Communication and Advocacy Assistant

Details

Mission and objectives

Timor-Leste (or East Timor) became an independent nation in 2002 after centuries of Portuguese colonial rule, followed by Indonesian occupation and devastating conflict which left most of the population displaced and 70 per cent of the infrastructure decimated.
Currently, the main challenges for women remain deep poverty, frequent cases of domestic violence and lack of recognition of women’s contribution tothe political, economic and social spheres. Political participation and economic empowerment are particularly crucial as the conflict left nearly half of Timorese women widowed and sole providers for their family. Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and domestic violence are critical issues for women in post-conflict Timor-Leste. Domestic violence is the most reported case to the Vulnerable Persons Unit of the National Police, a unit set up with assistance from the UN specifically for vulnerable people including women, children and the elderly. Timorese women have described domestic violence as normal and sometimes, a daily occurrence.
Other legislative measures have come into effect as well, such as the Law against Domestic Violence Law, passed in 2010 naming domestic violence a public crime, and the National Action Plan on Gender-based Violence, a strategy of prevention and provision of services for survivors of gender-based violence and domestic violence.
UN Women established a presence in Timor-Leste with an initial needs assessment in 2000, and opened a project office in 2001. Currently, UN Women works in the following areas:
Gender-Responsive Planning and Budgeting
Women in Politics
CEDAW Implementation in Timor-Leste
Women , Peace and Security

Context

The 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 center of all its efforts, the UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
UN Women has operated in Timor-Leste since 2001 (as UNIFEM) and through the transition to UN Women. It’s goal in Timor-Leste is to promote the rights of women and ensure inclusion of women’s participation and leadership as the country works towards sustaining and furthering achievements in stability and development. In this regard, its programming in the country is focused on four priority areas: enhancing women’s economic empowerment; ending violence against women; engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes; and strengthening monitoring and reporting against national and international gender equality commitments, mainstreaming gender across national development planning and budgeting processes. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s joint work in advancing gender equality, namely through the UN Gender Theme Group and with the Secretary of State for Equality (SEI) through the Gender Equality Coordination Group.
The Timor-Leste Country team consists of 26 members including: Head of Office, Operations Manager, two international Programme Specialists, 4 national Programme Officers, one Monitoring and Reporting Analyst, one Finance Associate, one Communications Officer, five project/admin/executive assistants, 3 technical consultants, 4 National Advisors, two drivers and one International UN Volunteers. The Communication & Advocacy Assistant- UNV will directly report to the Communication Officer and will be part of the UN Women Team.

Task description

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of UN Women Communication Officer or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UNV Communication & Advocacy Assistant will:
• Support the management of a database of evidence based on life stories and audio visual materials;
• Support the liaison with national medias;
• Support communications officer in the management of the social media platform and share content to UN Women regional website and ensure regular updates of its con-tent in close cooperation with staff;
• Assist in the drafting of media briefs on UN Women CO activities for CO and when re-quested by the Regional Office;
• Support the promotion of the visibility of the UN Women mandates though social me-dia;
• Conducting media monitoring and use media monitoring activities to engage with local CSOs and youth groups to identify communications opportunities
• Provide substantive technical support to the program team to develop BCC material in different thematic area
• Provide technical inputs in designing the UN Women Timor-Leste core program advo-cacy campaign in collaboration with communication staff
• Work with the UN system to sensitize Media/journalists on UN Women Mandate
• Any other related tasks as may be required or assigned by the supervisor.
• Translate communication materials between English and Tetum.
• Support staff with interpretation if needed.
• Review and edit submitted knowledge products such as narrative reports, research re-ports, evaluation reports etc. for projects;
• Conduct desk reviews of documents and prepare summary of findings on various sec-toral/thematic issues related to gender equality in Timor-Leste;
• Support the development and implementation of the Communication Strategy and Workplan for the office
• Support with documentation at the event (taking note and photo)
• Represent UN Women Coms. team in the UNCG meeting and discussion
Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to:
• Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for in-stance in events that mark International Volunteer Day);
• Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
• Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities;
• Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;
• Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived UN Volunteers;
• Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering, or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.