Chief Advocacy and Communications Officer

Based in Geneva, the Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECR) supports UNOPS offices throughout the region through: management, financial and programmatic oversight of global and country-specific portfolios, clusters and operations centres, including hosting services; fund and management advisory services; project implementation; procuring goods and services; and managing human resources.

ECR ensures that projects are executed to the highest standards, providing a shared knowledge base and ensuring that best practices and lessons learned are disseminated between business units and projects across the entire region.

RBM Partnership to End Malaria

The past twenty years have seen tremendous gains in reducing the burden of disease and progressing towards malaria elimination. Since 2000, global malaria deaths have been cut by more than half, saving over 10 million lives, primarily among children less than five years of age. Expansions in financing, strong political commitments, novel diagnostic and preventative measures, and multi-sectoral coordination have facilitated this progress. Since 1998, RBM Partnership to End Malaria has been central to the global fight against malaria. It has been essential to mobilizing resources and scaling up innovative interventions, putting the world onto a path towards eliminating malaria. The Partnership comprises more than 500 partners committed to end malaria, including malaria endemic countries, their bilateral and multilateral development partners, the private sector, nongovernmental and community-based organizations, foundations, and research and academic institutions.

The RBM Partnership's Vision is of a world free from the burden of malaria. The work of the RBM Partnership is guided by the 2021-2025 RBM Partnership Strategic Plan

The RBM Partnership is based in Geneva and hosted by UNOPS.

The incumbent will work under the guidance and supervision of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to achieve the core objectives and strategic priorities of the RBM Partnership, and specifically the respective Partner Committees of Advocacy and Resource Mobilization (ARMPC) and Strategic Communications (SCPC). 

The incumbent will lead the Secretariat work in these areas, through facilitation and coordination of partnership engagement and an integrated management of the ARMPC and the SCPC. 

The incumbent is expected to be willing and able to travel up to 40% of their time. 

Senior level advocacy and communications leadership and management

• Contribute with the CEO and RBM Board to keep malaria high on the political and developmental agendas and mobilize donor and malaria endemic country resources for the malaria fight through a variety of advocacy and communications efforts. 

• Advocate for malaria elimination to become a central theme in the sustainable development agenda and in the context of Universal Health Coverage, pandemic preparedness and response, health equity, innovation, and other key development and health topics.

• In collaboration with the Partner Committee Co-chairs (PC Co-chairs), provide strategic leadership in advocacy and communications to the RBM Secretariat, respective Partner Committees and Partnership.

• Lead convening of RBM partners, coordinating high level advocacy efforts and shaping the dialogue.

• Ensure cohesion between advocacy and communications strategies and activities of RBM Secretariat.

• Lead all stages of advocacy and communications strategies within the Secretariat to ensure consistency through  the implementation of work plans 

• With guidance from the Co-chairs and Partner Committees, lead the design and the delivery of the advocacy messaging, plan events, engage partners, build and sustain campaigns with the objectives of the current and future RBM Strategic Plans. 

• Ensure that communications platforms are used in an effective manner to deliver key messages, calls to action and advocacy messages. 

• Engage key stakeholders in collaboration with the Country/Regional Support Partner Committee (CRSPC) and identify opportunities to engage leadership at the country level, aligning the language within the malaria community.

• Develop new and creative mechanisms  to increase the visibility and understanding of considerations for malaria elimination at the highest political level.

• Coordinate the communities’ positions with key partners organizations such as the Global Fund and others.

• Represent the Partnership and the CEO in international conferences and meetings to ensure synergies and coordination.

• Leverage the efforts of RBM working groups and enhance the engagement and better fit of the working groups into the Partnership agenda.

• In collaboration with the Partner Committees Co-chairs and partners, lead and oversee the development and implementation of resource mobilization strategies, including engaging donor and endemic countries, private sector and private foundations to support the fight against malaria.

• Assist the CEO in responding to inquiries from the media to the Partnership, in collaboration with the respective Manager(s), and ensure that appropriate responses are made in a timely manner.

• Support the CEO in facilitating and promoting communication between the Board and Partners on policy and programme issues.

Integrated management and leadership for the Advocacy and Resource Mobilization Partner Committee (ARMPC) and Strategic Communications Partner Committee (SCPC)

• Support the leadership of the ARMPC and the SCPC, and provide management in the design, development and implementation of the advocacy and communications strategies and activities of the Partnership.

• Serve as an ambassador and spokesperson as needed, and articulate the mission to external constituents, partner organizations, and potential donors.

• Implement publications; provide inputs, content development, oversee the production and dissemination of press releases, publications, articles and sharing of project knowledge and successes.

• Identify potential crisis communications situations, create potential responses, and maintain a strong crisis communications protocol and capability.

• Work with the Partner Committee Co-chairs and steering committees to align and build consensus on advocacy and communications initiatives and events to generate broad political support.

• Lead the implementation of ARMPC and SCPC work plan, in coordination with the SCPC Manager, PC Co-chairs and steering committees, and establish priorities within the ceiling of available resources and engage with RBM partners to work in concert towards shared goals..

• Promote cross-cutting collaboration and synergies within the RBM Partnership.

• Build effective relationships with national and international stakeholders, including government officials, NGOs, donors and others.

• Oversee the management of media channels, including media training for leadership.

Other

• Oversee the development of and tactical execution of the global advocacy strategy and the global communication strategy through the effective management of the work of assigned personnel, distributing assignments to facilitate smooth and effective use of human and financial resources; training, motivating and coaching personnel, as well as evaluating performance and facilitating career development.

• Perform other related responsibilities as assigned, including replacing and backstopping for others as required.

• A Master’s degree in advocacy, communications, political science, international relations, development, business management, public administration, public health, social science or another relevant field is required.  

Essential 

• Minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience in advocacy and communications, of which 5 years has been at senior management and/or leadership level is required. 
• Proven experience of 5 years in the area of strategic advocacy with a focus on global health issues is required.
• Documented high-level advocacy or other experience with national and health-sector leaders is required. 
• Experience working in challenging and politically complex situations is required.

Desirable

• Experience in multi-stakeholder partnerships management and engagement.  
• Experience in the public health sector, in particular with malaria.
• Substantial experience or knowledge of multi and bilateral financing with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and/or other international health financing institutions.
• Experience working in the UN system and/or in a developing country.
• Proven ability to manage and motivate senior staff located in different geographical locations. 
• Specialization, experience or demonstrated understanding of international development related to public health is preferred.

• 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.
• 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.  
• The position maybe based in Geneva, Switzerland or Nairobi, Kenya. The exact location will be determined prior to the finalization of the recruitment process.
  

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.

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.