Job Description

Agency: UNCDF

Title: Communications & KM Analyst

Job ID: 32395

Practice Area – Job Family: Management

Vacancy End Date: (Midnight New York, USA) 11/09/2020

Duty Station: Accra, Ghana

Education & Work Experience: I-Master’s Level Degree – 5 year(s) experience

Languages Required: English

                      Desired:

Grade: SB4

Vacancy Type: Service Contract (SC)

Posting Type: External

Bureau: Africa

Contract Duration: One year with possibility of extension

Background

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 47 least developed countries. With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development.

UNCDF’s financing models work through three channels: inclusive digital economies, connecting individuals, households, and small businesses with financial eco-systems that catalyze participation in the local economy, and provide tools to climb out of poverty and manage financial lives; local development finance, that capacitates localities through fiscal decentralization, innovative municipal finance, and structured project finance to drive local economic expansion and sustainable development; and investment finance, that provides catalytic financial structuring, de-risking, and capital deployment to drive SDG impact and domestic resource mobilization. By strengthening how finance works for poor people at the household, small enterprise, and local infrastructure levels, UNCDF contributes to Sustainable Development Goal-SDG 1 on eradicating poverty and SDG 17 on the means of implementation. By identifying those market segments where innovative financing models can have transformational impact in helping to reach the last mile and address exclusion and inequalities of access, UNCDF contributes to a broad diversity of SDGs.

UNCDF is bringing its expertise in promoting green and climate resilient local communities and economies for returnees, youth and women to support job creation in regions of departure, transit and return in Ghana, creating local ecosystems that facilitate the development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and enabling the transition of local economies to green and climate resilient development under  the “Boosting  Green Employment and Enterprise Opportunities in Ghana (GrEEn)” programme to be funded by the European Union Trust Fund for Africa.

This programme will contribute to addressing the root causes of irregular migration through green and climate resilient local economic development and improving future prospects of beneficiaries, by creating employment and enterprise opportunities in selected sectors and regions (Ashanti and Western). The action aims at supporting job creation in regions of departure, transit and return of migrants in Ghana, creating local financial ecosystems that facilitate the development of MSMEs and enabling the transition of local economies to green and climate resilient development. The programme will use the lessons learnt from UNCDF experience in (i) Performance-Based Climate Resilience Grants (PBCRGs), under the Local Climate Adaptive Living (LoCAL) Facility, which support investments for green and resilient local economies across 14 countries as well as (ii) best practices to advance financial inclusion.

LoCAL provides a country-based mechanism to increase awareness and response to climate change at the local level, integrate climate change adaptation into local governments’ planning and budgeting systems in a participatory and gender sensitive manner, and increase the amount of finance available to local governments for climate change adaptation. LoCAL combines performance-based climate resilience grants with technical and capacity-building support. It uses a demonstration effect to trigger further flows for local adaptation, including national fiscal transfers and global climate finance for local authorities, through their central governments. Since its global scale up in 2014, LoCAL has engaged 240 local governments in 14 countries, representing over 10 million people.

UNCDF has also developed great expertise in youth finance by bringing access to financial services to nearly 1,000,000 youth in 8 different countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Financial Services Providers (FSPs) participating in the programme mobilized USD 23M in savings and granted USD 66M in loans to 330,700 young entrepreneurs. UNCDF has also worked in Ghana by supporting FSPs to expand access to savings, and particularly, to link informal savings groups to banks and other formal financial institutions. Simultaneously, UNCDF has expanded its support across countries to develop digital financial services for smallholder farmers, women, families with children, pensioners, and micro, small and medium enterprises. These efforts have led to creative approaches to the development of human-centric services and have fostered an innovation ecosystem around financial services.

The action will be implemented in conjunction with SNV using their model for youth entrepreneurs ‘Opportunities for Youth Employment (OYE) programme’, SNV’s most advanced multi-country programme thus far, which targeted 27,000 rural out of school youth in Tanzania, Rwanda and Mozambique.

The programme has been implemented in the agriculture and renewable energy sectors. Currently, OYE has become a global SNV product and new OYE projects have started in other countries, such as Mali and Niger, both funded by EUTF. SNV will support Results 2 “Employability of youth, women and returnees are improved through orientation support and assistance, to transition to skills development, for the benefit of green and climate resilient local economies” and Results 4 “SMEs, offering decent and sustainable jobs to youth, women and returnees, are incubated and/or accelerated and contribute to green and climate resilient local economies” whilst working closely with the two other result areas.

The main results under the UNCDF-EUTF agreement are the following:

Result 1 (R1): Local economies are stimulated and short-term job opportunities for youth, women and returnees are created through green and climate resilient investments. The first set of activities under Results 1 will aim at informing and participatory planning to help MMDAs and communities to identify and select local resilient investments to be financed by the performance-based climate resilience grants and by the diaspora through a crowdfunding platform to be developed under Results 3. MMDAs will benefit from assistance to undertake or utilize risk assessment and establish local information systems for risk informed planning, in partnership with universities and research institutes. Awareness and sensitization activities will be undertaken. Needs and capacity gaps will be assessed and addressed through targeted capacity building activities.

Result 2 (R2): Employability of youth, women and returnees are improved through orientation support and assistance, to transition to skills development for the benefit of green and climate resilient local economies (cash for work beneficiaries). The second set of activities under Results 2 will facilitate prospective cash for work beneficiaries from the targeted MMDAs to be called upon to apply, and returnees included among the list of prospective beneficiaries. Beneficiaries will be selected based on targets to be reached in consultation with MMDAs and UNCDF. Coordination and synergies will be ensured with the activities undertaken by UNCDF joint Programme partner SNV for broader activities under Result 2 and Result 4 “SMEs, offering decent and sustainable jobs to youth, women and returnees, are incubated and/or accelerated and contribute to green and climate resilient local economies”.

Result 3 (R3): Increased access and usage of financial services, leveraging remittances and digital solutions, adapted to the needs of (i) youth, women and returnees benefiting from cash for work schemes and (ii) local communities and MSMEs. The third set of activities under Results 3 will facilitate access and usage of targeted beneficiaries (youth, women, returnees, MSMEs) to financial services. The action will focus on the Diaspora and will leverage it to advance financial inclusion of Ghana’s most vulnerable groups.  In particular, the activities under R3 will aim to build financial capabilities of clients; support the supply-side to provide financial services adapted to the target’s needs as well as test and pilot innovative financial solutions (e.g. crowdfunding) to better channel investments at the local level.

Result 4 (R4): SMEs, offering decent and sustainable jobs to youth, women and returnees, are incubated and/or accelerated and contribute to green and climate resilient local economies. The action seeks to improve skills development for youth, women as potential migrants and returnees in the Ashanti and Western Regions of Ghana, through life and technical skills training for employment, coaching and mentoring into employment or self-employment enterprise opportunities and market matching, under an entrepreneurship component. The action will also support the incubation and/or acceleration of new and/or existing Green SMEs, or established companies willing to become greener or more inclusive, in line with several of the GoG NDC adaptation sectors which include for example, agriculture and water, aiming at supporting growth translating into more opportunities for sustainable jobs.

Duties and Responsibilities

UNCDF is looking for a Knowledge Management and Communications (KM & Comms) Analyst to be in charge of the knowledge management and communication of the GrEEn Programme, under the direct supervision of the Programme Management Specialist and the overall supervision of the LoCAL Facility Manager and Youth Finance Empowerment Lead, and in close collaboration with other GrEEn Programme team members and SNV. The KM and Comms Analyst will be responsible for ensuring the visibility of the activities and the programme itself. The KM & Comms Analyst will be based in Accra and will undertake the following tasks:

Summary of key functions:

-Lead the implementation of the GrEEn Communications and Visibility (C&V) strategy

-Content management and creation

-Library of photos and Social Media Management

-Contribute to the development of the network of GrEEn partners and to the visibility of the Programme

-Organization of conferences and information sharing workshops

Lead the implementation of the GrEEn Communications and Visibility (C&V) strategy

-Lead the implementation of the C&V strategy, according to UNCDF standards and procedures;

-Improve, with the GrEEn team, the C&V strategy to document lessons learned during programme activities and respond to the need for knowledge of the sector;

-Draft and implement a M&E system for the Strategy;

-Ensure C&V deliverables in project implementation developed and tracked;

-Develop annual and/or training delivered to GrEEn team for how to incorporate C&V input into the drafting of project documents and during project implementation;

-Draft Communication and Visibility materials with partners (EU and or SNV) to document lessons learned.

Content management and creation

-Manage the development and maintenance of content for the GrEEn webpages and social media platforms, in compliance with guidelines and standards used throughout the Organization, to ensure consistency of approach. Critically review and improve contents.

-Produce annual calendar of content related to program activities with its various partners is created, costed, endorsed and implemented;

-Produce reports and present to the GrEEn team and partners on the trends in traditional and social media in Ghana to identify new opportunities to increase the visibility of the Programme’s work;

-Develop, manage, and disseminate GrEEn Programme newsletters and schedule of publications and content drafted for the programme;

-Set up and implement content creation training plan for GrEEn staff.

Library of photos and Social Media Management

-Create, curate, and store a collection of high quality photos and visual materials for publications that illustrate the program’s activities;

-Write, edit and on a regular basis disseminate Media and content, such as press releases, articles, blog posts, case studies, infographics, brochures, presentations and videos;

-Create and coordinate social media network content for the GrEEn programme on a regular basis with the UNCDF team based in Accra and Dakar;

-Contribute to tasks or activities that require content writing and documentation of program knowledge (writing semi-annual and annual activity reports, etc.).

-Contribute to the development of the network of GrEEn partners and to the visibility of the Programme

-Liaise with the press/media to advocate and disseminate information on GrEEn work as well as relevant events such as campaigns. Organize interviews and filming opportunities to support high-visibility of GrEEn achievements through television, radio and newspapers, etc.

-Develop strategy to increase networking and mutual learning among GrEEn partners in Ghana and other UNCDF partners in the region;

-Develop budgets for implementation of networking/mutual learning activities with defined roles and responsibilities created;

-Programme contact database and list of service providers is created and procedures are in place to ensure staff maintain it. A specific section on local media providers, the services they offer and costs is included;

-Ensure all major local media providers are briefed on the GrEEn programme to build relationships and increase programme visibility and share knowledge;

-Liaise closely with the UN Communications Group’s and actively participate in the Inter-agency schedule of activities and

-Ensure contributions and comments on the GrEEn web platforms are addressed in a reasonable timeframe

Organization of conferences and information sharing workshops

-All key event related templates are in place e.g. invitation templates, agenda templates etc.;

-Survey and feedback tools for workshops and events are developed and disseminated at events;

-Contact details of event venues included in contact;

-Perform any other related duties as required by supervisor/ management.

IV. Impact of Results

The key results have an impact on creation of effective communications and dissemination of information on UNCDF’s activities.  In particular, the key results have an impact on implementation of UNDP communications and publication strategies, as well as reaching resource mobilization targets. Communications becomes a strong component of business development in the CO.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

-Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards

-Advocates and promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP

-Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability

-Treats all people fairly without favoritism

Functional Competencies:

-Knowledge Management and Learning

-Shares knowledge and experience and contributes to UNDP Practice Areas

-Communicates ideas and positions with command and confidence

-Finds common ground to solve problems

-Encourages office staff to share knowledge and contribute to UNDP Practice Areas

-Develops deep knowledge in Practice Areas

-Demonstrates strong coaching/mentoring skills, regularly providing helpful feedback and

-advice to others in the office

-Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more

-Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills

Development and Operational Effectiveness

-Ability to elaborate and implement communications and publications strategies

-Demonstrated effectiveness in developing media campaigns, including well-written

information about UNDP, its objectives and activities.

-Ability to effectively manage an advocacy campaign

-Demonstrates excellent ability to write and communicate orally with accuracy and professionalism

-Ability to effectively plan and manage the Unit

-Communicates sensitively and effectively across different constituencies

-Demonstrates strong IT skills

Leadership and autonomy:

-Focuses on the outcome for the client and reacts positively to the criticism received.

-Always adopts a dynamic, positive and constructive attitude at work.

-Excellent interpersonal skills complemented by the ability to conceptualize ideas and advocate consensus.

-Remains calm, self-possessed and in a good mood, even under pressure.

-Demonstrates openness to change and the ability to handle complex situations.

-Interacts with others in a professional, respectful and friendly manner.

-Communicates clearly and convincingly.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree preferred but a Bachelor’s degree in communications, public relations, advocacy, or related field with an additional three years of experience could also meet this requirement;

Desired Skills and Work Experience:

-A minimum of five (5) years dedicated experience with progressive responsibilities, in knowledge management or communication or another relevant area.

-At least 3 years’ experience in branding and communication, in media relations, graphic design and video production is desired.

-Proven experience in management of events and coordination of contributions from different stakeholders;

-Proven experience in writing engaging communications materials;

-Knowledge of the GrEEn sectors of intervention, the donor community or the development field;

-Excellent computer skills and ability to use software and other relevant applications; design and / or maintenance of websites;

-Proven skills in the development and implementation of communications plans.

-Experience working with international organizations, developing country governments, donor agencies and / or NGOs and other civil society groups involved in various sectors of international development;

-Experience with a UN organization/agency is desirable;

-Knowledge about the Ghana context is highly desirable;

-Experience with EU Communications & Visibility requirements is desirable.

Language Requirements:

-Excellent written and oral English is mandatory;

• Fluency in one local language is a plus.

Disclaimer

All posts in the SC categories are subject to local recruitment.

Applicant information about UNDP rosters

Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Workforce diversity

UNDP is committed to achieving diversity within its workforce, and encourages all qualified applicants, irrespective of gender, nationality, disabilities, sexual orientation, culture, religious and ethnic backgrounds to apply. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.

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