Chief Partnership, Advocacy and Communication ,(P-4) Fixed Term, Yaounde Cameroon #96665 at UNICEF

Akwajobs   (Yaoundé, Centre, Cameroun)

Posted : 27 December, 2021

Category : Communication and Public Information   Location : Yaoundé, Centre, Cameroun

Job type : Full Time

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UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, a chance in life!

UNICEF has been working in Cameroon since 1975 in order to allow women and children to fully realize their rights to development without restriction, as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. UNICEF provides financial and technical support to Cameroon across seven areas in an effort to fully realize the rights of women and children. These areas include Health, HIV/AIDS, Water-sanitation-Hygiene, nutrition, education, child protection, and social inclusion. UNICEF focuses mainly on children and the most vulnerable and excluded families. Cameroon's 2020 population is estimated at 26,545,863 people according to UN data. The population is young and generates strong socioeconomic demand. In rural areas, limited access to basic social services and the effects of climate changes lead to household impoverishment and severe child deprivations. The task is immense but not insurmountable; it requires the energy of all stakeholders in Cameroon and out of Cameroon: also, women, men, youth and children, government, technical and financial partners, donors, civil society, the private sector, parliamentarians, communities. Everyone is invited to take part in the struggle to meet the challenges that lie ahead. It is together that we will act for Cameroon, a country that summarizes the challenges and hopes of Africa.

To learn more about UNICEF Cameroon: https://unicef.sharepoint.com/sites/CMR/SitePages/AboutUs.aspx

How can you make a difference?

Key Functions, Accountabilities, And Related Duties/tasks

• Communication strategy: Ensure that the Country Office has a clear communication strategy and associated work plan to support the country programme objectives and get children’s issues into the public domain, strengthen political will in support of UNICEF's mission and objectives, and enhance the organization’s credibility and brand.

Duties & Tasks

• Develop, maintain and update the country advocacy and communication strategy and associated work plan. Strategy and work plan includes an environmental and stakeholder assessment; objectives; target audiences, messages, and media mix; resources; specific actions, activities, and products; monitoring and evaluation of impact, success, and opportunity for improvement; ongoing refinement of the strategy.
• Draw on extensive strategy development experience and ensure optimum leverage and impact of communication activities on program, policy, and advocacy activities. UNICEF’s rights- and results-based programming approach is appropriately reflected in the communication strategy, work plan, and products. Strategy and work plan incorporate and reflect key programme priorities and processes
• Ensure adequate and ongoing assessment of trends, social and political change, and public interest. Factor these environmental variables back into communication strategy and refine its execution.
• Media relations; Ensure that the Country Office has a well-managed country communication team that maintains and continually develops a contact list of journalists and media outlets covering all media – print, TV, radio, web, etc. – and a successful process of communicating and maintaining regular contact and close collaboration with the media to communicate the story of UNICEF's cooperation to a wider audience. New ways are identified to increase positive exposure and leverage that prominence for new opportunities for UNICEF

Duties & Tasks

• Manage a country communication team that effectively executes a proactive and comprehensive media relations work plan encompassing the elements noted below.
• Promote a better understanding of, respect and support for children's and women's rights and issues by carrying out media, information and education activities in support of UNICEF-assisted development programmes or humanitarian efforts in the country.
• Develop, maintain and update media relations contact list/database. Develop, maintain and grow partnerships with key media outlets/organizations for local and global use. Seek new ways to increase positive exposure and leverage that prominence for new opportunities for UNICEF.
• Building strong B2B brand attributes for private sector fundraising, which drive ‘spontaneous awareness and trust’, as an integral part of the overall country advocacy and communication strategy.
• Establish, document, review and refine process of communicating with media contacts, including press conferences and events, issuing of media materials etc.
• Ensure rapid and accurate information dissemination to the media, National Committees, NGOs, the field and other appropriate audiences.
• Identify, develop, distribute and evaluate variety of media materials in multiple, appropriate formats. Ensure or enhance the quality, consistency and appropriateness of country specific communication materials, activities, processes and messages transmitted to the press, partners, public and other audiences.
• Collaborate with mass media through activities such as organizing project site visits, facilitating photo coverage and TV footage and utilizing both web-based and traditional media as appropriate.
• Monitor and evaluate the use and effectiveness of media materials and share results and findings with regional and HQ communication colleagues.
• Maintain close collaboration with Regional Communication Advisers and HQ Communication Officers for effective overall coordination
• Communication, networking, and partnerships; Manage a country communication team to ensure that the Country Office has a well maintained and continually developed contact list of individuals, groups, organizations, and fora (including business), whose support is essential to/can assist in achieving the advocacy and communication objectives of the communication strategy. The network is developed, strengthened, and maintained with the UN Country Team, UN communication counterparts, and high-level counterparts in key partner organizations.

Duties & Tasks

• Manage a country communication team that effectively executes a proactive and comprehensive networking and partnerships strategy encompassing the elements noted below
• Develop, maintain and update partner's contact list/database. Develop, maintain and grow partnerships with organizations for local and global use. Identify among the partners a handful of organizations whose reach extends beyond national borders and co-ordinate closely with DOC and the regional office in extending their impact and use beyond national borders.
• Establish, document, review and refine the process of working collaboratively with partners, including meetings, joint projects, information sharing, etc.
• Ensure or enhance the quality, consistency, and appropriateness of country-specific communication materials, activities, processes, and messages shared with partners.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen the capacity of partners through appropriate advocacy and communication training, access to information, supplies, and equipment, and knowledge sharing.
• Monitor and evaluate results and effectiveness of working with partners and share results and findings with regional and HQ communication colleagues.
• UNICEF to be a reliable partner in national programme planning and development, pursuing gender mainstreaming and principles of gender equity.
• Celebrities and special events; Ensure that the Country Office has a well-managed national celebrity relations programme with a well maintained and continually developed contact list of appropriate, nationally-known personalities who have been identified, engaged, and support UNICEF’s efforts and who actively participate in special events and activities that support country programme goals. Among these high-profile individuals, a handful is identified whose recognition level extends beyond national borders and coordinates closely with DOC and the regional office in extending their impact and use beyond national borders.

Duties & Tasks

• Manage a country communication team that effectively develops, maintains, and updates celebrities' contact lists/databases.
• In close coordination with DOC’s celebrity relations staff, identify, develop, maintain and grow relationships with personalities with reach beyond national boundaries for local and global use.
• Establish, document, review, and refine the process of working with celebrities, including special events, media opportunities, field trips, etc.
• Participate in global advocacy activities by planning visits of Goodwill Ambassadors, National Committee representatives, Executive Board members, etc. including preparing information materials (e.g., press releases, programme summaries, country fact sheets, and media kits), and necessary logistic arrangements. Apply country communication resources to highlight the achievements of the country programme. Maintain close collaboration with Regional Communication Advisers and HQ Communication Officers for effective overall coordination.
• Monitor and evaluate results and effectiveness of working with celebrities and share results and findings with regional and HQ communication colleagues
• Global priorities and campaigns; In addition to local/national campaigns, ensure that the Country Office has an effective process in place for integrating and taking action on UNICEF’s global communications priorities and campaigns, both disseminating these elements in a locally-appropriate way, as well as providing/enabling coverage of the work in the country for global use.

Duties & Tasks

Manages the work of the country communication team to include support for UNICEF’s global communications objectives and strategies through the development of complementary country-specific

• and local community materials and activities. The work plan should anticipate the inclusion of work on global priorities and campaigns.
• Use established contacts, networks, resources, and processes to support these global elements.
• Use country office communication capacity to gather/facilitate the gathering of content and coverage of relevant country efforts. Use the opportunity to identify and draw attention to effective relevant programme activities and results.
• Ensure regular communication and coordination with relevant communication focal points in regional offices and headquarters divisions
• Resource mobilization support; Ensure that global and country-level fund-raising activities with both the public and private sectors are supported by effective advocacy and communication strategy and activities.

Duties & Tasks

• Develop, deploy and mobilize country office communication team capacity to support and gather/facilitate the gathering of compelling story-telling content and coverage of relevant country efforts that support national and global resource mobilization efforts. Use the opportunity to identify and draw attention to effective relevant programme activities and results in support of fund-raising from both the public and private sectors.
• Ensure regular communication and coordination with relevant communication focal points in regional offices and headquarters divisions.
• Ensure UNICEF values, programme priorities, and advocacy positioning are appropriately reflected in its partnerships and engagement with the private sector.
• Work with private sector fundraising and programme teams to maximize individual donations by providing inputs to the communication packages to optimize the quality of the engagement journey as well as the final conversion mechanisms towards the pledge.
• Strengthen UNICEF’s B2B brand and reputation as a partner of choice for business through bespoke communication planning, co-creation with programme staff, and clear recognition and visibility benefits.
• Mobilize key influencers’, Goodwill Ambassadors’, partners’, and employees’ voices to engage private sector audiences, anchoring well-articulated fundraising asks and reporting back on results. Develop a bespoke B2B media and communications strategy focusing on key national and regional financial and business media, identify key spokespersons, map strategic national and regional B2B events to promote partnerships with the private sector, and leverage social media channels like LinkedIn to build thought leadership in the B2B space
• Management; Ensure that the human resources (the communication team) and financial resources (budget planning, management, and monitoring) for the communication section of the Country Office are both effectively managed and optimally used.

Duties & Tasks

• Develop a work plan for communication activities, monitor compliance, and provide support and guidance to ensure objectives are met.
• Plan and monitor the use of communication budgetary resources. Approve and monitor the overall allocation and disbursement of funds, make sure that funds are properly coordinated, monitored, and liquidated. Take appropriate actions to optimize the use of funds.
• Identify, recruit and supervise communication staff, technical resources, and consultants as necessary.
• Ensure communication effectiveness, efficiency, and delivery as well as a rigorous and transparent approach to planning, monitoring, and evaluation
• Participate in the Country Office’s broader planning and budgeting exercises.
• Effectively mitigate and manage risks related to information sharing and internal or external communication, as well as reputational risks and crisis communication management, which may have a negative impact on private sector fundraising and/or partnerships.
• Monitoring and evaluation; Ensure that communication baselines are established against which the objectives of the communication strategy are regularly evaluated; analysis is undertaken to continuously improve the effectiveness of communication strategy, approach, and activities; results and reports are prepared and shared on a timely basis.

Duties & Tasks

• Provide technical support to ensure that a set of communication performance indicators is identified and adjusted as necessary. These may have multiple uses in the Annual Management Plan, Annual Work Plan, etc.
• Conduct timely and accurate monitoring and evaluation activities to ensure the communications objectives are met and the strategy is effective.
• Undertake lessons learned review of successful and unsuccessful communication experiences and share observations/findings with country, regional, and HQ colleagues so best practices and insights can benefit UNICEF’s communication work
• Capacity building and support; Ensure that the Representative and the country programme team are provided with professional expertise and advice on all aspects of communication as required; opportunities for development among the country communication team and other colleagues are identified and addressed; opportunities to build communication capacity among media and other relevant partners are identified and addressed.

Duties & Tasks

• Advise UNICEF management, colleagues, and staff on media strategy and implications for action and policies proposed.
• Support communication activities through knowledge management, information exchange, and building the capacity of the country's communications team. Enable appropriate advocacy and communication training, access to information, supplies, and equipment, and developing training and orientation material.
• Build the Country Office communication capacity to independently produce, transmit and distribute content in multiple media formats – print, photos, audio, video, web, etc. – for local and global use, adhering to the quality standards and production guidelines set by DOC.
• Assist the Programme Communication Officer in the development of communication tools and/or strategies.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen the capacity of partners through appropriate advocacy and communication training, access to information, supplies, and equipment, and through knowledge sharing
• Advisory support and communication for strategic results

Implementation of UNICEF programme (regional) plans, ensuring communication on gender and equity issues are mainstreamed across all programmes.

Emergency preparedness and response plans address gender issues that may be expected to intensify during emergencies

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have

• Advanced university degree in Communication, Journalism, Public Relations, or other related fields of disciplines. (*A first University Degree combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree in the field of journalism, communications, external relations, public affairs, public relations, or corporate communications.)
• Ten years of progressively responsible and relevant professional work experience. International and national work experience in both developed and developing countries. Professional experience in communication, print, broadcast, new media. Background/familiarity with Emergency situations
• Fluency in both English and French is required

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).

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