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.

The Communications & Advocacy Section at UN Women Headquarters in New York supports the positioning of women’s empowerment and gender equality as key issues on the international agenda and establishes UN Women’s role as the global authority in this context. This entails developing and promoting high-quality content, communicating about UN Women’s work through digital and social media and engaging a global audience online.

To that end, the Communications Section seeks to enlist a Communications and Social Media Specialist to lead the organization’s Social Media Team. Under supervision of the Chief of Communications & Advocacy, the Communications and Social Media Specialist coordinates and oversees all social media policies, strategies and activities of UN Women, and provides guidance and training to colleagues in the field and at HQ.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

• Leads UN Women’s social media policy and strategy for the organization’s global presence on social media platforms;
• Oversees daily social media outreach and engagement around UN Women’s work and the issues of gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• Trains Communications Officers in the field and HQ staff on the strategic use of social media for UN Women;
• Develops and implements social media strategies around large events, initiatives and corporate priorities.

Leads UN Women’s social media policy and strategy for the organization’s global presence on social media platforms:

• Implements UN Women’s existing social media policy throughout the organization;
• Continuously expands UN Women’s social media policy;
• Strategically rolls out social media accounts for regions and countries in cooperation with Regional and Country Offices;
• Monitors new developments in the area of social media and expands UN Women’s global online presence on additional platforms as appropriate;
• Collaborates with the web team to incorporate new social tools into the website;
• Represents UN Women in interagency social media working groups.

Oversees daily social media outreach and engagement around UN Women’s work and the issues of gender equality and women’s empowerment:

• Oversees daily messaging and outreach on UN Women’s global social media platforms in English, Spanish and French to increase visibility of the organization’s work and its issues;
• Oversees daily content production in multiple languages;
• Ensures daily monitoring, community management and engagement on UN Women’s global social media platforms;
• Strategically increases UN Women’s social media audience;
• Highlights travels and activities of the Executive Director and Deputy Executive Directors on social media; liaises with the Executive Office and other UN Women sections on social media support;
• Strategically engages online influencers on social media; collaborates with the media team on engaging online journalists and bloggers;
• Monitors and uses opportunities to tap into ongoing conversations, initiatives and campaigns;
• Provides regular analytics of social media outreach;
• Supervises consultants and interns supporting social media outreach;
• Continuously researches new tools for social media management and analytics, and leads the procurement processes as appropriate.

Trains Communications Officers in the field and HQ staff on the strategic use of social media for UN Women:

• Provides regularly updated social media guidance notes on the use of the different platforms;
• Provides monthly social media updates for focal points in field offices;
• Provides training to Communications Officers in the field on UN Women’s use of social media, including relevant tools;
• Provides regular feedback with guidance to colleagues maintaining regional and country accounts;
• Provides training to UN Women staff at HQ on the use of social media for UN Women as well as personal accounts;
• Provides guidance to UN Women National Committees;
• Holds trainings and presentations for other UN agencies/ departments to increase visibility of UN Women’s social media work within the UN system.

Develops and implements social media strategies around large events, initiatives and corporate priorities:

• Develops and implements social media strategies in line with overall communications plans for campaigns, relevant international days and large events, e.g. the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, International Women’s day, and the Beijing+25 campaign;
• Strategically integrates social media into large conferences, such as the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW);
• Oversees the development of social media assets for campaigns and events in multiple languages, in collaboration with the Audio-Visual Specialist;
• Develops and disseminates social media packages for campaigns, relevant international days and large events in English, Spanish and French;
• Provides analytics and reports on social media implementation around specific campaigns;
• Holds live conversations, calls for actions, and social media activities as appropriate;
• Coordinates social media partnerships;
• Engages in and ensures UN Women representation at large digital events. 

Key Performance Indicators:

• High-quality visual and written content produced and disseminated on UN Women’s social media platforms, informed by analytics;
• Online audience engaged on a regular basis, including strategic influencers;
• Creative social media campaigns implemented with high engagement;
• Select live events successfully covered on social media;
• Increased social media knowledge by focal points worldwide through continued guidance and training.

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. 

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

• Very good understanding of major digital platforms and proven experience in strategic social media outreach at the international level;
• Proven ability to develop and implement effective social media strategies and campaigns;
• Excellent writing and editing skills;
• Strong editorial judgement, including ethical and political awareness;
• Proven ability to provide effective training in the area of social media;
• Very good organizational and time management skills; ability to multitask and balance multiple responsibilities;
• Strong teamworking and team leadership skills and ability to interact with different colleagues;
• Very good understanding of visual content, including how it can best be produced and shared on social media and with influencers;
• Strong awareness of digital trends;
• Strong knowledge of women’s rights and gender equality issues;
• Familiarity with the UN system.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Communications, Journalism, International Affairs, Political Science or similar is 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 5 years of experience in social media, online journalism or digital communications at the international level;
• Experience in developing and implementing social media strategies and campaigns;
• Experience in overseeing a small team;
• Experience in writing, editing, content production and dissemination for online audiences at the international level;
• Experience using advanced tools for online publishing, including content management systems and social media publishing tools, such as HootSuite;
• Experience working in sensitive and fast-moving news, communications or advocacy contexts;
• Experience producing and interpreting social media analytics to inform content production;
• Experience working with the UN.

Languages:

• Written and oral fluency in English is required;
• Knowledge of another UN official working 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 that the system will only allow one attachment. 
• UN Women will only be able to respond to those applications in which there is further interest.

Note:

In July 2010, the United nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.