Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)A (least hardship)
Family Type (not applicable for home-based)
Family
Staff Member / Affiliate TypeCONTR International Senior Level Professional
Target Start Date2024-03-01
Job Posting End DateFebruary 14, 2024
Terms of ReferenceOrganizational Context:
In line with its Global Communications Strategy, UNHCR requires the services of highly skilled editors capable of editing and packaging written and multimedia content for publication on its core websites and for distribution to donors, partners, and media. This body of work may include editing the Global Appeal, Global Report, Refugee Response Plans and other external-facing publications and writing and drafting explanatory text to help us lead the narrative on forced displacement, generate empathy and mobilize resources for the Asia-Pacific region.
General Background:
Editors play a key role in ensuring UNHCR publications are clear, accurate, logically presented, and consistent. Editors need to cultivate a keen understanding of our target audiences – including the themes and formats that resonate deeply, convey messages effectively and spark quality engagement. They should ideally have experience producing engaging and relevant content for public and private donor audiences, including governments, the private sector, and private partnerships and philanthropy. They must be vigilant about editorial standards, attentive to protection concerns and political sensitivities, and focused on communicating successfully with key demographics. The growing prevalence of digital platforms and mobile devices, and the increasingly visual orientation of our contemporary culture, means that web editors must know how to combine text effectively with photos, videos, graphics and interactive elements and must anticipate how people will experience our website content through social media, on smartphones, etc.
Duties and Responsibilities:
• Edit and proofread drafts to ensure logic and clarity, technical accuracy, and grammatical correctness of external documents and publications.
• Review and redraft texts as required to ensure messaging is more accessible to external, non-specialist audiences (avoiding UNHCR jargon or “UN-ese” expressions where possible)
• Provide editorial guidance and support to UNHCR colleagues in regional and country offices by reviewing input on content.
• Ensure edits conform to the UNHCR Style Companion and Global Appeals and Reports Style Guide and accuracy of terminology used.
• Demonstrate sound political judgment and keen awareness of subtle nuances of meaning when suggesting editorial solutions.
• Format documents as required.
Deliverables:
For each project, the editor should generally undertake the following:
• Fix typos, punctuation issues and ensure consistency of spelling
• Re-write or re-draft poorly presented sentences to improve readability and ease of understanding. If substantial rewriting is required, provide suggestions for improvement.
• Highlight areas where clarification and additional explanation is needed.
• Pay special attention to recognizing and correcting copy, design, and stylistic inconsistencies
• Edited texts should be returned in track change mode.
Qualifications and Professional Experience Required:
Education:
Journalism; Communications; Language and Literature; International Relations; Human Rights; Political Science;
or other relevant field.
Job Experience:
Essential:
• Native English speaker with extensive (minimum 8 years) editorial experience in international reporting, press or other written media communications and publications.
• Familiarity with the international humanitarian environment (terminology/style/political considerations)
• Familiarity and experience drafting copy for UN and UNHCR and knowledge of UN and UNHCR Style Guidelines.
• Adaptable, flexible, and able to work under pressure and deliver high-quality work with short deadlines.
Desirable:
• Graphic design skills would be an asset.
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Other informationThis position doesn't require a functional clearance
Home-BasedYes