Communications and Partnerships Senior Officer
Overview
Lead strategic communications and partnership positioning, developing high-impact communications products while supporting donor engagement, resource mobilization and strategic partnerships.
Key Responsibilities
- Coordinate strategic communications across the Country Office, ensuring coherent messaging aligned with corporate priorities and programme objectives.
- Identify and develop compelling stories and communications content from projects and programmes for internal and external audiences.
- Contribute to the development of the office's communications and partnership strategies, supporting strategic positioning and organizational objectives.
- Liaise with HQ, Regional Office and UN communications colleagues to strengthen coordinated messaging and organizational positioning.
- Monitor the communications and external operating environment, advising on strategic positioning, sensitivities and emerging opportunities.
- Identify and assess partnership opportunities through donor intelligence, stakeholder engagement and analysis, recommending opportunities for strategic engagement.
- Monitor partner priorities and funding trends, collaborating with specialists on partner outreach and proposal development.
- Prepare briefing packages for senior management meetings with partners and donors.
- Draft capability statements, partner profiles, strategic presentations and other partner engagement materials.
- Support strategic planning for visibility and external engagement activities across the Country Office.
- Coordinate delivery of communications activities across projects, ensuring consistency of messaging and effective promotion of programme results.
- Develop and maintain a forward pipeline of stories, visibility opportunities and communication products across the Country Office.
- Develop high-quality communications products, including success stories, human interest stories, press materials, digital and social media content, videos, publications and donor visibility materials.
- Support proposal development through strategic communications products and partner-facing materials.
- Contribute to the development of concept notes, presentations and other partnership products with technical specialists.
- Coordinate implementation of donor visibility requirements and UNOPS branding standards across projects.
- Input partnership engagement records, Opportunity+ updates and internal tracking processes, supporting timely reporting and management oversight.
- Support internal review and clearance processes for partnership products, communications outputs and external engagement activities.
- Contribute to Partnership Development Unit work planning, budget monitoring and compliance with corporate standards.
- Provide strategic communications and partnership advice to programme teams throughout the project lifecycle, supporting partner engagement, visibility planning and communications commitments from project design through implementation.
- Support projects in meeting donor communications and visibility commitments, ensuring compliance with donor agreements and corporate standards.
- Identify opportunities to strengthen programme positioning with donors through strategic communications, partner engagement and high-profile missions or events.
- Build and maintain productive working relationships with partner focal points, donor representatives and communications counterparts.
- Represent UNOPS in communications and partnership working groups, UN coordination forums and external events, as delegated.
- Directly support the planning and coordination of partner missions, senior management visits and external engagement activities.
- Coordinate internal communications that promote organizational priorities, programme achievements and knowledge sharing across the Country Office.
- Capture and disseminate lessons learned, success stories and good practices from programmes and partnership activities.
- Maintain editorial quality, consistency of messaging and compliance with UNOPS branding standards across communications products.
- Conduct research and prepare briefing notes, summaries and analytical products to support communications and partnership activities.
- Support the organization and delivery of communications, visibility and partnership learning initiatives.
- Contribute to Communities of Practice and knowledge-sharing networks, promoting innovation and continuous improvement.
Required Experience
Required A minimum of 2 years of relevant professional experience with a master's degree, or 4 years if with a bachelor's, in communications, development, international relations, public relations, or other relevant discipline, involving execution, partnership, and project development, including proposal writing. Desired Experience in establishment of partnerships with UN agencies and / or international development organizations. Experience in the use of collaboration and productivity tools (e.g. MS Office, G-Suite, etc) and web-based management systems are required. Experience of working in multicultural environments or UN system organizations in a developing country is desired. Experience in development or humanitarian contexts is desired. Experience in developing and monitoring content for grassroots-level audiences is desired.
Qualifications
Required Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in communications, development, international relations, public relations or other relevant discipline with 4 years of relevant experience OR Master’s degree (or equivalent) in communications, development, international relations, public relations or other relevant discipline with 2 years of relevant experience is required. Desired A globally or nationally recognized professional certificate in partnerships, resource mobilisation, communications, journalism, project management, or digital and social media is desired.