Communications Senior Associate - Public Relations and Outreach (GRM)

Senior Communications & PR

Overview

Lead the Grievance Mechanism, handling inquiries and complaints professionally.

You have:

• High school diploma required; Bachelor's degree in business administration, HR, public administration, development studies, social sciences, psychology, or human rights preferred.
• 7 years experience with a high school degree in handling GRM, data management, social work, case management, or community engagement; 3 years required with a Bachelor's degree.
• Experience working in an NGO, UN agency, or international technical cooperation agency is required.
• Full proficiency in Arabic and English is required.

Contract

This is a LICA-7 contract. This kind of contract is known as Local Individual Contractor Agreements. It is normally only for nationals. It's an external contract. It usually requires 7 years of experience, depending on education. More about LICA-7 contracts.

Background Information - UNOPS

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.

Background Information

The UNOPS Hub in Amman implements projects on behalf of UN agencies and bilateral donors and in close coordination with the Government and national authorities. With an established presence across the region (Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Turkey), the office runs operations including large-scale procurement, project development, and technical management, and provides financial, human resources, and infrastructure-related services.

The functional objective of UNOPS Hub in Amman is to deliver its projects in an efficient and effective manner and in line with the principles, rules, and regulations of UNOPS, to achieve the outcomes sought by the clients.

UNOPS has been active in Lebanon since 2015, delivering projects in support of the Government of Lebanon and partners. Since the explosion at the Beirut Port on 4 August 2020, UNOPS has significantly scaled up its presence in the country to support the humanitarian response and both its presence and portfolio have undergone expansion.

The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans, and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.

UNOPS is committed to achieving a fully diverse workforce.

Background Information - Job-specific

UNOPS is undertaking a project that aims at improving access to critical municipal services and increasing the resilience of the Beirut and Bourj Hammoud municipalities which were affected by the Beirut Port explosion, through the rehabilitation of damaged municipal infrastructure and assets as well as restoration of critical urban services, such as water and sanitation, roads, waste management, and energy, including renewable energy, in an integrated and gender-sensitive manner, contributing to improved quality of life as well as by creating local economic activities for all. Besides the improved public service delivery, the project entails undertaking accompanying tension-mitigation measures, extensive community engagement activities, and grants support to local CSO/NGOs that aims at reducing tensions in the targeted communities, enhancing community resilience, and helping rebuild the trust in the local authorities.

The project has a duration of 48 months (including 12 months for the Defect Notification Period), and will be implemented in coordination with the governmental, municipal, and relevant community stakeholders in Lebanon, to ensure that projects activities are designed in consultation with relevant governmental authorities and to reflect community needs.

Within this project, UNOPS will implement a Grievance Mechanism to ensure that all stakeholders’ comments, suggestions, and objections are captured and considered. The grievance mechanism will also allow the affected community members and beneficiaries to express their concerns and any complaints, including reports on health and safety violations, incidents of SEA, Sexual harassment (SH), or Gender-Based Violence (GBV) -while implementing the project works - directly to UNOPS. Therefore, UNOPS is seeking Communications Senior Associate position to lead the Grievance Mechanism

Functional Responsibilities

The Communications Senior Associate will be responsible to respond, verify, resolve and follow up on inquiries and complaints, monitor grievances until they are resolved, and escalate issues (including reports of Sexual Harassment (SH) and Sexual Exploitation and (SEA) to the Project Manager and relevant focal point as necessary. In order to ensure that all beneficiaries and/or stakeholders’ comments, suggestions, concerns, and complaints are captured and handled in a professional and timely manner.

Under direct supervision and overall guidance of the Project Manager, the Communications Senior Associate is required to perform the following duties and responsibilities ensuring their effectiveness, transparency, and integrity:

Grievance Redress Mechanism:

• Contribute to set up of functional about (GRM) reaching beneficiaries for the project implemented by UNOPS in his/her area of intervention;
• Handle calls, emails, and messages from beneficiaries and community members;
• Verify and resolve basic inquiries and complaints from beneficiaries/ stakeholders, and when necessary escalate to the Project Manager;
• Record the details of all received calls and the needed actions taken/ to be taken in the GRM “call log” on a daily basis.
• Maintain records of all the received queries/ complaints and actions and update the GRM information regularly;
• Monitor any resolutions to grievances to ensure they are implemented and closed in a professional, satisfactory, and timely manner;
• Draft and periodically update a GRM Manual with operating procedures, database, and an organogram for grievance redress.

Communication, Coordination and Reporting:

• Visit all project locations in his/her area of intervention in order to understand the project and be able to answer beneficiaries' complaints in the best possible way and possibly collect direct complaints from beneficiaries;
• Assist in Developing gender-sensitive communication/ outreach materials/ tools in close coordination with the Community Engagement and Communication Officer as well as support in identifying and engaging potential beneficiaries including both males and females;
• Provide periodic reports (weekly, monthly, quarterly) based on the data collected through all GRM (box, hotline, etc.) to Manager and include provision of recommendations in order to improve satisfaction of affected population;
• Refer all calls on SEA to UNOPS’ PSEA focal points for further handling, while respecting confidentiality, and maintain SEA and SH reports/ records in confidential formats (encrypted) for reporting and investigation purposes.

Knowledge Management and Sharing:

• Contribute, along with the Project Manager, to the training of the project team and key stakeholders on GRM objective, tools, use, etc;
• Assist in providing conclusion and recommendations to the project manager based on any GRM activity (GRM, satisfaction survey, beneficiaries' consultations, etc);
• Coordinate with the project team in documenting lessons learned and best practises.

Competencies

Treats all individuals with respect; responds sensitively to differences and encourages others to do the same. Upholds organizational and ethical norms. Maintains high standards of trustworthiness. Role model for diversity and inclusion.

Acts as a positive role model contributing to the team spirit. Collaborates and supports the development of others. For people managers only: Acts as positive leadership role model, motivates, directs and inspires others to succeed, utilizing appropriate leadership styles. Demonstrates understanding of the impact of own role on all partners and always puts the end beneficiary first. Builds and maintains strong external relationships and is a competent partner for others (if relevant to the role). Efficiently establishes an appropriate course of action for self and/or others to accomplish a goal. Actions lead to total task accomplishment through concern for quality in all areas. Sees opportunities and takes the initiative to act on them. Understands that responsible use of resources maximizes our impact on our beneficiaries. Open to change and flexible in a fast paced environment. Effectively adapts own approach to suit changing circumstances or requirements. Reflects on experiences and modifies own behavior. Performance is consistent, even under pressure. Always pursues continuous improvements. Evaluates data and courses of action to reach logical, pragmatic decisions. Takes an unbiased, rational approach with calculated risks. Applies innovation and creativity to problem-solving. Expresses ideas or facts in a clear, concise and open manner. Communication indicates a consideration for the feelings and needs of others. Actively listens and proactively shares knowledge. Handles conflict effectively, by overcoming differences of opinion and finding common ground.

Education/Experience/Language requirements

Education:

• High school diploma required. A Bachelor’s degree preferably in business administration, HR, public administration, development studies, social sciences, psychology, or human rights is preferred and would be an asset and may substitute for some of the required years of experience.
• With a high school degree, a minimum of 7 years experience in handling GRM, data management, social work, case management, or community engagement and outreach preferably within a project context. (Only 3 years of experience are required with a Bachelor degree)

Experience:

• Experience of working in an national/international NGO, UN agency or other international technical cooperation agency is required.
• Proven capacity to interact with a variety of stakeholders is desirable.
• Knowledge with computers, and other software/ platforms related to the position’s field of expertise. Good experience in working with the G-Suite platform including, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Gmail, Google Sheets, Docs, and Slide is desired.

Language: - Full proficiency in Arabic and English is required;

Contract type, level and duration

Contract type: ICA contract Contract level: LICA-7 Contract duration: Ongoing ICA – ‘Open-ended, subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and satisfactory performance.’

For more details about the ICA contractual modality, please follow this link: https://www.unops.org/english/Opportunities/job-opportunities/what-we-offer/Pages/Individual-Contractor-Agreements.aspx

Additional Considerations

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Beirut is designated as non-family duty station.
• The position is a local position and is open to nationals only.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

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Potential interview questions

Added 4 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: jobs.unops.org