Communication Specialist, NOC at United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)

United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Communication Specialist, NOC

Job no: 564133
Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Contract type: Fixed-Term
Level: NO-3
Categories: Communication

Job Description
UNICEF's mission is to promote the rights of every child. In Nigeria, considering the country's challenges related to poverty, conflict, poor infrastructure, and socio-political issues, the objectives include:

• Promoting access to quality education, especially for girls and children in disadvantaged regions.
• Improving child and maternal health by facilitating access to necessary medical services and promoting good health practices.
• Supporting the Nigerian government's efforts in improving water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities, and practices, thereby reducing disease transmission.
• Advocating for and working towards the protection of children from violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect.
• Alleviating the effects of poverty and malnutrition through policy advocacy and programmatic interventions.

The Communication Specialist's section plays a pivotal role in achieving UNICEF's objectives in the following ways:

• Advocacy and Public Awareness: The CAP section along with the Communication Specialist is responsible for creating effective communication strategies that highlight the issues UNICEF is addressing. This involves raising public awareness, influencing policy and decision-makers, and rallying support from donors, partners, and the public.
• Strategic Communication: The section ensures that UNICEF's mission, values, and objectives are effectively communicated to the relevant stakeholders. They develop messaging and content that resonate with diverse audiences, including the government, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, and the public.
• Media Relations: The role involves fostering positive relations with the media to ensure that UNICEF's work and impact are accurately represented. This may involve organizing press conferences, giving interviews, and responding to media inquiries.
• Crisis Communication: In times of crisis or emergency, the Communication Specialist's section is responsible for clear, timely, and accurate information dissemination. They manage communication risks and opportunities, providing updates to the public and other stakeholders and guiding the narrative around the crisis response.

Purpose for the Job

• Accountable for developing, managing, coordinating, networking, implementing and monitoring an advocacy and communication strategy and associated products and activities on an on-going basis with public audiences, with the objective of promoting awareness, understanding, support and respect for children’s and women’s rights, and support for UNICEF's mission, priorities and programmes in the country office/regional office/media hub, and at a global level and those of the UN Country Team.

Summary of Key Functions / Accountabilities

• Communication strategy: The Regional/Country Office or Media Hub has a clear communication strategy and associated work plan to get children’s issues into the public domain, strengthen political will in support of UNICEF's mission and objectives, and enhance the organization’s credibility and brand.
• Media relations: The Regional/Country Office or Media Hub has a well maintained and continually developed contact list of journalists and media outlets covering all media – print, TV, radio, web, photo etc. – and a successful process of communicating and maintaining regular contact and close collaboration with the media to communicate the story of UNICEF's cooperation.
• Networking and partnerships: The Regional/Country Office or Media Hub has a well-maintained and continually developed contact list of individuals, groups, organizations and fora whose support is essential to/can assist in achieving the advocacy and communication objectives. Effective working relationships with the UN Country Team and UN communication counterparts are developed, maintained and enhanced.
• Celebrities and special events: The Regional/Country Office or Media Hub has a well-maintained and continually developed contact list of appropriate, nationally-known personalities who have been identified, engaged and support UNICEF’s effort and who actively participate in special events and activities.
• Global priorities and campaigns: The Regional/Country Office or Media Hub has an effective process in place for integrating and taking action on UNICEF’s global communications priorities, campaigns and partnerships, disseminating these elements in a locally-appropriate way.
• Resource mobilization support; Global and country-level fund-raising activities are supported by effective advocacy and communication strategy and activities.
• Management: Human resources (the communication team) and financial resources (budget planning, management and monitoring)  are both effectively managed and optimally used. 
• Monitoring and evaluation: Communication baselines are established against which the achievement of objectives of the communication strategy are regularly evaluated; analysis is undertaken to continuously improve the effectiveness of communication strategy and activities; results and reports are prepared and shared.
• Capacity building and support: The Representative/Senior or Regional Communication Specialist and the country programme team are provided with professional expertise and advice on all aspects of external relations communication as required.                                                                                   

Educational Qualification
To qualify as an advocate for every child, you will have:

• Advanced University Degree in Communication, Journalism, and Public Relations.
• (A first University combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree in the field of journalism, communications, external relations, public affairs, public relations, or corporate communications.)

Experience:

•  Five years of progressively responsible and relevant professional work experience in communication, print, broadcast, and/or new media.
• Fieldwork experience is an asset.
• Background/familiarity with Emergency situations is an asset.

Language Requirements:

•  Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate:
UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA). 

• The UNICEF competencies required for this post are:
  • Builds and maintains partnerships
  • Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
  • Drive to achieve results
  • Innovates and embraces change
  • Manages ambiguity and complexity
  • Thinks and acts strategically
  • Works collaboratively with others
  • Nurtures, Leads and Manages People

Application Closing Date
31st July, 2023 (West Central Africa Standard Time)