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.
Placing women's rights at the centre of all its efforts, the UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
Based on UN legislative mandates and the UNW Strategic Plan, the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) is tasked with providing strategic programme development, policy/ technical advisory services and quality assurance support to Multi-Country Offices (MCOs) and Country Offices (COs). It undertakes or coordinates regional research and data analysis; advises on norms, policies and strategies for achieving the internationally and regionally agreed goals related to gender equality and women's empowerment issues. It acts as a knowledge hub at the regional level, collecting evidence on progress and emerging issues and sharing knowledge on innovative approaches and lessons learned in implementation.
Within the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, the Resilience Unit advances gender equality across climate action, disaster risk reduction, and humanitarian action. This includes support to governments, regional institutions, civil society, women-led organizations, and communities to strengthen gender-responsive resilience in an increasingly complex climate and crisis context. The portfolio includes flagship initiatives such as the EmPower: Women for Climate-Resilient Societies Programme, jointly implemented with United Nations Environment Programme.
The communications environment in which resilience programming operates is rapidly evolving. Artificial intelligence, digital media transformation, fragmented public attention, changing advocacy ecosystems, and increased demand for evidence-based influence require communications functions to move beyond traditional visibility towards stronger narrative development, adaptive engagement, and more sustainable communication systems that can support institutional influence over time.
At the same time, UN Women's resilience work increasingly requires communications approaches that: strengthen public understanding of gender-responsive climate and crisis action; contribute to positive social norms around women's leadership; support advocacy with governments, donors, regional bodies, and partners; ensure coherence and evolving reform processes; and adapt to emerging digital and communication trends.
UN Women therefore seeks a Communications and Advocacy Consultant who will be managed by the Communications Unit and embedded within the Resilience Unit to support the design and implementation of communications, advocacy, and knowledge products for the resilience portfolio. The Consultant will ensure that communications outputs are technically grounded in programme work while aligned with UN Women corporate standards and responsive to evolving communications and digital environments.
Description Of Responsibilities/Scope Of Work
Under the supervision of the Communications Unit, and in close collaboration with the Resilience Unit, including regional and country teams under the EmPower programme, the Consultant will contribute to the design, implementation, and consolidation of strategic communications, visibility, advocacy, and knowledge dissemination for UN Women's regional work on gender-responsive climate action, disaster risk reduction, and humanitarian action.
- Strategic Communications and Portfolio Visibility
- Support the development and implementation of communications approaches that strengthen the visibility and positioning of UN Women's resilience portfolio, including flagship initiatives such as EmPower: Women for Climate-Resilient Societies.
- Support communication approaches related to humanitarian action, disaster events, and crisis contexts, ensuring messaging is timely, context-sensitive, and aligned with UN Women's humanitarian priorities.
- Contribute to communication outputs that reflect risk-informed, protection-sensitive, and gender-responsive approaches in crisis and emergency settings.
- Support alignment of resilience communications with global and regional advocacy opportunities, major policy moments, donor engagement priorities, and UN Women corporate communications directions.
- Contribute to communication planning linked to related events, regional dialogues, missions, and external engagement opportunities.
- Support the development of communication approaches that strengthen coherence across regional and country-level initiatives, ensuring consistency of messaging across the resilience portfolio
- Contribute to communication support for donor engagement and partnership-building efforts, including preparation of visibility materials and strategic communication inputs.
- Digital Communications, AI, and Emerging Communications Practice
- Support the use of digital communication approaches that respond to changing communications environments, including emerging AI-enabled tools relevant to content production, dissemination, audience engagement, and knowledge visibility.
- Contribute to the development of digital content, visual products, short-form communication outputs, and innovative formats that improve accessibility and reach of resilience-related work.
- Track emerging communications trends relevant to advocacy, digital engagement, and public communications, and support adaptation of communication products where relevant.
- Work closely with technical colleagues to ensure coherence between communications outputs and evolving work on AI, digital systems, and innovation across the resilience portfolio.
- Contribute to the use of analytics and performance tracking to assess reach, engagement, and effectiveness of communication products and digital outputs, and inform continuous improvement.
- Advocacy, Awareness, and Social Norms Change
- Contribute to communication products and campaigns that strengthen awareness and advocacy on women's leadership in climate action, DRR, humanitarian action, and resilience building.
- Support development of narratives that promote positive social norms and increased recognition of women, youth, and marginalized groups as leaders, innovators, and decision-makers in resilience contexts.
- Contribute communication inputs to advocacy initiatives, public engagement efforts, and regional dialogue processes aimed at influencing policy and public discourse.
- Ensure communication approaches reflect inclusive and rights-based framing consistent with gender equality and Leave No One Behind principles.
- Knowledge Products, Storytelling, and Learning
- Develop and refine communication products that translate technical and programme knowledge into accessible and compelling formats, including stories, briefs, blogs, presentations, and visual materials.
- Contribute to the development of communication products that are policy-relevant and tailored for different audiences, including governments, donors, regional bodies, and partners.
- Support documentation of lessons learned, programme innovations, emerging practices, and field-level results across resilience initiatives.
- Contribute to the development of communication assets that support internal learning, donor visibility, and external knowledge dissemination.
- Work collaboratively across teams to ensure technical inputs are accurately reflected in communication outputs and aligned with programme priorities.
- Communications Systems and Portfolio Support
- Support the organization and maintenance of communication assets, visual content, templates, and repositories that strengthen continuity and sustainability of resilience communications.
- Contribute to development of practical systems and communication tools that improve efficiency and continuity across the team.
- Provide flexible support to emerging communication priorities linked to resilience programming, including donor visibility requirements, internal briefings, strategic presentations, and external communication needs.
- Contribute to internal reflection and adaptive communication approaches as resilience priorities evolve.
Expected Output
In consultation with the Communications Specialist, the consultant will submit monthly reports on key items including, but not limited to:
- Strategic communication products supporting visibility and positioning of resilience initiatives, including climate action, disaster risk reduction, humanitarian action, and EmPower programme milestones, including communication outputs related to crisis contexts where relevant.
- Development of communication materials including stories, articles, briefing notes, presentations, web content, and visual products that communicate programme results, partnerships, policy engagement, and emerging priorities across the resilience portfolio.
- Digital communication outputs, including social media packages, short-form digital content, and innovative communication formats responsive to evolving digital and AI-enabled communication environments.
- Communication inputs supporting advocacy and awareness on women's leadership, resilience, social norms change, and inclusive climate and crisis response, tailored to different audiences including policy, partner, and public stakeholders.
- Communication support to major regional events, missions, donor engagements, and policy processes, including communication packages, key messages, summaries, and visibility products.
- Contributions to sustainable communication systems, including organization of communication assets, templates, repositories, and reusable communication materials that strengthen continuity across resilience programming.
- Basic tracking and reporting of communication outputs and digital engagement (e.g. reach, visibility, uptake), and contribution to improving effectiveness of communication approaches over time.
- Inputs to donor-facing products, internal briefings, strategic presentations, and external communication requests, ensuring alignment with UN Women communication standards and programme priorities.
Monthly progress updates and a final consultancy report summarizing outputs delivered, lessons learned, and practical recommendations for strengthening resilience communications and supporting continuity of portfolio visibility and influence.
- Payment will be made upon submission of deliverables and approval of the Programme Coordinator for Gender and Climate Action
Consultant's Workplace and Official Travel
The consultant will be based in Bangkok. the travel cost from home to/from the duty station will be included. The consultant will work 20 days per month. As part of this assignment, official travel may be needed. Travel will be managed following UN Women travel policy.
Competencies :
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:
- Ability to communicate sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies
- Good knowledge of web-based knowledge management systems
- Good understanding of production, graphic design and photography standards
- Good knowledge of social media platforms and experience in social media outreach
- Good knowledge of local country media landscape
- Good communication, presentation, networking and advocacy skills
- Ability to be strategic and analytical
- Knowledge of gender and human rights issues desirable
Education and Certification
- Master's degree in communications, journalism, media, international relations, development studies, gender studies, or other relevant field.
- A first-level university degree in similar fields in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree.
Experience:
- At least 2 years of progressively responsible experience in communications, advocacy, digital content development, media, or strategic communications, preferably in development contexts.
- Demonstrated experience producing communication products such as briefs, stories, presentations, digital content, web materials, or visibility products.
- Experience supporting communication for regional or multi-country initiatives involving diverse stakeholders including UN agencies, governments, civil society, media, youth networks, or development partners.
- Experience translating technical content into accessible communication products.
- Familiarity with digital communications tools, evolving communication formats, and AI-supported communications applications is an asset.
- Experience integrating gender equality and Leave No One Behind principles into communications or advocacy work is highly desirable.
- Knowledge of climate change, disaster risk reduction, humanitarian action, or resilience-related issues is an advantage.
- Regional experience in Asia and the Pacific and regional policy processes is an asset.
Languages:
- Fluency in English is required.
- Knowledge of other languages spoken in the Asia-Pacific region and/or other UN languages is an asset.
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.
