International Consultancy Strategic Communications Adviser

Contract

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

Background

Under the guidance of the UN Resident Coordinator in the Maldives, the Strategic Communications Adviser will strengthen the UN Maldives communications efforts in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

2020 marks the start of the Decade of Action for the 2030 Agenda, with ten years remaining for countries to make progress on the SDGs. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, these efforts are severely threatened, particularly in the Maldives where the country continues to suffer from both the public health crisis, as well as the socioeconomic impacts of the decline in international tourism which represents up to 74% of the country’s GDP.

The UN has a solid history of supporting the Maldives on its development trajectory. 2020 marks both the 75th anniversary of the UN, and the 55th year of Maldivian membership of the global organisation. In 2018, UN Member States agreed on efforts to enhance the effectiveness of the UN Development System (UNDS), with a focus on delivering a tangible impact on development at the country level. The emphasis of this reform is on harnessing the resources and capacity of the entire UN system, under the leadership of Resident Coordinator who is the representative of the UN Secretary General to the country. In the Maldives, a renewed effort is underway to gather and galvanise the capacities that exist in the respective UN Agencies, and bring this expertise to a UN Maldives-wide approach to obtain a greater result from development efforts.

This includes enhancing the advocacy and communications effort, to ensure the widest reach from Male to the outlying islands, and ensuring that all Maldivians are connected to the sustainable development agenda. With the UN75 anniversary, UN Maldives has launched a wide range of events to reach and listen to the aspirations and ideas from all Maldivians on The Future We Want. In order to ensure an effective and sustained outreach, some strategic engagement from an expert communications adviser is required to design and build capacity around a targeted UN Maldives communications programme for the next 5 years.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Consult UN agencies (UN Country Team and UN Communications professionals) and design a Communications Strategy for the Maldives 2021-2025
• Needs assessment of the communications capacity needs of UNCG members
• Design and deliver a series of practical online workshops for the UN Communications Group (UNCG) for delivering on the Communications Strategy, and various products, based on the needs identified by the UNCG
• Review the Annual Communications Workplan, and make proposals for adjusting in line with final Communications Strategy
• Coach and mentor the RCO Communications Officer on identified need areas in line with the revised Communications Strategy

Competencies

• Demonstrated understanding of the international development agenda, in particular the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals
• Proven experience in developing Communications Strategies for UN or Governments
• Ability to work with a diverse team to achieve common goals and results
• Ability to achieve results through delivery of mentoring and coaching support through virtual means
• Excellent ability to form productive working relationships with people from various backgrounds and experience
• Demonstrated written, presentation and communications skills at the highest level

Required Skills and Experience

ducation

• Postgraduate qualifications in communications, journalism, humanities, social sciences, or related area, with at least 20 years of relevant experience.

Experience

• At least 20 years of experience in journalism, media or strategic communications at the international level
• At least 10 years of proven expertise in delivering strategic communications advice and strategies to Government (including Head of State/Cabinet Minister level) or senior UN officials
• Demonstrated track record in developing Communications Strategies related to the sustainable development interventions.
• Demonstrated ability to design and deliver world-class communications training
• Comprehensive understanding of modern, best-practice government and institutional communications
• Proven track record in mentoring less experienced teams of communications professionals
• Extensive experience of working with institutional partners to support media development in challenging environments

Language requirement

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required

Application process

Interested individuals must submit the following as proposals in order to demonstrate their qualifications.

• A letter indicating why the candidate considers himself/herself suitable for the required consultancy;
• Submission of an updated detailed Personal CV or P11 form which can be downloaded from http://sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc
• Financial quotation, daily consultancy fee. Consultancy will be virtual and from home based.
• At least two references from recent previous jobs or three references contact details

Note: Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into one single file.