Liberia is host to a forest cover of 6.6 million ha, which represents approximately 69% of the total landmass. Regarded as one of the biodiversity hotspots in the world, Liberia has approximately 43% of the remaining Upper Guinea forest with enormous biodiversity that includes plants with high endemism. Irrespective of the global and national significance of Liberia’s forest and biodiversity, Liberia faces several challenges and threats to its forest resources, including unsustainable logging, slash-and-burn agriculture,  the heavy reliance of local people on natural forests for fuelwood and timber, wildlife poaching, etc. These drivers are causing considerable damage to the integrity of the ecosystems and the provision of essential ecosystem services, which are exacerbated by inadequate livelihood opportunities and economic incentives for the forest communities.

There has been increasing recognition of community forestry as a means for promoting sustainable forest management that can allow for maximizing benefits for forest-dependent people who are custodians of the forest and its resources. This has given rise to governments increasingly ceding forest and land management rights/control to local people and communities. As part of the post-conflict forest reform, Liberia developed a Community Rights Law that aims to empower communities to engage in the sustainable management of these forests.

UNDP has developed the LEH-GO-GREEN project, which seeks to support increased forest-based revenue and livelihoods for forest users and forest fringe communities in Liberia”. The project, funded by the European Union Delegation in Liberia, seeks to improve natural resources governance and business environment for sustainable forest-based activities in line with the 2021-2024 EU Programming Forestry & Conservation  Contribution to Team Europe Initiatives (TEI) ‘Sustainable Forestry and Biodiversity Conservation in Liberia’. It will focus on strengthening the sustainable use of natural resources in Liberia while contributing to the fight against climate change and increasing jobs and growth for forest communities in the Grebo-Krahn and Gola Forest landscapes in Liberia for enhancing access to forest-based revenue and livelihood opportunities for improved forestry and conservation activities.

The project will work across the following four outcomes:

Outcomes 1: Community Conservation Agreement (CCA) developed and implemented to support sustainable livelihood and nature-based solutions in targeted authorized forest communities.

Outcomes 2: Sustainable management of reduced impact community-based commercial logging promoted based on best practices and guidelines developed and piloted in targeted authorized forest communities.

Outcomes 3: Resilient and diversified income and livelihood opportunities and business development of forest-related enterprises created and strengthened.

Outcomes 4: Mechanisms to foster sustainable financing of local forest-based enterprises promoted for enhancing the capacity of forest communities to be aware of carbon market opportunities to participate in carbon readiness activities.

The project will be implemented under a Direct Implementation Modality (DIM). It will be implemented in collaboration with the Forestry Development Authority, as the Responsible Party, sits under the Inclusive Green  Growth (IGG) Portfolio, which seeks to support the Government of Liberia in delivering pro-poor growth, equitable development of human capital, and sustainability in natural resources management. This IGG Portfolio is complementary to and builds on existing frameworks and plans of action such as the Sustainable Development Goals, AU’s Agenda 2063, the PAPD 2018–2023, UNDP Strategic Plan 2022-2025, UNDP Country Programme Document for the Republic of Liberia (2020-2024) and UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2020-2024for Liberia. The project objectives are aligned with national frameworks and priorities and are intended to support the government, under the leadership of the Forestry Development Authority to deliver on its obligations to its citizens. It was developed following consultations with government counterparts, civil society actors, and other development partners.

To support and facilitate the implementation of the project, UNDP wishes to recruit Gender, Communications & Advocacy Specialist (National position).

The following section describes the functions under each of these categories with expected results:

1. Support planning, design, and implementation of communication and advocacy strategies and ensure integration of gender statistics in the project programming and reporting.

• Develop communication and gender strategy for the project;
• Conduct a gender statistics data use, uptake, and communication need assessment to track the Communications Strategy and how its activities are helping achieve programme goals;
• Integrate gender data and communication, advocacy, and outreach activities into for the project and other initiatives, as necessary, in UNDP programmes on forestry;
• Review and finalize quarterly, annual, and Donor Annual Reports, particularly the sections on gender statistics, documenting impact project impacts and stories of change;
• Work in close collaboration with the Country Office Communications Unit, and regional and global Communications Specialists to contribute to documenting the impact of the use and uptake of gender data from a communications perspective in reports and social media publications;
• Design and formulation of CO’s Gender equality and women’s empowerment programme/ project proposals and initiatives, translating UNDP’s priorities into local interventions. Coordination of project implementation with the executing portfolios and other UN agencies. Introduction of performance indicators/ success criteria, targets and milestones; and ensure synergies with other teams;
• Initiation of a project, presentation of the project to LPAC, finalization of contribution agreement; determination of required revisions; coordination of the mandatory and budget re-phasing exercises, closure of projects through review. Programme Analyst can perform functions of Manager Level 1 in Atlas for POs and vouchers approval, participates in recruitment processes for projects;
• Assist in identifying areas of programmatic engagement with national stakeholders related to social cohesion, peacebuilding and consensus building, as appropriate. In doing so, systematically consider and streamline gender and social inclusion;
• Build and manage relationships with national partners to support implementation and expansion of the Gender equality and women’s empowerment; respond to any potential problems;
• Identify capacity building needs of partners and lead the coordination of technical assistance, mentoring, training and capacity development initiatives to partners;
• Oversee field missions and review reports on monitoring missions;
• Aggregate reports are regularly prepared focusing on results, output, outcomes; and Contribute to UNDP reports including donor’s reports;
• Monitor and manage project progress and update risk management status using results-based management tools;
• Gender-related communication, Research, knowledge building and knowledge sharing, and Codification of Knowledge;
• Financial and substantive monitoring and evaluation of the projects, identification of operational and financial problems, development of solutions;
• Provide contributions, as and when necessary, to the development of knowledge networks, communities of practice, surveys and information exchange with the UN counterparts;
• Identification of sources of information related to policy-driven issues. Identification and synthesis of best practices and lessons learnt directly linked to programme country policy goals;
• Support to development of policies and institutions that will address the country problems and needs in collaboration with the Government and other strategic partners;
• Sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice;
• Organization of trainings for the operations/ projects staff on programme issues;
• Conduct researches with assessing the implication of a particular gender-related situation or a policy on development situation e.g., poverty reduction, equity, inclusion, etc;
• Conduct research, synthesize best practices and codify project experiences on the ground in comprehensive knowledge products with lessons learned and step-by-step guidance for replication.

2. Coordinate production dissemination and outreach of knowledge products

• Coordinate the production, maintenance, and update the knowledge product plan and products in liaison with the Country Office Communications Specialist and EU Communications team;
• Support the use of gender data and statistics in knowledge management and communication activities as necessary;
• Assist in procuring the services of designers, editors, and other vendors as needed, and liaise with vendors on production and logistics to ensure final products are developed in line with UNDP and EU branding;
• Support the use of systematic storage, and strategic dissemination of gender statistics knowledge products to ensure broad reach through UNDP and partners’ social media channels, in line with corporate social media policy and in liaison with the country office communications team.

3. Coordinate and contribute substantively to the development and dissemination of advocacy materials on gender data and statistics:

• Develop impact and data use stories based on quarterly results reporting to share progress in project implementation with external audiences;
• Coordinate products such as video, infographics, postcards, briefs, etc. to highlight results emerging from the project for diverse audiences and maintenance of gender statistics communication information database and photo library;
• Create and/or review and the project presentations especially for dissemination at events and technical meetings in keeping with the programme’ s branding and marking guidelines;
• Coordinate advocacy campaigns, events, trainings, and workshops for the IGG Unit as needed in collaboration with the team lead;
• Identify and synthesize best practices and lessons learned directly on the use of gender statistics and document success stories linked to programme goals and activities and GEWE;
• Develop and produce communication and advocacy instruments and materials, including briefing materials, press releases, and articles and coordinate their dissemination through effective channels in collaboration with UNDP and EU Communications Units.

4. Support the development of media and other communication partnerships and alliances to amplify gender statistics and data work for increased visibility and GEWE.

• Identify and develop new communication partnerships and alliances to enhance programme visibility; manage and nurture existing partnerships;
• Liaise with advocacy partners and undertake outreach to CSOs, government agencies, and other groups to ensure that newsworthy information reaches the relevant segments of the public and development partners;
• Organize and conduct training and workshops on gender data use, communication, and advocacy, as appropriate;
• The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the IGG Pillar;
• The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the IGG Pillar.

Institutional Arrangement

The Gender, Communications & Advocacy Specialist will work under the direct supervision of the Project Manager (This position is Monrovia based with regular field visits to project-implementing locations. The Personnel will liaise with EU communication team, FDA Focal Person, national institutions, and local administrations involved in the project.

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

General (across the functions)

• Public relations Ability to build and maintain an overall positive public image for the organization, its mandate, and its brand, while ensuring that individual campaigns and other communications and advocacy initiatives are supported in reaching the public

Partnership management: Multi-stakeholder engagement and funding

• Knowledge and ability to forge multi-stakeholder partnerships, and remove any obstacles to resource mobilization and multi-stakeholder funding platforms

Partnership management: Resource mobilization

• Ability to identify funding sources, match funding needs (programmes/projects/initiatives) with funding opportunities and establish a plan to meet funding requirements

Programme and Policy: Gender

• Gender Mainstreaming

Programme and Policy: Inclusive Growth

• Poverty and Human Development

Business Direction & Strategy: Strategic Thinking

• Ability to develop effective strategies and prioritized plans in line with UNDP objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, potential risks, and opportunities; linking the vision to reality on the ground, and creating tangible solutions
• Ability to leverage learning from a variety of sources to anticipate and respond to future trends; to demonstrate foresight in order to model what future developments and possible ways forward look like for UNDP

Business Development: Knowledge Generation

• Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for content, or responsive to a stated need.