Background:

UN Women (the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of 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.

In Türkiye, in line with its global Strategic Plan 2022-2025 and Country Strategic Note (2022-2025), and the overall UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Turkiye (UNSDCF) (2021-2025), UN Women works towards the overarching goal of “Women and girls including those at greatest risk of being left behind fully exercise their human rights, enjoy a life free from violence and discrimination, and lead, influence and benefit for Turkiye”. UN Women works in four thematic areas: governance and participation in public life; women’s economic empowerment; ending violence against women and girls; and women, peace and security, humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction. UN Women contributes to three UNSDCF outcomes: (1) Women and girls have improved and equal access to resources, opportunities, and rights, and enjoy a life without violence and discrimination; (2) By 2025, Persons under the Law on Foreigners and International Protection are supported towards self-reliance; (3) By 2025, governance systems are more transparent, accountable, inclusive and rights-based with the participation of civil society, and quality of judicial services is improved.

Towards these goals, UN Women implements programmes and projects that aim to advance gender equality, improve women’s access to opportunities, rights and services in political, social and economic life and combat gender stereotypes, discrimination and violence, as required by international and national legal and policy commitments. UN Women collaborates with numerous partners – central and local level government authorities, civil society organizations, including women’s organizations and platforms, academia, private sector companies, other UN agencies. It commits itself to the Leaving No One Behind principle, by supporting targeted actions to remove the obstacles that marginalized and vulnerable groups of women face in accessing their rights and to promote them as agents of change.

As a full member of IASC, UN Women has a crucial role in humanitarian response through a two-pronged approach:

1) To Strengthen Accountability towards gender commitments in Coordination and Implementation of UN Led Humanitarian and Refugee Responses;

2) To Strengthen Comprehensive Protection and Livelihood support to Crisis Affected Women and Girls.

In the area of ending violence against women and girls (VAWG) and other harmful practices, UN Women supports enhancing services on VAWG prevention and protection through strengthened capacities of institutions, improved data management, better coordination, and empowerment of women and girls who are at risk of and/or are survivors of violence. Furthermore, to address the underlying root causes of VAWG and harmful practices, UN Women Türkiye works towards favorable social norms, attitudes, and behaviors at the individual, community, and institutional levels that advance gender equality and women’s empowerment. The ending VAWG portfolio includes ongoing projects ‘Supporting Provincial Administrations for More Effective Multisectoral Cooperation in Ending Violence Against Women’, funded by the Federal Government of Germany and implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior to improve coordination at the local level  and ‘Addressing the Urgent Needs of Women and Girls Impacted by the Earthquake’, also funded by the Federal Government of Germany, addresses the immediate needs of women and girls in the 11 provinces affected by the 2023 earthquakes.

On February 6th, 2023, Türkiye was struck by two significant earthquakes that caused widespread devastation in the Southeast region of the country. The earthquakes resulted in a significant loss of life, with over 50.000 deaths making it the deadliest disaster since the country’s founding 100 years ago and one of the deadliest worldwide during this century. Additionally, the earthquakes resulted in widespread damage to residential areas, with millions of individuals affected and at least 118,000 buildings have either collapsed or severely damaged. These events have had a profound impact on numerous cities throughout the affected region.

UN Women’s consultations with earthquake survivors, survivors of violence in the earthquake provinces, service providers and civil society organizations have highlighted that women and girls face significant risks of violence due to unsafe and uncertain living conditions, lack of privacy, forced cohabitation with extended family members or strangers, limited infrastructure, overcrowded or mixed gender facilities, occurrences of loitering and plundering and limited mobility. Therefore, one crucial component of the recovery and reconstruction efforts is the necessity to rebuild and repair the women’s shelters and VPMCs, while also increasing the shelter capacity in migration receiving provinces as well. With a view to “building back better”, incorporation of technical support to relevant institutions and personnel for enhanced service provision to VAWG survivors is essential.

Within the scope of “Restoring and Strengthening the Preventive and Protective Services in response to Violence Against Women affected   by the earthquakes in Türkiye” project, UN Women aims to restore and strengthen both the physical infrastructure and technical capacities of VAW service provision through a survivor-centred and rights-based approach that contributes the empowerment of women. The project aims to establish good models that can then be scaled up to become part of the overall MOFSS response to violence against women in their areas of competence under the scope of the project. The Impact/ Overall Objective of the Project is to improve the protection of women and children’s rights in earthquake affected regions in Türkiye.

Under the direct supervision of the Communications Analyst (NOB), and the overall Guidance of the Programme Specialist (NOC), the communications assistant will be responsible for assisting the implementation of the Communication and Visibility Plan of the Project.

Key Functions and Accountabilities

1. Provide administrative support to the development of communications and advocacy materials and activities.

• Draft press releases, articles, key messages, and other advocacy materials;
• Review translations, contact with printers and other suppliers to ensure production;
• Maintain library/ database of reference materials and photos;
• Support the concept development and organization of events, activities and campaigns.

2.  Provide support in the management of the project’s social media presence and website.

• Gather information for the development of content for the social media channels;
• Update the social media channels, as required;
• Maintain files, databases, and systems relevant to the project’s digital presence;
• Track and monitor social media and report relevant information to the project staff;
• Research, compile and produce reports on web statistics on a regular basis and electronic surveys;
• Design and create social media content (infographics, videos, GIFs, social media cards etc.).

3. Provide media relations support to the Communications Analyst.

• Maintain and update database of relevant press in country;
• Respond to requests for information, as delegated;
• Gather and compile inputs for talking points.

 4. Facilitate knowledge management and sharing.

• Contribute to the identification of best practices and lessons learned;
• Organize trainings and workshops on communication practices;
• Provide/ exchange information with HQ and RO, MCO, and COs.

 5. Other

• Provide support on special web/digital/media projects undertaken by the country office.
• Perform other tasks as assigned by supervisor;

Key Performance Indicators 

• Timely inputs to communication and advocacy materials;
• Timely organization of logistical support to discussions, conferences, briefings, and other events;
• Timely delivery quality administrative support;
• Webpages are well-maintained.

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 visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework:

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to create, edit and present information in clear and presentable formats, using appropriate IT functionality;
• Knowledge of social media and communication strategies and methods;
• Good event planning skills;
• Ability to identify relevant events and stories and communicate them to a mass audience;
• Good multimedia skills.
• Good editing and copywriting skills.

Recruitment Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• Completion of secondary education is required.
• Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Public Relations, Journalism, Political Science or a related field is an asset.

Experience

• Minimum 5 years (with secondary education) or 2 years (with Bachelor’s degree) of progressively responsible experience in providing support to the formulation and implementation of internal and external communications and advocacy strategies and related plans is required.
• Experience in the use of computers applications and software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) as well as web-based knowledge and project management systems (MS Teams, Zoom, Trello etc.) is required,
• Experience in the use of social media and digital communication is required,
• Experience in the use of graphic design software and applications, such as Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Canva as well as web-based management systems is a strong asset,
• Experience in the development of advocacy and communications materials and/or campaigns in the field of women’s empowerment and gender equality is a strong asset,
• Experience working in the UN System is an asset,
• Experience in the implementation of EU-funded projects is a strong asset.

Languages

• Fluency in English and Turkish is required

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, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, 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 to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel 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.)

Important note on applications:

Please ensure all applicable fields in the online application form are completed accurately. While CVs and cover letters are recommended to be attached as supplementary documents, the information provided in the digital form serves as the official and digitally signed statement of accuracy.

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements