Communication Advisor

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.

Background Information – UNOPS Hub in Amman 

The UNOPS Hub in Amman implements projects in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, in partnership with bilateral donors, national governments, and other UN agencies.  With an established presence across the region, the office runs operations including large-scale procurement, project development, and technical management, and provides financial, human resources, and infrastructure-related services. The functional objective of UNOPS Hub in Amman is to deliver its projects in an efficient and effective manner and in line with the principles, rules and regulations of UNOPS, in order to support the response to the current needs and national priorities in the region. 

UNOPS has been operating in Yemen since 2014 implementing projects across key sectors, including health, WASH, transport, renewable energy, solid waste management, and education. UNOPS is undertaking a number of multi-sectoral engagements aimed at restoring urban and municipal services in targeted cities in Yemen; provision of access to solar energy in rural and peri-urban areas, and interventions under the Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan. Moreover, UNOPS is providing HR services and operational support to UN partners and is managing special initiatives on behalf of the UN system, including the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism.

Entering its seventh year of conflict, Yemen remains the world’s largest humanitarian crisis with around 80% of its 31 million population in need of humanitarian assistance, including 5 million on the brink of famine and over 4 million internally displaced persons fleeing the ongoing armed conflict. In light of the dire humanitarian situation, the Famine Relief Fund (FRF) is planning to allocate a substantial amount of grants in support of urgent humanitarian action in Yemen with the aim to avert the risk of widespread famine. The project aims at supporting the establishment and operations of a Humanitarian Advisory Team for Yemen Famine Relief Fund. The Humanitarian Advisory Team will provide dedicated, independent, expert humanitarian advice, informing the swift allocation of funds by the Famine Relief Fund, in line with humanitarian principles of independence, neutrality and impartiality – in support of the wider humanitarian effort in Yemen.

• Objective 1: Provide the FRF with the data, information and analysis on humanitarian needs in Yemen.

• Objective 2: Advise the FRF on allocation and implementation modalities to most effectively achieve maximum humanitarian impact and save lives.

• Objective 3: Liaise with partners and the humanitarian architecture for the Yemen crisis to ensure complementarity of proposed activities under the FRF.

• Objective 4: Monitor impact of FRF allocations to advise on effectiveness and to inform future strategies/allocations by the Fund, should they become available.

The project will contribute towards accomplishing the strategic objective 2 of the Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan (June - 2020 December) to “help millions of destitute Yemenis overcome hunger by providing food and nutrition assistance, increasing household incomes and advocating for measures that bring economic stability” and to the specific food security and agriculture cluster objective 1 -Increase access to food for highly vulnerable families across the country.

Moreover, in line with the Agenda 2030, the project aims at contributing towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 - No Hunger : End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

The Communications Advisor  is responsible for ensuring coherence and cohesion of material produced in support of the Famine Relief Fund, including identifying creative ways to communicate programme results and impact with the Fund. 

The Communications Advisor is responsible for bilateral communications with implementing partners at the HQ level, as well as for ensuring internal communications standards, including for material being prepared for the Fund’s leadership. They will not be undertaking any public communications efforts by the advisory team.

The Communications Advisor reports to the Programme Director.

The Communications Advisor is expected  to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS. 

UNOPS is committed to achieving a truly diverse workforce.

• Stakeholder Management and Coordination 

• Communications

• Representation and inter-agency partnerships

• Knowledge Management

. Education 

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) is required. Preferably in international relations/studies, political sciences, economics, public administration, law, management/administration or related area.

• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

 Work Experience 

• A minimum of seven  (7) years of progressively responsible experience in communications within humanitarian affairs, crisis/emergency relief management, development, poverty reduction or other related areas is required.

• Experience within the UN Common System or other comparable international organisations is desirable.

Language

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another UN official language is an advantage.

Contract type: International ICA  Contract level: IICA 3 
Contract duration: Open-ended, subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and satisfactory performance

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• London is a family UN duty station
• This is an Emergency Recruitment and the contract duration is for 8 months only.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.