Tiered Approach
In line with the commitment to safeguard capacity and support personnel already in the Organization, a majority of UNDP UNCDF/UNV vacancies are advertised using a tiered application process whereby:
- Tier 0: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV IP staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments, whose posts will be abolished, or contracts will be terminated or not renewed during 2026.
- Tier 1: Other UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments
- Tier 2: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding temporary appointments (TA), personnel on regular PSA contracts, and Expert and Specialist UN Volunteers
- Tier 3 or no tier indicated: All other contract types from UNDP/UNCDF/UNV and other agencies, and other external candidates
Please make note of the Tier(s) indicated in the vacancy title, if any, and ensure that you satisfy the eligibility to apply.
Background
The Central African region is home to the second largest tropical rainforest in the world, is sucking out about 1.5 billion tons of CO2 of the atmosphere or 4% of the world’s emissions every year and provides a habitat to more than 10,000 plant and animal species. Forest loss is accelerating despite ongoing efforts, as government action alone has not been enough to establish an effective balance between the interests of the forest and of economic development. On this basis, a coalition of donors – the European Union, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of France, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Korea – together with Central African partner countries – Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Gabon – have decided to enter into a collaborative partnership to establish the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI).
CAFI’s objective is to recognize and preserve the value of the forests in the region to mitigate climate change, reduce poverty, and contribute to sustainable development. This objective will be attained through the implementation of country-led, national scale REDD+ and Low Emissions Development (LED) investment frameworks that include policy reforms and measures to address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation and promote sustainable development. The CAFI Trust Fund is the principal means to implement the Central African Forest Initiative. It is administered by the MPTF-O, that also provides the Secretariat services.
The objective of this IPSA engagement is to strengthen the CAFI’s Secretariat in its communications, visibility, and reporting across the CAFI portfolio[1].
Scope of Work
Content creation
- Implement within the Secretariat the knowledge of new trends and technologies in web- and digital-based graphic design.
- Maintain the CAFI Trust Fund presence in public dialogue where appropriate.
- Develop relationships with key partners to maximize visibility and traffic to CAFI digital platforms and to maximize the distribution of content.
- Lead on the identification of new communications opportunities and products consistent with the CAFI’s branding and visibility.
- Coordinate the production and publishing of daily content (social networks, presentations, text, images, video or HTML) to engage audiences in a meaningful way.
- Create content for the CAFI website, keeping the site current with new articles, CAFI-funded programmes pages and thematic areas.
- Responsible for daily updates across CAFI’s social media platforms. This includes preparing and publishing regular content on key developments, news, programme achievements, and events related to CAFI; monitoring engagement; and ensuring timely, innovative and proactive communication in alignment with CAFI’s visibility objectives.
- Identify and develop compelling stories from the CAFI portfolio, and produce multimedia content (stories, videos, graphics, and social media updates) that showcase programme impact. This includes identifying compleiing stories from within the CAFI portfolio, working with country teams, collecting background materials , commissioning photographers when needed, and transforming programme reports into multimedia products.
- Maintain CAFI social media presence including by developing a list of international days and events relevant to CAFI partner and donor countries, listingrelevant hashtags, mapping key stakeholders and influencers, drafting social media kits for main events of the year, and sharing a regular stream of content via the CAFI Twitter account.
Quality control
- Lead on the production of high-quality communications products for print, audio/visual and social media in UN languages, including short videos, infographics and other related materials.
- Responsible for drafting detailed Terms of Reference (TORs) of all deliverables expected from the external communication firm contracted by the CAFI Secretariat. This includes communication products, event‑related services, multimedia content, films, and any other visibility materials.
- Conduct systematic quality control of all deliverables to ensure compliance with CAFI’s communication strategy, branding guidelines, editorial standards, and expected impact. Provide consolidated feedback, request revisions, and ensure outputs meet operational and strategic requirements before validation
- Review materials coming from country partners and develop and provide regular and targeted guidance to align messaging with CAFI’s vision and communication & visibility strategy.
- Perform editorial reviews of relevant portfolio knowledge products developed by the CAFI Secretariat (ie. Brochures, annual highlights etc).
- Design and develop infographics, posters, leaflets, presentations , brochures, reports and any other design required to meet communications objectives.
- Contribute to the design and implementation of the CAFI communication strategy, including; providing updates and soliciting feedback from teams and stakeholder; applyingstate of the art practices, in the Fund's graphic design and communication.
- Establish and manage the Secretariat’s central database of all CAFI communication materials, including publications, multimedia content, design assets, event materials, social media packages, and visibility products. The Specialist will ensure proper classification, version control, metadata tagging, and accessibility of all communication assets for internal and external use.
Media relations
- Draft press releases, factsheets, talking points, and scripts for video messages.
- Organize responses to media requests and support messaging.
- Support media outreach during major events/meetings by creating opportunities for positive messaging about CAFI ‘s achievements and milestones, identifying opportunities, themes and media outletsdrafting pitches, supporting the organization of interviews, , taking photos, preparing communications material (press releases, talking points, key messages).
- Support the contracting of national communication consultants, media professionals, or journalists in CAFI partner countries by preparing TORs, coordinating assignments, and conducting rigorous quality control of all deliverables produced at country level. This includes ensuring alignment with CAFI’s messaging, communication strategy, and editorial standards, as well as providing technical guidance to national contractors.
- Support the organization of field visits with journalists and photographer(s) to CAFI programme sites to amplify messaging around the conservation of forests as a climate solution.: This will include site identifcation, drafting technical notes to capture existing programmes and results to be featured during field visit, preparing compelling pitches with compelling elements resulting from research and technical notes, establishing a list of identifying target media, , liaising with journalists and governments and preparing briefing pack for field visit participants.
Competencies
- 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:
Business Direction & Strategy-System Thinking: Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system
Business Management-Communication: 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.
Business Development-Collective Intelligence Design: Ability to bringing together diverse groups of people, data, information or ideas, andtechnology to design services or solutions
Communications-Social Media management: Ability to represent and promote the UNDP brand in virtual communities and networks.
Communications-Marketing: Ability to communicate the value of a product or service
Communications-Media Relations: Ability to develop media relations across all aspects of media work including relationships with media and preparing media materials such as messages
Communications-Multimedia production: Ability to create and combine images, text and audio-visuals to produce multimedia content
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Communications, Journalism, or related field is required. Or
- A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s degree) in the areas mentioned above, in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree
Experience:
- Minimum 7 years (with Master’s degree) or 9 years (with Bachelor’s degree) of relevant work experience in implementing strategic communications (including but not limited to, content creation & design, quality control, media relations) in several countries and across a diverse portfolio of programmes is required.
- Demonstrated ability to translate complex technical, scientific, or policy information into clear, concise, and accessible messages tailored to non‑specialist audiences and the general public.
- Proven experience using accessible design tools to translate complex technical information into simple, visually engaging communication products (e.g., PowerPoint presentations, infographics, data visualizations, or simplified graphical explanations)
- Strong design and digital communication skills including the use of widely adopted tools such as Canva, Adobe Express, Figma or similar light production platforms.
- Experience producing engaging social media content and managing digital communication across multiple platforms.
- Proven ability to provide tailored communication guidance to teams and implementing partners, including support on messaging, content quality, branding coherence, and the strategic use of communication channels to enhance visibility and impact.
- Experience in media relations, including in sensitive or high profile contexts.
- Demonstrated ability to work independently, creatively and under tight deadlines.
- Proven knowledge of climate change
- Proven knowledge of the Central African context and its challenges
- Proven knowledge of rural development contexts
Language:
- Proficiency in oral and written French and English is required
Equal opportunity
As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination.
UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.
Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority
UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles.
Right to select multiple candidates
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.
Use of AI by candidates
Applicants are invited to read UNDP’s guidance for candidates on using AI responsibly in UNDP recruitment and selection
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