Communication Officer

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 will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women’s triple mandate, along with its global network and deep policy and programming expertise, continues to endow the Entity with a unique capacity to: (i) support Member States to strengthen global norms and standards for gender equality and women’s empowerment, and mainstream gender perspectives in other thematic areas; (ii) promote coordination and coherence across the UN system to enhance accountability and results for gender equality and women’s empowerment; and (iii) undertake operational activities to support Member States, upon their request, in translating global norms and standards into legislation, policies and strategies at country level.

UN Women plays an innovative and catalytic role in the State of Palestine since its inception in 1997 (as UNIFEM). In line with the national priorities, the work of UN Women for the period 2023-2025 is aligned with three of the Palestine United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework’s (UNSDCF) outcomes:

• Palestinians have greater access to economic opportunities that are inclusive, resilient, and sustainable, including decent employment and livelihoods opportunities in an empowered private sector.
• Palestinians, including the most vulnerable, have equal access to sustainable, inclusive, gender responsive and quality social services, social protection, and affordable utilities.
• Palestinian governance institutions, processes, and mechanisms at all levels are more democratic, rights-based, inclusive, and accountable.

Its three-year Strategic Note supports the efforts to achieve measurable results in country in terms of four UN Women global Strategic Plan impacts (2022-2025): (SP Impact 1). Governance and participation in public life; (SP Impact 2). Women’s Economic Empowerment; (SP Impact 3). Ending Violence Against Women and Girls and; SP Impact 4. Women peace and security, Humanitarian & Disaster Risk Reduction.

As catalysts for change, communication, media and advocacy together constitute an essential strategy to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment, as well as diffuse and protect women’s rights. They offer tools to address the disparities women and girls face, to give voice to misrepresented and marginalised communities and groups to promote information exchange, change social attitudes, assist in the development of better public policies and aid programming, and to ensure accountability of decision-making and duty-bearers. Through its mandate, UN Women has a clear responsibility in communicating on and advocating for gender equality, women’s human rights and empowerment.

In this framework, UN Women Palestine Country Office would like to recruit a qualified Communication Officer to support the implementation of its communication strategy and activities and manage the production of high-quality communication products.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Under the overall guidance and direct supervision of UN Women Special Representative, UN Women wishes to bring on board a Communication Officer.  The Communication Officer will lead the implementation of the UN Women corporate communications strategy, as well as the development, management and implementation of the Country communications and  advocacy strategies which are geared towards awareness raising of gender equality and the empowerment of women, promote public and media outreach, and increase the visibility of key results, and UN Women global campaign initiatives in country.   S/he will undertake the following tasks, duties and responsibilities:

Advocacy and communication strategies

Lead on the development, management and implementation of the Country communications and  advocacy strategies and branding guidelines.

Production of advocacy and communication materials

• Provide primary support to UN Women’s programme staff as well as external consultants and/or firms for the preparation and follow up on the production of advocacy and communications materials (e.g., films, videos, audio-visuals, brochures, fact sheets; knowledge products etc.), including quality aspects of production, (e.g., quality control of language, layout, and printing based on UN Women quality standards) for UN Women core activities;
• Lead the preparation and editing (in English and Arabic) of articles, press releases, speeches, brochures, human interest stories and other advocacy / information materials for both social and traditional media, as appropriate;
• In close cooperation with the Country Team, develop and control the efficient implementation of communication and visibility plans for UN Women’s work in compliance with UN Women and donor guidelines;
• Develop communication and advocacy instruments for the Country Office, including monthly donor bulleting, background communication and promotional materials for briefing and visits of media, donors, representatives and other special interest groups. Assist as requested in the planning, logistic and administrative arrangements for them;
• Create and maintain a photo database of UN Women’s activities, take photos during events and field visits and organize photo documentation to various locations and archive the photo in an effective manner;
• Manage PALCO website and profiles on key social media platforms relevant to the national context and promote engagement with social media users, monitor web and social media traffic and generate monthly analytic reports, etc.
• Localize global and regional communication materials for use at country level.

Media portfolio

• Be in charge of the media portfolio within UN Women, including, but not limited to developing and maintaining close collaboration with the media, as well as with groups and organizations whose support is essential to the achievement of advocacy and communication objectives;
• Manage media outreach through tracking media stories on UN Women and gender-related issues in Palestine in relation to UN Women’s work, archive coverage, communication and relation with media, regularly update the media database, organize press conference and develop media kits;

Stakeholders’ engagement

• Ensure continuous information coordination and exchange with the relevant partners on communication-related activities;
• Provide support for the organization of events/advocacy activities and campaigns and maintain a contact/events database;
• Monitor and evaluate the appropriate and timely dissemination of advocacy and communication materials to target audiences, and participate in the evaluation of their impact;
• Ensure public support for special events and activities to promote UN Women’s goals.

Other

• Develop request for quotations for design and print material and act as a focal point with vendors for related services.
• Translation of communications and visibility documents Arabic-English / English-Arabic, as needed
• Perform any other related duty assigned by the supervisor.

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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: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

• Knowledge of different aspects of public information and communication;
• Ability to elaborate communication strategies by identifying audiences and communication means;
• Ability to conceptualize, design and implement major information and advocacy campaigns;
• Ability to rapidly analyze and integrate diverse information from varied sources;
• Ability to produce a variety of written and visual communications products in a clear, concise style, as well as develop messages for use when communicating on the programmes;
• Excellent writing and editing skills and a demonstrated ability to clearly communicate development ideas and experiences;
• Demonstrated creativity, particularly very good sense of design;
• Sound commitment to gender equality, women’s empowerment, human rights and social justice issues;
• 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;
• Excellent computer skills (word, excel, power point), including basic audio-video editing, and design software.

Required Skills and Experience:

Education:

Master’s degree in communications, journalism, international relations, political sciences or any other relevant field. Or Baccalaureate degree in above fields.

Professional Experience:

• MA with 5 years or BA with 6 years of professional experience at national or international level in public relations, communications, journalism, or advocacy;
• Experience in writing and editing high quality contents that clearly communicate development-related ideas for various communications platforms;
• At least 2 years of previous experience in developing communication strategies.
• Experience closely working with national and international media and knowledge of influential media contacts are an asset;
• Experience in social-media and web content creation/management is an asset;
• Familiarity with behavior change communication or Communications for Development (C4D) is an asset;
• Experience working in women's rights issues; knowledge of relevant gender issues in Palestine is an asset;
• Previous experiences in drafting/production of regular updates for external audiences (financial partners and member States); packaging and submission (briefs, brochures, etc.) of the agency's initiatives for external audience (national and international) is required.
• Previous experience in the development of communications to support resource mobilization strategies will be an asset.
• Previous experience with UN or international organization is an asset.

Language Requirement:

Fluency in both Arabic and English is required with writing and editing experience in both languages.

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc. 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.