Communications Support

Organizational Context

UN-Habitat is the United Nations programme dedicated to a better urban future, promoting socially and environmentally sustainable human settlements and adequate shelter for all. Operating amidst unprecedented urban challenges like rapid urbanization, slums, and inadequate infrastructure, UN-Habitat leads efforts to transform cities into opportunities, guided by the New Urban Agenda. The Urban Crises Response and Humanitarian Affairs section works on the frontlines of urban crisis prevention, response, and recovery, aiming to make its vital work visible to global stakeholders.

Job Purpose

The primary purpose of this assignment is to significantly enhance the visibility and strategic partnerships of the Urban Crises Response and Humanitarian Affairs section. This will be achieved through a targeted digital communications initiative focused on transforming raw updates, impact stories, and milestones from global field teams into high-impact social media content. The Communications Specialist will play a crucial role in translating complex humanitarian data and technical urban concepts into accessible narratives for a broad audience. By strategically cross-promoting content across various social media accounts, the volunteer will help elevate the section's profile, clearly define what "urban crisis response" means on the world stage, and ultimately drive engagement to strengthen and develop relationships with key stakeholders and partners, ensuring their vital work gains due recognition.

Responsibilities

The Communications online volunteer will undertake key duties across strategy, content creation, cross-promotion, engagement, and reporting. 1. **Strategy & Platform Alignment**: Establish clear thematic pillars for the LinkedIn account, focusing on the section's work (e.g., urban resilience, crisis response). Ensure content is professional, authoritative, empathetic, and translates technical jargon into accessible language. Develop a strategy to migrate the Facebook audience to LinkedIn. 2. **Content Creation & Section Storytelling (LinkedIn)**: Connect with project teams to gather updates, photos, and milestones, rewriting them into compelling narratives in the Director’s voice. Design and format LinkedIn posts using best practices, including photo/video layouts and digestible slides summarizing toolkits or policy papers. Manage a monthly calendar for 2-3 high-quality posts per week. 3. **Cross-Promotion & Audience Migration (Facebook)**: Create high-engagement Facebook posts highlighting immediate achievements, with clear calls-to-action directing followers to the LinkedIn profile for deeper insights. Utilize high-traffic events like the World Urban Forum to promote LinkedIn links. 4. **Strategic Engagement & Networking**: Actively interact with institutional partners, donors, and other UN agencies on the section's profile to increase mutual visibility. Track comments and messages on both platforms to identify potential partnership inquiries or networking opportunities for leadership. 5. **Monitoring, Reporting, and Iteration**: Review monthly analytics for both platforms, focusing on LinkedIn follower growth and Facebook traffic migration. Provide concise monthly summaries of best-performing content to refine the strategy and maximize reach.

Work Experience

Candidates should possess at least one year of substantive professional experience in managing corporate social media platforms. Previous samples of work are required. Applicants should highlight relevant experience in their CV.

Skills

Required skills include strong expertise in communications, specifically social media management. The volunteer must be dynamic, creative, and highly organized, with a talent for transforming complex, technical humanitarian work into engaging stories. Essential competencies also include a strategic eye for platform growth, sharp graphic design skills, and effective storytelling abilities. Fluency in English is required.

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