Junior Communication Officer

The World Health Organization (WHO) was established on 7 April 1948 as the directing and coordinating authority in global public health within the United Nations system. Working at three levels in the Organization (global, regional and country), more than 7000 WHO staff worldwide collaborate with the governments of 194 Member States and other partners to achieve the WHO founding vision of the attainment of the highest possible level of health by all people.

The WHO Western Pacific Region is home to more than one quarter of the world’s population, stretching over more than one third of the distance around the globe. In all, more than 600 WHO staff work in 15 country offices and the Regional Office in Manila, Philippines, to support Member States in achieving better health outcomes for the Region’s nearly 1.9 billion people in 37 countries and areas.

WHO presence in Viet Nam
Viet Nam has been a WHO Member State since 17 May 1950. WHO was one of the first United Nations agencies to support the Vietnamese health sector directly since the end of the war and reunification of the country. WHO established a country office in Hanoi in 1977 and a sub-office in Ho Chi Minh City in 2003. More than 50 WHO staff in the country office have played a central role in supporting the people and the Government of Viet Nam to improve health. The mission of WHO in Viet Nam is to support the Government to achieve universal health coverage with all people having access to high-quality health services, within the context of the country’s needs and challenges in transitioning to middle-income status.

Priorities of the United Nations in Viet Nam

The Government of Viet Nam and the United Nations agencies, including WHO, adopted the Delivering as One principle and committed to the One United Nations initiative in Viet Nam in 2006. In July 2017, they jointly launched the One Strategic Plan 2017–2021, which identified focus areas and outcomes for the United Nations interventions in Viet Nam.

Viet Nam has been a WHO Member State since 17 May 1950. WHO was one of the first United Nations agencies to support the Vietnamese health sector directly since the end of the war and reunification of the country. WHO established a country office in Hanoi in 1977. More than 50 WHO staff in the country office have played a central role in supporting the people and the Government of Viet Nam to improve health.

Communications for Health (C4H) is at the heart of WHO’s work in the country. WHO Viet Nam is supporting the Ministry of Health (MOH) and working with a range of international and domestic partners on various activities. WHO’s support covers risk communication for communicable diseases and health emergencies, noncommunicable diseases, and universal health coverage with focus on primary health care, among others. The plan also guides the implementation of communication activities for the Healthy Viet Nam Programme, the nationwide health promotion programme approved by the Prime Minister to improve the health of Vietnamese people by promoting positive health behaviours – healthy diet, physical activities, no tobacco smoking, no harmful use of alcohol, among others.

WHO Viet Nam is leveraging Communication for Health (C4H) in driving towards positive health behaviours and derives techniques from various fields such as behavioural science, social and behaviour change communication, risk communication, among others, in designing strategies to achieve positive health outcomes. WHO Viet Nam is also in the process of introducing C4H principles and practices to MOH counterparts and other partners.

This UNV assignment is part of WHO Viet Nam’s strengthening of strategic communication by providing support to the office’s C4H Team.

Under the direct supervision of the C4H Technical Officer, working closely with other technical teams, and guided by C4H principles, the Junior Communication Officer will undertake the following tasks:

Task 1: Develop and implement social media communications and advocacy campaigns on various health issues and activities, guided by clear public health objectives. This will include:
• Support for developing and implementing the WHO Viet Nam C4H Social Media Plan, in alignment with the WHO Viet Nam C4H Strategy
• Developing and maintaining daily and weekly social media activities, on current WHO Viet Nam online platforms, including Facebook, X, YouTube and office website. With possible expansion to other platforms (such as LinkedIn, Instagram and Zalo).
• Creating, monitoring and updating the social media calendar, in alignment with broader C4H activity calendar
• Developing creative and engaging online content, focused on supporting the achievement of key health objectives, including short videos, reels, presentations, infographics and animations.
• Analytics tracking and reporting, with a focus on monitoring, evaluating and learning (MEL).

Task 2: Provide communications support to office technical teams in the gathering of engaging content from field trips and other external activities, that can be used for social media, website stories and short videos.
• This will include: travelling to key events, activities and project sites across Viet Nam
• Capturing key moments through quality photography and videography, including the interviewing of key stakeholders

Task 3: Actively provide communications support to key partnership activities, events and campaigns, including through partner and external stakeholder liaison and engagement.

Task 4: Perform other duties as requested/required by the WHO Viet Nam office and communications team, including but not limited to translation work, filming and editing, .

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to:
• Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day);
• Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
• Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities;
• Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;
• Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived UN Volunteers;
• Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering, or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.