Details

Mission and objectives
UNFPA is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. Our mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. UNFPA’s goal is to achieve universal access to sexual and reproductive health, realize reproductive rights, and reduce maternal mortality to accelerate progress on the ICPD agenda, to improve the lives of adolescents and youth, and women, enabled by population dynamics, human rights, and gender equality. UNFPA launched efforts to achieve three transformative results, ambitions that promise to change the world for every man, woman and young person: 1. Ending unmet need for family planning; 2. Ending preventable maternal death; 3. Ending gender-based violence and harmful practices UNFPA recognizes that innovation is a key accelerator to achieve these results. UNFPA will harness innovation to meet tomorrow’s challenges and boost its impact, especially in addressing furthest behind populations, and leverage opportunities, social capital, funding and technology by (a) strengthening the corporate innovation architecture and capabilities, (b) scaling up innovations that have proven to be effective and impactful, (c) forming new partnerships and connecting with relevant innovation ecosystems, (d) strengthening and leveraging financing for innovation, and (e) expanding communities and culture for innovation.

Context
UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. UNFPA’s strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals. In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction. UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.

Task description

The UN Volunteer will be responsible for convening the design, planning, execution, and monitoring of communication and resource mobilization strategies to promote and support UNFPA’s mission in the country. He/she will support the management of network of partners and alliances to support the UNFPA programme and employ resource mobilization tools to support the fundraising efforts of the Country Office. S/he will participate in UN communications working group and other related UN wide communications events.

1. Communications

• Supports the development of a communications and visibility strategy to position issues pertaining to UNFPA’s mandate into the public domain addressing gaps in communication and penetration of the ICPD mandate, and strengthen political will in support of UNFPA’s mission and objectives;
• Supports the development of partnerships with individuals, groups and organizations whose support is essential to the achievement of advocacy and communication objectives, and strengthens their capacity through appropriate advocacy and communication training, access to updated information;
• Adapts and disseminates advocacy materials from HQ and the Regional Office to identify target audiences, arranging translations into local language(s), as necessary;
• Identifies the need for additional materials/activities, such as radio and television programmes, publications, photographs, websites, etc., to advocate and promote organizational goals within the country, and manage their production and distribution to the target audiences (including proposals, studies, press releases, and speeches);
• Maintains the UNFPA Lesotho website and inputs to social media, with support of Creative Design and Social Media Associate;
• Assists HQ and the Regional Office in identifying and obtaining feature stories and other material to facilitate global/regional advocacy and fund-raising activities.

2. Partnerships and Resource Mobilization

• Liaises with the Representative and Program Team to establish funding priorities/ shortfalls, and supports the development of the Country Programme Resource Mobilization Strategy and its monitoring;
• Scans the environment for possible alternative funding sources;
• In collaboration with the Programme Team, prepares background documents for resource mobilization and contributes to proposal development;
• Proactively maintains profiles of strategic donors, private sector and partners, assessing changing partnership landscape in Lesotho and identifying entry points for UNFPA;
• Monitors and keeps updates on existing and potential partnerships. Follows through and ensures that recommendations and action points agreed to are addressed;
• Responsible for monitoring the schedule of reports, based on information consolidated by the Programme Specialists/Analysts, and maintenance of Donor Agreement and Tracking System (DARTS);
• Administrates the creation and publishing of relevant, original, high-quality content; and edits content received;
• Creates a regular publishing schedule;
• Implements, manages, updates and maintains a social media content calendar;
• Supports documentation of promising and/or best practices.

3. Raise awareness about UNFPA Lesotho Office activities

• Drafts and shares information and networks with the regional office and HQ (UNFPA in the news, lessons learned, programme information, updates, newsletters, press releases and other communication materials);
• Organizes advocacy campaigns on the World Population Day (WPD), the State of the World Population (SWOP) and other international days observed by UNCT in the Kingdom;
• Ensures media presence and coverage of UNFPA events;
• Develops documents/publications/communication materials, presentations, speeches, background information for interviews, formal/informal meetings, and other communication events;
• Participates in the promotion of the Country Programme including inter-agency programmes and engages in programme planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation;
• Undertakes other tasks as maybe assigned by the supervisor.

Eligibility criteria

Age: 27 – 80

Nationality: Candidate must be a national of a country other than the country of assignment.

Required experience

3 years of experience in developing and implementing effective communications and resources mobilization strategies and campaigns;

• Demonstrates creativity and knowledge of content creation and production processes, including digital publishing;
• Proven track record in generating substantial media coverage and managing high-visibility campaigns or projects;
• Strong skills in pitching stories to media, social media influencers and bloggers;
• Displays in-depth knowledge and understanding of social media platforms, their respective participants (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest etc.) and how each platform can be deployed in different scenarios;
• Good knowledge and experience in Graphic design and production of infographics;
• Expertise in programmes such as Adobe Creative Suite (especially InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop) and Microsoft Office basics (Word, Excel PowerPoint). Photography experience and basic skills in video editing and production are a plus;
• Ability to work independently and in teams, in an international and multicultural environment;
• Excellent people management skills

Languages
English, Level: Fluent, Required

Required education level
Master degree or equivalent in Communications, Journalism, Public Relations or other related field from reputable institution.

Competencies and values
Professionalism; Integrity, Teamwork and respect for diversity; Commitment to continuous learning; Planning and organizing; Communication; Flexibility; Genuine commitment towards the principles of voluntary engagement.

Other information

Living conditions and remarks

The Country has a stable political environment, is well-regarded for its multi-party democracy, free and fair elections, solid rule of law, and impressive economic growth. The country presents visitors with an opportunity to experience spectacular mountains and nature. Overall, the country is family-friendly.

Inclusivity statement

United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme that welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, care protected characteristics. As part of their adherence to the values of UNV, all UN Volunteers commit themselves to combat any form of discrimination, and to promoting respect for human rights and individual dignity, without distinction of a person’s race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.

Note on Covid-19 vaccination requirements

Selected candidates for certain occupational groups may be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) in line with the applicable host entity policy