Public Relations Consultant – for Sierra Leone Nationals only

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.  

UN Women has been operational in Sierra Leone since its inception. Our operations started in Sierra Leone since 2002 under UNIFEM. In line with its universal triple mandate (Normative, Coordination, and Operational), UN Women Office in Sierra Leone works with the Government of Sierra Leone, Civil Society (especially women’s movements), local communities, the international community, the private sector, traditional leaders, the media, etc. to advance equality in gender and the empowerment of women (GEWE) agenda. The portfolio of UN Women in Sierra Leone includes the following signature programmes:

• Women’s Leadership and participation in governance and politics.
• Ending Violence Against Women.
• Women in Peace, Security & Humanitarian Action.
• Women’s Economic empowerment.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead the development and implementation of communication and outreach/advocacy strategies and plans, with a specific focus on media
• Conduct communication needs assessments for the country office (CO), including projects, programmes and corporate change initiatives;
• Design, develop, and implement communication and outreach/advocacy strategies, including media strategies; ensure gender perspective;
• Develop talking points and meaningful contents for Head of Office’s communications;
• Integrate communication, advocacy and outreach strategies into proposals for project/programmes and other initiatives;
• Monitor and analyze print and social media and prepare reports;
• Launch in-country UN Women/ UN system corporate and local/regional campaigns and special events;
• Provide advice and guidance to and coordinate with COs in the region.
• Lead the development and dissemination of advocacy materials in the country
• Develop and produce communication and advocacy instruments and materials, including briefing materials, press releases, and articles and coordinate its dissemination through effective channels;
• Identify and launch information opportunities, activities, approaches and platforms and partners;
• Provide advice on advocacy materials and coordinate launching flagship initiatives and publications in the region;
• Lead the engagement and supervision of video producers and other Public Relations Consultants to produce audio/ visual material on UN Women’s work;
• Develop brochures, factsheets, stories from the field to inform media and general public at the regional level;
• Follow guidelines from and report to HQ.

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• Manage media relations for the Country Office
• Lead relationship building with press in country; maintain and update database of relevant press;
• Respond timely and clearly to media inquiries and to a variety of inquiries and information requests; prepare related correspondence; identify topics, background information, news-related development and coverage of interest;
• Organize roundtable discussions, press conferences, and briefing sessions with press;
• Facilitate interviews with senior managers; connect media with UN Women subject experts;
• Finalize talking points.

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• Build and contribute to maintain partnerships with donors
• Identify and develop new communication partnerships and alliances to enhance visibility; manage and nurture existing partnerships;
• Liaise with advocacy partners and undertake outreach to civil society organizations, governments, and other groups to ensure that newsworthy information reaches the public and donors;
• Guide and collaborate closely with communication colleagues in other offices to ensure consistency with corporate policies, messaging and initiatives;
• Submit packages for programme initiatives for donor review.

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• Oversee the CO web/ online presence
• Oversee and maintain (regional) websites, including developing design and content;
• Coordinate CO’s web-presence in the line with corporate web policy;
• Oversee and manage the CO social media accounts in line with corporate social media policy.

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• Facilitate knowledge building and sharing
• Regularly identify and synthesize best practices and lessons learned from the country office directly linked to programme country goals and activities and ensure exchange of information;
• Provide training and workshops on communication and advocacy as appropriate.

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

• Making Every Women and Country Count (WomenCount _ Gender Statistics).

We are looking for one (1) Public Relations professional with Sierra Leone context-fitted experience to lead the described assignments and one (1) Intern in communication/media.

Reporting to the Head of office, the Public Relations Consultant will collaborate closely with the Headquarters, Regional, and Country Office’s (CO) colleagues to ensure communications strategies, media relations and organizational outreach efforts are aligned with corporate communications policies and initiatives. The public relations consultant also collaborates with RO/MCO and CO colleagues to support outreach campaigns, resource mobilization and donor relations initiatives; The Public Relations Consultant mobilizes support in conjunction with intergovernmental processes and support the activities and special events organized for UN

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

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

• FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

• Ability to communicate sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies
• Strong knowledge of managing web-based knowledge management systems
• Strong understanding of production, graphic design and photography standards
• Strong knowledge of social media platforms and experience in social media outreach
• Strong oral and written communication and editing skills
• Strong communication, networking and advocacy skills
• Ability to provide advice and be strategic and analytical
• Good knowledge of local country media landscape
• Knowledge of gender and human rights issues is desirable

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification

• A Master’s degree (or equivalent) in communications, public relations, journalism or relevant 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
• Professional work experience at national or international level in public relations, communications or advocacy, including in media relations is required: 5 years for the
• Professional command of written English, various types of work/media report, newsletters, and human impact/success stories, videos, etc.
• Experience in the use of social media is required.
• Experience in media relations
• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).