Communications Specialist: Climate, Forests and Development in Central Africa - IPSA 10

Mid Senior

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

Instructions to Applicants: Click on the "Apply now" button. Input your information in the appropriate Sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume and motivation. Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. Please ensure that CV or P11 and the Cover letter are combined in one file.

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

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) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.

A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.

Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns or other materials.

Office/Unit/Project Description

The Central African region is home to the second largest tropical rainforest in the world, is sucking out about 1.5 billion tons of CO2 of the atmosphere or 4% of the world’s emissions every year and provides a habitat to more than 10,000 plant and animal species. Forest loss is accelerating despite ongoing efforts, as government action alone has not been enough to establish an effective balance between the interests of the forest and of economic development. On this basis, a coalition of donors – the European Union, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of France, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Korea – together with Central African partner countries – Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Gabon – have decided to enter into a collaborative partnership to establish the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI).

CAFI’s objective is to recognize and preserve the value of the forests in the region to mitigate climate change, reduce poverty, and contribute to sustainable development. This objective will be attained through the implementation of country-led, national scale REDD+ and Low Emissions Development (LED) investment frameworks that include policy reforms and measures to address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation and promote sustainable development. The CAFI Trust Fund is the principal means to implement the Central African Forest Initiative. It is administered by the MPTF-O, that also provides the Secretariat services.

The objective of this IPSA engagement is to support the CAFI Secretariat in its reporting requirements across the CAFI portfolio[1]

[1] Available here : https://www.cafi.org/node/779

Institutional Arrangement

The Communications expert will report administratively to the Management Specialist of the CAFI Secretariat, and receive technical and strategic guidance from the M&E and Communications specialist.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work

The scope of work will vary depending on the specific country and thematic focus of assignment. It will involve close coordination with the CAFI Secretariat and Executive Board and communication specialists at HQ, regional and country level. It will include the various deliverables/tasks below:

1) Content creation

• Create content for CAFI website, keeping the site current with new content including articles, pages on CAFI-funded programmes and thematic areas.
• Identify and develop compelling stories from the CAFI portfolio, and create content, such as multimedia stories, videos, graphics, and social media updates to showcase impact on the ground, by identifying stories from within the CAFI portfolio that have compelling narratives. This includes working with teams on the ground to collect background documents and pictures, commission when needed a photographer, and turn programme reports into multimedia stories.
• Maintain CAFI social media presence including by : creating a list of international days and events that are relevant to CAFI partner and donor countries, listing all relevant hashtags, map key stakeholders and influencers to be connected to, drafting social media kits for main events of the year, and sharing a regular stream of content via the CAFI Twitter account.

2) Quality control and training

• Review materials coming from country partners and develop and provide regular and targeted guidance to align messaging with CAFI’s vision and communication & visibility strategy.

• Perform editorial reviews of relevant portfolio knowledge products developed by the CAFI Secretariat (ie. Brochures, annual highlights etc).

• Train CAFI and partners on communications (media trainings, photo and video taking) on an ad-hoc basis throughout the year.

3) Media relations

• Draft press releases, factsheets, talking points, and scripts for video messages.
• Organize responses to media requests and support messaging.
• Support media outreach during major events/meetings by creating opportunities for positive messaging about CAFI ‘s achievements and milestones: identifying opportunities, themes, network of editors to promote CAFI’s vision, identifying stories and draft pitches for top tiered and specialized media, supporting the organization of interviews ahead, during and immediately after the events, taking photos, and drafting and reviewing communications material (press releases, talking points, key messaging).
• Support the organization of field visits with journalists and photographer(s) to CAFI portfolio programme sites to amplify messaging around the conservation of forests as a climate solution. Tasks include, in coordination with country Technical Advisor and country communication teams : identifying site or sites for visit, drafting technical notes to capture existing programmes and results to be featured during field visit, supporting pitch with compelling elements resulting from research and technical notes, establishing a list of target media and journalists in Europe and in Africa to pitch CAFI stories, liaising with journalists and governments counterparts to set up and implement the visit (programme, logistics, identification of interviewees on site such as high level government officials, etc.), preparing briefing pack for field visit participants.

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

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

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

Thematic Area

Name

Definition

Strategic Thinking

Business Direction & Strategy

Ability to develop effective strategies and prioritized plans in line with UNDP`s objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, potential risks and opportunities; linking the vision to reality on the ground, and creating tangible solutions.

Ability to leverage learning from a variety of sources to anticipate and respond to future trends; to demonstrate foresight in order to model what future developments and possible ways forward look like for UNDP.

Business Management

Communication

Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience.

Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels.

Business Development

Collective Intelligence Design

Ability to bringing together diverse groups of people, data, information or ideas, andtechnology to design services or solutions

Communications

Social Media management

Ability to represent and promote the UNDP brand in virtual communities and networks

Communications

Marketing

Ability to communicate the value of a product or service

Communications

Media Relations

Ability to develop media relations across all aspects of media work including relationships with media and preparing media materials such as messages

Communications

Multimedia production

Ability to create and combine images, text and audio-visuals to produce multimedia content

Required Skills and Experience

Min. Education requirements

• Master’s Degree in Communications field.

Min. years of relevant work experience

• 5 years of work experience implementing strategic communications (including but not limited to, content creation, quality control and training, media relations) in several countries and across a diverse portfolio of programmes.

Required skills

• Experience in providing communication guidance and simple training materials
• Experience in editing & proof reading in English and French
• Knowledge of climate change
• Demonstrated ability to work in high pressure environments and tight deadlines
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and creatively
• Knowledge of the Central African context and its challenges
• Knowledge of rural development contexts

Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section

• Experience designing strategic communication plans
• Experience in content creation (visual and written)
• Experience handling media relations, including in sensitive contexts
• Experience in and with developing countries

Required Language(s)

• Fluency in French and English (written, read and spoken)
• Ability to read and write in Spanish an additional asset

Professional Certificates

• N/A

Apply now

Added 1 year ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: jobs.undp.org