Communications and Advocacy Specialist at UNDP – United Nations Development Programme: (Deadline 19 May 2023)
Based at UNCDF, the Better Than Cash Alliance’s mission is to catalyze a global movement from cash to responsible digital payments to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Specific benefits include efficiency, transparency, women’s economic participation and financial inclusion, helping build economies that are digital and inclusive.
The Alliance has over 80 members, including national governments from Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America, companies and international organizations which have committed to digitizing payments.
The Secretariat works with the Alliance members on their journey to digitize payments by:
- Providing advisory services based on member priorities.
- Sharing action-oriented research and fostering peer learning.
- Conducting advocacy at national, regional and global level.
Billions of dollars in cash payments and transfers are made daily in emerging and developing economies, including payment of salaries, social welfare and relief, payments to suppliers, remittances. The problems with these cash payments include a lack of transparency, accountability and security, as well as inefficiency. Individuals who receive cash payments are often part of the 1.4 billion excluded from the formal financial sector, the majority of whom are women. This means they are excluded from access to a range of appropriate and affordable financial services to help them save safely take advantage of economic opportunities and reduce their vulnerability to risk.
Shifting these payments from cash to digital has the potential to improve the lives of low-income people, particularly women, while giving governments, the development community and the private sector a more transparent, time and cost efficient, and often-safer means of disbursing payments.
The Better Than Cash Alliance Team’s Core Values are the following:
- Achieving together
- Striving for excellence
- Service oriented
- Results oriented
Duties and Responsibilities
Scope of Work
The United Nations-based Better Than Cash Alliance is looking for two Communications and Advocacy Specialists: one in Africa and one in Asia-Pacific.
Our Secretariat team is looking for two strategic team players, with excellent writing skills and existing strong media connections, who are willing to travel to gather stories and secure advocacy and communications opportunities on the role of responsible digital payments in igniting progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We’re looking for proactive and independent quick learners, who can develop and maintain partnerships with communications and advocacy teams from Alliance members and partners. This position requires networking and stakeholder engagement. As the work of the Alliance evolves regularly, the positions will evolve accordingly.
Prioritizing women is top priority for our work with members and partners, in both Africa and Asia-Pacific, across all key sectors, including agriculture and health, as well as wages and payments for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
- In Africa, 13 countries have joined the Alliance as members. The Alliance works with its members, and with partners such as the AU Commission, the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat (AfCFTA), the Smart Africa Secretariat, and other key partners. This position provides a unique opportunity for a committed individual to shape communication and advocacy around core topics for continental organizations, governments, international organizations, corporates and citizens alike. Key topics, related to digital financial services, on the continent’s agenda, include advancing gender and youth economic equity, regional economic integration, digital trade, living income, food security and health care.
- In Asia-Pacific, 11 countries have joined the Alliance as members. The Alliance works with its members, including with the Government of India during India’s G20 Presidency this year, and the Government of Indonesia, who’s holding the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year. This position provides a unique opportunity for a committed individual to shape communications and advocacy, with a very strong focus on prioritizing women across a wide range of areas, from social transfers to agriculture and MSMEs.
Important note: The locations indicated above, in this job advert, refer to the hiring unit duty station. The positions are home-based, do not have to necessarily be based in the hiring unit duty station. Any location in the relevant region is possible, ideally:
- In Africa: Kigali (Rwanda)
- In Asia: Bangkok (Thailand); New Delhi (India) or Manila (Philippines).
The two Communications & Advocacy Specialists are expected to deliver the following:
Output 1. Co-lead the design and implementation of Better Than Cash Alliance’s communications and advocacy plans in Africa and Asia-Pacific, respectively, at national and regional level, as applicable, working closely with the Africa Team and Asia Team, respectively, and the Head of Global Communications, and other colleagues. This includes:
- Developing a communications and advocacy plan to support in-country and regional/continental Alliance initiatives. This plan typically includes:
- Providing inputs and preparing for story and content creation at the initiation (co-creation process) of Alliance initiatives, by way of written feedback to concept notes.
- Providing concrete ideas for dissemination of research, key advocacy messages and/or stories generated from Alliance initiatives via both owned channels including social media, newsletter, website and relevant external platforms, such as media, and events.
- Setting targets with timelines and deadlines, alongside a strong monitoring and evaluation, including data analytics to re-shape the strategy and specific campaigns to drive further engagement. Outreach targets will include, for example, number of external engagement opportunities secured through partnerships, including opportunities for Alliance members and team members to speak at relevant events; number of comment piece placements in the media/external platforms; number of media interviews secured; and number of high-following social media accounts/influencers engaged on social media. Submit outreach and engagement reports for key activations.
- Implementing the communications and advocacy plan to support in-country and regional/ continental Alliance initiatives:
- Managing the process for the development of communications materials, including approval timelines, using project management tools, including Asana and Teams.
- Supporting country and regional colleagues with content dissemination, including relevant events, webinars, social media, comment pieces, media releases, as relevant.
- Draft and edit a wide range of communications materials, including social media posts and assets, comment pieces, newsletters and innovative learning products.
- Conceptualizing, drafting and coordinating the development of innovative visual assets such as infographics and animations with colleagues, vendors and partners.
- Coordinating with vendors on the production of publications. This includes working with editors, designers, translators and printers. Provide advice on key messages from publications
- In close partnership with the Website and Business Application Services Project Manager, posting content on the website.
Output 2. Manage broader outreach of Better Than Cash Alliance’s communications and advocacy efforts in Africa and Asia-Pacific, respectively, at national and regional level, as applicable, working closely with the Africa Team and Asia Team, respectively, the Head of Global Communications, and other colleagues. This includes:
- Identifying new opportunities for engagement with media, other platforms and new partners to boost our visibility, while keeping abreast of new trends in the digital communications space.
- Proactively identifying advocacy opportunities, such as speaking engagements, and capturing them in our event tracker.
- Collaborating with members and partners around key moments by facilitating media interviews, developing strong social media packages with key messages and visuals, and explore other areas of collaboration. This includes acting as a primary point-of-contact for communications and advocacy teams from other United Nations teams, governments and companies, including new partners.
- Acting as an internal champion and coach for colleagues in the region on use of social media channels and provide media training.
Output 3. Manage Alliance’s daily social media presence, with a focus on Africa and Asia, respectively, in collaboration with the Africa Team, Asia Team, respectively, and communications colleagues in other regions. This includes:
- Conducting daily news monitoring and managing the Alliance’s social media channels daily with content from the region. This includes boosting followers and engagement on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and other relevant channels. In this regard, the incumbent is expected to undertake research to identify and engage with new tools and platforms to help advance the Alliance’s mandate. These could include blogging platforms or channels such as WhatsApp.
- Keep our social media influencer lists updated to boost engagement with key actors from governments, companies and international organizations active on social media.
- Monitoring the Alliance’s mentions on media and social media and inform the Head of Global Communications on possible risks for the organization.
Perform other communications and advocacy duties, covering for other communications colleagues in other regions, if needed.
Institutional Arrangement
The Communications Specialists will report to the Head of Global Communications, Better Than Cash Alliance (UNCDF). The Communications Specialist (Africa) will also be guided by and accountable to the Head of Africa Policy and Partnerships, the Africa and Agriculture Lead and the Francophone Africa Lead. The Communications Specialist (Asia-Pacific) will also be guided by and accountable to the Head of Asia-Pacific and the South-East Asia Lead.
The incumbents will collaborate with other colleagues at the Secretariat team.
Working with colleagues in different locations will allow and require working flexible hours.
Core Competencies
- Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact;
- Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems;
- Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences;
- Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands;
- Act with Determination: LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results;
- Engage and Partner: LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter agency collaboration;
- Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity.
Cross functional & technical competencies
Communications
- Digital Strategy: Ability to plan the use of resources through digital channels to reach and engage target audiences effectively and to achieve particular objectives.
Communications
- Creative direction and copywriting: Ability to creatively communicate concepts in an engaging and simple way.
Communications
- Social Media Management: Ability to represent and promote the Better Than Cash Alliance brand in virtual communities and networks.
Business Management
- Project Management : Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals.
Business Management :Communications
- Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience.
- Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels.
- Master’s degree in communications, journalism, international relations or a related field.
- Bachelor’s degree in relevant field with additional 2 years of relevant experience will be given due consideration in lieu of Master’s degree.
- Minimum 5 years (Master’s degree) or 7 years (Bachelor’s degree) of successful experience in designing and implementing innovative communications strategies at the international, regional and/or national levels, including in Africa or Asia-Pacific. This should include experience with:
- Social media channels, particularly LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, data analytics and monitoring tools.
- Other tools and tactics to effectively share advocacy messages and learning content with governments, companies and other key players in Africa and Asia-Pacific, as well as with global audiences.
- At least seven years of experience in writing and editing outstanding communications products, including social media posts, newsletters and comment pieces, and conducting story-gathering.
- At least five years of experience working on advocacy and communications towards governments, companies, large international organizations, including donors.
- Excellent networking, writing and project management skills, including ability to meet deadlines under pressure.
- Knowledge and understanding on how responsible digital payments help advance progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, notably gender equality, is desirable. This includes good understanding of key actors, opportunities and challenges. This includes knowledge of digital and economic news relevant to our work on digital payments.
- Basic skills in graphic design (eg. Canva) and video editing is an asset.
- Experience working in a multi-cultural environment is highly desirable.
- Excellent writing, editing and verbal skills in English is required.
- Excellent writing, editing and verbal skills in French is a significant advantage for the role in Africa.
Disclaimer
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.
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