuring that individual campaigns and other communications and advocacy initiatives are supported in reaching the public.
• Advocacy strategy and implementation
  • Ability to create and implement advocacy strategies which lead to impactful change.
• Campaign management
  • Ability to create and implement advocacy strategies which lead to impactful change.
• Media Relations
  • Ability to develop media relations across all aspects of media work including relationships with media and preparing media materials such as messages.
• Relationship Management
  • Ability to engage with a wide range of public and private partners, build, sustain and/or strengthen working relations, trust and mutual understanding

Education

• Master’s Degree or equivalent in Public Relations (PR), Communications, Journalism, International Relations, Political or Social Sciences or other relevant areas.
• Relevant Bachelor’s Degree with additional two years of extensive progressively responsible relevant experience is accepted in lieu of Master’s Degree.

Experience

• Up to 2 years of professional experience (not less than 2 years in possession of Bachelor’s degree) in the field of Public Relations, Media, Communications, Journalism or other relevant fields.
• Extensive experience of cooperation with governmental and non-governmental organizations.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc).
• Proven experience of cooperation and extensive contacts within mass media outlets would be an asset.
• Prior experience within UN system, with international organizations or non-profit organizations will be considered an advantage.
• Experience in handling of web-based management systems would be an asset.
• Proven report and/or publication record related to communications to be demonstrated through the provision of at least 2 relevant reports, presentations, publications, campaigns or other materials.

Languages Required

Fluency in English, Ukrainian and Russian is required.

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.
• A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.
• At least 2 relevant reports, presentations, publications, campaigns or other written materials demonstrating Candidate's proven report and/or publication record related to communications.

Application Instructions:

• Click on the "Apply now" button.
• Input your information in the appropriate Sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume and motivation. You can type in or paste your Resume into the last box.
• Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. On the next page, you will be asked to upload your Resume. Please submit CV or a fully completed and signed UNDP Personal History Form (P-11). When completing the Form and, even though not currently requested, please include email addresses for your Supervisors.
• The UNDP Personal History Form can be downloaded at link. Failure to disclose prior employment or making false representations on this form will be grounds for withdrawal of further consideration of his/her application or termination, where the appointment or contract has been issued.
• Only short-listed candidates will be contacted and please ensure that copies of your educational qualifications are available when contacted.

This is a locally recruited position and no expatriation benefits will apply.
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS 23 DECEMBER 2021
UNDP will use a transparent and competitive screening process, though will only contact those applicants in whom there is further interest. Applications may only be submitted for specific vacancy. Qualified women are strongly encouraged to apply.