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.

Part of the Strategic Partnerships Division, the Private Sector Partnerships (PSP) section drives UN Women’s engagements and resource mobilization with the private sector: businesses, philanthropies/foundations, high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) and individual supporters.  Formed in 2020, PSP section reflects UN Women’s belief in the essential role of the private sector to achieving maximum impact for gender equality and women’s empowerment, as well as the need for coordination across UN Women to fully leverage private sector partnerships in support of UN Women’s mandate and the objectives of the Strategic Plan.

The Unstereotype Alliance is a thought and action platform convened by UN Women, that seeks to eradicate all harmful stereotypes from advertising and media content. The Alliance is focused on empowering people in all their diversity (race, class, age, ability, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, language, education, etc.) and addressing harmful masculinities to help create a gender equal world. The Alliance brings together a powerful global coalition of advertising industry leaders behind the common goal of using advertising as a force for good to drive positive social norms.

The Strategic Communications Specialist reports to the Head of the Unstereotype Alliance Secretariat, and works in close collaboration to ensure the successful development and implementation of a strategic framework for member communications and knowledge products, media / public relations (PR), social media, events, and the B2C campaign.  They will also provide general oversight of the Social Media Consultant to produce communication products online, print, video, social media and internal communications. In addition, they will support National Chapter communication efforts and manage all global member communications and engagement plans.  They will play a key role in prompting Unstereotype Alliance members to amplify the events, activations and initiatives of the Alliance to eliminate harmful stereotypes and drive positive social norms around the world.

Key Functions and Accountabilities:

Develop and implement communication strategies to support the Unstereotype Alliance biannual workplan, member events, initiatives and corporate priorities:

• Create annual communications strategy and plan in alignment with annual objectives and workstream activations, collaborating with workstream leads (Deputy Vice Chairs) to maximise engagement of members, media and the public;
• Develop and implement communications strategies for campaigns and relevant international days, and presence at large events, e.g. UA Global Member Summit, Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, International Women’s Day, Advertising Week New York, and other key industry-based awards programmes and events;
• Provide support to the Head of the Secretariat with talk points and presentation tools for events, interviews and media appearances;
• Develop a series of digital branded content to engage, inform and support members to advance the mission of the Unstereotype Alliance with their marketing and advertising teams, holding live conversations, calls to action, and social media activities as appropriate;
• Develop and implement communications plans for the launch of key research projects and knowledge products including content and copy review, design and imagery, campaign assets, PR support and multi-stakeholder amplification.
• Continually assess the communications strategy in accordance with the development of workstream activations and developments, industry insights and initiatives, and UN Women’s PSP plans.

Design overall communications outreach and member engagement around Unstereotype Alliance’s work:

• Develop online communication strategies and outreach initiatives to amplify key campaigns and Unstereotype Alliance activations;
• Oversee translation and distribution of content in multiple languages as appropriate;
• Engage online influencers and collaborate with UN Women’s Comms team to engage online journalists and bloggers to increase Unstereotype Alliance’s digital and social media audiences;
• Provide regular analytics and reports on social media engagement, member amplification of activities and media coverage around specific campaigns;
• Collaborate with members, stakeholders and colleagues to support communications and social media outreach;
• Identify most appropriate tools for digital communications and social media management and analytics, and lead the procurement processes as appropriate.

Coordinate member engagement and communications plans, including measurement metrics:

• Oversee all member communications including management of monthly All Member Calls (content, speaker briefing, talk points and associated communications) and eNewsletters;
• Provide coordination support to the Head of the Secretariat with prospective member and partnership meetings;
• Coordinate new member onboarding processes including the creation of communications risk mitigation plans, announcement communications, and development of annual engagement plans;
• Liaise with members to secure Unstereotype Alliance campaign activations as well as supporting member activities and campaigns in keeping with UA mandate and key messages;
• Provide coordination support in the development of workstream activations and project planning in accordance with member needs and industry trends, including oversight of knowledge products, research and training tools;
• Monitor member engagement and adherence to agreed annual engagement plan, with communications tracking for each global member (including Unstereotype Metric tracking and reporting).

Provide direction on the Unstereotype Alliance communication strategy to widen its global presence and visibility, including social media platforms:

• Build the communications and social media strategy for the Unstereotype Alliance globally, and provide advice to national chapters;
• Monitor new developments in the area of digital and social media and expand UN Women’s global online presence on additional platforms as appropriate;
• Oversee the Social Media Consultant to direct the social content strategy and monitor overall optimization of Unstereotype Alliance’s global social media platforms to increase visibility of the Alliance and its mandate.

The incumbent may perform other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary and upon consultation with the Head of the Unstereotype Alliance Secretariat, for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

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 Values and Competencies Framework:

Functional Competencies:

• Very good understanding of major digital platforms and proven experience in strategic communications and social media outreach at the international level;
• Strong experience with or within the advertising and marketing industry, and associated disciplines, with a proven ability to develop and implement effective communications strategies and campaigns, with social media as a central channel;
• Ability to communicate sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies to provide strategic advice and be analytical with strong editorial judgement, including ethical and political awareness;
• Excellent oral and written communication and editing skills, with a very good understanding of visual content, including how it can best be produced across multiple media platforms and with influencers;
• Strong awareness of digital trends and global media landscape, with a proven ability to provide effective training in the area of communications and social media;
• Strong teamworking and team leadership skills and ability to interact with different colleagues, with the ability to multitask and balance multiple responsibilities;
• Strong knowledge of women’s rights and gender equality issues.

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Communications, Marketing, Journalism, International Affairs or similar 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 five years of progressively responsible work experience in marketing communications, advertising, social media, or digital communications at the international level;
• Experience in developing and implementing marketing communication strategies including social media content, events and campaigns is required;
• Experience in writing, editing, content production and dissemination for online audiences at the international level is required;
• Experience developing partner or stakeholder communications and engagement strategies including training tools is required;
• Experience working in sensitive and fast-moving news, communications or advocacy contexts is desirable;
• Experience producing and interpreting social media analytics to inform content production is desirable;
• Experience working within the UN is an asset
• Experience in the use of computers and office software packages (Powerpoint, MS Word, Excel, etc.) and presentation packages, experience in handling of social media and web-based management systems is required.

Languages: 

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

Statements :

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.)