Communications and Knowledge Management Officer

Contract

This is a IPSA-10 contract. This kind of contract is known as International Personnel Services Agreement. It is normally internationally recruited only. It usually requires 5 years of experience, depending on education. More about IPSA-10 contracts.

Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP's policy work carried out at headquarters, regional, and country offices, forms a contiguous spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in the Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of field-based and global technical expertise across a wide range of knowledge domains and in support of the signature solutions and organizational capabilities envisioned in the Strategic Plan.

Within the GPN, the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP's Strategic Plan. BPPS's staff provides technical advice to Country Offices, advocates for UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogues, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. In addition, BPPS works closely with UNDP's Crisis Bureau (CB) to support emergency and crisis response. While ensuring that issues of risk are fully integrated into UNDP's development programmes, BPPS also assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results-based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working. Lastly, BPPS supports UNDP and partners to be more innovative, knowledge and data driven including in its programme support efforts.

In order to streamline its financial and investment engagement, UNDP launched the Sustainable Finance Hub (SFH), a finance and innovation platform, that draws on a critical mass of UNDP expertise, initiatives, and partnerships to support the mobilization and leveraging of resources for the SDGs and lead the implementation of the new UNDP private sector strategy and other initiatives. The Hub is an integral part of both BPPS and the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy (BERA), as well as part of the GPN. The Hub serves as a connector, broker and global coordinator among internal and external actors; curates and manages UNDP’s catalogue of service offers on SDG financing to governments, investors and companies, via the COs, to significantly enhance the scale and impact of UNDP’s work.

Please visit the Sustainable Finance Hub website for more information.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is the part of the United Nations Secretariat responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies. OCHA also ensures there is a framework within which each actor can contribute to the overall response effort. With its partners, OCHA contributes to principled and effective humanitarian response through coordination, advocacy, policy, information management and humanitarian financing tools and services. OCHA’s country and regional offices are responsible for delivering the core functions in the field by leveraging functional expertise throughout the organization.

Please visit the OCHA website for more information.

The Connecting Business initiative (CBi) was established by OCHA and UNDP to support strategic engagement between the United Nations and the private sector before, during, and after emergencies. CBi is dedicated to helping businesses prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters and effectively engage with the United Nations and the broader international humanitarian and development systems.

Please visit the CBi website for more information.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the CBi Programme Coordinator and the day-to-day guidance of the Communications Specialist, the Communications and Knowledge Management Officer will be responsible for:

• Drafting content and designing, laying out, and editing communications materials including reports, guidance notes, brochures, and videos for CBi and its Member Networks around the world.
• Drafting and supporting the distribution of articles, blog posts, and op-eds by CBi and its Member Networks.
• Drafting and disseminating CBi’s quarterly newsletters, showcasing Member Networks’ content and new Knowledge Products from CBi.
• Drafting content for and managing the CBi website and online resource library in close coordination with CBi’s Digital Knowledge Management Analyst.
• Supporting the Communications Specialist in liaising with internal and external stakeholders, partners, and media contacts in coordination with the Communications Specialist.
• Liaising between CBi’s communications and knowledge management teams to ensure that activities are implemented in a strategic and complementary manner.
• Supporting the development and implementation of CBi’s Knowledge Management and Communications Strategy.
• Supporting the development of CBi knowledge products by drafting, editing and proofreading content as needed.
• Leading the development of dissemination plans for CBi knowledge products in line with the CBi Communications Strategy.
• Providing technical support in developing and reviewing CBi online courses and virtual events.
• Undertaking any other substantive tasks necessary for the implementation of the responsibilities of CBi as may be required.

Competencies

Core

Achieve Results:

LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact

Think Innovatively:

LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems

Learn Continuously:

LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences

Adapt with Agility:

LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands

Act with Determination:

LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results

Engage and Partner:

LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration

Enable Diversity and Inclusion:

LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity

People Management (Insert below standard sentence if the position has direct reports.)

UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site.

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies (insert up to 7 competencies)

Thematic Area

Name

Definition

Communications

Advocacy strategy and implementation

Ability to create and implement advocacy strategies which lead to impactful change

Communications

Writing and Editing

Ability to create and/or edit written content in different UN languages

Partnership management

Private sector engagement

Ability to identify, conduct outreach, and manage relationships with the private sector

Partnership management

Relationship management

Ability to engage with a wide range of public and private partners, build, sustain and/or strengthen working relations, trust and mutual understanding

Please refer to the competency framework site for the entire list of competencies and further explanations.

Required Skills and Experience

Minimum academic education

Master’s degree in communications, public relations, media, or another related area is required.

Minimum years of relevant work experience

A minimum of 5 (five) years of progressively responsible experience in communications and/or project management for international development or humanitarian response is required.

Required skills and competencies

• Proven record of producing articles, blogs and communications products using current software and online platforms (including Canva, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, MailChimp and Drupal) is required;
• Demonstrated experience in social media management and monitoring for Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and other websites is required;
• Experience in planning, coordinating, and organizing virtual events is required;
• Experience in preparing briefing notes, speeches, talking points, key messages and meeting reports is required.

Desired additional skills and competencies

• Previous experience with the United Nations is highly desirable.
• Previous experience with the private sector and/or supporting engagement between the UN and the private sector is highly desirable.
• Experience in disaster risk reduction, emergency preparedness, response and recovery would be an added advantage.

Required language(s) (at working level)

• Excellent written and oral English is a requirement, along with proficiency in oral and written French.
• Working knowledge of a third UN language is an advantage.

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

a) Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.

b) A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers themselves to be suitable for the position.

c) At least three samples of previous work must be provided, including at least one report of 10 pages or more.

Any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of the applicants’ qualifications and experience, such as diplomas, certificates, reports, presentations, publications, campaigns, etc. may be additionally requested at the discretion of a hiring manager.