Communications and advocacy strategies in Crisis Consultant

The war against Ukraine has led to the largest and fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe and one of the biggest security threats since World War II. The ongoing violence and destruction not only affect civilians within its borders, but also lead to a large-scale population movement that have spilled over into neighboring countries or even further away as more than seven million Ukrainians sought safety, protection, and assistance away from their country. Women and their children represent the majority of nearly 6.5 million Ukrainians recorded as refugees in other countries, mainly in European countries. The war has continued to generate displacement and large-scale new arrivals to refugee-hosting countries along with dramatic levels of suffering, shattering the lives of many Ukrainians.

People on the move continued to suffer across the region. A refugee crisis took place in the Republic of Armenia, with 115,183 refugees reported to have arrived in the country since September 2023, of which 52% are women and girls. The Western Balkans’ fragile peace is under increasing strain, with lingering disputes between Kosovo and Serbia. Serious concerns have followed the proposed and enacted laws in Kyrgyzstan and Georgia, which have targeted non-governmental organizations, labelling them as foreign agents if they receive a significant portion of their funding from abroad. Similarly, in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are growing concerns about the introduction of similar regulations that could further restrict the operational space for CSOs.

• A number of countries across the Europe and Central Asia region are prone to earthquakes, floods, and other disasters. In 2023, several disasters, including floods, mudflows, avalanches, extreme weather, and earthquakes, occurred in the region, affecting over 15.2 million people in Türkiye, and nearly 26,000 people in Kosovo, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.  At the same time, the risk of large-scale earthquakes in the Republic of Türkiye remains high due to its geographical location. Additionally, because of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, Central Asia has become a destination for large numbers of Afghan refugees.
• In collaboration with local and international partners, UN Women is dedicated to fostering an inclusive and equitable response that addresses the specific challenges faced by women and girls, while also promoting their empowerment and resilience in the face of ongoing crises in the region.
• UN Women’s humanitarian strategy outlines two approaches; i) supporting the mainstreaming of gender in the coordination, planning, prioritization, financing of humanitarian response in the immediate aftermath of emergencies and humanitarian crises; and ii) contributing to long term recovery and protection of rights of women and girls in emergencies and protracted crises through the nexus approach.
• Under the overall supervision of the Regional Communications Specialist and the Regional Director and reporting, in close collaboration with the Regional Humanitarian Specialist and the WPS Policy Advisor, the Communications and advocacy strategies in Crisis Consultant will design, coordinate and implement crisis-related communications related to UN Women across the Europe and Central Asia region.
• The Communications and advocacy strategies in Crisis Consultant will be home-based with travel across the region if required.

Duties and Responsibilities

Description of Responsibilities /Scope of Work

• Under the overall supervision of and directly reporting to the Regional Communications Specialist and the Regional Director, the consultant is expected to perform the below tasks:

Key Deliverables

Ensure the effective coordination and strengthening of communications on crisis related UN Women’s work in Europe and Central Asia region

• Oversee and provide strategic advice on communications related to crisis produced by UN Women ECARO and field Country Offices as required;
• Ensure increased visibility of UN Women’s humanitarian mandate in the region;
• Further develop and implement a communication strategy on crisis related work across the ECA region based on the strategic objectives and role of UN Women in line with the UN Women Global Humanitarian Strategy;
• Provide constructive and timely advice on communications components to UN Women’s humanitarian programmes and interventions.
• Develop training materials and implement capacity building initiatives to ensure a consistent understanding and approach to crisis communications among communication focal points across the region.

Support the development and dissemination of public advocacy materials for regional and global efforts

• Provide coordinated assistance to UN Women ECARO and for all publication activities related to crisis related work including close cooperation with, and support for, programme-specific communications staff members;
• Identify and develop human interest stories and substantive articles contributing to the visibility of UN Women’s crisis related work across the ECA Region;
• Assist in UN Women advocacy activities, including providing support to public events, coordinating visits of senior UN officials, including field visits and participating in other UN Women advocacy initiatives.

Outreach and Media Activity

• Engage with electronic and print media sources;
• Develop content for social media, including coverage of events, human interest stories, opinion, engagement with key stakeholders and monitor impact as required.
• Provide timely and field-driven content, such as human-interest stories for print and video, for UN Women’s country, regional and global websites;
• Ensure the provision of UN Women’s regional and country social media platforms with relevant updates and integrate the humanitarian response into UN Women’s social media outreach;
• Draft press releases, fact sheets and other rapid response information materials for use by UN Women Headquarters and Regional and Country Offices.

Build and maintain communications and advocacy focused partnerships

• Development and maintenance of media contacts and providing newsworthy information to donors;
• Format, package and submit documentation about programme initiatives for donor review in close collaboration with humanitarian programme staff;
• Cultivate and maintain effective working relationships with local, regional and global media and other relevant partners and identify opportunities for advocacy and communication partnerships.

Support ECARO Communications Team with the development and implementation of communication and outreach/advocacy strategies and plans

• Support the organization and implementation of joint UN information campaigns with a focus on humanitarian work (such as 16 days Activism, International Women’s Day, World Humanitarian Day, etc), taking the lead where appropriate;
• Assist in preparing written materials, including talking points, articles, press releases, stories, situations reports, responses to coverage about UN Women in the media;
• Support the maintenance of UN Women’s digital presence by contributing to the creation of social media and web content;
• Support the launch of information opportunities, activities, approaches and platforms and partners;

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

• The Communications and advocacy strategies in Crisis Consultant will be home-based with travel across the region if required.
• The time required for the consultancy is up to 100 working days within 16 months from 02 September 2024 to 31 December 2025.

Required Skills and Experience

Required Qualifications

Education

• Master’s degree or equivalent in communications, public relations, or journalism;
• Bachelor’s degree in combination with 2 additional years of relevant working experience may be accepted in lieu of Master’s degree;

Experience

• Minimum 7 years of progressive experience in journalism, communications, and/or outreach;
• Technical experience in humanitarian communications is required;
• Knowledge and understanding of gender issues including gender-based violence related matters is an asset;
• Experience in media and donor relations is an asset;
• Experience working in Europe and Central Asia is an asset
• Experience working in the UN System in humanitarian emergencies is an asset;

Language Requirements

• Fluency in written and spoken English required

Source: https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=116896