Communications Senior Officer

Myanmar is one of UNOPS’ leading offices in Asia, acting as fund manager for some of the largest development programmes in the country. In addition, UNOPS is Principal Recipient for the Global Fund in Myanmar and for the Global Fund’s regional artemisinin-resistance initiative targeting drug-resistant malaria in the greater Mekong sub-region. UNOPS also provides procurement, infrastructure and project management services to a wide range of organizations in the country, including international development partners, other UN agencies, NGOs and INGOs. UNOPS plays a critical role in ensuring that the quality of services provided to its partners meets stringent requirements of speed, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.

Project Information

LIFT is embarking on a new strategic period for 2024-2028. The LIFT 2024-2028 Strategy builds on the achievements of LIFT's experience as well as recent adaptations and learning in the face of a changing and dynamic context. The new Strategy outlines an approach to tackle structural drivers of poverty and vulnerability, while also considering immediate interventions to secure and maintain Myanmar's previous development gains. LIFT has proven itself as a key delivery partner across Myanmar’s changing contexts – ranging from post-Nargis recovery, a time of political transition, and relief support during COVID-19. LIFT is managed by the United Nations Office for Projects Services (UNOPS) and has received funding from 16 international donors. The current donors are the United Kingdom, the European Union, Switzerland, Australia, the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, and Denmark.

Job Specific:

Under the supervision of the Communicaitons Specialist and in close collaboration with the LIFT teams, the Senior Communications Officer will support in implementing the LIFT Communication Strategy for donor relations, external, internal, and crisis communications. 

The Communications Senior officer will be in charge of running several editorial processes for reports, newsletters, minutes, programmatic updates, social media posts, townhalls, events, press releases, the LIFT website, and other channels, and must be dedicated to achieving the highest quality in all written graphics, and audio/visual communications content.

The Incumbent under this position will participate in field trips, take photos, record footage and audio, and conduct interviews with beneficiaries and implementing partners to demonstrate LIFT’s operational impact. Also, the CSO must be able to analyze the volatile country context and based on thorough monitoring advice on communication opportunities and challenges. The aim is to help the unit contribute to LIFT being well positioned to deliver on its 2024-2028 POA, streamlined through Plans of Action and at any time aligning to UNOPS’ global communications strategy and standards. 

The Communications Senior Officer will proactively contribute to the unit working in a coherent manner to achieve goals within the agreed framework.

Additionally, the Communications Senior Officer should be in the capacity to act as the Deputy Communications Specialist when necessary, including managing external, internal stakeholders and the team members. 

Implement the communications strategy and plan:

• Contribute to the creation of LIFT´s communication strategy by providing accurate, updated, and analyzed data as an insight for the strategy definition. 

• Day-to-day communications coordination and execution, ensuring that high-quality work is delivered in a timely manner to support core LIFT activities in the best possible way.

• Follow the tracking framework to ensure quality and timely delivery of the plan. 

• Constantly update the information about the different communication channels to facilitate effective reporting, proper templates, access to information, formatted impact accounts, and more. 

• Support regular communication assessments, to ensure mapping of the Programme´s needs.

• Contribute to the communications budget tracking process, ensuring compliance with UNOPS rules and regulations. 

• Collaborate with the Communications Specialist on proposal writing activities, including working on methodologies, creating templates, and continuously improving the process. 

• Analyze the local communication context, the target audiences/stakeholders, and available communication channels as well as unforeseen events that may impact operations and LIFT´s reputation. 

• Contribute to delivering high-level, strategic messages,  at meetings, in reports and newsletters, and when needed ad hoc.

Content management and creation: 

• Create communication editorial content including talking points, FAQs, internal messages, fact sheets, news releases, website content, social media, and videos.

• Identify, select, extract, and summarize data in a structured fashion. 

• Lead and execute the process of capturing, recording, and transforming content into insightful/strategic information to communicate with LIFT's main stakeholders. 

• Conduct literature searches, and write literature summaries and manuscripts, requiring preliminary judgments after the supervisor outlines a conceptual approach.

• Prepare messaging for target audiences, choose effective communications channels, and refine messages to optimize impact.

• Partner with subject matter experts to develop comprehensive reports for internal leadership, employees, and external stakeholders.

• Manage multiple deliverables simultaneously and anticipate short-, medium-, and long-term communication needs.

Stakeholder management:

• Partner with the Communications Specialist to develop strong relationships/partnerships with the Programme´s main stakeholders, to enhance strategic alliances and visibility.

• Follow the process to communicate with Donnor´s and stakeholders, effectively.

• Contribute to the organization of external events, ensuring to represent UNOPS following the highest standards of diplomacy and alignment with LIFT´s communications principles. 

• Work with subject matter experts to develop comprehensive reports for internal leadership, employees, and external stakeholders.

Innovation, knowledge management, and capacity building

• Identify, capture, synthesize, and share lessons learned to develop knowledge and build stakeholders' capacity.

• Apply innovative approaches to support the implementation and delivery of effective and efficient initiatives. 

• Participate in capacity-building sessions to enhance the stakeholder´s capacity development. 

• Contribute to the development of a learning management culture within the communications team to ensure sustainable and scalable growth.

Education:

• A Master’s degree preferably in Communications, Journalism, Public Relations, Social Sciences, Multimedia Management, or other similar field is required.

• A first-level university degree (Bachelor's), preferably in the above professional fields with 2 additional years of relevant experience, could be considered in lieu of the Master´s degree.

Experience: 

• A minimum of 2 years of progressive experience in strategic communications, including content creation, media relations, and digital communications literacy, working for a global organization is required. 

• Experience in editing, writing, and storytelling skills in English and the local required language, to address various audiences, are required. 

• Experience in Social Media tracking tools, CMS systems and digital content creation is required. 

• Experience with sensitive and complex communication, issues management, and drafting clear messages for high-level stakeholders is an asset. 

• Experience in advising senior management on all aspects of strategic and crisis communication, including messaging and media training is an advantage. 

• Experience managing sensitive and complex communication in a corporate/diplomatic context is highly desirable.  

• Experience in training and mentoring programme colleagues and partners in collecting data and impact stories for internal reports and updates as well as external use is an advantage. 

• Experience working with the UN or international organizations is highly desirable.

• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (e.g. MS Office newer versions, Google Suite Applications) is required.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required.

• Proficiency in  Burmese is required.

Contract type: Local Individual Contractor Agreement (LICA)
Contract level: LICA-9
Contract duration: Open-ended, subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and 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. Refreshers or new mandatory courses may be required during your contract. Please note that you will not receive any compensation for taking courses and refreshers. 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.