Background

UN Women – the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women has been created to speed up the process of meeting the needs of women and girls across the world. As a part of the UN reform agenda, it brings together resources and mandates which will subsequently have a lasting impact on the whole community. 

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

The programming of UN Women Programme Office in Tajikistan includes support to the Government, civil society organizations, and other partners in the development and implementation of innovative approaches aimed at achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment. In Tajikistan, UN Women supports efforts of the national partners and UN agencies in the implementation of gender equality commitments in compliance with international standards, the UN human rights conventions, resolutions, and agreements ratified by the Republic of Tajikistan. It provides strong and coherent expert and technical support to the implementation of gender equality’s priorities in national and UN efforts and building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors. It strengthens coordination on gender equality and women’s empowerment programming, enhancing cooperation in a framework of the Agenda for Sustainable Development 2030.

Focusing on five strategic priorities, UN Women Programme Office in Tajikistan is implementing a wide range of projects focused on strengthening global norms and standards, increasing women’s leadership and political participation, enhancing women’s economic empowerment, ending violence against women, engagement of women in all aspects of peace and security processes and Humanitarian Action.

For the purpose of supporting the UN Women extensive portfolio in making visible the multitude of actions implemented in partnership with government and CSOs counterparts, as well as communicating clearly and actively about all the results achieved for women and girls, UN Women in Tajikistan is seeking to engage a National Communications Consultant to support the implementation of visibility and communications activities, including events, campaigns and development of knowledge products in the area covered by UN Women in Tajikistan.

Goals and objectives

The main goal of this assignment is to support the UN Women Programme Office in promoting its mandate through effective outreach, to raise awareness of the key stakeholders, target audience and donor community on the mandate, strategic goals, and activities of UN Women in Tajikistan. The Consultant will work in close collaboration with programme staff to exchange information and ensure consistent service delivery. The Consultant will assist the team with its responsibilities relating to the communications.

Learning objectives:

• Support maintaining files, databases, and systems relevant to the digital presence.
• Increase understanding of UN Women’s work and the UN system;
• Increase knowledge and understanding of issues related to gender;
• Build and develop professional relationships with UN Women colleagues and other UN agencies;
• Develop project management, communication, donor engagement, administration, and organization skills.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision and coordination of the Portfolio Coordinator of UN Women Programme Office in Tajikistan, the National Communications Consultant will be responsible for the following, but not limited to:

• Assist with communications support (including preparation of trainings, workshops or advocacy actions; drafting press release and other documents);
• Development and maintenance media outreach and social media content creation (FB, Instagram and optional on twitter, Tik-Tok).
• Draft and share meeting minutes from staff meetings, other coordination mechanisms meetings and any other meetings participated, as required;
• Support in drafting web articles on UN Women activities, concept notes and any other related documents.
• Provide support to advocacy efforts and campaigns by organizing roundtable discussions, press conferences, and other publicity events and providing inputs to briefing materials and press releases;
• Creating infographics and video reels by using relevant applications.
• Writing success stories, data collection, creation of photo bank, taking photos during events, awareness raising on programme activities and support with social media posts.
• Communication with partners and media-related work;
• Maintain library/ database of reference materials, photos, and digital assets;

The job performance of the National Communications Consultant will be monitored and evaluated by the Portfolio Coordinator of UN Women Tajikistan.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to think and work logically and work precisely with attention to details.
• Proven excellent communication and facilitation skills;
• Initiative, sound judgment and demonstrated ability to work harmoniously with staff members of different national and cultural backgrounds;
• Possesses the ability to work independently, or under pressure and meets tight deadlines;
• Highly computer literate with capability in email, MS Office, and related business and communication tools;
• Experience in using Canva application for creating infographics and video reels;
• Content writing experience for media platforms (Instagram, Twitter, FB, Tik-Tok);
• Experience of written and oral communications and editing skills; proven ability to position issues effectively, both orally and in writing; ability to write clearly and concisely;

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• University degree in the areas of communications, gender studies, journalism, graphic design, communication reporting & writing, digital photography, website building, information technologies or other area relevant to this ToR;

Working Experience:

• At least 4 years of work experience at the national or international level in public relations, journalism, communications or advocacy and international relations.
• Experience in the production of multimedia materials for social media.
• Experience in working with UN agencies, other international organizations, government agencies, partners and/or donors is an advantage.
• Experience in coordination and coverage events, writing success stories and reports is an asset.
• Experience in usage of PC and MS Office software packages (MS Word, Excel, PPT, etc.), as well experienced in working with Canva application.

Knowledge of languages:

• Proficiency in written and oral Tajik, Russian and English languages.

Application Process 

The application MUST include:

• Personal History Form (P-11 form) - including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment  a signed [scanned] copy should be submitted.
• Financial Proposal: indicate a total lump sum amount for the tasks specified in this Terms of Reference. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum by monthly deliverables.
• Letter of Interest.

Important! Applicants should sign all three (3) documents and compile in one (1) file and upload it, because the system accepts only one (1) file.

Candidates should have the ability to quickly produce degree certificates and medical certification (statement of good health) in case if they will be short-listed.