Communication Officer, UNICEF

Deadline: 1 Feb, 2023 South Africa Standard Time
Location: Harare, Zimbabwe
Term: Temporary Contract, 364 days
Other: Open to nationals of Zimbabwe only

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.

And we never give up.

For every child, protection

UNICEF has been operating in Zimbabwe since 1982. We are a team of passionate professionals committed to the protection and fulfillment of children’s rights.

Supporting the Government’s vision of a prosperous  and  empowered upper-middle-income society, the country programme is aimed at contributing to sustainable socioeconomic development that provides all children, including adolescents, with opportunities to fulfil their potential, lead a healthy life, access quality learning and protection and meaningfully participate in society.

For more information about UNICEF Zimbabwe please click here

You can also access and explore all new UNICEF vacancies and create job alerts via the UNICEF Zimbabwe website link below:

https://www.unicef.org/zimbabwe/work-us

How can you make a difference?

A challenging and exciting opportunity has arisen within UNICEF Zimbabwe’s Communication Section for a committed and highly experienced Communication Officer (Donor Communication Strategy). Reporting to the Chief communication, the Communication officer Assists in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating a donor communication, visibility and advocacy strategy to strengthen the partnership with donors and support the resource mobilization efforts of the organization.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Donor communication strategy: Finalize, follow-up and update the strategy of the Country Office to ensure proper communication, visibility and advocacy for the current and future donors of UNICEF Zimbabwe and for the development funds
2. Joint communication, visibility and advocacy plans: Develop and update regularly joint communication, visibility and advocacy plans for the major current and future donors, as well as for the development funds and coordinate the roll-out and monitoring and evaluation of the plans
3. Coordinate donor communication, visibility and advocacy activities: Develop and roll-out in coordination with the relevant programme sections donor communication, visibility and advocacy activities to strengthen the partnership with donors and ensure visibility for the development funds.
4. Donor communication Grant management: Ensure proper management of the budgets allocated to communication as part of the donor Grants.
5. Monitoring and evaluation: Ensure proper monitoring and evaluation of donor communication work.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• A University degree in Communications, Journalism, Public Relations or a related field .
• A minimum of two years practical professional work experience in communication, including on donor relations and donor communication and visibility.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of a local language is an asset.

Technical Knowledge

Specific technical knowledge required

Specific and up-to-date working knowledge of:

• Executive Board and other policy documents
• Executive Directives
• UNICEF Strategic Plan
• UN/UNICEF Policy Papers
• UNICEF programme policy, procedures and guidelines
• UNICEF Guidance on Donor Relationship
• Rights-based and Results-based approach and programming in UNICEF
• General administrative and financial guidelines
• Human resources manual
• UNICEF communication and other GCA guidelines
• Communication toolkit
• Brand Toolkit and Brand Book
• UNICEF Stylebook
• Ethical Guidelines on Reporting on Children

Common technical knowledge required (for the job group)

General knowledge of:

• Communication practice, methodology and practical application. Knowledge of current theories and practices in communication research planning and strategy
• Fundamentals of working in various media formats – print, audio, video, web etc.
• Computer systems, including internet navigation, office applications, and specifically, interactive digital media
• United Nations or other international organizations; good understanding of world affairs, current events and international development issues
• Global human rights issues, specifically relating to children and women, and current UNCEF position and approaches
• UNICEF communication goals, visions, positions, policies, guidelines and strategies
• UNICEF policies and strategy to address national and international issues, including emergencies.
• UNICEF emergency communication policies, goals, strategies and approaches, including emergency preparedness
• Gender equality and diversity awareness

Technical knowledge to be acquired/enhanced (for the job)

• Knowledge and expertise in management, communication strategy and networking
• Donor landscape in Zimbabwe, including UNICEF donor landscape
• Technical competence in producing content for various media formats – print, audio, video, web etc.
• UN policies and strategy to address international humanitarian issues and the responses.
• UN common approaches to programmatic issues and UNICEF positions
• UN security operations and guidelines

Detailed JD may be accessed on the following link  Donor Communication Officer NO-2 JD.pdf

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

i) Core Values

• Care
• Respect
• Integrity
• Trust
• Accountability

ii) Core Competencies (For Staff without Supervisory Responsibilities)

• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1)
• Works Collaboratively with others (1)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (1)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)
• Drive to achieve impactful results (1)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.
We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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.

Remarks:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable candidates with disability are encouraged to apply.

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

For more information or to apply for this role, please click here.