Increased visibility and strengthened brand awareness of the United Nations Youth Office communications efforts, including through the development of graphic design materials and social media outputs.
Duties and Responsibilities
Background The United Nations Youth Office plays a lead role in the UN's efforts on youth development, focusing on raising international awareness of and bringing attention to promoting youth rights and stronger youth participation in formulating, implementing and evaluating the various development, peace and security, human rights and humanitarian frameworks. The UN Youth Office plays a lead role in advancing the roll-out, implementation and monitoring of the UN Youth Strategy, "Youth2030", that guides the entire UN System's work with and for young people and seeks to facilitate increased impact and expanded global, regional and country-level action to address the needs, build the agency and advance the rights of young people around the world.
Objective and Scope of Work As part of the Partnerships, Advocacy & Communications Section, this position will support the United Nations Youth Office communications efforts, including the development of graphic design materials and support for social media outputs. Duties and Responsibilities: As part of the Partnerships, Advocacy & Communications Section, this position will support the UN Youth Office’s communications efforts.
It will include three main areas of work:
Graphic design and content creation. The consultant will be responsible for creating a diverse range of visual assets and digital outputs, primarily for social media, email and website. By developing youth-friendly graphic design materials for a diverse range of communications channels, these efforts should contribute to strengthening how the office communicates on the UN’s work with and for youth, including in the context of Youth2030 (the UN’s system-wide strategy on youth). In addition to designing a range of digital cards and other social media materials, the consultant will also be responsible for developing all digital assets for the development of the new UN Youth Office website. Where applicable, the consultant will also support in the creation of multilingual assets, working with colleagues across the office for translation support.
Project management and overall communications planning. The consultant will support with the routine implementation of communications campaigns and advocacy efforts throughout the remainder of 2024 and in the first quarter of 2025. This includes general communications support for social media and event coverage. The consultant will be responsible for providing diverse content tailored to the needs of each communications channel, working with partners to localize global campaigns and vice versa. The consultant will also be responsible for supporting coverage of missions for the Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs.
Re-launch of the Young Leaders for the SDGs initiative. The consultant will support with the overall planning and execution of outreach and communications efforts linked to the re-launch of the Young Leaders for the SDGs initiative, including the development of a full communications toolkit and rebranded visual identity for the initiative. Working in close collaboration with the team, the consultant will also support, where required, with the overall project management of the application cycle, including implementation of the project timeline, creation of the application form, and review of applicant profiles.
Expected Outputs:
Lead graphic design and production of various communications materials under both the UN Youth Office and Youth2030 brands, including digital cards, gifs, icons, logos, charts and publications; convey a strong and consistent brand while ensuring alignment with UN brand guidelines.
Lead in the development of digital assets for the new UN Youth Office website, working in close coordination with the Website Consultant.
Support the re-launch of the Young Leaders for the SDGs initiative, under the supervision of the Associate Public Information Officer; support the Young Leaders application cycle and review process.
Support the launch of flagship UN Youth Office reports and initiatives, including the “New Generation of UN Internships” report.
Support the development of the UN Youth Office Annual Report 2024, to be produced via Adobe Spark (or a similar digital programme).
Support implementation of the overall social media strategy and various campaigns, including development of digital communications content.
Contribute to core communication efforts through good research, well-written copy and timely preparation and distribution of content to target audiences.
Share communications content with key partners within the UN system and externally.
Qualifications/special skills
A university degree in information technology, communications, social sciences, or any related field is required. A minimum of 5 years of work experience in design programmes (eg. Adobe Photoshop, Canva, etc.) to create digital cards, gifs, icons, logos, charts, publications is required. Previous experience developing content for major social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X/Twitter, LinkedIn and TikTok is required.
Familiarity developing content for web management platforms, such as WordPress or Drupal is required Demonstrated familiarity with new media platforms and digital communications tools, such as Adobe Spark, Trello and Submittable is desirable. Previous experience in creating, implementing and supporting youth-focused advocacy campaigns or communications programmes is desirable. Previous experience with international organizations will be considered as an asset.
Languages
Fluency in written and spoken English is required, proficiency of other UN Languages is an added advantage.
