Communications Officer (Re-advertised)

The European Union Support to Social Housing and Active Inclusion Programme (SHAI) is designed to enhance implementation of social inclusion policies in Serbia and provide sustainable housing solutions accompanied with active inclusion measures for the most vulnerable population. The European Union (EU) has allocated 20 million Euros through the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) 2018 for the 36 month-long implementation of the Programme, and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) has been selected as the implementing partner. National partners and the Programme beneficiaries are the Ministry for Construction, Transport, and Infrastructure, the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs, the Ministry of European Integration.

The Programme will strengthen capacities at the national and local level for identification, programming, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of sustainable social housing programmes and projects. It will also provide a range of housing solutions for vulnerable beneficiaries, ranging from construction of multi-family residential blocks, to procurement of village or prefabricated houses, and reconstruction of self-owned properties. Interventions will also include small scale infrastructure works in sub-standard settlements. In order to facilitate sustainability, the Programme will support implementation of complementary social inclusion measures, which will primarily focus on employment and economic empowerment of beneficiaries. The projects will be selected through open calls for proposals, which are transparent solicitation methods, respecting fairness and integrity.

Particularly targeted groups belong to the vulnerable and at-risk-of-poverty population, such as Roma, disadvantaged women, in particular women victims of domestic violence, youth in/leaving care, persons with disabilities, and others who live in inadequate housing conditions. The Programme will also benefit national institutions and local self-governments, as well as social inclusion service providers from public and civil society sector.

The Programme, grounded in national and international frameworks, will contribute to meeting the European Union accession criteria under Chapters 19 that relates to social inclusion and Chapter 23 that covers fundamental rights, along with achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager, the Communications Officer will be responsible for efficient and effective management of communication activities. He/she will play a lead role in the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of communication activities, while ensuring full compliance with the donor’s visibility requirements and guidelines, with objective to raise awareness of target audiences about activities, results and impact of the project.

The Communications Officer will undertake the following activities/responsibilities:

Stakeholder Management:

• Establish and cultivate relationship with the counterparts in the Delegation of the European Union, relevant ministries and governmental bodies,  local self-governments, development organisations and programmes and other key stakeholders
• Establish and cultivate partnerships with the key national, regional and local media
• Collating and developing external reports used to inform donor and the key stakeholders of SHAI Project interventions, and key developments in the Project Area
• Contribute to presentation of the Project’s support to key stakeholders, as per agreement with the Project Manager

Delivery and Performance:

• Conduct at least one annual mapping of Project’s stakeholders
• Prepare briefs and analysis of political, socio and economic trends relevant for the Project
• Ensure and lead the development, implementation and evaluation of the Project Communication Strategy and the Project’s Internal and External Communications Plan in consultations with the RSPO Communications and Partnership Specialist.
• Manage activities related to the visibility and publicity of the support which the Delegation of the European Union the Serbian Government provide to the Project
• Lead and supervise the organisation of the Delegation of the European Union, and Government officials visits
• Lead organisation of the press conferences/public events to raise awareness of the Project
• Provide communication support for organisation of trainings, workshops and other Project events
• Provide communications support in order to promote activities, results and impact of the Project
• Ensure cooperation with media and provision of information on the Project activities
• Maintain the media contact database and the library of Project’s media coverage
• Ensure monthly qualitative and quantitative analysis of Project’s media coverage to the Project Manager and all Project personnel and inform on any news, which may affect the Project activities
• Lead the development of the Project website and social network accounts;  ensure that they are systematically updated and maintained
• Liaise with and supervise the graphic designers work on visibility/promotional material in accordance with the approved Communication and Visibility Plan
• Prepare Terms of Reference for communications and other consultants needed for this portfolio
• With the guidance of the Procurement Officer, support preparation of  tenders for the publicity material (including print, graphics, web, audio and video)
• Ensure the quality of implemented activities and products are accepted by the Project Manager and the donor
• Ensure good governance and gender equality principles and practices are incorporated into the communications products, in accordance with the Project’s objectives and methodology.
• Provide inputs and contribution for the RSPO communications platforms, activities and initiatives

Procedures:

• With support from the Project Manager and in consultation with the Communications and Partnership Specialist, ensure respect of communications requirements
• With support from the Project Manager and in consultations with the Head of Programme, ensure respect of project management requirements
• With support from the Head of Support Services and the Procurement Officer, ensure respect of UNOPS’ procurement procedures
• In cooperation with the Project Manager and with support from the Head of Support Services and the Finance Officer, ensure efficient and effective management of the communications budget and that all expenditure complies with UNOPS Financial Rules and Regulations (FRR)
• Contribute to development, update and implementation of the Project’s plans
• Contribute to identification and assessment of risks and implement mitigation measures in accordance with the Project’s Risk Management Strategy
• Contribute to the Project planning activities and ensure timely delivery of approved work, procurement, and financial plans for the Communications activities
• Provide accurate and high quality inputs to Project’s reports
• Provide accurate and quality inputs needed for monitoring of the Project’s performance, outputs and benefits as required by the Project Manager
• Ensure respect of UNOPS and Project’s configuration management requirements

Knowledge Management:

• Participate in the UNOPS’s Communities of Practice
• Provide feedback to Practice Leads on policy, supporting guidance with an aim towards continuous improvement of UNOPS policies
• Contribute to identification and sharing of the Project’s lessons learned and the best practices as per reporting format.

Personnel Management:

• Supervise, closely monitor and assess performance of external consultants

Education

• Bachelor degree preferably in communications, journalism, public relations, international relations or a related field is required

Work Experience

• Minimum two years of relevant work experience in communications, public relations, media or journalism is required
• Experience with international organisations is highly desirable

Language Requirements

• Fluency in Serbian and English is required

Driving license

• Driving license and ability to travel independently is required

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship 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.

In Serbia, UNOPS has been active since 2000, became the Project Centre (RSPC) in 2012, and was reclassified, due a growing portfolio, to Operations Centre (RSOC) at the beginning of 2017. Since 2017, RSOC operations have expanded to North Macedonia, Georgia and Montenegro.

UNOPS has been a reliable partner primarily of the Government of Serbia, and later of the Governments of North Macedonia, Georgia and Montenegro, in providing support for demanding socio-economic reforms and facilitating accession to the European Union.

Currently, the RSPO is implementing 14 projects focussed on sustainable socio-economic development, creation of a more favourable environment for employability, business and infrastructure growth, increased security, improved education, enhanced social inclusion either via enabling durable housing solutions or providing access to health, education and jobs for the most vulnerable population. All projects have good governance and gender equality as transversal themes. UNOPS projects are contextualised within the broader Sustainable Development Goals framework and objectives.