The World Health Organization leads and champions global efforts to achieve better health for all. By connecting countries, people and partners, we strive to give everyone, everywhere an equal chance at a safe and healthy life.

From emerging epidemics such as COVID-19 and Zika to the persistent threat of communicable diseases including HIV, malaria and tuberculosis and chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, we bring together 194 countries and work on the frontlines in 150+ locations to confront the biggest health challenges of our time and measurably advance the well-being of the world’s people.

The UN Volunteer will provide communications support to all teams in the WHO Country Office, Sri Lanka (WCO-SRL). He/she will work closely with all relevant internal and external staff, including WHO staff across levels, other UN organization staff, Ministry of Health and Mass Media staff, and other non-state and non-profit organization staff, as needed. The objective of the assignment is to inform the public of WCO-SRL’s work and to convey complex health-related information in an easily understandable format using accessible language.

Under the general supervision of the WHO Representative to Sri Lanka, and with day-to-day guidance from the Team Lead (Health Systems), the UN Volunteer will work in close consultation with the WCO team to create content for web, social media and print-based platforms, coordinate with government counterparts and relevant stakeholders to design and implement communication campaigns, and support the strengthening of organizational capacity in communications and advocacy. The UN Volunteer is expected to work closely with relevant government officials, WHO staff and partner agencies, and will play a key role in ensuring the effective implementation of the communication strategies and activities as planned; taking into account evolving contexts and the need for cross-sectoral collaboration.

Scope of work:
The UN Volunteer will support the development and dissemination of communication products in line with WHO communication standards. Key responsibilities include:

1. Content Creation (web and print)
• Proactively create editorial content (stories, photos, infographics, film, etc.) in collaboration with WCO technical officers; adapt for media pitching, web and social media, posting to respective channels; and support print production (design, editing, publishing) whenever necessary.
• Highlight WHO's visibility, achievements and success stories in communication products.
• Create/design templates for ‘standard’ communication products.

2. Website update and social media management
• Develop content for WCO website and social media platforms to ensure a robust presence, ensure key deadlines are met for the dissemination of time-sensitive content.
• Coordinate the overall implementation of the communication plan and SOP, including social media engagement strategy to ensure coherence of content across platforms.

3. Media Relations
• Facilitate responding to media inquiries, arrange interviews, and in collaboration with WCO staff, develop speeches, talking points and messages

The UN Volunteer is expected to ensure quality and adherence of public information materials to WHO style guide/standards; and to ensure that the necessary internal clearances are obtained before publishing.