Job Identification : 11745

Locations : New Delhi, India

Posting Date : 09/01/2023, 05:30 AM

Apply Before : 09/17/2023, 06:29 PM

Job Schedule : Full time

Agency : UNDP

Grade : NPSA-8

Vacancy Type : National Personnel Service Agreement

Practice Area : Health

Bureau : Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific

Contract Duration : 1 Year

Education & Work Experience : Master’s Degree

Other Criteria : Bachelor’s Degree with 2 years of experience

Required Languages : English

Vacancy Timeline

2 Weeks

Job Description

Background

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are core principles at UNDP: we value diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate, we foster inclusion as a way of ensuring all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, and we ensure equity and fairness in all our actions. Taking a ‘leave no one behind’ approach to our diversity efforts means increasing representation of underserved populations. People who identify as belonging to marginalized or excluded populations are strongly encouraged to apply. Learn more about working at UNDP including our values and inspiring stories.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

UNDP has been working in India since 1951 in almost all areas of human development. Together with the Government of India and development partners, we have worked towards eradicating poverty, reducing inequalities, strengthening local governance, enhancing community resilience, protecting the environment, supporting policy initiatives and institutional reforms, and accelerating sustainable development for all.

With projects and programmes in every state and union territory in India, UNDP works with national and subnational government, and diverse development actors to deliver people-centric results, particularly for the most vulnerable and marginalized communities. As the integrator for collective action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the UN system, we are committed to supporting the Government of India’s national development vision and priorities and accelerating the achievement of the SDGs for the people and the planet.

UNDP India’s new Country Programme (2023-2027) builds on our prior work and aims to provide an integrated approach to development solutions in three strategic portfolios:

•  Strong, accountable and evidence-led institutions for accelerated achievement of the SDGs.
•  Enhanced economic opportunities and social protection to reduce inequality, with a focus on the marginalized.
•  Climate-smart solutions, sustainable ecosystems and resilient development for reduced vulnerability.

South-South cooperation, gender equality and social inclusion are promoted across the pillars. The programme is supported by a framework of renewed partnerships and blended finance solutions, strategic innovation and accelerator labs, and data and digital architecture.

You are invited to join a team of future-smart development professionals to support India in achieving the national and globally agreed goals. As part of the UNDP team, your focus will be to work with diverse stakeholders to find country-specific solutions that lead to sustainable development and reach those furthest behind first.

The Communications Officer will be part of the UNDP India Country Office Communications and Partnerships team, with a specific focus on the Health Systems Strengthening project. The Communications and Partnerships team at UNDP works to strengthen internal and external communications and build strategic partnerships to deliver results at scale and speed to meet the Agenda 2030. The unit is responsible for developing effective and agile communication and partnership strategies to support the development needs of our partners and stakeholders and promote understanding of UNDP’s work in India. The unit delivers communication campaigns that support our diverse priorities, showcases our stories of change, engages media, leverages digital and multimedia for enhanced outreach engagement and advises on reputation management and crisis communications. The Communications and Partnership unit works in close collaboration with programme and project staff across the country, other UN agencies, governments, donors, private sector, civil society and media to deliver on the vision and outcomes in the Country Programme Document.

In India UNDP is a long-standing partner of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and its institutions at the State and District level. Guided by the government, the UNDP India work is fully carried out in close coordination with partner UN agencies and is focusing on better health services provided to population of India.

The overarching goal of UNDP’s work on health system strengthening in India is to facilitate equitable access to basic services by strengthening capacities of communities to demand and access services, and of institutions to deliver quality, timely and stigma free services and LNOB (Leaving no one behind).

The Gavi Alliance co-funded Health System Strengthening (HSS) programme is one of the efforts of the MoHFW to improve the quality and level of immunization coverage in India. UNDP has been a trusted partner of MoHFW and GAVI for many years in this flagship programme that has nationwide coverage and has supported vaccine delivery to over 1 billion people. The initially developed solutions (eVIN and CoWIN) have proven themselves well and now UNDP is given a unique opportunity to develop and integrate a new universal vaccination solution – U-Win – which will be the focus on the next phase of support.

While a large part of the HSS programme is related to digital solutions development, capacity building and implementation, it also includes technical support to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for prevention and management of non-communicable diseases, Neglected Tropical diseases and for leveraging technologies to track high risk pregnancies and thereby reduce maternal and child mortalities rates. Working closely with other development partners, the programme also supports the National AIDS Control Organization’s efforts in prevention and control of HIV and AIDS.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the Head of Communications and Partnerships and in close collaboration with the Team Leader, Health System Strengthening, the incumbent will support the development and implementation of the communications and advocacy strategies and workplan to increase the reach, advocacy and engagement with key partners, beneficiaries, media, and the public to leverage support, commitment, and resources for UNDP in India.

The communication officer will be responsible for leading all communication, branding and enhanced visibility interventions of the Health System Strengthening project.

Develop and implement communications and outreach strategy – internal and external – for the Health System Strengthening (HSS) project:

•  Draft and finalize communications and outreach strategies for Health System Strengthening project aligned to the organizational priorities and initiatives across India.
•  Integrate advocacy and communication strategies into all aspects of programme planning and reporting.
•  Provide strategic direction for HSS projects communications by designing and implementing communication work plan and guidelines, social media strategy and media engagement plans.
•  Ensure alignment of communication activities with priorities of UNDP global and country office, and in sync with the corporate calendar of events.

Support the editorial, including social media, content production and dissemination by developing, editing, and designing a range of communications material for UNDP:

•  Develop audience-centric and web-friendly human-interest stories on HSS initiatives and key achievements.
•  Support documentation of relevant projects, in consultation with the state teams and project colleagues.
•  Draft and finalise all external communication touchpoints, including web stories, project factsheet, photo blogs, scripts, talking points, reports, brochure, press releases, op-eds, forewords, media responses, external comms products and any other responsibility assigned by the head of communications and Team Leader, HSS.
•  Support the development of all project documents, including corporate presentations, donor/partner report, concept notes, internal documents.
•  Produce and disseminate audio-visual content for training and advocacy, promotional videos, presentations and other audio-visual content.
•  Manage, develop and promote content for digital presence and portfolio webpages.
•  Ensure adequate visibility of the HSS portfolio on the corporate social media channels and support social media amplification across partner channels;
•  Ensure adherence to editorial and brand guidelines for every content developed, published, or disseminated.

Support the ideation, review, adaptation of campaigns and events for UNDP to improve engagement and footprint – online and offline:

•  Ideate and create integrated campaigns – online and offline campaigns – aligned to key days in the corporate channel.
•  Coordinate, review and finalise content and visibility materials for the campaigns – online and offline.
•  Supervise the execution, monitoring and measurement of campaigns and their success.
•  Coordinate and organize events for the CO and/or HSS including support to key government and partner events.

Manage media relations — responding to enquiries, developing and managing media outreach plans as required:

•  Identify media stories and researches, writes, and edits media releases and briefings.
•  Identify media opportunities in print media features, radio, and television programmes.
•  Provide media advice internally on key events and publications and draft media visibility plans for high-visibility outreach.

Support business development and knowledge sharing for the CO/portfolio:

•  Facilitate knowledge building and management focusing on project’s best practices, lessons learned, and stories from the ground.
•  Support business development focusing on promoting public information campaigns, strengthening coverage and understanding of the project progress and achievements.
•  Prepare and share timely inputs for CO/regional/global communications and visibility reports.
•  Liaise with the operations unit to support the business operations of the project .
•  Any other tasks assigned by Head of Communications and Partnerships Unit and Team Leader, Health Systems Strengthening Unit.

Competencies

Core competencies:

•  Achieve Results: LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline
•  Think Innovatively: LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements
•  Learn Continuous: LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback
•  Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible
•  Act with Determination: LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident
•  Engage and Partner: LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships
•  Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies: Communications:

•  Advocacy Strategy and Implementation: Ability to create and implement advocacy strategies which lead to impactful change; Ability to write and edit in a clear and concise manner
•  Innovation Management: Ability to plan, manage and execute of public and private events to ensure that they support and amplify individual communications and advocacy initiatives, as well as UNDP’s overall brand and mandate.

Digital and Innovation:

•  Effective Decision Making: Ability to define and create the conditions for trying out new ways of working or introducing new problem solving approaches. Ability to develop, manage and evaluate activities that raises awareness, builds confidence, strengthens innovation capabilities around a certain method, tool or technique; or helps develop an innovation mindset.

Business Direction and Strategy:

•  Negotiation and Influence: Ability to reach an understanding, persuade others, resolve points of difference, gain advantage in the outcome of dialogue, negotiates mutually acceptable solutions through compromise and creates ‘win-win’ situations

Monitoring:

•  Monitoring: Ability to provide managers and stakeholders with regular feedback on the consistency or discrepancy between planned and actual activities and programme performance and results.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

•  Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in journalism or communication or social science or any related field is required, or
•  A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

•  Minimum 2 years of relevant working experience (Bachelor’s degree) or up to 2 years (Master’s degree) in development communication, journalism, public relations or any closely related field.
•  Additional years of relevant experience is highly desirable.
•  Required skills and competencies
•  Demonstrated experience in communications, strategic outreach and media visibility
•  Demonstrated knowledge of public information and advocacy techniques
•  Proven experience in English editing and writing
•  Excellent knowledge of managing social media outreach and content development
•  Demonstrable ability to work well in a team as well as take independent initiative
•  Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards
•  Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP, and partner organizations
•  Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
•  Capable of working with deadlines and taking on a range of tasks
•  Self-motivated and proactively able to identify and strategically recommend options for resolutions of issues
•  Previous experience in leading/supporting communications/public relations in the development sector or with international organizations
•  Knowledge/exp of public health comms work would be an advantage
•  Previous experience in journalism/ media

Required Languages:

•  Excellent written and oral communications skills in English are essential.

Remuneration:

•  Remuneration starting at 1,435,933.36 INR (Annual) / 119,661.11 INR (Monthly) as per the scale depending on qualifications and experience. The remuneration is excluding 8.33% pension amount paid over and above the salary.

Disclaimer

Important information for US Permanent Residents (‘Green Card’ holders)

Under US immigration law, acceptance of a staff position with UNDP, an international organization, may have significant implications for US Permanent Residents. UNDP advises applicants for all professional level posts that they must relinquish their US Permanent Resident status and accept a G-4 visa, or have submitted a valid application for US citizenship prior to commencement of employment.

UNDP is not in a position to provide advice or assistance on applying for US citizenship and therefore applicants are advised to seek the advice of competent immigration lawyers regarding any applications.

Applicant information about UNDP rosters

Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Non-discrimination

UNDP has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and misconduct, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

UNDP is an equal opportunity and inclusive employer that does not discriminate based on race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.

Scam warning

The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.