UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, 

UNICEF has been the leading child-rights organization, and a respected partner, for saving and improving children’s lives.

In Ghana, UNICEF cooperates with the Government and other partners to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to ensure equitable access to quality social services, and to expand children’s opportunities to reach their full potential.

With offices in Accra and Tamale, the UNICEF team seeks to achieve results in strategic programme areas. The overall goal is for every child to survive and thrive, to live in a safe and clean environment, to learn, to be protected from violence and exploitation, and to have an equitable chance in life. The current Country Programme of cooperation is aligned with the Government priorities, the UN Sustainable Development Partnership (UNSDP) and Key Results for Children (KRCs) in the West and Central African Region (immunization, nutrition, learning outcomes, ending violence and open defecation). UNICEF main strategies include evidence-based advocacy, system strengthening, integrated programming across sectors, emergency preparedness and response, and innovation.

How can you make a difference?

The Communication Unit seeks to put children at the heart of national agendas by being the leading voice, brand, advocate, and partner for the rights of every child so that UNICEF influences decision makers and inspires other key audiences to address child rights issues in Ghana.

The Unit coordinates a Communication and Advocacy Strategy that sets the vision, ambition and priorities that guide our work at the national and subnational level so that UNICEF raises public awareness and drives behaviour change and fundraising on behalf of children.

UNICEF in Ghana’s Communication Unit drives a digital communication transformation and creates compelling content and robust engagements strategies so that UNICEF evolves into a children and young people ‘powered’ organization, where young voices and ideas are heard and placed at the heart of our daily work and advocacy efforts, and it provides guidance and support for advocacy and youth engagement, facilitating knowledge exchange and deploying a digital first approach so that UNICEF in Ghana is a leading ‘digital first’ organization with advocacy and communication staff empowered with the knowledge, capacities, tools and skills to engage supporters.

The position of the Communication Specialist is to support the Communication and Advocacy Manager / Chief with the development and  implementation of the advocacy and communication strategy and associated products and activities with the objective of promoting awareness, understanding, support and respect for the rights and well-being of children, youth and the most marginalized families in Ghana.  Through a variety of channels  UNICEF’s mission, priorities and programmes in the country office, and at a global level and those of the UN Country Team.

KEY EXPECTED END-RESULTS

1. Development of communication and advocacy plans and strategies: The Communication Specialist will be responsible for the development and implementation of communication and advocacy plans and strategies for priority areas of work, and will be responsible for strengthening strategic external relations, particularly in regard to media and mid- to senior-level government relations.  The Specialist will lead media and PR campaigns, and have an ability to create and implement visibility campaigns for donors and other partners while strengthening the brand of UNICEF within country.
2. Stakeholder Relations: Ghana Country Office has a well maintained and continually developed contact list of key stakeholders, particularly media workers and mid- to senior level government stakeholders. The Specialist will be responsible for maintaining  relations through regular contacts, close collaboration and strategic assessment of central advocacy and programmatic stakeholders.
3. Emergency response: The Communication Specialist will support the Communication Chief to lead the emergency communication and advocacy strategy and response, including through identifying relevant strategic channels of response and developing key messages and relevant products in a timely manner.
4. Budget management: The Communication Specialist will have strength in budget administration, including tracking, reporting and evaluation.
5. UN in Ghana collaboration: Effective working relationships with the UN Country Team and UN communication counterparts are developed, maintained and enhanced.
6. Global priorities and campaigns: The Regional/Country Office or Media Hub has an effective process in place for integrating and taking action on UNICEF’s global communications priorities, campaigns and partnerships, disseminating these elements in a locally-appropriate way.
7. Resource mobilization support; Global and country level fund-raising activities are supported by effective advocacy and communication strategy and activities.
8. Monitoring and evaluation: Communication baselines are established against which the achievement of objectives of the communication strategy are regularly evaluated; analysis is undertaken to continuously improve the effectiveness of communication strategy and activities; results and reports are prepared and shared.

    9. Capacity building and support: The Specialist supports the Communication Manager / Chief to provide professional expertise and advice on all aspects of external relations communication as required.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) Communication, Journalism, Public Relations.
  A minimum of five years of of progressively responsible and relevant professional work experience in communication, print, broadcast, and/or new media.
• Field work experience
• Experience in development of communication and advocacy strategies
• Public Relations experience
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Knowledge of the local language
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

Core Competencies (Required)

• Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (1)
• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2)
• Works Collaboratively with others (2)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (2)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (2)
• Drives to achieve impactful results (2)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)

 Functional Competencies (Required)

• Persuading and Influencing (2)
• Applying Technical Expertise (2)
• Entrepreneurial Thinking [ 2 ]

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles 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.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.