Communications Specialist

Contract

This is a International Consultant contract. More about International Consultant contracts.

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 center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women is seeking an international Communications Specialist to support UN Women’s office in Lebanon, in scaling up its communications work. The Communications Specialist, under the supervision of the Communication and Advocacy Specialist (Lebanon) will collaborate closely with the Headquarters, Regional colleagues to ensure communications strategies, media relations and organizational outreach efforts are aligned with corporate communications policies and initiatives. S/he will also support outreach campaigns, resource mobilization and donor relations initiatives.

Duties and Responsibilities

To support UN Women’s office in Lebanon to scale up media engagement and work, and to better document the impact of the work UN Women undertakes in Lebanon.

Support the development of communication and outreach/advocacy strategies for the Lebanon CO

• Conduct communication needs assessments as requested, including projects, programmes and corporate change initiatives;
• Design, develop, and implement communication and outreach/advocacy strategies, including media strategies; ensure gender perspective;
• Integrate communication, advocacy and outreach strategies into proposals for project/programmes and other initiatives;
• Participate in UN inter-agency Communications Group meetings, and contribute to UN system efforts as requested, integrating a gender perspective in the UN system wide work in the country
• Support in-country UN Women/ UN system corporate and local/regional campaigns and special events.

Support the development and dissemination of public advocacy materials on Lebanon for regional and global efforts:

• Develop and produce communication and advocacy instruments and materials, including briefing materials, press releases, and articles and coordinate its dissemination through effective channels according to UN Women corporate standards;
• Coordinate launch of flagship initiatives and publications in the region;
• Support the engagement and supervision of photo, video producers and writers and other communication specialists to produce multimedia material on UN Women’s work in Lebanon

Support management, knowledge building and sharing:

• Attend trainings hosted by HQ and RO Communications, to stay abreast of corporate policies and workflows
• Provide training and workshops on communication and advocacy as appropriate to UN Women colleagues and partners, based on corporate communications policies.
• Identify and synthesize best practices and lessons learned, ensure exchange of information;
• Monitor and analyze media, web and social media and prepare analytical reports.

Support web, social media and news media relations:

• Support media strategies to be implemented in line with corporate guidelines to enhance the positioning of UN Women with the media;
• Support relationship building with press in country; maintain and update database of relevant contact;
• Respond timely and clearly to media inquiries and to a variety of inquiries and information requests; identify and produce impactful success stories/ issues, factsheets, brochures, media talking points, news-related development and coverage of interest;
• Facilitate interviews with senior and thematic managers; connect media with UN Women subject experts;
• Pitch and write impactful programme stories for corporate platforms: global website, social media channels regularly
• Support the expansion of UN Women’s Media Compact in Lebanon.

Build and maintain communications and advocacy focused partnerships:

• Identify and develop new communication partnerships and alliances to enhance visibility; manage and nurture existing partnerships;
• Liaise with advocacy partners and undertake outreach to civil society organizations, governments, and other groups to ensure that newsworthy information reaches the public and donors.

Deliverables

Time frame

. Deliverables will include:

• Daily tweets
• Contributing to the CO photo bank
• Weekly stories
• Oversight of partner communication plans (through final reports on the implementation of partner communication plans)

On Monthly basis

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

Functional Competencies

• Ability to lead and provide strategic communications efforts and guidance
• Strong expertise in media relations
• Strong knowledge of social media platforms and experience in social media outreach
• Proven ability to undertake public advocacy campaigns
• Strong knowledge of managing websites and content
• Ability to communicate sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies
• Strong understanding of production, graphic design and photography standards
• Strong oral and written communication and editing skills
• Strong communication, networking and advocacy skills
• Knowledge of gender and human rights issues is desirable

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in communications, public relations, journalism or relevant field 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 professional work experience at national or international level in journalism, communications or advocacy public relations, including in media relations;
• Experience in the use of media relations and social media;
• Computer skills, internet communication and command of MS Office.

Language requirements:

• Fluency in written and oral English is a must;
• Arabic is an asset;
• French is an asset.

Evaluation criteria:

Consultants will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of qualifications and financial proposal. Contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
• Having received the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

Technical Evaluation (70%) split such as:

The points for the Technical criteria will be allocated as per the below formula:

• Criterion 1: Education 20 points
• Criterion 2: Work experience at national or international level in journalism, communications, or advocacy public relations, including in media relations 30 points.
• Criterion 3: Experience in media relations and social media 20 points

The points for the technical criteria will be assigned as per the highest combined technical score.

Financial Evaluation (30%):

The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula:

• Contract will be awarded to the technically qualified consultant who obtains the highest combined score (financial and technical);
• The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula: (Lowest Bid Offered*)/ (Bid of the Consultant) x 30;
• 'Lowest Bid Offered' refers to the lowest price offered by Offerors scoring at least 49 points in the technical evaluation.

Application:

Interested individuals must submit the following document to demonstrate their qualifications:

• UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment;
• Any application without submitting the above-mentioned document will be a ground for disqualification.