Communication Consultant

Under the overall supervision of the Programme Officers of the Consumption and Production Unit in the Industry and Economy Division, the consultant will deliver the followings: Develop the communications content to the scientific findings, tools and policy outcomes of the project to the regional and global audience

• Develop press releases on newsworthy project announcement or findings to enhance the visibility of the project activities and outputs.
• Prepare presentation materials, including visual slides and speaking notes for the donor meetings, stakeholder consultation, communication campaign, national/regional/international conferences, community events and other opportunities to disseminate the project information, findings and its value.
• Communication Campaign design and Implementation plan and report developed including the key message, lists of invited stakeholders and media companies, KPIs, workplan, itinerary, information kits for invitees, and a campaign report.
• Develop Concept Note of capacity building session including rational, objectives, programme agenda, session design, KPIs, speakers, promotion plan, invitees.
• Facilitate the arrangement of capacity building and knowledge sharing between project partners and Japanese institutes and experts

Duties and Responsibilities

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. UNEP’s Asia and the Pacific Office geographically serves 41 countries across the region to promote and implement sustainable development solutions. It assists countries of the region pursue sustainability, particularly in their implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development including technical expertise, facilitating access to finance, undertaking cutting-edge science-policy assessments, offering advisory services and strengthening laws, policies, management and governance. UNEP works with national and local authorities, civil society, other UN organizations, research institutions and the private sector to catalyze the efficient use of the region’s natural assets and reduce the degradation of the environment.

The UNEP Medium Term Strategy (MTS) 2022-2025 identifies unsustainable consumption and production as the underlying cause of the current three planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. The MTS aims to address those existential threats by working towards climate stability, living in harmony with nature, and towards a pollution-free planet. Under the Chemicals and Pollution Action of the MTS, UNEP is developing and implementing the ONE UNEP Plastics Initiative aiming to trigger a systems change to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy of plastics, with concerted actions by key stakeholders across the plastics life cycle, to end plastic pollution.

The initiative galvanizes UNEP’s work on plastic pollution in a coherent, systemic, and strategic way, and will inform decision-makers and the public about plastic pollution to rallying actors across the value chain (especially the private sector) to scale up solutions. Building on UNEP’s expertise on marine plastic litter and plastic pollution and prevention in rivers in Asia and the Pacific and its partnership with local and technical partners, the “Strengthening Plastic Pollution Management in Asia and the Pacific (Mekong River Basin)” project (herein after referred to as “the project”) proposes to enhance tools and protocols assessment and monitoring capabilities with the Mekong River Commission(MRC) and to strengthen national and local waste management systems, for plastic pollution management in the Mekong River Basin and thein the Pacific Islands by implementing and enhancing Assessments and monitoring of plastic pollution, including hotspots and leakages in rivers in Asia and strengthening the capacity of regional (especially MRC), national, and local stakeholders to enhance the systematic approach to plastic pollution management. South-south cooperation and cross-region learning to leapfrog the plastic pollution management capacity across the countries and regions will be enhanced.

The focus of the consultancy is to identify communication and outreach opportunities and design community campaigns to enhance the visibility of the project and deliver key reporting and communications outreach deliverables with a specific focus on reaching key stakeholders and audiences in the Mekong River Basin countries, the Pacific countries and Japan. The consultant will work in the UNEP ROAP office and full-time, under the supervision of the programme officer coordinating the project, of the Consumption and Production unit in the Industry and Economy Division.

Qualifications/special skills

• Undergraduate degree in journalism, communications, international relations, environment science, social science or other relevant discipline. An advanced degree is preferred.
• Minimum of five (5) years professional experience working in journalism, public affairs, public relations, reporting, writing, project/programme management or communications is required.
• Experience in designing and implementing communication and outreach event is highly desirable.
• Experience in producing written or audiovisual material in journalistic, public relations or stakeholder relations contexts is an advantage.
• Experience working in Asia-Pacific region, especially involving the media companies in technology and sustainability related issues is an advantage.
• Experience in social media campaigns would be an asset. – Working experience in a multicultural environment including the United Nations would be an asset.
• Experience in working with national governments, especially Japanese government and other related agencies, is an advantage.
• Excellent management of office computing tools including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and data analysis and standard statistical techniques.
• Knowledge of the UN System is an advantage.
• Skill in translating documents between English and Japanese. Skill in developing communication materials, including press release and activity report in Japanese.

Languages

• Fluency in spoken and written English and Japanese is required. Excellent oral and written communications skills are required.

Source: https://careers.un.org/jobSearchDescription/233042?language=en