English Editor (Retainer)

Background:

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination and violence against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. 

UN Women’s China Office in Beijing supports and carries out work on (i) enhancing women's economic empowerment; (ii) ending violence against women; and (iii) innovative work to address gender issues in China. In addition to the above, UN Women also actively participates and contributes to various UN inter-agency processes and collaborates with UN organizations around specific programme areas.

Both the internal and external communications require support on editing strategic results, valuable good practices, key messages, and other documents to ensure high quality and timely rollout of the messages and reports. The needs for communication work for outreach and reporting are key to mobilizing resources and support to strengthen UN Women’s branding and position better in the country, region, and global level. These require that the UN Women China Office has the comparable capacity to meet the demand of writing and reporting needs, providing quality control and reflecting the results-based discipline, in order to support and strengthen media, advocacy, and strategic partnerships development.

UN Women China office is seeking to recruit two English Editors on a retainer contract, whose duties are as articulated below. Under the guidance and supervision of the Communications Specialist with matrix reporting to the relevant programme managers as relevant, the English Editors provide writing and editing services ensuring high quality, accuracy, and consistency of our communications and reporting work. The Editors promote a client-oriented approach consistent with UN Women’s rules and regulations. The Editors will work in close collaboration with the Communications Specialist and programme teams to exchange information and ensure consistent service delivery.

Description of Responsibilities /Scope of Work

Under the direct supervision of the Communications Specialist, the English Editor will be responsible for the achievement of the following tasks and deliverables:

• Editing, revising, rewriting and formatting as needed to produce high quality, reader-friendly, accessible, timely, results-based corporate communications materials including but not limited to stories, speeches, key messages and other documents aligned with UN Women's established standards and formats, and in compliance with UN Women China office clearance and routing process.
• Drafting speech and communication briefs for office events, as needed
• Report writing and editing based on the corporate and programme needs. 
• Other tasks as assigned by the supervisor.

Payment details

Payments shall be made following certification by UN Women that the services related to each deliverable, as specified for each task, have been satisfactorily performed and the deliverables have been achieved by or before the due dates specified for each task.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

• Strong communication skills.
• Capable of effectively using MS Word, PowerPoint Presentation and Excel.
• Flexibility and responsiveness to work-request, ability to work independently and effective time management as asset

Required Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• Master's degree or other advanced degree in one or more of the following disciplines: social sciences, international development, English literacy, and/or communications, or Bachelor's degree with 2 additional years of work experience in writing, editing, and reporting.

Experience:

• Minimum of 7 years of high-level experience in writing, editing, reporting, and communicating communication material, complex research, policy and programmatic information in reader-friendly formats and styles, preferably within the UN system.
• A proven track record of editorial and review experience is required. 
• Excellent understanding and experience with gender-sensitive and results-based management, communication, and reporting is preferred.
• Proven experience in the areas of international development, resource mobilization, and the UN context is highly desirable.

Languages:

• A high level of native English writing and editing skills is required
• Knowledge of another UN language is desirable.

Submission Package:

• Personal CV or P11 (P11 canbe downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc)
• Motivation letter (please briefly explain why you are suitable for this consultancy and cite relevant experience)
• Education certificate
• Managers may ask for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as sample of previous writing and editing work, or other materials.

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)