Public Information Officer (Publishing Officer), NOC

ECA's mission is to deliver ideas and actions for an empowered and transformed Africa; informed by the 2030 SDGs and Agenda 2063. The mission is guided by ECA's five new strategic directions which are: advancing ECA's position as a premier knowledge institution that builds on its unique position and privilege to bring global solutions to the continent's problems and take local solutions to the continent; developing macroeconomic and structural policy options to accelerate economic diversification and job creation; designing and implementing innovative financing models for infrastructure, and for human, physical and social assets for a transforming Africa; contributing solutions to regional and transboundary challenges, with a focus on peace security and social inclusion as an important development nexus; advocating Africa's position at the global level and developing regional responses as a contribution to global governance issues. The Administration and Conference Management Division (ACMD) is headed by a Director and reports to the Deputy Executive Secretary (Programme Support). It is divided into seven main sections: Facilities Management Section (FMS), Finance and Budget Section (FBS), Digital and IT Management Section (DITMS), Human Resources Management Section (HRMS), Publications and Conference Management Section (PCMS), Supply Chain Management Section (SCMS) and United Nations Health Care Centre (UNHCC). This position is located in the Administration and Conference Management Division (ACMD), Publications and Conference Management Section (PCMS) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The incumbent works under the overall guidance of the Chief of PCMS, and the direct supervision of the Chief of Production Services Unit (PSU) and the incumbent will be responsible for the following:

Within delegated authority and depending on location, the Publishing Officer may be responsible for the following duties: • Ensures implementation of publishing and information programs to support priority issues and/or major events, to include drafting publishing strategies, coordinating production efforts, monitoring and reporting on progress, taking appropriate follow-up action, and analyzing the outcome. • Monitors and analyzes current developments in publishing, design and digital distribution, identifies issues and trends, and advises management on appropriate actions/responses. • Undertakes activities to promote dissemination of UN publications (e.g. print, electronic, and multimedia publications), to include development of outreach and distribution plans, initiating proactive engagement with partners, consulting with clients on design and production needs, disseminating materials and consulting with press on approach/story angle and other information requests, undertaking appropriate follow-up action and analyzing and reporting on reach and impact. • Produces or oversees the end-to-end production of United Nations publications, including publication planning, graphic design, page layout, typography, infographics, cover design, prepress preparation, colour management, accessibility compliance, print production, digital publishing and quality assurance. • Prepares on the basis of official UN documentation and other sources, initial drafts of content for inclusion in UN publications and knowledge products. • Initiates and sustains professional relationships with key constituencies, including authors, editors, translators, designers, printers and vendors. • Acts as focal point on specific publishing issues, monitoring and reporting on developments, responding to inquiries, etc. • Participates in selecting information and materials to be published and transmitted to key constituencies. • Provides guidance to, and may supervise, more junior staff, while also contributing directly to design jobs and mentoring staff on publishing workflows, design assignments, and production tasks. • Collects and analyzes publishing-related data to identify trends or patterns and provide insights through graphs, charts, tables, and reports using data visualization methods to enable data-driven planning, decision-making, presentation, and reporting. • Ensures that requirements, background information used for data analysis are documented.

Education

Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in publishing, in publishing, graphic design, visual communication design, print and media technology, Digital publishing, desktop publishing, industrial design, multimedia design (with emphasis on publication design), or related field. A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. Successful completion of both degree and non-degree programs in data analytics, business analytics or data science programs is an advantage.

Work Experience

A minimum of five years of progressively responsible experience in publication production, graphic design, desktop publishing, editorial production, print production or digital publishing is required. Experience using professional desktop publishing software, including Adobe InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop, is required. Experience must include the production of reports, books or other publications from manuscript to final print-ready and digital formats, including page layout, typography, graphic design, prepress preparation, quality assurance and coordination with editors, translators, designers and printers is desirable. Experience producing accessible digital publications and interactive PDF publications is desirable. Experience working with international organizations or large publishing environments is desirable. Experience in data analytics or a related area is desirable.

Language

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this job opening, English is required. French is desirable.