Communication Officer, Tartous, NO-A, Temporary Appointment (Re-advertisement)

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

Purpose:

To support the external communication and outcomes that are important for the field and country office by 1) highlighting the needs and situation of children and women in both accessible and inaccessible areas; 2) documenting and disseminating the impact of UNICEF humanitarian response across all thematic areas of intervention ; 3) strengthening donor and partner recognition and visibility efforts.

Specific Tasks

The communication officer will undertake the following duties and tasks:

• Lead the Field Office approach to implementing the SCO communication and advocacy strategies, in close consultation with the SCO Chief of Communications. Develop, implement and monitor and evaluate the Field Office Communications Workplan related to the strategies.
• Work with programme officers at the field office level to develop and implement programme communications as part of the Field Office Communications Work Plan
• Assist in developing and maintaining close collaboration with mass media represented in Tartous and Latakia, as well as with groups and organization whose support is essential to the achievement of advocacy and communication objectives.
• Design and produce advocacy and communication materials such as videos, high quality photos and related product; and contribute to oversight of the qualitative aspects of production, including quality control translation, review of layouts and graphic design; identify and work with creative contractors such as photographers and videographers in making these products.
• Draft and edit articles, human interest stories and other advocacy/information materials for both social media and traditional media, as appropriate.
• Support donor visibility efforts by contributing to various communication and visibility products customized for various donor requirements.
• Prepare background communication and promotion material for briefing and visits of international media, goodwill ambassadors, donor, national committee representatives and other special interest groups.
• Help organise and generate public support for special events and activities to promote country office programme at the field office level.
• Monitor local level media and brief senior communication officers and management colleagues about the public perception of UNICEF at the field office level and recommend appropriate action to maintain a positive image of the organization at the field level.
• Liaise closely with the communication team in Damascus on the editorial focus of all products, and in jointly developing communication and advocacy opportunities and products. As needed, keep the Damascus team abreast of and suggesting response strategies to deal with reputation risk management issues at local level.
• Establish and maintain an up to date repository for locally generated news and advocacy materials, as well as photographic and audio-visual materials at the field level.

Methodology

The Communication Officer will:

• Work under the direct supervision of the Chief of Field Office in Tartous, and in close coordination with the Chief of Communication.
• Will be based in Tartous and will work full time, within the duration of the contract.
• Will liaise and coordinate with partner organizations, communities, and authorities/government counterparts as appropriate to facilitate the delivery of UNICEF assistance.
• Will prepare weekly and monthly monitoring reports on the activities undertaken and other report as required for urgent actions or emergency needs.
• Will prepare final report with recommendations at the end of the assignment.

Expected background Experience

• University degree in journalism and mass media or related field
• Minimum, of one year of relevant experience in a similar role
• Proven journalistic, media monitoring or production skills including field based interview skills, photography or videography expertise, high level of proficiency in MS Office, ability to maintain basic website, produce external communication products (newsletters, Fact Sheets Press Release, etc.); ability to coordinate production with external creative contractors such as photographers.
• Fluency in written and spoken English and Arabic languages.

Competency Profile :

1. ii) Core Values (Required)

• Commitment       • Diversity and Inclusion     • Integrity
• ii) Core Competencies (Required)

• Communication [ II ] • Working with People [ I ] • Drive for Results [ I ]

• Functional Competencies (Required)
• • Persuading and Influencing   [ I ]                  
• • Applying Technical Expertise   [ I ]                    

 • Learning and Researching   [ II ]                    • Planning and Organizing [ II ]            

• Formulating Strategies and Concepts [ I ]   • Relating and Networking   [ I ]  

Duration: 364 days