UN Women: Policy and Advocacy Specialist

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.

In this role as the global voice and advocate for gender equality and the empowerment of women, UN Women is delivering to an ambitious agenda as a centre of excellence on knowledge, partnerships, advocacy and social mobilization, as well as a convener, thought leader and champion of gender equality and women’s empowerment.  UN Women has a lead role in helping to drive commitment and action on gender equality, women’s rights and women’s empowerment as the imperative of our time.

The Executive Directors Office (EDO) provides support to the Executive Director (ED) and the Deputy Executive Directors (DED), the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), in the delivery of their functions, especially that of providing overall executive direction and leadership to UN Women. The EDO supports the ELT in providing vision, establishing priorities, fostering coherence amongst the senior management team, leading advocacy, ensuring overall management, oversight and accountability.

Under the supervision of the Special Assistant, the Policy and Advocacy Specialist will serve as a bridge between the Communications & Advocacy Section and Executive Director’s Office, also strengthening links to other parts of UN Women to: 1) identify key moments for proactive communication on key channels, 2) lead on drafting media messages, speeches, talking points and other key messages for the Executive Director and 3) lead on the Executive Director´s Social Media engagement. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Lead Advocacy Support in the Executive Director’s Office

• Lead in drafting all messages for ED, including op-eds, speeches, statements, briefing notes, etc.
• Coordinate the publication of content on the external website for the Executive Director’s engagements.
• Coordinate with global communications to ensure alignment of ED communications and corporate communications
• Coordinate communications around ED missions and participation in regional events
• Manage the Executive Director’s social media accounts, including X, explore other accounts, including tik tok, Instagram, etc. 
• Work with policy divisions, regional offices and Communications to identify opportunities for engagements by ELT
• Develop a weekly social media plan
• Drive ED’s direct X engagement with content from key donors and influential individuals through retweets, likes, and, where appropriate, comments.
• Produce short video content relating to the work of the ED members optimized for social media distribution. 
• Lead media outreach and engagement for including for ED, including media Talking Points, press releases and briefing notes
• Develop news snapshots or summaries as needed for ELT attention building on existing gender news

Coordinate and Contribute to Policy and Research Support in the Executive Director’s Office

• Contribute to the digital strategy to include web and social: work with the social media and web teams to support the development of a comprehensive digital strategy
• Develop key messages from UN Women´s knowledge products, and UN Women´s programs for results based advocacy
• Contribute to political analysis of potential engagements or comments on key moments, including UN language used, and identify pros and cons
• Work with policy leads, regional and country offices in drafting high level media messages on priority topics and regional/country issues
• Support web editorial and content development and production
• Monitor/analyze print and social media and prepare reports.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation.

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

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

• Strong knowledge of gender equality and women’s rights issues;
• Demonstrated ability to interact effectively with government representatives of Member States (donor and programme);
• Proven networking skills, and ability to mobilize support on behalf of UN Women;
• Excellent negotiating skills;
• Knowledge and understanding of UN system and familiarity with inter-governmental processes;
• Excellent IT skills, including databases, extranet and office software packages;
• Strong analytical and interpersonal skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:      

• Master’s degree or equivalent in economics, business management, social sciences, public administration, international relations, communications, women’s studies, or a related field is required.

• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:       

• At least 7 years of progressively responsible experience in communications or advocacy, and/or business development is required.

• Experience in gender equality and women’s empowerment is required.

• Experience working with civil society organizations, international institutions and donors is required.

• Experience in policy and strategic media engagement is an asset.

• Experience working in the UN system is an asset.

Languages:        

• Fluency in English is required.

• Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from: . Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)