Adaptation Communication Specialist

Result of Service

Objective

Under the direct supervision of the Climate Change, UNEP Adaptation Programme Officer for Latin America and the Caribbean, and in close collaboration with the climate change communication’s team, the consultant will the support the achievement of three main goals:
a) Produce more efficient and strategic communication products
b) Support national and regional coordinators of adaptation projects with the dissemination of communication strategies and communication activities
c) Enhance outreach and communication practices in the adaptation to climate change unit.

The Adaptation Communication Specialist Consultant main duties and responsibilities will include:
a) Provide Technical advice in order to prepare, review and propose recommendations for the communication strategy, communication plans and workplans / action plans of the adaptation programme, subprogrammes (cities, national adaptation plans, rural resilience, coastal resilience, mountains, climate finance) and national and regional projects.
b) Ensure the link and coordination between the adaptation team and the communication team of the Climate Change Unit and, when necessary, between the adaptation team and UNEP’s regional or global communication team
c) Work proactively with programme and project teams to identify opportunities for capturing and sharing knowledge and disseminating information about major progress and results.
d) Develop and maintain an events calendar, ensuring that major events are identified early; support project management units (PMU) and relevant programme teams to develop and manage messages and information material to ensure the success of major events.
e) Propose and organize specific awareness raising activities aligned with the adaptation portfolio (e.g. for LAC Regional Climate Week, for COP28, etc.). These activities should include the production of promotion materials: leaflets, brochures, social media posts, and their distribution at different events.
f) Ensure the presence and communication of the adaptation team’s actions and results in UNEP’s regional and global relevant newsletters
g) Advise the projects on branding and publications policy and also assist in their dissemination.
h) Ensure that all outreach information material is written in a way that concepts and issues can be readily understood by the public, and adapt each material to reach multiple target audiences
i) Support the preparation and contribute to the dissemination at regional and national level of the publications, press releases, news, reportages, project results and others, through social media, press, digital and printed platforms and other key audiences and stakeholders, considering the region’s varied audience as well as UNEP’s communication style and guidelines.
j) Contribute to the dissemination of calls of the regional team or the national PMUs, such as calls of expressions of interest for local partners
k) Coordinate with the UN Environment Programme Regional Communication Unit the use of the organization´s logo and branding, and any activity directly related to external communication outreach and traditional (TV, newspaper, radio) or social media.
l) Develop and maintain contacts with key print and electronic media (including radio, TV, news websites and blogs) to supply them with newsworthy material about the projects in the countries.
m) Prepare products to promote national projects results and activities in a wide array of formats, including but not limited to speech drafts, presentations, letters, reports, brochures, posters, National Factsheet and Case Studies
n) Ensure that project web pages are updated
o) Produce stories for the projects’ newsletters when relevant.
Detailed specifications for each assignment will be given to the selected Adaptation Communication Specialist Consultant.

Work Location

UNEP LACO Office, Panamá City, Panama

Expected duration

6 MONTHS

Duties and Responsibilities

Purpose

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.

The UNEP Latin America and the Caribbean Office (LACO), located in Panama City, works closely with the 33 countries of the region and its activities are integrated into the Medium Term Strategy and the Programme of Work approved by the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA)

UNEP LACO oversees the implementation of several UNEP’s projects in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean. These projects are implemented by partners at national level in several countries, commissioned by the relevant government authorities.
In terms of supporting countries in the region attain the global commitments signed within the framework of the Paris Agreement, UNEP’s Latin America and the Caribbean Sub-programme on Climate Change aims at strengthening the ability of countries to move towards climate-resilient and low emission strategies for sustainable development and human well-being. In this framework, the UNEP Sub-programme on Climate Change, through its Climate Change Unit leads and supports several initiatives oriented at designing, promoting and implementing innovative mitigation and adaptation solutions at the national and subnational level, and strengthening the transparency framework of the countries.

The expected accomplishment regarding climate change adaptation is that adaptation approaches, including the ecosystem-based approach, are implemented and integrated into key sectoral and national development strategies to reduce vulnerability and strengthen resilience to climate change impacts. Furthermore, the UNEP’s Sub-programme on Climate Change is also committed to ensure that cross-cutting issues such as gender equity and women empowerment are effectively integrated in the development of its tasks to guarantee an equitable development in line with its adaptation objectives.

In this context, the climate change unit of the UNEP LACO is now seeking for an Adaptation Communications Specialist Consultant who will contribute to the communication activities of the adaptation portfolio related to Ecosystem based Adaptation projects, both in rural and urban areas, National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), and related activities including regional and global events, communities of practices and other.

This person will work closely to the UNEP climate change communication’s team and will be supervised by the Climate Change, UNEP Adaptation Programme Officer for Latin America and the Caribbean. The consultant will work at the UNEP LACO office, Panama City, Panama, from Monday to Friday, 40 hours per week, 8 hours per day.

Qualifications/special skills

Qualifications Required

ACADEMIC:
- Bachelor’s degree on communication, journalism, translation, social sciences, political sciences, environmental policy, marketing or similar or a closely related field.(required)
- Master’s degree in similar areas is required.

PROFESSIONAL:
- At least 4 years working experience in communications management, journalism, events organization, translation, or similar fields are required.
- At least 1 years of experience related to climate change and environment or journalism and social media channels is required.
- Written experience in creative content, community engagement, gender mainstreaming in national policies is desired.
- Experience creating communication content or strategies including organizing events at national or regional levels is desired.
- Familiarity with UN Environment Programme or the UN system in general will be an added advantage;

LANGUAGE:
- Fluent in Spanish is required.
- Confident in English is required.
- Other languages are desired.

SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:

- Knowledge of key topics related to climate change adaptation, the Paris Agreement, SDGs, the IUCN standard for Nature-based Solutions, is desirable
- Strong analytical skills to examine complex data and be able to write in and informative and appealing way and identify key messages
- Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills to facilitate complex reports for a target audience.
- Social Media, writing and engage the audience
- Write press releases
- Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards.
- Very high level of organizational, attention to detail, and time management skills.
- Ability to work with tight deadlines and deliver high quality results on time.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.