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 alignment with UN Women's Strategic Plan 2026-2030, Communication and Advocacy is a key cross-cutting area of UN Women's mandate, which supports the corporate and programmatic vision, impact areas and systemic outcomes, in particular organizational
effectiveness and efficiency output 2: Resource partnerships and communications: UN Women effectively leverages partnerships and communications to secure sustainable resourcing and ensure broad-based support for its mandate.
The Strategic Plan prioritizes communications and advocacy to advance UN Women’s influence, resources and impact. In a competitive funding landscape, the Entity will invest in strategic expertise and next-generation digital platforms to position UN Women as the leading voice, advocate, partner of choice and brand for the equality, empowerment and rights of all women and girls. By leveraging UN Women’s platforms across the world and deepening engagement with the media, philanthropy, private sector and cultural influencers, the Entity will deliver a bold, unified narrative that drives transformation and secures lasting support for its mandate.
To support the implementation of these strategies, the UN Women Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean is seeking to hire a Communications and Advocacy Specialist who can provide communications and advocacy leadership in support of the implementation of regional and national initiatives, programs, and campaigns.
Reporting to the Regional Director, Communications and Advocacy Specialist will collaborate closely with the Headquarters, Regional, Multi-Country Office and Country Offices’ (RO/MCO/CO) colleagues to ensure communications strategies, media relations and organizational outreach efforts are aligned with corporate communications policies and initiatives. The Communications and Advocacy Specialist also collaborates with RO/MCO and CO colleagues to support outreach campaigns, resource mobilization and donor relations initiatives; The Communication Specialist mobilizes support in conjunction with intergovernmental processes and support the activities and special events organized for UN Women.
Key Functions and Accountabilities
1. Lead the development and implementation of communication and outreach/advocacy strategies and plans, with a specific focus on media
• Conduct communication needs assessments for ACRO, including projects, programmes and corporate change initiatives;
• Design, develop, and implement communication and outreach/advocacy strategies, including media strategies; ensure gender perspective;
• 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 and MCOs in the region.
2. Lead the development and dissemination of advocacy materials in the region
• 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 communication specialists 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.
3. Manage media relations for the RO
• Lead relationship building with press in the region; 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.
4. Build and maintain partnerships and maintain relations 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.
5. Oversee the RO’s web/ online presence
• Oversee and maintain (regional) websites, including developing design and content;
• Coordinate MCO and COs’ web-presence in the line with corporate web policy;
• Oversee and manage (regional) social media accounts in line with corporate social media policy.
6. Facilitate knowledge building and sharing
• Identify and synthesize best practices and lessons learned from Cos, MCOs and ROs directly linked to programme regional goals and activities and ensure exchange of information;
• Provide training and workshops on communication and advocacy as appropriate.
7. The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.
Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: The incumbent lead a team of 5 affiliate personnel.
Competencies :
Core Values:
Core Competencies:
Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework:
Functional Competencies:
Recruitment Qualifications
Education and Certification:
Experience:
Languages:
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.)
Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.