Background

Today Ukraine is facing its most serious challenges since achieving independence in 1991. The ongoing war has already resulted in significant loss of life, unprecedented displacement, internally and towards neighboring countries, and devastating destruction of infrastructure. The UN Ukraine Flash Appeal shows that at least 15.7 million people are in immediate need of emergency assistance and protection. Early projections indicate that if the war should continue in the medium to long term, up to 90% of the Ukrainian population could face poverty and extreme economic vulnerability, and the country’s socio-economic progress could be set-back by almost 20 years. In the short-term, 62% of the population is at high risk of falling into poverty. Ukraine’s economy is set to shrink by 45% this year due to the war and even with a moderate recovery in the next few years, by 2025 the GDP would still only be two-thirds of the pre-war GDP in 2021.

In addition, the country faces losses of many people’s lives and devastative destruction of infrastructures and economic bases. Currently, more than 50% of the energy infrastructure damaged, causing the massive disruption of energy supply nationwide with millions of people experiencing power outages and challenges in heating. Extensive scale of destruction of infrastructure, rehabilitating or constructing infrastructures and installing equipment with necessary supply of the materials is urgently required to restore or maintain lifeline and key basic services, followed by removal or mines and explosives as well as debris.

The widespread presence of landmines, cluster munition, and other explosive remnants of war (ERW) in Ukraine pose a considerable and mounting threat. To address the emergency needs in the country, and meet long-term goals for Ukraine, UNDP is scaling up the project interventions within Mine Action with a focus on supporting Mine Action authorities and emergency service responders.

Effective communication is essential to maintain donor confidence, inform and engage the Ukrainian public, and build understanding among key stakeholders at national and sub-national levels. The Strategic Communications Analyst will support the Mine Action Project in developing and implementing coherent, impactful communications that reflect programme achievements, engage affected communities, and reinforce the national mine action narrative in the broader recovery and development context.

The incumbent will promote UNDP”s mandate as a gender-responsive organization with zero tolerance to discriminatory and abusive behavior, including sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and abuse

Duties and Responsibilities

The Strategic Communications Analyst will provide strategic, technical, and coordination support to the UNDP Mine Action Project on communications and advocacy. The role will support content development, strategic messaging, public outreach, and stakeholder engagement. The incumbent will ensure coherence and visibility of UNDP-supported mine action activities in line with national and UNDP priorities and strengthen communications partnerships across government and international actors.

Strategic Communications Planning and Advisory

• Develop and implement the Mine Action Project’s communications strategy, aligned with the UNDP Country Office and national mine action priorities.
• Provide strategic advice and messaging support to the project team for donor visibility, advocacy, and stakeholder engagement.
• Contribute to the coordination of the Government of Ukraine’s unified mine action messaging through engagement with the National Mine Action Agency / Authorities / Institutions and the Demine Ukraine campaign.
• Identify communication opportunities around milestones, policy achievements, technical innovations, and field success stories.
• Advise on risk communications, reactive lines, misinformation mitigation, and sensitive messaging related to explosive ordnance contamination and clearance. Use the principles of gender-responsive communications in line with the UNDP corporate standards.

Content Development and Outreach

• Draft, edit, and coordinate production of communication materials, including press releases, human-interest stories, fact sheets, videos, social media posts, presentations, and talking points.
• Maintain a consistent and impactful visual identity for mine action-related products in coordination with the Country Office Communications Team.
• Ensure clear, culturally appropriate, and inclusive messaging tailored to various stakeholders including donors, affected communities, national and local authorities, and international partners.
• Support preparation of communication materials for high-level events, field visits, and media briefings.

Stakeholder Engagement and Relationship Building

• Liaise with the UNDP Country Office Communications Team to align project messaging with broader UNDP communications efforts.
• Establish and maintain close working relationships with communications focal points in the National Mine Action Agency / Authorities / Institutions, and other mine action stakeholders.
• Support strategic partnerships with media outlets, influencers, and CSOs to raise public awareness on mine action issues.
• Contribute to coordination platforms or thematic groups focused on communications, both within UNDP and the broader humanitarian-development community.

Knowledge Management and Monitoring

• Work closely with the Knowledge Management and Reporting Specialist to document communication achievements, lessons learned, and success stories for internal and external use.
• Maintain a repository of communication products, brand assets, photo archives, and field testimonials.
• Monitor the reach and impact of communication efforts and use data to improve strategy and content.
• Support knowledge-sharing and training activities to build internal communication capacity within the Mine Action Project and Extended Communication Team.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Institutional Arrangement

The Strategic Communications Analyst will report directly to the Mine Action Strategy Specialist with overall responsibility to the Mine Action Programme Manager. The Analyst will work closely with the UNDP Communications Team Leader and in coordination with the Mine Action Project Team and wider UNDP Ukraine Communications Team. The Analyst will also engage with government counterparts, implementing partners, and donor representatives as needed. The incumbent may have supervisory role.

Competencies

Core

Achieve Results

LEVEL 2: Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work

Think Innovatively

LEVEL 2: Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking

Learn Continuously

LEVEL 2: Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning

Adapt with Agility

LEVEL 2: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in change process

Act with Determination

LEVEL 2: Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously

Engage and Partner

LEVEL 2: Is facilitator/integrator, bring people together, build/maintain coalitions/partnerships

Enable Diversity and Inclusion

LEVEL 2: Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, considers in decision making

People Management

UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

Thematic Area
Name
Definition

Communications
Media Relations
Ability to develop media relations across all aspects of media work including relationships with media and preparing media materials such as messages

Communications

Multimedia writing/editing

Ability to create and/or edit written content for multimedia

General (across the functions)

Public Relations
Ability to build and maintain an overall positive public image for the organization, its mandate and its brand, while ensuring that individual campaigns and other communications and advocacy initiatives are supported in reaching the public

Communications

Social Media management
Ability to represent and promote the UNDP brand in virtual communities and networks

Business Direction & Strategy
System Thinking
Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system

Business Management
Communication

Communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience;

Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels

Business Management
Customer Satisfaction/Client Management
Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers” needs. Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy. Look for ways to add value beyond clients” immediate requests. Ability to anticipate client”s upcoming needs and concerns

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Communications, Journalism, Public Relations, Political Science, International Relations, or a related field is required. OR
• A first-level university degree in the above fields with an additional two years of relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree.

Experience:

• Minimum 2 years (with Master’s degree) or 4 years (with Bachelor’s degree) of relevant experience in strategic communications, media relations, advocacy, or similar fields.

Required skills

• Proven track record of strong writing, editing, and visual storytelling skills.

Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section

• Proven experience developing communications materials and strategies in development, humanitarian, or post-conflict contexts.
• Experience in mine action, humanitarian mine risk education, or post-conflict recovery.
• Proven experience of working with digital communication tools (e.g., Canva, Adobe Suite, social media management platforms).
• Experience engaging with governmental institutions, donor agencies, or international organization; with knowledge of UNDP or UN communications standards.

Required Language(s)

• Fluency in English and Ukrainian languages is required.

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination.

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles.

Right to select multiple candidates

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.

Scam alert

UNDP does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process. For further information, please see www.undp.org/scam-alert.