Job Description

Background:

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

Established by UN General Assembly Resolution 50/166 in 1996, the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) is the first and remains the only global UN funding mechanism dedicated exclusively to providing direct grants to civil society organizations working to prevent and end all forms of violence against women and girls (EVAW/G). Since 2010, UN Women has administered the UN Trust Fund on behalf of the UN system, providing a strong institutional foundation and field support through a global infrastructure of country and regional offices.

The Advocacy, Coalition, Building and Transformative Feminist Action (ACT) Project is a new commitment between the European Commission and UN Women as co-leader of the Action Coalition on Gender-Based Violence, in collaboration with the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women. Through direct investments in feminist movements, strengthening, intersectional alliances, and coordinating a shared advocacy agenda, ACT will amplify women’s rights movements as they coordinate their push for justice.

As part of the visibility of the work at UN Women East and Southern Africa, the ending violence against women (EVAW) team has a mandate to amplify attention and create awareness on the impact of our work with stakeholders in governments, regional bodies, civil society, donors, private sector and other actors of the work UN Women is doing to ensure our advocacy efforts are visible to internal and external audiences. To this effect, there is a need for a dedicated resource person to support advocacy and communications efforts in the Unit and within the region, especially in the lead up to the African Union’s adoption of the first Convention on ending VAWG and the commemorations of Beijing+30 in 2025.

The Communication Consultant will work under supervision of the EVAW team and closely with the communications unit to support development and dissemination of strategic advocacy messages. They will provide assets as required for brand visibility, social media, and EVAW units’ contextualization of global assets.

The consultant will be reporting to the EVAW Regional Policy Specialist under the supervision of the ACT to EVAW Programme Coordinator, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment planning.

To scale visibility and impact, a Communications and Reporting Consultant is needed to drive high-level communication planning, results-based advocacy, and strategic stakeholder engagement across the region. The consultant will lead communications across the ACT Programme including, the 16 Days of Activism, advocacy priority moments in the region, and GETsupport the ratification advocacy for the AU Convention.

Scope of Work and Responsibilities

Strategic Communications Leadership:

• Lead the development, implementation, and monitoring of strategic communication plans across the EVAWG and ACT programmes, ensuring alignment with UN Women’s global communication priorities and regional goals;
• Produce monthly communication packages highlighting key milestones, events, and partner achievements;
• Design and lead high-impact communications campaigns for critical regional milestones and advocacy moments including AU Convention on Ending VAWG ratification,16 Days of Activism against GBV, Monitoring missions, EVAW regional and international forums;
• Create social media content (posts, infographics, GIFs) tailored for Twitter/X, LinkedIn, and Facebook;
• Document best practices and results from EVAWG programming through high-quality multimedia content;
• Work with ESARO Comms to Provide strategic content development, campaign architecture, message refinement, audience segmentation, and brand visibility;
• Develop templates for high-level events, preparing and coordinating communication packages (press kits, talking points, media advisories, digital content);
• Coordinate with ACT partners, and the UN Women Regional Office Comms Team to ensure unified messaging, brand consistency, and narrative impact;
• Provide direction to ensure alignment of visibility efforts with Programme results and donor expectations.

Technical assistance to ACT partners:

• Act as help desk and provide technical support on ACT partners communication and advocacy work;
• Provide technical support in implementing communications plans and developing communication material under ACT.

Campaign and Visibility Execution:

Lead the design and implementation of high-visibility campaigns including:

• AU Convention ratification campaign;
• 16 Days of Activism;
• ACT Programme visibility and engagement drive;
• Develop strategic content calendars, creative briefs, and messaging toolkits for these campaigns.

Tools, Templates and Mapping:

• Map existing communication assets across ACT partners and identify visibility gaps;
• Support narrative change initiatives aligned with UN Women’s approach to transforming discriminatory social norms (narratives, material well-being, countervailing power);
• Engage regional influencers, creatives, and youth through our ACT partners to co-create and disseminate messages around violence prevention and women’s rights;
• Maintain an up-to-date communication asset library (photos, quotes, videos, templates);
• Contribute to newsletters and Curate EVAWG and ACT communication packages;
• Create an ACT Newsletter to give Partners’ work visibility and promote evidence/results-based reporting & accountability;
• Contribute to monthly reports and knowledge management products. Design branded templates for:
• Social media graphics
• Reports, factsheets, and policy briefs
• Success stories and case study formats
• Partner press releases and media advisories
• Create toolkits for:
• ACT Programme communications
• 16 Days of Activism (2026)
• AU Convention ratification campaign
• UN Celebrations, Anniversaries, Commemorative Days and Key Advocacy Spaces/ events.

Results-Oriented Communications:

• Design a visibility and results dashboard to track impact, reach, and engagement metrics;
• Produce monthly analytics reports measuring content performance and stakeholder engagement;
• Create a “Results Through Stories” portfolio showcasing Programme impact.

Stakeholder Coordination and Technical Support:

• Provide tailored communication coaching to ACT grantees and partners;
• Build and maintain partnerships with media houses, influencers, regional creatives, and AU-affiliated entities;
• Represent UN Women EVAWG unit communications in regional coordination mechanisms as needed.

Expected Deliverables:

Deliverable

Description

Due Date

Campaign Toolkits

Three toolkits: ACT, AU Convention, 16 Days

January 2027

Monthly Content Calendar

Updated and approved each month

Monthly

Digital Visibility Templates

Customizable brandedtemplates for reports, visuals,

stories, Articles, QuoteCards

Monthly

Success Story Portfolio

5 stories fromACT partners withphotos and quotes

December 2026

3 Multimedia Packages

Short videos or podcasts on EVAWG workimpact

December 2026

Monthly Analytics Reports

Summary of metricsand recommendations

End of each month

Quarterly meetings with ACT partners

Quarterly meetings with ACT partners

December 2026

Partner Communications Briefing Pack

For ACT grantees and stakeholders

January 2027

End-of-Assignment Report

Strategic insights, lessonslearned, recommendations

January 2027

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework:

Functional Competencies:

• Strong writing and storytelling across digital and traditional platforms;
• Strategic thinking and political acumen in gender and human rights advocacy;
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite, Canva, Mailchimp, social media analytics;
• Familiarity with Drupal CMS, Teams, and UN publishing standards.

Required Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree in Communications, Journalism, Public Relations, or a related field;
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Minimum 1 year of progressive experience in communication, visibility, or advocacy;
• Demonstrated experience in Gender Communications or Development Communication;
• Strong portfolio of content and campaigns for international or UN organizations.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required;
• Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).

Statements:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.