Vaka Pasifika - Communications Specialist

Volunteering Communications & PR

Overview

Assist with the Vaka Pasifika project and support communications activities.

You have:

• Demonstrated personal drive to amplify governance impact in the Pacific and a track record of delivering on deadlines with minimal supervision.
• Demonstrated experience editing and proofreading donor-funded development documents, with a strong working knowledge of international development agencies’ editorial style guides.
• Experience in developing and implementing digital communication strategies for governance or development programmes, including content-calendar planning and multi-platform growth (web, LinkedIn, Facebook, X/Twitter).
• Advocacy, presentation, and capacity-building skills, including training staff, CSOs, or journalists on inclusive language, Canva/PowerPoint, and knowledge-management tools.
• Experience in communications or information management within Pacific Island humanitarian or development contexts.
• Awareness of children’s rights, gender issues, and localisation principles in Pacific humanitarian or governance work.
• Hands-on experience collecting, processing, and analysing data to create visual information products and dashboards.
• Proven ability to set clear communication objectives, measure reach and engagement, and adapt tactics quickly to maximise results.
• Experience in drafting and editing skills for press releases, blogs, speeches and donor-facing text, distilling complex public-finance content into crisp, compelling messages.
• Strong design sense and ability to develop infographics, slide decks, short video reels that converts data and policy concepts into plain-language visuals.
• Experience pitching stories, managing journalist engagement and covering workshops or conferences to secure positive coverage.
• Competence with social-media and web-analytics tools to track performance, report monthly insights and continuously refine outreach.
• Excellent planning, self-management and cross-cultural communication abilities, with sensitivity to Pacific contexts and marginalised audiences.

Contract

This is a UNV National Specialist contract. This kind of contract is known as National UN Volunteer. It is normally only for nationals. More about UNV National Specialist contracts.

This assignment is for the Vaka Pasifika project of the UNDP Pacific Office that champions transparent, inclusive and public-finance decision-making across Pacific Island Countries. The Communications UN Volunteer will assist with the project’s communications stream—creating clear, accessible and engaging content. Driven, reliable and focused on measurable results, the volunteer will turn complex budget reforms into plain-language narratives so that citizens, civil-society groups, media and marginalised voices can meaningfully influence how public funds are allocated.

Pacific Islands countries (PICs) boast “big ocean” economies, with young and mobile populations and highly resilient and adaptative societies. Past and recent investments have however fallen short of developing diverse economies offering inclusive services and opportunities, resilient to external shocks and the increasing pace of climate change and disasters. At the same time, development in these countries is potentially increasing this vulnerability to climate change and disasters. While the scale of Pacific economies does not allow them to respond to all these challenges alone, public investment and revenues would gain from empowered officials accountable to keep basic service delivery and development priorities in mind while driving fiscal decisions.

The “Accountable Public Finances to serve Pacific people – Vaka Pasifika” project (hereafter Vaka Pasifika project) builds on the results of the “Strengthening Public Finance Management and Governance in the Pacific” (PFM) project implemented between 2018 and 2022 thanks to the support of the European Union. The proposed overarching goal of this project is to strengthen the governance mechanisms enabling Pacific countries to deliver public services that are better calibrated to meet specific needs of the people. Its specific focus will be to ensure scarce Pacific resources are better managed and the resource base available for achieving national development goals will be increased. To achieve this goal, PIC economies require stable and reliable institutions implementing the right mix of creativity and rigor informed by ground reality. The Project will contribute to this vision by (a) supporting oversight institutions and decision makers to define and implement their priorities through leadership and institutional capacity strengthening and (b) enhancing responsiveness of service delivery and public finance management by developing institutional mechanisms for engagement and openness and strengthening civil society capacity.

The Vaka Pasifika project is implemented through a team based in Suva, Fiji in the UNDP Pacific Office. As part of the Effective Governance unit, the team is responsible for implementation of the project, its various activities and corresponding institutional processes and requirements. The Vaka Pasifika project focuses on the human and networked resources available to public finance stakeholders in the Pacific, one of the core focus of the project is to grow a pool of resources working on tailored public finance and accountability tools for the Pacific.

Under the direct supervision of MEL and Communications Manager, the individual will:

• Execute the Vaka Pasifika Communications Strategy - turn the annual comms plan into a rolling 3-month content calendar aligned with Pacific and global observances. • Manage and grow digital channels - draft and schedule content for the project website, LinkedIn, Facebook, X/Twitter, and other sites. Track reach and engagement. • Strengthen knowledge-management systems - maintain “Vaka Pasifika Knowledge Hub” for templates, images, stories, and partner research. Apply consistent metadata/tagging so assets remain searchable for donor audits and future products. • Produce multimedia and data-driven storytelling - create infographics, short reels, and slide decks that translate complex PFM concepts into plain-language visuals, spotlighting gender and inclusion metrics. Work with colleagues to convert indicator dashboards into public-friendly snapshots. • Coordinate a quarterly stakeholder newsletter - source stories from CSOs, SAIs, fellows, and government partners; draft, lay out, distribute, and analyse open/click rates. • Assist with event visibility and media relations - prepare branded backdrops, hashtag guides, speaker briefs, and live-tweet/live-blog plans for conferences and workshops. Serve as on-site media focal point—arrange interviews and draft post-event wrap-ups. • Draft and edit written products - produce press releases, blogs, op-eds, speeches, donor visibility notes, and report sections, ensuring alignment with global standards. Maintain a concise style guide that reflects UNDP/EU branding and Pacific terminology. • Generate analytics and reporting - compile a monthly comms dashboard (media mentions, social impressions, knowledge-product downloads). Provide visibility inputs for quarterly donor and board reports and maintain an issues log for reputational risks. • Provide capacity-building support - deliver short trainings for staff and CSO grantees on comms etiquette, Canva/PowerPoint hacks, and inclusive language. Coach team members to use comms templates and KM tools independently. • Ensure risk-informed, inclusive messaging – assist in the vetting of all public outputs for conflict sensitivity, gender responsiveness, disability inclusion, and localisation of Pacific languages. • Assist workshop and logistics delivery - support agenda design, participant materials, note-taking, photography/videography, and packaging of knowledge products. • Assist with the management of the media cohort initiative - maintain the journalist roster, coordinate training/webinar schedules, develop story-pitch briefs, and track media outputs on public-finance accountability. Facilitate ongoing engagement (e.g., online group, mentoring sessions) and integrate cohort stories into project visibility products. • Any other related tasks as required by the Supervisor.

• Accountability • Adaptability and flexibility • Creativity • Judgement and decision-making • Planning and organising • Professionalism • Self-management

Skills and experience that are useful in this role are:

1. Demonstrated personal drive to amplify governance impact in the Pacific and a track record of delivering on deadlines with minimal supervision.
2. Demonstrated experience editing and proofreading donor-funded development documents, with a strong working knowledge of international development agencies’ editorial style guides.
3. Experience in developing and implementing digital communication strategies for governance or development programmes, including content-calendar planning and multi-platform growth (web, LinkedIn, Facebook, X/Twitter).
4. Advocacy, presentation, and capacity-building skills, including training staff, CSOs, or journalists on inclusive language, Canva/PowerPoint, and knowledge-management tools.
5. Experience in communications or information management within Pacific Island humanitarian or development contexts.
6. Awareness of children’s rights, gender issues, and localisation principles in Pacific humanitarian or governance work.
7. Hands-on experience collecting, processing, and analysing data to create visual information products and dashboards.

• Proven ability to set clear communication objectives, measure reach and engagement, and adapt tactics quickly to maximise results. • Experience in drafting and editing skills for press releases, blogs, speeches and donor-facing text, distilling complex public-finance content into crisp, compelling messages. • Strong design sense and ability to develop infographics, slide decks, short video reels that converts data and policy concepts into plain-language visuals. • Experience pitching stories, managing journalist engagement and covering workshops or conferences to secure positive coverage. • Competence with social-media and web-analytics tools to track performance, report monthly insights and continuously refine outreach. • Excellent planning, self-management and cross-cultural communication abilities, with sensitivity to Pacific contexts and marginalised audiences.

As this is a national UN Volunteer assignment, the UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials. UN Volunteer entitlements and allowances:

The purpose of allowances for UN Volunteers is to enable them to sustain a modest and secure standard of living at the duty station. The allowances are in no way to be understood as a compensation, reward or salary in exchange for the volunteer work.

• Monthly Living Allowance: FJD 2247.16 • Entry Lump Sum: USD 400 (approximately FJD 900) • Comprehensive coverage for health, life and malicious acts for the UN Volunteer and health insurance coverage for up to 3 eligible dependents (Cigna). See the Conditions of Service for more details on eligibility criteria. • Leave entitlements (annual leave, sick leave, learning leave, maternity/ paternity leave – details can be found in the Conditions of Service: https://explore.unv.org/cos) • Access to UNV's learning and career development resources • Exit Lump Sum: FJD 187.26 per month served, paid on completion of contract

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Potential interview questions

Added 1 year ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unv.org