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.

From a gender perspective, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent a significant step forward from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), covering for the first-time core areas of the feminist agenda. The Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs), created under the auspices of the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC), has identified a robust set of 230 unique indicators to monitor progress in achieving the SDGs. Overall, a quarter of these indicators explicitly or implicitly address gender equality. The challenges of effectively monitoring the SDGs from a gender perspective cannot be overstated. Of the 14 proposed indicators to monitor SDG 5, there are only 4 (referred to as Tier I indicators) for which internationally accepted standards for measurement exist and for which data are regularly collected by most countries. Lack of statistics in these areas arises both from a failure to prioritize gender equality in data collection and from a lack of resources. Gender statistics are rarely prioritized in data collection and the resources devoted to them, both at the national and international level, remain grossly inadequate. The demand for greater support for statistics will only increase as countries begin to implement the SDGs.

To support member states in implementing the 2030 Agenda, UN Women’s Flagship Programme Initiative Making Every Woman and Girl Count (Women Count) aims to affect a radical shift in the production, availability, accessibility and use of quality data and statistics on key aspects of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The program  has three objectives: (i) Promoting an enabling environment by putting in place a supportive and well-coordinated policy environment to ensure gender-responsive localization and effective monitoring of the SDGs; (ii) Increasing data production by removing technical barriers and constraints to ensure that quality, comparable and regular gender statistics are produced to monitor the implementation of national policies and meet reporting commitments under the SDGs; and (iii) Improving data accessibility by ensuring that the data produced are widely available and used effectively by different players with sufficient capacities to understand, analyze and use them to inform advocacy, research, policies and programmes and to monitor progress on the SDGs.

In East and Southern Africa, Women Count is an initiative meant to strengthen the capacity of countries in the region who are implementing gender data and statistics projects.

Reporting to the Regional Gender Statistics Specialist, the  Communications Specialist – Gender Statistics will collaborate closely with the Headquarters, Regional, Multi-Country Office and Country Offices’ (RO/MCO/CO) colleagues to ensure communications strategies, media relations and organizational outreach efforts related to gender statistics are aligned with corporate communications policies and initiatives. The Communications Specialist also collaborates with RO/MCO and CO colleagues to support outreach campaigns, resource mobilization and donor relations initiatives. The Communication Specialist mobilizes support in conjunction with intergovernmental processes, and support the activities and special events organized for UN Women.

1. Lead the development and implementation of communication and outreach/advocacy strategies and plans, Women Count ESA:

• Conduct gender statistics communication needs assessments for RO/MCO/CO, including projects, programmes and corporate change initiatives;
• Design, develop, and implement gender statistics communication and outreach/advocacy strategies, including media strategies; ensure gender perspective;
• Integrate communication, advocacy and outreach strategies into proposals for gender statistics 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 CO/ MCOs in the region.

2. Lead the development and dissemination of advocacy materials related to gender statistics in the country/region:

• 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 brochures, factsheets, stories from the field to inform media and general public at the regional level;
• Follow guidelines from and report to HQ.

3. Manage media relations for ESA Women Count:

• 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.

4. 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.

5. Oversee the Women Count CO/MCO/RO’s web/ online presence:

• Develop and maintain regional web content related to data and statistics, including developing design and content.

6. Facilitate knowledge building and sharing around gender data and statistics:

• Identify and synthesize best practices and lessons learned from COs and MCOs directly linked to programme country goals and activities and ensure exchange of information;
• Provide training and workshops on communication and advocacy as appropriate.

7. Provide technical support and guidance on advocacy strategies and plans to country offices in the region:

• Support country offices to develop gender statistics communication plans;
• Provide technical support for launch and other gender statistics events in the region;
• Support the development of social media assets and key messages to promote gender statistics at country level;
• Provide support with regards to the development of gender statistics training materials as well as present training courses where appropriate.

Key Performance Indicators:

• Timely and efficient development and maintenance of the gender data portal, including establishment of workplans, timelines and budgets, in line with the Programme's objectives;
• Timely development and implementation of an outreach and communication strategy;
• Timely and accurate update of web and data stories;
• Timely distribution of quarterly newsletters;
• Timely proofreading and update of quarterly and annual reporting information;
• Accurate and relevant curation and management of high-quality web stories, results and achievements enhancing UN Women's position as the lead agency in gender statistics.

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent knowledge related to current policies and practices in the area of gender statistics;
• Strong knowledge of the monitoring framework established for SDGs and the gender-related indicators;
• Good understanding of and commitment to gender equality and women's empowerment and its policy implications;
• Strong knowledge of development of communication and advocacy materials;
• Demonstrated ability to work in a team and in a cooperative and productive fashion both with internal and external colleagues;
• Excellent interpersonal and networking skills, and ability to work in multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary environments; ability to build and promote partnerships across the organization and beyond;
• Ability to work under pressure on multiple projects whilst maintaining high-quality and timeliness;
• Ability to organize and manage knowledge management processes and tools.

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in information sciences or communications studies 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 8 years of progressively responsible work experience at the national and regional level in communications and related fields;
• Experience in the development of regional and national strategies on the development of gender statistics and establishment of coordination mechanisms on gender statistics;
• Experience in communication related to Gender Statistics;
• Experience coordinating and liaising with government agencies and/or donors is an asset;
• Experience working in the UN System is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required;
• Working knowledge of another official UN language is an asset.

Application Information:

• All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment;
• Kindly note applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment;
• UN Women will only be able to respond to those applications in which there is further interest.

Note:

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.