Communications and Advocacy Consultant

The Communications and Advocacy Consultant will lead advocacy, outreach, and communications efforts for UN Women in Japan, managing media relations and partnerships to increase the organization's profile. The role involves developing and implementing strategic communication and advocacy plans aligned with UN Women's Strategic Plan, managing campaigns, and engaging with private sector partners and youth groups.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic guidance on the development and implementation of communication and advocacy/outreach plans.
• Design and implement JLO’s strategic work plan for key advocacy and outreach activities that engage diverse stakeholders to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) in alignment with UN Women’s Strategic Plan.
• Propose innovative solutions to enhance the effectiveness of communications strategies and activities through analyzing traditional and digital media and identifying trends and/or issues.
• Coordinate with relevant divisions and colleagues in UN Women in HQs, regions, and countries, to enhance advocacy partnerships with Japan.
• Contribute to the management of communications specific risks through providing technical recommendations and monitoring and performing preparedness actions.
• Develop and disseminate of relevant advocacy/ communications materials.
• Design and implement a comprehensive communications strategy, including the use of the website and social media, to enhance the visibility of UN Women work, taking topic sensitivities and potential risks into consideration, in line with the corporate communication policy.
• Prepare strategic communications products that convey UN Women key messaging to target audiences.
• Produce result-based communications content for visibility, such as donor/ partnership reports, website stories and SNS posts, and disseminate them to key influencers and wider general public.
• Facilitate interviews with UN Women’s senior managers; connect media with UN Women subject matter experts.
• Increase strategic media engagement, inviting media organizations as an active agent to contribute to amplifying GEWE messaging and eliminating harmful stereotypes.
• Manage media relations in Japan; maintain an updated contact list/ database of journalists and media organizations and increase media presence of UN Women through pitching news stories and interview opportunities, organizing roundtable discussions, press conferences, and briefing sessions with press, and producing media briefing notes and talking points for scheduled interviews.
• Manage communications campaigns and events around key international days, such as International Women’s Day, in close collaboration with key stakeholders.
• Collaborate with communications colleagues in UN Women HQ, Country/Regional Offices on the implementation of campaigns and other communications initiatives.
• Develop and manage the advocacy work of Unstereotype Alliance (UA) Japan National Chapter by developing a strategy in close coordination with relevant units in UN Women HQ; Manage activities with UA’s Japanese members to scale up the Japan Chapter as well as recruit new members, toward the UA’s goal to eliminate harmful stereotypes from the society.
• Design a strategic work plan for the successful implementation and localization of the HeForShe Initiative in Japan.
• Conduct advocacy activities through Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) and increase WEPs signatories.
• Expand private sector outreaches for private sector partnership opportunities.
• Coordinate with UN Women Japan National Committee, a non-profit entity supporting the work of UN Women, to ensure brand consistency and corporate messaging, and to collaborate on communications and advocacy work where appropriate.
• Perform other duties as necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Requirements

• A master’s degree in communications, media studies, journalism, gender, international relations, international development, marketing, or another related field.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in one or more of the following areas: journalism, public relations, private sector, advocacy, international relations, marketing, development, advertising, digital communications, multimedia agencies, or another relevant field, ideally with a particular focus on gender issues.
• Proven experience in media relations using traditional, digital media, social media, and other platforms is required.
• Demonstrated experience in planning and organizing a wide range of events, workshops and study sessions is required.
• Previous experience with UN Women or with other UN organization is an advantage.
• Previous experience with Japanese private sector is an advantage.
• Excellent writing and analytical skills including writing high-quality reports, briefing notes, media talking points are an advantage.
• Knowledge of UN Women’s Strategic Plan (2022-2025) and the thirtieth anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action is an advantage.
• Excellent command with major social media platforms, including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, and LinkedIn;
• Proficiency in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign an asset.
• Fluency in Japanese and English is required.

Skills

• Media Relations
• Digital Communications
• Social Media Management
• Advocacy Activities
• Event Planning
• Workshop Organization
• Report Writing
• Briefing Note Preparation
• Strategic Communication Planning
• Gender Equality Expertise
• Public Relations
• Marketing
• Multimedia Communications
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Illustrator
• InDesign
• Japanese Language
• English Language

Languages

English, Japanese