Communications Associate

The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners' peacebuilding, humanitarian, and development projects around the world.  Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement, and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors, and United Nations organizations. With over 6,000 personnel spread across 80 countries, UNOPS offers its partners the logistical, technical, and management knowledge they need, where they need it.  By implementing around 1,000 projects for our partners at any given time, UNOPS significantly contributes to results on the ground, often in the most challenging environments.

Background Information: Somalia Country Office (SOCO)

UNOPS has been operating in Somalia since 1995. The Somalia Country Office (SOCO) manages and coordinates a diverse portfolio across a variety of sectors, including health, rule of law, crisis recovery, and security and justice reform. Located in Mogadishu, SOCO works with multiple partners including the Governments of Somalia, bilateral and multilateral donors, United Nations agencies, funds, and programmes.

Under the supervision of the Partnerships Specialist, the Communications Associate will carry out the following responsibilities related to external and internal communications for the Somalia Country Office in full compliance with UNOPS rules, regulations and policies:

Communications:

• Coordinate implementation of an effective and quality communications strategy and work plan for SOCO under the guidance of senior management

• Manage SOCO’s social media accounts, ensuring regular updates and monitoring relevant posts and activities by key partners, including donors and the Somali government counterparts

• Coordinate UNOPS’s inputs to UN Somalia-wide publications, newsletters, websites, and other communication products led by the UN Mission to Somalia communications team.

• Develop and maintain a database of local journalists/press contacts. 

• Develop and maintain a database of SOCO partners (including government partners) and the international community.

• Follow local media for humanitarian and development-related content. 

• Coordinate inputs from different units and partners and produce consolidated social media posts, factsheets, presentations, and other written documents for internal and external use.  

• Liaise with the HQ Comms team and UN Communication Group and participate in relevant meetings.  

• Support the development and facilitation of in-house communication training for SOCO personnel and partners.

• Keep up-to-date SOCO communication plans.

• Develop and maintain web content for relevant UNOPS intra-/internet pages and social media.

• Issue bi-monthly internal newsletters.

• Support Project Managers, the Partnerships Specialist, and the SMT as required to organize audio-visual coverage (photography, videography) of project activities and achievements

• Ensure that all UNOPS communication guidelines are consistently applied across all SOCO communication activities and outputs.

  Reporting/Knowledge Management:

• Provide inputs to produce and keep up-to-date communication materials and a photo library with project photos

• Contribute to communication outputs to share information about SOCO-funded projects and results achieved, in liaison with relevant project and communication teams. 

• Draft stories and topics from the work of SOCO and its partners for publication in local and other appropriate media. 

• Share publication, information, and knowledge with colleagues, clients, and partners.

• Prepare draft communication materials as required for events, mission travel, and/or discussions with partners.

• Participate in relevant UN Somalia Working Groups or coordination mechanisms and provide necessary UNOPS inputs

• Collaborate with relevant support services units to lead and manage production and deployment of relevant resources, including booklets, briefing notes, posters and banners, through service providers such as audio-visual production companies, as well as printing and translation companies as required 

Partnership Development:

• Collect data and carry out research and analytical write-ups for concept notes and proposals. 

Other duties: 

• Support project visibility activities

• Brief senior management regularly on ongoing communication activities and coordinate efforts to follow up on identified communication needs

• Support the participation and/or representation of the SOCO Partnership Development Office team at events and technical meetings as required.

• Participate in meetings with donors and partners and produce high quality meeting minutes and action-oriented summaries.

• When needed, join SOCO monitoring visits or donor field visits of SOCO funded projects. 

• Other duties assigned by the supervisor.
  
  

• Completion of Secondary Education with six (6) years of relevant experience is required.  
• Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, Communications, Media, Social Studies, International relations or any related field with two (2) years of relevant experience is desirable.

• A minimum of six (6) years of relevant experience working in the communications field is required.  
• Experience in the use of the Google Suite application is an advantage
• Experience in graphic design is desired. 

• Fluency in written, reading and spoken English is required. 
• Working knowledge of Somali will be considered a significant advantage.

Contract type: Local Individual Contract Agreement (LICA)

Contract level: LICA 6

Contract duration: Ongoing (Subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and/or to satisfactory) performance

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.

• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.

• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures,  languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 

• Qualified women and candidates from groups which are underrepresented in the UNOPS workforce are encouraged to apply. These include in particular candidates from racialized and/or indigenous groups, members of minority gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.

• We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process.  If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

Terms and Conditions 

• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post. 

• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. For more information on a retainer contract here.

• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.

• It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us: UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity: With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization: UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.

Africa Region Based in Copenhagen, Denmark, the Africa Region supports UNOPS country offices in the region, providing financial oversight of projects, procuring goods and services and managing human resources.

AFR helps ensure that projects are executed to the highest standards, providing a shared knowledge base and ensuring that best practices and lessons learned are disseminated between projects across the entire region.

Somalia Country Office:

UNOPS Somalia Country Office (SOCO) has had a solid and continuous in-country expert presence successfully implementing programs since the mid-1990s, where it is currently undertaking various projects and initiatives in close collaboration with the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS), Federal Member States (FMS) and partners from the global donor community. UNOPS’ projects in Somalia focus on several key sectors that include infrastructure development, institutional capacity building, project management, advisory services, and procurement services. These projects cut across multiple sectors, including education, healthcare, national security, law enforcement, immigration services, justice, transport, and public works among others. UNOPS work in Somalia is geared towards driving growth and development in the country, a process that requires developing a close relationship with the FGS and the other development partners.