Background

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. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. UN Women provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors. 

UN Women in Bangladesh supports the government to implement commitments to international normative standards on gender equality and women’s human rights. The new UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for 2022-2026 was launched in 2021 and the corresponding UN Women Bangladesh Strategy Note (2022-2026), defining UN Women’s strategic engagement in Bangladesh, has also been finalized. The country strategy focuses on strengthening the national structures and mechanisms for gender mainstreaming in policies, plans and budgets; supporting efforts to prevent and eliminate violence against women; promoting women’s access to decent and safe work; promoting policies and government investment in women’s empowerment and resilience building in the context of climate change, humanitarian crisis as well as other threats to peace and security. UN Women works with a range of stakeholders in Bangladesh including the government, civil society and women’s organisations, youth, UN agencies and donors, to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. 

UN Women in Bangladesh is supporting the Government of Bangladesh with the Rohingya humanitarian crisis response. UN Women has developed a humanitarian response programme in partnership with the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs to meet the specific needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized Rohingya Refugee Women and Girls and the women and girls in the host communities affected by the refugee influx in Cox’s Bazar. The objective of the programme is to ensure protection, as well as equitable and safe access to and benefit from urgent life-saving humanitarian assistance and information, as well as learning, leadership and self-reliance/livelihoods opportunities for the most vulnerable, and marginalized Rohingya and host community women and adolescent girls while assisting them to live with dignity. The programme also promotes women’s participation and leadership in the camps and host community and peace and social cohesion building activities including through engagement with and capacity strengthening and sensitization of camp management and police, as well as women’s CSOs/networks and media. UN Women further works in Bangladeshi host communities in Cox’s Bazar to promote women’s socio-economic empowerment as a means for social cohesion, recovery and resilience building. UN Women co-chairs the Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group for the Rohingya Refugee Response to promote gender-responsive humanitarian action across the humanitarian coordination system and humanitarian agencies in Cox’s Bazar. The sub-office in Cox’s Bazar was established in January 2018.

Reporting to the Head of Sub-Office, the Communications Associate supports the formulation and implementation of the communications and advocacy strategies to increase the standing and awareness of UN Women with partners, the media and the public. The Communications Associate promotes a client-oriented approach in UN Women.

The Communications Associate works in close collaboration with the Programmes, Operations and technical teams in the sub-office and in close liaison with the UN Women Communications Analyst in the Country office, as well as the Regional communications teams and staff of other humanitarian actors in Cox’s Bazar, including civil society. 

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Support in the preparation and implementation of Cox’s Bazar Sub-Office communications and advocacy strategies and plans

• Provide inputs and background information for the development of the sub-office communication strategy;
• Provide support to advocacy efforts and campaigns by organizing roundtable discussions, press conferences, and other publicity events and providing inputs to briefing materials and press releases;
• Provide support to programme and other sub-office staff on UN Women corporate communications, visibility and branding  guidelines;
• Track and monitor print and social media and report relevant information to senior staff to inform strategy development; 
• Plan and coordinate UN Women local campaigns and advocacy events in the context of the Rohingya refugee response with the engagement of programme staff;
• Provide inputs to quarterly/annual and donor reports as relevant on communications and visibility related initiaties.

2. Support engagement with and capacity strengthening for media actors on gender-responsive media action 

• Support with training needs analysis,  development of  training module, identifying relevant technical experts for capacity development of  media actors, including journalists, on gender-responsive media, and implement the training;  
• Support organizing discussions on women’s portrayal in media, with media representatives, women’s human rights organizations, relevant government, and UN and other humanitarian actors in Cox’s Bazar.

3. Provide coordination support to the development of advocacy materials in Cox’s Bazar

• Support identifying storylines and achievements for online and print publications;
• Draft briefings, articles, key messages and other advocacy materials; 
• Coordinate the translation, adaptation, or rewriting of information received for the local context; disseminate materials to appropriate stakeholders;
• Coordinate the publication of materials for final approval; 
• Coordinate with vendors/service providers as required including  printers/ publishers; 
• Maintain library/ database of reference materials, photos, and digital assets;
• Coordinate with and actively contribute to the inter-agency Communications Group in Cox’s Bazar;
• Follow guidelines from country/regional offices and headquarters.

4. Provide support in the management of the social media presence and website

• Support identifying stories, and providing inputs to the development of content for the website hosted at the Regional Office and social media channels;
• Update the website and social media channels, ensure consistency in branding; 
• Support researching, compiling and producing reports on web statistics on a regular basis and electronic surveys, as required;
• Maintain files, databases, and systems relevant to the digital presence.

5. Provide media relations support to the head of sub-office

• Serve as a focal point on UN Women activities open to the media, as necessary;
• Coordinate the establishment of relationships with the media in Cox’s Bazar, and maintain and update database of relevant media actors, including journalists; 
• Respond to request for information and arrange interviews, as delegated.

6. Provide substantive inputs to talking points, briefing materials  Facilitate knowledge management and sharing

• Contribute to the identification of best practices and lessons learned directly linked to programme goals and activities;
• Support trainings and workshops on communication and advocacy, as appropriate;
• Provide/ exchange information with Country office, regional offices and headquarters.

7. Other

• Perform other tasks as assigned by supervisor; 
• Provide support on special web/digital/media projects undertaken by the Country/regional offices/headquarters.

Key Performance Indicators

• Timely inputs to communication and advocacy materials;
• Timely organization of discussions, conferences, briefings and other events;
• Timely provision of relevant background information;
• Accurately edited and well written contents;
• Timely delivery of high quality communication and advocacy materials ;
• Webpages are regularly maintained, updated and relevant.

Competencies

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 

• Ability to create, edit and present information in clear and presentable formats, using appropriate IT functionality;
• Strong event planning skills;
• Strong knowledge of social media and communication strategies and methods;
• Ability to identify relevant events and stories and communicate them to a mass audience;
• Strong multimedia skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Completion of secondary education is required;

• Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Public Relations or Journalism.

Experience:

• At least 6 years of relevant work experience at the national and regional level in communications and related fields.
• Experience in managing organizational social media platforms and developing/working with corporate communications strategies.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages required (MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc.). 
• Experience in software for creative communication use a distinct advantage, for example from Adobe.
• Experience in an international organization, or with the Rohingya refugee context is a significant advantage.
• Experience coordinating and liaising with government agencies and/or donors is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and Bengali is required;
• Fluency Chittagonian language will be an asset.

UNW Statement on Diversity and Inclusion

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. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Application:

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/en/about-us/employment;

Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.