Organization Mission

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) is a special political mission established by the UN Security Council to assist Libyans in navigating the country’s complex political transition. Its core mandate is to support a Libyan-led and Libyan-owned political process aimed at restoring peace, stability, and unified governance. UNSMIL works impartially to facilitate dialogue among political, security, and civil society actors with the goal of reaching inclusive and lasting solutions to the country’s institutional divisions and prolonged political impasse.

One of UNSMIL’s key objectives is to help prepare the ground for credible, inclusive, and peaceful national elections. The Mission supports efforts to agree on a constitutional basis and legal framework for elections, encourages consensus-building among rival institutions, and engages with a broad range of stakeholders to ensure that all voices—including those of women, youth, and marginalised communities—are heard in the political process. UNSMIL also monitors and reports on political developments and works to prevent and mitigate spoilers who seek to undermine progress.

Beyond the political track, UNSMIL plays an essential role in supporting the implementation of the October 2020 ceasefire agreement. The Mission assists the 5+5 Joint Military Commission in efforts to unify military institutions, oversee the withdrawal of foreign fighters and mercenaries, and enhance security arrangements across the country. It also promotes disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration (DDR) of armed groups, while advocating for civilian oversight of security forces.

UNSMIL’s mandate also includes the promotion of human rights, rule of law, and transitional justice. It monitors violations, supports accountability efforts, and works to strengthen Libya’s judicial and legal institutions. In coordination with UN agencies and international partners, UNSMIL helps facilitate humanitarian assistance and the delivery of essential services, while encouraging inclusive governance and local-level reconciliation. All of its efforts are guided by the principles of Libyan sovereignty, impartiality, and respect for human rights.

Context

In December 2024 UNSMIL launched a new political process. As the Mission facilitates a Libya-led process to find a solution to the political impasse, there is an increased demand for communications resources and content explaining the mandate, the process and recommendations and working to prevent an increase in hate speech.

The Mission has developed a communications strategy focused on informing, educating and moblising the Libyan public around the key issues. Our aim is to inform the public around the key issues and explain the recommendations being presented by Libyan stakeholders. We want to engage Libyan youth, women, civil society, security and political actors to ensure that they can share their views and ideas, and to mobilise them on a collective path for change.

The political and media landscape has a large amount of misinformation and disinformation. UNSMIL needs to stay in control of the narrative and ensure all target audiences are informed as much as possible about the process and the ways to be involved.

Key Responsibilities

We are looking for 5 experienced and creative Online Volunteers who will support our communications team with the development of an outreach/social media campaign to support the political process in Libya. In close collaboration with the communications team, the Online Volunteers will:

– Discuss and define the campaign’s target audience, desired goals, and outcome
– Develop audience segmentation
– Design and develop social media content – including GIFs, animations, graphics and video content tailored to key audiences
– Support with content creation ideas regarding combatting mis/disinformation, explaining UNSMIL”s mandate, civic education and the political process.
– English and Arabic required

The Online Volunteer will be provided with material and other sources to develop the social media content as required and available. For close coordination and discussion, the Online Volunteer is expected to be available for calls via Zoom/Microsoft Teams.

This assignment provides Online Volunteers with an opportunity to develop and strengthen their skills in communication, networking within the communications team and other learning experiences.

Required Skills and Experience

Candidates should have professional or advanced experience in graphic design and video editing, and have the software to be able to do this work. Candidates should have a good knowledge of social and other media. Familiarity with the political, social and economic context of this assignment is highly desired.

In addition, candidates should have excellent analytical and good writing skills and be able to draft in English and Arabic. Candidates will be asked to provide examples of previous graphic design and video work before being appointed.