UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.


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 is committed to the achievement of equality between women, men, boys and girls as partners and beneficiaries of humanitarian action and resilience. In May 2015, UN Women engaged in Gender in Humanitarian Action and in 2017 created the Humanitarian Action and crisis Response Office to consolidate its advocacy, coordination and capacity development role for the integration of gender equality across humanitarian action. UN Women Humanitarian response includes three areas of work, namely disaster risk reduction and mitigation, humanitarian response and early recovery dealing with Women’s Leadership, Empowerment, Access and Participation (LEAP) and Resilience. The impact of conflict is often measured by casualties: Women and girls face heightened risks due to displacement and the breakdown of normal protection structures and support, gender-based violence.

As part of its Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience work(DRR), the UN Women Regional Office for West and Central Africa, focusses on prevention and resilience building by ensuring that new and existing disaster risks are mitigated by putting women’s agency and voice at the center of disaster risk reduction efforts. UN Women facilitates and promotes the integration of gender equality and women's empowerment through Coordination and Leadership; Capacity Development; Mainstreaming Gender into Data, Analysis, and Advocacy and Targeted programming.

UNWOMEN collaborates closely with UN system partners, national institutions and civil society organisations to ensure accountability and coherence in addressing gender equality in humanitarian action and DRR. UN Women works with gender equality institutions and organizations, from grassroots to intergovernmental bodies, to strengthen their position and capacity as champions for gender equality in humanitarian action, resilience and beyond

In Sierra Leone, women have played critical role in harnessing peace during the 11 years’ war. They contributed to bringing democratic rule in the country and to the restoration of peace. In 1995, the Sierra Leone Women Movement for Peace in collaboration with other women’s groups galvanized support for democracy through the Bintumani one and two, calling for elections before peace and negotiating with rebel leaders 17. These conferences were held with relevant stakeholders, government, CSOs, traditional leaders, women groups, from national and sub-national levels The consultations contributed to the conduct of four successful general elections (2002, 2007, 2012 and 2018). Their active involvement through the Elections Situation Room (ESR) in the 2012 and 2018 as a crucial conflict prevention and conflict resolution mechanism have reinforced the pivotal role that women play in peacebuilding. An emerging wave of young feminist groups such as Girl Empower Sierra Leone, Girl-Up initiative have become critical thought leaders in influencing behaviors, practices and shaping ideologies for promoting women’s participation in politics and in protecting women and girls from gender-based violence. Leveraging on media platforms, they have contributed to shaping the social media platforms to promoting girls’ leadership and voice in political and public spaces.

The role of CSOs and women groups in the prevention of conflicts, peacebuilding and promotion of women’s political participation have been monumental and well documented in Sierra Leone. Their response to the civil war, the peacebuilding processes and democratic governance has been prominent in ushering in a democratically elected government. Their active involvement through the Elections Situation Room (ESR) in the 2012 and 2018 as a crucial conflict prevention and conflict resolution mechanism have reinforced the pivotal role that women play in peacebuilding. Relying and drawing inspiration from UN Security Council resolution (S/RES/1325) on women and peace and security passed in October 2000, women CSOs have contributed to women political participation, actively demanding affirmative action for equal representation in all spheres of life and advocating for legal reforms that promote and protect women's rights.

In this context, UN Women, UNDP, and World Vision proposal is seeking to implement the project to promote and sustain Women-Focused CSOs, facilitate shared objectives, joint planning, and monitoring for women political participation, conflict prevention and peacebuilding during the next general elections in 2023 in Sierra Leone and promoting the women peace and security agenda.


Duties and Responsibilities
  1. Summary of Key Functions:
  2. Implementation of internal and external strategies for communications and outreach
Implementation of the publication’s strategy and planContribution to the UN Women website, intranet, CO web-based knowledge management system

Provides support to the planning and design of internal and external strategies for communications and outreach focusing on achievement of the following results: Conduct of communications needs assessments for CO (projects, country programme and core change initiatives, etc)Analysis of requirements and synthesis of proposals for elaboration of the CO communications and outreach strategy based on the corporate communications strategy.Development/production of communication and advocacy instruments and materials for marketing and awareness-raising campaigns, including briefing materials and press releases in coordination with the supervisor.Synthesis of proposals for project formulations to integrate advocacy and communication strategies into all aspects of UN Women’s development programme.

Provides contributions to the UN Women Regional website, intranet, CO web-based knowledge management system focusing on achievement of the following results: Support the Country Representative and programme staff with preparation of articles, and other materials for uploading on the websitesPreparation of the content for the web sites to ensure consistency of the materialsMaintaining electronic filing of articles, print materials and photos for office use

Launches and campaigns Promotion and dissemination of corporate advocacy materials for launching flagship initiatives and publications.Promotion and maintenance of public information campaigns on UN Women activities, results of MDGs, Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Women peace and security and other campaign and activism on gender equality

Outreach/ Public information Preparation and dissemination of press-releases, reports, civic education and community awareness to government, civil society and other partners where appropriate, to support projectTimely and effective responses to inquiries for public information materials.


Competencies

Core Values:

Respect for DiversityIntegrityProfessionalismTeam spirit

Core Competencies:

Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender IssuesAccountabilityCreative Problem SolvingEffective CommunicationInclusive CollaborationStakeholder EngagementLeading by Example

Functional Competencies

Ability to communicate sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituenciesGood knowledge of web-based knowledge management systemsGood understanding of production, graphic design and photography standardsGood knowledge of social media platforms and experience in social media outreachGood knowledge of local country media landscapeGood communication, presentation, networking and advocacy skillsAbility to be strategic and analyticalKnowledge of gender and human rights issues desirable


Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master's/ Bachelor’s degree in media relations, journalism, publishing Experience:Master’s degree or bachelor’s degree with at least 2 years of relevant experience at the national or international level in public relations, communications, or advocacy. Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages, good knowledge, and experience in handling of web-based management systems.

This vacancy is archived.

Recommended for you