MEDIA AND ADVOCACY CONSULTANT, MEDIA UNIT

Location : Occupied Palestinian territory
Application Deadline : 15 January 2012

Additional Category
Media and Communications / Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment
Type of Contract : SSA
Post Level : Local Consultant (Locally recognized specialist)
Languages Required : English (knowledge of another UN language a plus)
Starting Date : (date when the selected
candidate is expected to start) as soon as possible
Duration of Initial Contract : 11 months
Expected Duration of
Assignment 11 months
Duty Station Jerusalem
Expected Places of Travel Mainly Gaza Strip and West Bank, with possible additional travel abroad
to attend UN Women corporate Media and Advocacy meetings

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.
Taking into consideration the 2012-2013 Strategic Note & Annual Work Plan (AWP) of the UN Women office in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), stating that advocacy interventions should be scaled-up and; in the spirit of the office’s strengthened advocacy profile, in particular concerning the areas of voicing the needs of marginalized and misrepresented people; mobilizing women, men, boys and girls together to participate in social change; assisting in the development of better public policy; and ensuring the Palestinian Authority’s accountability to its people; UN Women wishes to bring on board a “Media and Advocacy Consultant” to design, manage and facilitate the implementation of the office’s communications and publications strategies as well as to strategically position the office work in the realm of advocacy for gender equality in the oPt.

Duties and Responsibilities
The “Media and Advocacy Consultant” will lead the members of the Media Unit of the UN Women oPt office and closely work with, the UN Women oPt Programme Management Analyst, the UN Women Regional Communications Manager and the UN Women Communications Team at UN Women HQ. The international consultant will directly report to and work under the supervision of the Representative of the UN Women office in the oPt.
The work of the “Media and Advocacy Consultant” will be closely inter-related with the work being conducted by other Units within the UN Women oPt office structure, as well as with the work of relevant governmental, UN and civil society stakeholders.

Main tasks, duties and responsibilities:
1) Ensure formulation of cross-cutting communications , advocacy and outreach activities for UN Women in the oPt
-Designing, developing and formulating a comprehensive and cross-cutting media and advocacy programme, linked with all development results objectives and corresponding to the 2012-2013 Strategic Note and Annual Work Plan for the UN Women office in the oPt;
-Drafting a programme document for this programme, in accordance with the relevant UN Women format;
-Developing communications strategies to support ongoing UN Women oPt office projects and programmes;
-Advising on inclusion of advocacy, media and communications components in UN Women oPt projects and programmes being formulated in 2012;
-Provide technical backstopping to the UN Women field office in the Gaza Strip and field staff in the West Bank, in addition to the main duties in the Jerusalem office
-Advising on adequate and responsive internal and external communications policies.
2) Ensure elaboration and implementation of UN Women’s publications strategy
-Developing a 2012-13 publications strategy and plan based on the office’s approved Strategic Note and Annual Work Plan;
-Identifying storylines and media angles for publications dissemination;
-Coordinating UN Women oPt publication activities according to UN Women corporate policy including content management, norms for publishing, design; liaison with printers and other suppliers to oversee production and supervision of publications dissemination;
-Participating in pertinent corporate UN Women media and advocacy activities/trainings that can advise the development of the media and advocacy programme in the oPt.
3)Support UN Women oPt business development

Launches and campaigns
-Developing and promoting campaigns to local and regional media (International Woman’s Day; 16-Days of Activism to Combat Violence Against Women) that position UN Women and influences the gender equality political agenda in the oPt;
-Managing, coordinating and promoting local dissemination of corporate advocacy material for launching flagship initiatives and publications (such as Progress of the World’s Women).
Outreach
-Developing, maintaining and documenting media contacts;
-Providing inputs into programme initiatives for donor submission in close collaboration with the UN

Women oPt heads of units;
-Developing, maintaining and documenting close contacts with government officials, multilateral and bilateral donors, UN agencies, civil society and private sector for implementation of the communications strategies;
-Participating in relevant national (Palestinian Authority, UN, civil society) media and advocacy meetings to stimulate gender and women's human rights perspectives;
-Ensuring access for journalists to subject matter experts.

Public information
-Providing newsworthy information and effective responses to national public and donors on a regular and pertinent basis;
-Innovative and creative solutions to sensitive or corporately strategic public communications issues;
-Advocacy and promotion of UN Women’s mandate, mission and purpose.
4) Ensure effective management of the UN Women Media and Advocacy Unit
-Overseeing and developing the work plans of the Media and Advocacy Unit including preparation of the Unit work plan;
-Providing training and backstopping to the new Media and Advocacy Officer.

Time frame:
The assignment is expected to start as soon as possible (1 February 2012 the latest) and to be finalized by 31 December 2012.
Key deliverables:
1-Work-plan for the whole assignment, upon start-up
2-Draft UN Women publications strategy and associated specifications for developing Long Term Agreements (LTAs) for the office
3-Draft office policy on internal and external communications
4-Final draft of UN Women induction package for new staff
5-Final draft advocacy and media programme document
6-Presentation on the advocacy and media programme document for the peer review of the document
7-Updated design and content of UN Women oPt information package
8-Final report of the assignment, including full hand-over notes, media contact lists and follo-up recommendations.

Reporting requirements:
Based on the approved work-plan upon the start-up of the assignment, the consultant will be expected to provide monthly written updates on what has been achieved and any proposed amendments to the agreed-up work-plan. Also, as mentioned above, the consultant will also be expected to provide an in-depth report at the end of the assignment.
Presence on UN Women premises:
The consultant will be expected to be present within the UN Women premises on a part-time basis, as agreed upon with the Head of the UN Women Office in the oPt and based on the work-plan for the assignment. As such, the UN Women office in the oPt will provide the consultant with the necessary office space, computer, access to communications and transportation services.


Competencies
CORE VALUES / GUIDING PRINCIPLES:
-Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
-Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

CORE COMPETENCIES:
-Ethics and Values: Demonstrating / Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity;
-Organizational Awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
-Developing and Empowering People / Coaching and Mentoring: Initiative-taking; coaching and mentoring ability;
-Working in Teams: Acting as a team player and facilitating team work;
-Communicating Information and Ideas: Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively;
-Self-management and Emotional intelligence: Creating synergies through self-control.
-Conflict Management / Negotiating and Resolving Disagreements: Managing conflict;
-Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning: Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of other.

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:
-Substantial previous experience in media, communications and advocacy initiatives (international experience an asset);
-Demonstrated experience in developing and managing media and communications strategies;
-Understanding and experience gender equality issues, including in the context of conflict and post conflict situation;
-Sound understanding of issues related to development in crisis and post-crisis situations;
-Demonstrated strong, coordination and facilitation skills;
-Strong communication skills in English (oral and written);
-Results oriented, flexible and problem solving skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education
Masters’ degree in communications, development, gender topics, social sciences, media or related field

Experience
-At least 5 years of relevant, proven working experience in media and advocacy on gender or other social/development issues;
-Thorough understanding of the issues at stake in the field of gender equality and women's rights; strong conceptual, creative and practical skills as they link with media, advocacy and communications;
-Experience in coordinating communication activities across a large organization and with other international organizations and partners;
-Previous working experience in the region;
-Work experience with international organization is an asset;
-Previous working experience in a conflict situation is an asset;
-Ability to interact with governmental agencies, good interpersonal skills and organizational proficiency;
-Experience with UN Agencies on gender equality will be an advantage.

Language Requirements:
-Very good communication and drafting skills and fluent in English (comprehension, written, and spoken);
-Knowledge of another UN language an asset;
-Communication skills in Arabic will be an added advantage.

Submission of application:
Interested candidates must submit application P11Form, including complete and up to date CV, as per deadline indicated, to the following email [email protected] , indicating in the subject line: MEDIA AND ADVOCACY CONSULTANT, MEDIA UNIT.
UN Women will only be able to respond to those applications in which there is further interest