Communications Analyst

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) promotes peace and development through volunteerism worldwide. Headquartered in Bonn, Germany, with 6 regional offices including in Bangkok, UNV collaborates with partners to mobilize volunteers for peace, development, and humanitarian needs.

 The UNV Regional Offices (RO) for Asia and the Pacific covers 36 countries and provides oversight and guidance to (12) UNV Field Units (FU) in their respective geographical assignments for mobilizing UN Volunteers opportunities and building partnerships with UN Agencies, Funds, and Programs, with non-FU countries being supported directly from the RO. Furthermore, the Regional Offices represents and strategically positions UNV and bring UNV’s services and solutions closer to its partners from governments, UN entities, civil society and private sector. 

Reporting to the Manager, Regional Office, and with the technical guidance of the HQ Communications Specialist, the RO Communications Analyst is responsible for developing, implementing, and overseeing regional communication strategies and products to enhance UNV’s outreach, impact and the development and consolidation of UN system partnerships, as well as relevant national and local actors. He/she focuses on the creation of targeted communication materials to support volunteer mobilization, talent acquisition, and engagement with UN agencies, talent sourcing partners, and other relevant stakeholders. At present there are (4) outposted communication personnel at FU level supporting communication content production in their country of assignment and in the wider region. By coordinating with Field Units, the Communications Analyst ensures consistent messaging and branding, as guided by UNV, supports mobilization outreach campaigns and initiatives, and strengthens UNV’s position as a competent talent provider. 

UNV adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNV personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.
 

• Develop, implement, and oversee regional communications and outreach strategies aligned with corporate priorities to position UNV’s offer and added value; monitor impact and refine approaches as needed to ensure alignment with organizational goals.
• Conduct communications needs assessments for FUs and develop tailored strategies to address identified gaps and opportunities.
• Guide Country Coordinators and FU communication personnel in annual work planning, researching of volunteer activities, content production as well as for country and photo missions.
•  Analyze emerging trends and provide strategic recommendations for integrating advocacy and communication strategies into mobilization and volunteering promotion efforts.
• Lead the strategic planning and budgeting of the RO’s annual communications work plan, monitor its implementation to ensure alignment with organizational goals.
• Identify opportunities for collaborative communication campaigns with UN partners and joint initiatives to expand UNV’s reach and influence.
• Identify opportunities for strategic partnerships, innovation and coverage of the RO activities.
• Promote collaboration and knowledge sharing across FUs to drive consistency and innovation in communication and advocacy efforts.
• Coordinate activities and plan events at the RO level, in collaboration with other UN agencies, for annual, national and UN-recognized international celebrations, including the International Volunteer Day (IVD).

• Develop and oversee the regional communication strategy for mobilization advocacy and partnership enhancement, including UN partners, civil society organizations, research centers, NGOs, academia, donors, etc. 
• Provide communication support for talent outreach campaigns and initiatives in coordination with FUs (and RO for non-FU countries), based on volunteer demand analysis and mobilization forecast.
• Lead the design and preparation of substantive and partner specific outreach materials to bolster mobilization efforts.
• Draft statements/ interventions for the Regional Manager, as requested.

3. Content Production and Quality, and Coordination for Communication

• Research and document impactful volunteer initiatives and good practices to showcase UNV’s contributions to diversity, sustainable development, humanitarian action and emergency response in coordination with FUs, in alignment with corporate and regional priorities.
• Oversee the development of diverse, high-impact communication materials, including reports, testimonials, brochures, videos, and success stories, designed to highlight UNV’s added value and contributions with target audiences.
• Curate and manage visual and editorial content to maintain alignment with UNV’s corporate messaging and branding.
• Establish and manage supplier and contractor relationships to ensure timely delivery of quality communication outputs.
• Collect and coordinate up-to-date visual assets (photography, infographics, etc.), along with production of video for regional initiatives while supporting the ‘menu’ of evidence for corporate use.
• Ensure alignment of corporate guidelines for photography and video production to maintain high standards of quality and storytelling.
• Develop and maintain a repository of impact stories and volunteering evidence to share with a broad variety of partners, including Member States, Executive Board, donors, etc.
• Develop innovative ideas for content creation, experiment with new ideas, and make full use of available social media messaging channels. 

4. Social Media and Digital Communications

• Develop, implement and monitor innovative social media strategies to position UNV as a high-quality volunteer service provider to the UN system, aligning regional efforts with corporate priorities, and focusing on diverse and inclusive mobilization.
• Oversee content planning, optimal communication channels, including social media platforms, to ensure audience engagement and measurable impact.
• Manage content for social media platforms in the region, monitor conversations and comments, and provide strategic insights from social media analytics to inform and refine ongoing digital communication initiatives.
• Integrate digital strategies with broader communication efforts to enhance UNV’s brand visibility and influence across multiple channels

5. Brand Management

• Develop consistent brand awareness, maintaining corporate style and editorial standards in online and print materials, multimedia, social platforms and other communication tools.
• Provide strategic guidance to RO and FU colleagues on effective communication formats, design, and promotional tools.
• Develop and implement innovative strategies to strengthen UNV’s brand presence within and beyond the UN System.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization. 

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: None

Achieve Results:

• Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline

Think Innovatively:

• Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements 

Learn Continuously

• Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback

Adapt with Agility 

• Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible 

Act with Determination 

• Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident

Engage and Partner

• Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships

Enable Diversity and Inclusion

• Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination 

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

• Ability to research information and to turn it into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need. Ability to apply existing concepts to new situations, and to develop new concepts to generate workable solutions and new approaches. Knowledge of relevant concepts, conceptual models, and theories that can be useful in addressing new situations.

Digital Awareness and Literacy

• Ability to monitor new and emerging technologies, as well as understand their usage, potential, limitations, impact, and added value. Ability to rapidly and readily adopt and use new technologies in professional activities, and to empower others to use them as needed. Knowledge of the usage of digital technologies and emerging trends.

Systems Thinking

• Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system.

Advocacy strategy and implementation

• Ability to create and implement advocacy strategies which lead to impactful change.

Social media management

• Ability to represent and promote the UNDP brand in virtual communities and networks.

Marketing

• Ability to communicate the value of a product or service.

Campaign management

• Ability to produce and implement communications and advocacy campaigns which lead to impactful change.

• Only short-listed applicants will be contacted;
• The successful candidate will hold a UNDP letter of appointment.