Country Support Communications Officer

Volunteering IT & Telecom

Overview

Support WHO communications for health in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.

You have:

• Excellent oral and written skills; excellent drafting, formulation, reporting skills.
• Accuracy and professionalism in document production and editing.
• Excellent interpersonal skills; culturally and socially sensitive; ability to work inclusively and collaboratively with a range of partners.
• Solid overall computer literacy, including proficiency in various MS Office applications and email/internet.
• Practical knowledge and hands-on experience in communications tools and applications and platforms.
• Ability to produce engaging and evidence-based communications content in English.
• Demonstrated ability to transfer knowledge and support building organizational capacities.
• Ability to "think out of the box" and to make innovative proposals to extend outreach.

Contract

This is a UNV contract. More about UNV contracts.

This assignment is part of a UNV-funded initiative designed to bring fresh, diverse talent into UN programmes from countries that are currently unrepresented among UN Volunteers. It offers a unique opportunity to help ensure that global volunteering truly reflects the world we serve, while giving participating UN Volunteers meaningful, hands on experience with leading UN partners. As such, the initiative targets candidates from the following nationalities: Andorra, Croatia, Estonia, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, Slovenia.

The UN Volunteer will act as a Communications Officer (Country Support) at the Strategic Communications and Advocacy (SCA) unit. In this role he/she will support the WHO Country Offices (WCOs) across the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region in the development of communications plans and products in line with the Regional Communications and Advocacy strategy, as well as maintaining and enhancing the WCOs’ Communications channels and platforms including web, media and social media. The position will further help enhance quality, visibility, consistency and branding of the WCOs’ communications materials.

The Strategic Communications and Advocacy (SCA) is a unit of the Communications and Partnerships (CAP) cluster under the Department of Programme Management at WHO/EMRO.

To provide strategic leadership and integrated oversight across the technical, managerial, and external engagement functions of the Regional Office. The post will ensure coherence between programme management, resource mobilization, partnership development, and strategic communications, fostering synergy between technical departments, country offices, and the Regional Director’s Office. Thereby, strengthening WHO’s collective impact in advancing health priorities across the Eastern Mediterranean Region, ensuring alignment with WHO’s General Programme of Work, the Regional Flagship Initiatives, and the Regional Director’s Vision.

The mission of the CAP Cluster is to provide strategic support and oversight across all WHO communication activities in the region (to mobilize and leverage resources, build strategic alliances and partnerships, and to guide external relations and multilateral affairs. The cluster manages WHO/EMROs relationship with the international community by contributing to the positioning of the Organization's regional health priorities in the global and regional agenda and in positioning the Organization as a trusted and recognized health leader in the region.
The SCA Unit Strategic Objective is to reinforce WHO’s role as the trusted health authority, to share and expand access to evidence-based health information in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.

The SCA Unit specific objectives are to:

• Communicate accurate, timely, appealing and engaging information to the public, partners, media and other stakeholders through traditional and innovative platforms.
• Advocate for WHO’s impact and credibility as the leading voice for public health so that general population and partners trust and support WHO and take action with or as guided by it.
• Enhance WHO’s capacity to communicate for health, foster partnerships with the media and other key communications partners and stakeholders, and attract resources for strategic priorities.
• Advise senior management on latest developments to strengthen communication and issues that affect WHO’s reputation and credibility.

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of Regional Advisor, Strategic Communications and Advocacy or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UN Volunteer Country Support Communications Officer will:

1. Support the development of country-specific communication plans and standard operating procedures for WHO Country Offices (WCOs) in line with the Regional Communications for Health (C4H) Strategy, aimed at improving health outcomes through positive behaviour change among target audiences, and ensure its timely, efficient and impactful implementation.
2. Identify subjects of interest for Communications for Health and provide technical and creative input for conception, development and dissemination of the WCOs’ C4H products , drawing on techniques and evidence from social and behavioural change communication, health promotion, behavioural insights, community engagement, risk and crisis communications.
3. Develop and maintain a calendar of health events for the WCOs to be used as a single standard planner for marking local, Regional and International health days/events/campaigns in a streamlined manner. Ensure timely planning and developing of corporate communications materials (posters, brochures, videos, human-interest stories, etc) for the events and campaigns.
4. Support Drafting content (e.g. media releases, web stories, social media posts) for, and regularly update/monitor the WCOs’ Communications Channels and Platforms (i.e. media, web, social media, etc) in accordance with WHO global and regional corporate guidelines and standards.
5. Support WHO Country Offices in proactively communicating to their workforce, by Sharing/adapting global and regional internal information and materials, so that the ‘Internal Communications’ content can be cascaded at the country level.
6. Participate in the development of communication products to be used by the WCOs to advocate for support from donors, stakeholders and partners to respond to the country office needs in the steady-state and health emergency situations.
7. Technically support documentation, monitoring and evaluation of the WCOs’ communications initiatives and products to measure and maximize their impact. Establish and maintain an archive of communications products in a systematic manner and contribute to WHO global and regional archiving platforms such as the WHO/EMRO Photo Library.
8. Support capacity building approaches and activities for improved communications skills, content planning, design and production at the country level, including coaching and assisting staff on design and branding best practices for their dissemination of public health information.

• Teamwork • Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences • Communication • Knowing and managing yourself • Accountability • Adaptability and flexibility • Creativity • Professionalism

• Excellent oral and written skills; excellent drafting, formulation, reporting skills • Accuracy and professionalism in document production and editing • Excellent interpersonal skills; culturally and socially sensitive; ability to work inclusively and collaboratively with a range of partners, including grassroots community members, religious and youth organizations, and authorities at different levels • Ability to work and adapt professionally and effectively in a challenging environment; ability to work effectively in a multicultural team of international and national personnel • Solid overall computer literacy, including proficiency in various MS Office applications (Excel, Word, etc.) and email/internet; familiarity with database management; and office technology equipment • Self-motivated, ability to work with minimum supervision; ability to work with tight deadlines • Practical knowledge and hands-on experience in communications tools and applications and platforms • Ability to produce engaging and evidence-based communications content in English • Demonstrated ability to transfer knowledge and support building organizational capacities in key areas and procedures for effective and collaborative management of social media • Demonstrated ability to work on multiple tasks and achieve deadlines • Ability to "think out of the box" and to make innovative proposals to extend outreach and influence of communications products • Problem solving and solution-finding abilities, with diplomatic and interpersonal communication and negotiation skills, and ability to build and maintain positive a collaborative team relationships

Note:

This Description of Assignment is part of a targeted UNV initiative and is open exclusively to candidates with the following nationalities: Andorra, Croatia, Estonia, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, Slovenia. Applicants from the above countries who do not fully meet the minimum professional experience requirements for a UN Volunteer ‘Specialist’ assignment are still encouraged to apply; if selected, they may be recruited under the Conditions of Service applicable to UN Volunteer ‘Associate’ assignments.

Cairo, Egypt is a family duty station with a wide range of services (health, education and leisure) and good living conditions. It has long been a center of the region’s political and cultural life, with high levels of tourism. Like other similar cities, Cairo offers good quality of life in terms of access to shopping centers, banks, medical services, educational facilities, cultural events, etc. The Arab Republic of Egypt has a unique geographical position in Northeast Africa, at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, on the Mediterranean and Red Sea, and its connection to Sub Saharan Africa through the Nile Valley.

International UN Specialist Volunteer gets the following package: • Volunteer Living Allowance (around USD 2,456/Month) • Entry Lump-Sum = USD 3,500 • Exit Lump-Sum upon completion of contract. • Medical and life Insurance premium/Cigna (100%) and dependents policy. • Access to UNV E-Campus for training and learning including access to LinkedIn learning.

You can check full entitlements at the duty station at https://app.unv.org/calculator The complete UN Volunteer Conditions of Service is available at https://explore.unv.org/cos

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Potential interview questions

Added 13 days ago - Updated 2 hours ago - Source: unv.org