Background
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are core principles at UNDP:  we value diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate, we foster inclusion as a way of ensuring all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, and we ensure equity and fairness in all our actions. Taking a ‘leave no one behind’ approach to our diversity efforts means increasing representation of underserved populations. People who identify as belonging to marginalized or excluded populations are strongly encouraged to apply. Learn more about working at UNDP including our values and inspiring stories. 

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.

UNDP is the leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and the planet. UNDP has been working in Afghanistan for more than 50 years on climate change and resilience, gender, governance, health, livelihoods, and rule of law. Under the broader framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in close coordination with other UN agencies, UNDP is supporting the Afghan people’s aspiration for peace, prosperity, and sustainability. UNDP is currently implementing its flagship crisis response programme, ABADEI (Area Based Approach to Development Emergency Initiatives), as part of the ongoing UN-led response to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe and the breakdown of Afghanistan’s economy following the August 2021 shift in power. Key priorities that govern or provide direction for the work of the position to demonstrate the link between the Unit priorities and position priorities/expected outcomes of an incumbent

Position Purpose

Under the direct supervision of the Resident Representative, the Communications Specialist implements the UNDP corporate communication strategy, designs, manages, and facilitates the implementation of the UNDP Afghanistan communication and publication strategies with a view to influence the development agenda, to promote public and media outreach, and to mobilize political and financial support for UNDP. The Communications Specialist supervises and leads the communications staff of the Country Office, including the Communications Team in Kabul and in the regions and under relevant projects, and has a strong regular working relationship with the Regional Communications Adviser. The Communications Specialist also works in close collaboration with the Partnerships, Programme and Operations teams, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and UN Communication Group in Afghanistan, UNDP Communications Group staff (Regional Communications Adviser and HQ), international and local media, subject matter experts, multi-lateral and bi-lateral donors and civil society to ensure a successful UNDP communication strategy implementation.
UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.

Key Responsibilities
1.) Planning and designing an internal and external communications strategy and action plan for the Country Office:

• Planning and elaboration of communications needs assessments for CO (projects, country programme and corporate change initiatives, etc.)
• Elaboration of the CO communications and outreach strategy based on corporate strategic priorities and UNDP External Communications Action Plan.
• Constructive and timely advice on inclusion of communications components in programme and projects formulations to integrate advocacy and communication strategies into all aspects of UNDP’s development programmes.
• Develop and oversee the implementation of a country office communications strategy based on corporate communications goals and priorities, in collaboration with the RBAP and UNAMA.
• Pursue partnerships to leverage emerging and new technologies to produce industry-leading communications materials that showcase UNDP’s work, such as data visualizations, infographics, virtual reality/immersive experiences, interactive storytelling, and animation.
• Assess the impact of the communication strategy and make adjustments accordingly.
• Integrate issue-based advocacy into the communications strategy around key priority areas relevant to the Programme.
•  Ensure key results and relevant success stories are incorporated into strategic communications outreach.
• Support positioning of UNDP as a thought leader in its key substantive areas of work.
• Ensure an active presence on a diverse array of communications channels/mediums to promote the programmes work and success stories, designed to increase engagement and awareness of UNDP’s impact in Afghanistan.
• Ensure internal communications are designed and implemented to ensure internal capacity building, team building and active engagement in UNDP’s substantive areas of work at all levels of the organizations.

2.) Oversees the national and international media outreach for the country office, in partnership with UNAMA and UNDP HQ:

• Promote, advocate and raise awareness around programme activities, results, flagship initiatives through a variety of communication vehicles, such as roundtable discussions, press conferences, briefing sessions, interviews, report launches, etc.
• Promote UNDP’s work with special attention to results and impact through media outreach, including social media platforms and communication tools as appropriate.
• In collaboration with UNAMA, and relevant UNDP HQ Communications teams (including RBAP, BERA and Crisis Bureau), proactively market UNDP AFG’s work by regularly pitching UNDP success stories and experts for interviews and commentaries in print and multimedia outlets.
•  Draft and/or edit a range of materials, including press releases & advisories, news briefs, fact sheets, multimedia human interest stories for inclusion in media kits and further public outreach.
•  Ensure articles, press releases, stories, blogs, and publications are posted on the UNDP website and contribute to the overall direction of UNDP’s online presence.
• Monitor and analyze media coverage in the region and share information with the RBAP Communications.
• Provide communications support to UNDP senior management visiting Afghanistan.
• Foster outreach partnerships with new media, innovation groups and social media influencers who can help UNDP achieve its global and regional objectives.
• Establish and maintain good relations between key international and national media and the country office.

3.) Manage and develop key communication products and publications for UNDP AFG:

• Design of the office web sites based on corporate requirements in cooperation with the ICT staff.
• Supervision and preparation of the content for the web sites and social media platforms ensuring consistency of the materials.
• Elaboration and implementation of the CO publications strategy and plan based on the corporate publications policy.
• Identification and development of storylines for publications and substantive articles contributing to debates on key development issues.
• Coordination and management of all CO publication activities, including content management, norms for publishing, design, liaison with printers and other suppliers to oversee production and supervision of publications dissemination.
• Creation and promotion of campaigns that position UNDP with local and international media and influences the development agenda based on current programme and new initiatives.
• Management, promotion, and dissemination of corporate advocacy materials for launching flagship initiatives and publications such as the Human Development Report.
• Creation, promotion, and maintenance of public information campaigns on issues including UNDP activities, Sustainable Development Goals, UN Reform, etc. in association with other staff from Business Development Team.
• Promotional activities to position UNDP as a leader within the development space.
• Increased coverage and understanding of the UNDP’s work in the country or practice area through development and maintenance of media contacts and providing newsworthy information to national public and donors.
• Formatting, packaging and submission of programme and projects initiatives for donor review in close collaboration with programme and project staff.

4.) Lead the management of the Communications Team, and manage capacity-building and knowledge-sharing in UNDP AFG

• Provide guidance, coaching and mentoring to Country Office Communications staff.
• Effective management of the Communications Team, including preparation of the work-plan, management of translations and contractual matters
• Provide support to CO senior mgt, Projects and CO staff on media outreach, messaging, positioning and interview techniques in close collaboration with the communication team at RBAP.
• Work to produce op-eds and speeches, organize interviews and support CO senior mgt’s visit and attendance of flagship conferences and events.
• Provide support and guidance as needed on communications activities and opportunities for amplification.
• Work with various RBAP, HQ and CO units on knowledge management, mitigating risk to institutional reputation, and sharing successes/information internally.
• Liaise with RBAP and UNCG on timely responses to reputational management inquiries raised by media and donors, in close consultation with the Communications Group at HQ.
• Shares a strong culture of knowledge management and knowledge sharing in the team and in the country office.
• Stimulates the use of blogs, social media, community of practice to ensure wide dissemination of positions, events, debates on the topics covered by the team.
• Ensures the continuous collation of lessons learnt and best practices in communications for development.

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 Communication Specialist will be supervising four personnel.
Competencies

• Core Competencies:

Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact

Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems

Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences

Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands

Act with Determination: LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results

Engage and Partner: LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration

Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity

• Cross-Functional & Technical Competencies

Business Direction, Strategy & System Thinking: Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system

Business Management & Communication: 

• Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience
• Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media, and other appropriate channels

Business Management & Portfolio Management: Ability to select, prioritise and control the organizations programmes and projects, in line with its strategic objectives and capacity; ability to balance the implementation of change initiatives and the maintenance of business-as-usual, while optimising return on investment

Communications & Digital Strategy: Ability to plan the use of resources through digital channels to reach and engage target audiences effectively and to achieve objectives

Business Management & Customer Satisfaction/Client Management: 

• Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers’ needs.
• Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy.
• Look for ways to add value beyond clients’ immediate requests.
•  Ability to anticipate client’s upcoming needs and concerns.

Partnership Management & Resource Mobilisation: Ability to identify funding sources, match funding needs (programmes/projects/initiatives) with funding opportunities and establish a plan to meet funding requirements.

Education

• An advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in Journalism, Communications, External Relations, Public Relations, Marketing, Media Relations, International Relations, Economics, Political or Social Sciences, is required. OR
• A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the areas mentioned above, in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience

• Minimum of 5 years (with master’s degree) or 7 years (with bachelor’s degree) of relevant experience at the national or international level in public relations, multimedia communications, journalism or advocacy, development cooperation, partnership, resource mobilization is required.
• Experience collaborating with a wide range of stakeholders, across agencies, government, NGOs, civil society, private sector, and others is required.
• Experience formulating strategic documents to guide communications, media, and publication plans is required.
• Proven knowledge and experience using social media for development messaging is required.
• Experience supporting and advising senior management and high-level officials through the development of talking points, speech writing, as well as high-level VIP visits and conferences is required.
• Media relations experience and proven ability to secure earned media placements in print, broadcast, and/or new media. Clear background with direct engagement with media in sensitive environments is an asset.
• Experience and technical knowledge of web design and digital infrastructure, email, and customer management software, including HTML, CSS, AEM, digital analytics and advertising platforms is an asset.
•  Experience in strategy development and donor and UN partnerships/public relations at the international level; specialized experience in development financing and/or South-South cooperation an asset.
• Experience in UNDP or in Asia-Pacific and the RBAP region including at Country level specialized experience in development financing and/or South-South cooperation an asset.
•  Experience implementing innovative solutions and tracking performance results. Background in data innovation and digital analytics a distinct asset.
• Demonstrated experience in training and collaborating proactively with non-technical stakeholders in the achievement of shared results is an asset.

Languages

• Fluency in oral and written English is required.
• Working knowledge of another UN language is an asset.
• Familiarity with the local language of duty station Dari and/or Pashto is an asset.

Disclaimer

Important information for US Permanent Residents (‘Green Card’ holders)

Under US immigration law, acceptance of a staff position with UNDP, an international organization, may have significant implications for US Permanent Residents. UNDP advises applicants for all professional level posts that they must relinquish their US Permanent Resident status and accept a G-4 visa, or have submitted a valid application for US citizenship prior to commencement of employment.

UNDP is not in a position to provide advice or assistance on applying for US citizenship and therefore applicants are advised to seek the advice of competent immigration lawyers regarding any applications.

Applicant information about UNDP rosters

Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Non-discrimination

UNDP has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and misconduct, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

UNDP is an equal opportunity and inclusive employer that does not discriminate based on race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.

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