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.ย
Placing women's rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world.ย ย ย
In this context, the Communications and Advocacy Division at UN Women Headquarters in New York, supports the positioning of womenโs empowerment and gender equality as key issues on the international agenda and establishes UN Womenโs role as the global authority.ย
Under the overall guidance and direct supervision of the Deputy Chief, Communications & Advocacy (P5), the Media Relations Manager (P-4) is responsible for developing, managing, implementing and monitoring global media strategies and advising senior management on media positioning and reputational risk with a focus on UN Womenโs portfolio and dedicated campaigns. The incumbent provides high-level strategic advice to senior leadership on global media engagement, including during emergencies and politically sensitive situations. The Media Relations Manager leads a team of staff, including consultants and affiliate personnel, and provides expert guidance on media relations to UN Women communication staff globally. The role includes designing and executing media strategies for high-profile global moments, flagship reports, emergency responses, and reputational issues, working closely with HQ divisions, regional and country offices, and external partners. The incumbent plays a key leadership role in close coordination with the social media specialist and website editor, and as a key member of the wider UN Women communication and advocacy team.
Key Functions and Accountabilities:
1. Lead and Oversee Global Media Relations and Positioning for UN Women
โข Leads the development of a global media engagement strategy for UN Women in close cooperation with relevant internal stakeholders.
โข Oversees implementation, evaluation, and continuous improvement of the media engagement strategy.
โข Manages internal and external resources, including a global media team consisting of staff and consultants in different locations to plan and execute activities in a cost-efficient and effective manner.
โข Ensures that UN Women has a well-maintained and continually developed contact list of journalists and media outlets across all platforms โ print, TV, radio, web, etc. โ and a successful process of communicating and maintaining regular contact and collaboration with the media.
โข Develops, maintains, and updates media relations contact list/database.
โข Establishes, documents, reviews, and refines processes for media engagement, including press conferences, events, media materials, etc.
โข Collaborates with mass media through media activities, including press conferences, interviews, and facilitation of field visits.
โข Oversees media monitoring for UN Women; evaluates the reach, quality, and impact of media coverage and shares results and insights with leadership.
โข Maintains close collaboration with Regional and Country Communications Focal Points for effective overall coordination.
โข Coordinates with UN system partners and advises on inter-agency positioning and media response during crises.
โข Leads media engagement strategies in key strategic regions including North America and Europe.
โข Provides high-level strategic guidance to senior management on media positioning, reputational risk, global media trends, and emerging sensitive issues.
2. Oversee Development and Dissemination of Media Materials
โข Leads the development of high-quality media materials, including press releases, media advisories, Op-Eds, and media kits.
โข Coordinates the development of talking points on key programmatic areas for UN Women in close coordination with programme units.
โข Develops and pitches news and feature ideas and secures high-profile media coverage.
โข Ensures rapid and accurate information dissemination to media, partners, the field, and other appropriate audiences.
โข Proactively identifies news angles, packages, and pitches key content pieces to media; develops, distributes, and evaluates a variety of media materials in multiple, appropriate formats.
โข Ensures all media materials align with UN Womenโs brand and corporate priorities.
โข Reviews and clears all international media materials issued by regional and country offices to ensure political sensitivity and alignment with corporate messaging.
3. Design and Lead Global Media Campaigns
โข Designs, leads, and manages global media campaigns, working closely with regional offices, country offices, and UN Women national committees to generate positive coverage on UN Womenโs priority issues.
โข Supports regional and country office capacity to gather/facilitate content and coverage of relevant country efforts.
โข Identifies and promotes impactful programme activities and results.
โข Ensures regular communication and coordination with relevant communication focal points globally.
โข Provides high-level support to organize and lead press conferences, media briefings, and interviews for senior management.
โข Leads global media strategies around flagship publications, International Womenโs Day, UNGA, CSW, COP and other high-profile global moments.
4. Provide Strategic Guidance on Media Engagements
โข Advises on appropriate media engagement strategies, weighing reputational risk, audience, timing, and reach.
โข Leads on reputational risk assessment and proactive mitigation strategies, supporting crisis communications in close coordination with senior management.
โข Advises and supports UN Women Spokespeople, including senior leadership, in media interactions.
โข Provides technical guidance on media relations to regional and field offices.
โข Coordinates rapid response strategies during emergencies and politically sensitive events.
โข Advises senior management on strategic media engagement during high-stakes issues.
โข Serves as an organizational spokesperson as requested.
5. Strengthen Capacity and Build Partnerships
โข Advises UN Women management and personnel on all aspects of media relations communication as needed.
โข Identifies and addresses opportunities for building media relations capacity among Communications Community of Practice, media, and other relevant partners.
โข Advises on media engagement strategies and implications for action and policies proposed.
โข Leads the design and delivery of media training for UN Women staff and partners.
โข Identifies opportunities to strengthen media relations capacity through appropriate advocacy and communication training.
โข Fosters partnerships with key media stakeholders, external partners, and donors to enhance media engagement efforts.
โข Leads strategic briefings with journalists and editors to promote UN Womenโs visibility.
โข Designs specialized media training and simulations for senior UN Women spokespeople.
6. ย The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.
Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities
The incumbent leads and supervises the media team, including staff, consultants, and affiliate personnel. The incumbent also manages media-related budgets and oversees planning and performance monitoring of global media activities.
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 visitย this linkย for more information on UN Womenโs Values and Competencies Framework:ย
Functional Competencies:
- Demonstrated in-depth understanding of media relations, including state-of-the art methodologies and tools.
- Superior writing and editing skills, especially under time pressure.
- Demonstrated stakeholder engagement and networking skills with internal and external audiences.
- Experience in reputational risk mitigation and management.
- Demonstrated experience in shaping global media agendas.
- Initiative and sound judgment.ย
- Strong news sense and active following of global news.
Recruitment Qualifications:
Education and Certification:
- Advanced university degree in communications, journalism, public relations, international relations, or other related discipline.ย
- 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:
- A minimum of 7 years of relevant experience in media relations at the international level is required.
- In-depth understanding of different media markets is required.
- Experience in designing and implementing effective media relations strategies on complex development issues is required.
- Experience in producing content for a global news media audience is required.ย
- Demonstrated experience in working with journalists from top-tier international media across sectors, channels and geographies and achieving impactful news and feature coverage is required.ย
- Demonstrated experience in designing global media campaigns is required.
- Experience in using professional media monitoring software and mass mailing tools required.ย
- Experience in international development, gender equality and the empowerment of women, human rights, humanitarian action is desirable.
- Active personal network of media contacts is desirable.
- Embraces modern methods of PR and media management is desirable.
Languages:
- Fluency in English is required.
- Knowledge of other UN Language (Russian, Arabic, Chinese) is desirable. Knowledge of French or Spanish is considered an asset. ย ย
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,ย and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age,ย ability, national origin,ย 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 toย UN Womenโsย policiesย and proceduresย andย theย standardsย of conduct expected of UN Women personnelย 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.
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