Communications Associate

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 centre 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. UN Women 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 in Bangladesh supports the government to implement commitments to international normative standards on gender equality and women’s human rights. The new UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for 2022-2026 was launched in 2021 and the corresponding UN Women Bangladesh Strategy Note (2022-2026), defining UN Women’s strategic engagement in Bangladesh, has also been finalized. The country strategy focuses on strengthening the national structures and mechanisms for gender mainstreaming in policies, plans and budgets; supporting efforts to prevent and eliminate violence against women; promoting women’s access to decent and safe work; promoting policies and government investment in women’s empowerment and resilience building in the context of climate change, humanitarian crisis as well as other threats to peace and security. UN Women works with a range of stakeholders in Bangladesh including the government, civil society and women’s organisations, youth, UN agencies and donors, to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.

UN Women in Bangladesh is supporting the Government of Bangladesh with the Rohingya humanitarian crisis response. UN Women has developed a humanitarian response programme in partnership with the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs to meet the specific needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized Rohingya Refugee Women and Girls and the women and girls in the host communities affected by the refugee influx in Cox’s Bazar. The objective of the programme is to ensure protection, as well as equitable and safe access to and benefit from urgent life-saving humanitarian assistance and information to the most vulnerable, and marginalized Rohingya women while assisting them to live with dignity. The programme also promotes women’s participation and leadership in the camps and host community and peace and social cohesion building activities. UN Women co-chairs the Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group for the Rohingya Refugee Response with UNHCR to promote gender-responsive humanitarian action across humanitarian agencies in Cox’s Bazar, and established a sub office in Cox’s Bazar in January 2018 to reinforce management of programmes in Cox’s Bazar district.

UN Women in Bangladesh is supporting the Government of Bangladesh with the Rohingya humanitarian crisis response. UN Women has developed a humanitarian response programme in partnership with the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs to meet the specific needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized Rohingya Refugee Women and Girls and the women and girls in the host communities affected by the refugee influx in Cox’s Bazar. The objective of the programme is to ensure protection, as well as equitable and safe access to and benefit from urgent life-saving humanitarian assistance and information, as well as learning, leadership and self-reliance/livelihoods opportunities for the most vulnerable, and marginalized Rohingya and host community women and adolescent girls while assisting them to live with dignity. The programme also promotes women’s participation and leadership in the camps and host community and peace and social cohesion building activities including through engagement with and capacity strengthening and sensitization of camp management and police, as well as women’s CSOs/networks and media. UN Women further works in Bangladeshi host communities in Cox’s Bazar to promote women’s socio-economic empowerment as a means for social cohesion, recovery and resilience building. UN Women co-chairs the Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group for the Rohingya Refugee Response with UNHCR and manages the ISCG Gender Hub to promote gender-responsive humanitarian action across the humanitarian coordination system and humanitarian agencies in Cox’s Bazar. The Sub-office in Cox’s Bazar was established in January 2018 to reinforce management of programmes in Cox’s Bazar district.

Reporting to the Gender and Humanitarian Action Programme Specialist, the Communications Associate supports the formulation and implementation of the communications and advocacy strategies to increase the standing and awareness of UN Women with partners, the media and the public. The Communications Associate promotes a client-oriented approach in UN Women.

Duties and Responsibilities

1.Provide coordination support in the development and Implementation of a coherent Cox’s bazar sub-office communications and advocacy strategy

Provide inputs and background information for the development of the sub-office communication strategy;
Provide support to advocacy efforts and campaigns by organizing roundtable discussions, press conferences, and other publicity events and providing inputs to briefing materials and press releases;
Support implementing the workplan of the BCO communication and advocacy strategy;
Provide guidance and support to programme and other sub-office staff on UN Women corporate communications guidelines and printing norms;
Track and monitor print and social media and report relevant information to senior staff to inform strategy development.
Support in-country UN Women/UN system corporate and local campaigns and special events and contribute to UN Women’s active participation and visibility in ISCG communications working groups and joint communications activities.

2.Support engagement with and capacity strengthening for journalists on gender-responsive journalism

Support conducting needs analysis, planning for training module, identifying relevant technical experts to conduct training for journalists on gender-responsive journalism and implement the training;
Support organizing monthly meetings and dialogues between journalists and key stakeholders like women humanitarians, with women police, with Community Policing Fora members, with GiHA on specific themes;
Support organizing visits of the journalists to the camps and host community in UN Women’s project locations;
Support organizing discussions on women’s portrayal in media, with media representatives, women’s human rights organizations, relevant Government, and UN.

3.Provide coordination support to the development of advocacy materials

Identify storylines and achievements for online and print publications;
Draft press releases, articles, key messages and other advocacy materials;
Support the translation, adaptation, or rewriting of information received for the local context; disseminate materials to appropriate stakeholders;
Coordinate the publication of materials for final approval; maintain relationships with printers/ publishers;
Maintain library/ database of reference materials, photos, and digital assets;
Follow guidelines from Country/regional offices and headquarters.

4.Provide support in the management of the social media presence and website

Identify and draft stories from the field that highlights the strengths of the sub office;
Design and create social media content (infographics, videos, GIFs, social media cards etc;
Provide inputs to the development of content for the website hosted at the Regional Office and social media channels;
Update the website and social media channels, ensure consistency in branding;
Support researching, compiling and producing reports on web statistics on a regular basis and electronic surveys, as required;
Still photography support for relevant activities and donor visits;
Overall supervision and support video production for Sub-Office;
Maintain files, databases, and systems relevant to the digital presence.

5.Provide communications and media support to the Sub-Office

Serve as a focal point on UN Women activities open to the press, as necessary;
Maintain and update database of relevant press in Cox’s Bazar;
Respond to request for information and arrange interviews, as delegated;
Provide substantive inputs to talking points;
Support donor visits by developing welcome packs and donor briefings.

6.Facilitate knowledge management and sharing

Contribute to the identification of best practices and lessons learned;
Organize trainings and workshops on communication practices;
Provide/ exchange information with Country office, regional offices and headquarters;
Maintain library/database of reference materials and photos and digital assets, as necessary;
Maintain files and systems relevant to the Sub Office’s digital presence, as necessary.

7.Other

Perform other tasks as assigned by supervisor;
Provide support on special web/digital/media projects undertaken by the Country/regional offices/headquarters.

Key Performance Indicators

Timely inputs to communication and advocacy materials;
Timely organization of discussions, conferences, briefings and other events;
Timely provision of relevant background information;
Accurately edited and well written contents;
Timely delivery of high-quality communication and advocacy materials ;
Webpages are regularly maintained, updated and relevant.

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 create, edit and present information in clear and presentable formats, using appropriate IT functionality;
Strong event planning skills;
Strong knowledge of social media and communication strategies and methods;
Ability to identify relevant events and stories and communicate them to a mass audience;
Strong multimedia skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

Completion of secondary education required;
Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Public Relations or Journalism is an asset.

Experience:

At least 6 years of progressively responsible experience in providing support to the formulation and implementation of internal and external communications and advocacy strategies and related plans;
Experience in the use of computers applications and software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc), web based management systems, designing, producing A/V, infographics;
Experience in the use of social media and digital communications.

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English and Bangla is required;
Fluency Chittagonian language will be a desired asset.