Background

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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

With the support from European Union (EU) and other country programme specific donors, a regional programme “Strengthening the Resilience of Syrian Women and Girls and Host Communities in Iraq, Jordan and Turkey” is being implemented in Iraq, Jordan, and Turkey. This is an integrated programme that targets both displaced Syrian women and girls and host-country nationals across Iraq, Jordan, and Turkey. In Iraq, the programme additionally targets displaced Iraqi women, affected by the current conflict. It works to address the call of the European Union Regional Trust Fund to the Syria Crisis (EU MADAD) to, inter alia, involve women in crisis prevention, conflict management, peacebuilding and to help protect women in gender-based violence, especially sexual abuses.

The programme works at multiple levels to:

1. enable women’s empowerment through addressing issues of economic vulnerability and violence by increased access to recovery and livelihood opportunities, paired with comprehensive protection services and support to national justice structures to promote accountability for violence against women, and
2. promote a culture of peace and co-existence through supporting women to lead and engage in peacebuilding, reconciliation and conflict prevention.
3. engage men as partners, champions, and advocates for women’s increased empowerment, including their engagement in the labour market.

The programme operates at the regional level, implemented in Iraq, Jordan, and Turkey.

Objective of the assignment:

To support programme’s communication, visibility and media outreach, UN Women is looking for a qualified candidate to lead the communication and visibility actions. The Communications person is the programme’s expert in strategic communications, including media, events management, corporate branding, advocacy-related messaging and outreach. S/he is expected to facilitate communicating programme’s progress, achievements, learnings, and integration of best practices with wide range of stakeholders and coordinate with the country Communication Officers and programme managers to enhance the strategic positioning and visibility of the programme.

The Media and Communication Expert reports to the Regional Programme Coordinator. The position is home-based and requires travel as per the programme need. S/ he will ensure coordination, cohesion and build synergies with other ongoing interventions within UN Women, and those already funded by the EU MADAD Trust Fund.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Consultant is expected to: 

• Support the country offices in the implementation of the programme’s communications plan in line with UN Women and the donors’ communication strategy and guidelines;
• Maintain regional programme online outreach, coordinate its migration of content if needed and produce information materials and development of web content for public outreach;
• Coordinate communication activities with UN communication colleagues at regional /national level;
• Prepare and manage the bi-monthly E-newsletter, corporate branding, provide support to media advocacy and campaigns and provide strategic guidance on innovative strategies and actions for visibility of the programme.

More specifically, the consultant will have the following duties and responsibilities:

Support country offices in the implementation of the programme’s communications plan in line with UN Women and the European Union communication guidelines and strategy:

• Work through the established communication strategy for the programme and suggest further innovative approaches for high visibility throughout the programme cycle;
• Build and maintain relationships with the media to communicate widely about the programme and work to develop a database of journalists and media outlets interested in the programme;
• Identify, attract and engage key regional and international media outlets, opinion leaders and influencers in support of the programmes’ communication and advocacy goals;
• Adhere to UN Women and donor branding and visibility guidelines across all applications;
• Ensure consistency and quality of all digital and print communication applications;
• Plan and lead the implementation of a high-level programme visibility, especially during the global and regional strategic events.

Maintain regional programme online outreach, coordinate its migration of content if needed and produce information materials for public outreach:

• Oversee programme webpage technical and editorially in line with the corporate web policy;
• Oversee and manage regional social media accounts in line with corporate social media policy and provide inputs to corporate social media accounts;
• Opportunities for press conferences identified and press conferences organized; press releases and media kits drafted;
• Clear, consistent and timely responses to media inquiries; issuance of statement and corporate positions to media and other external audiences;
• Draft brochures, fact sheets, stories from the field to inform media and public;
• Produce relevant video material on the programme’s work when needed;
• Effective channels for dissemination of all information products to relevant target audiences identified and distribution supervised.

Coordinate communication activities with UN communication colleagues at regional /national level:

• Regular consultation with regional/national communication/programme teams to ensure consistency with corporate policies, messaging and initiatives;
• Feedback to national programme teams with a view to coordinate programme communication initiatives: informs about regional /national activities, provide inputs for corporate initiatives, seeks advice and support;
• Regular contributions to and advice provided on programme’s materials, e.g. website, video productions, stories, newsletter, infographs etc. to highlight regional/national results.

Competencies

Core Values

• Respect for Diversity;
• Integrity;
• Professionalism.

Core Competencies

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Functional Competencies

• Substantial experience and record of experience in communications, media, and outreach especially focusing on women and girls’ rights, especially economic empowerment, addressing violence against women and girls, and humanitarian response in refugee crisis;
• Significant familiarity with the Arab Region, women's rights organizations and networks in the region;
• Excellent communication skills to engage across different constituencies and maintain relationships with different levels of stakeholders;
• Excellent experience of using the electronic and print media, especially the web-based platforms;
• Ability to synthesise research and draw conclusion on the related subjects;
• Ability to pay attention to details;
• Strong organisational skills;
• Commitment to accomplish work;
• Good knowledge of UN Women and the UN system;
• Experience in managing EU supported programme’s communication is desirable.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in journalism and communication or related disciplines;
• Master's degree in journalism and communication or related disciplines is preferred.

 Experience

• Minimum 5 years of experience in the communications field;
• Traceable record of work on similar projects in Arab region is required;
• Computer literacy, electronic networks, and software used for communication purposes (i.e. Websites, electronics bulletin, etc.);
• Good experience with new media and generating web content;
• Practical experience working with the organizations/ private sector/communities in implementing development related projects/activities;
• Understanding the donors’ communications guidelines; work experience in managing similar programme, especially EU supported programme is preferred.

Language

• Professional proficiency in oral and written Arabic and English is required.

Required Presentation of Offer

The following documents are required to be submitted:

• Updated P11/CV (signed), indicating all relevant past experience, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate and at least three (3) professional references (P11 can be downloaded at UN Women website: http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment). Please also include two (2) samples of your past work that according to you match the above requirement of the position.
• Financial proposal, the consultant is expected to provide a daily fee amount as a financial proposal.

Note that the DSA, terminals and round-trip economy fare tickets for the travel requested by UN Women as part of completing this assignment will be compensated separately.  

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer:

Evaluation Criteria

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology: Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for the financial evaluation.

Criteria Weight Technical: 70%

• Criteria A: Relevance of the education. (6 points)
• Criteria B: Relevance of work experience in communication, media, and use of audio-visual mediums for women’s rights and gender equality campaigns, and a development related field. (20 points)
• Criteria C: Work experience with development organizations in Arab region. (5 points)
• Criteria D: Working experience in EU funded projects and knowledge of EU visibility guidelines. (9 points)
• Criteria E: Work experience in the area of Syrian refugee crisis in Iraq, Jordan, and Turkey. (10 points)
• Criteria F: Sample design’s relevance and quality. (20 points)

Financial: Lowest Financial Proposal: 30%

• Contract will be awarded to the technically qualified consultant who obtains the highest combined score (financial and technical); 
• The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula: (Lowest Bid Offered*)/ (Bid of the Consultant) x 30;
• 'Lowest Bid Offered' refers to the lowest price offered by Offerors scoring at least 49 points in the technical evaluation.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW, and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

UN Women is applying a fair and transparent selection process that would take into account both the technical qualification of Consultants as well as their price proposals. The contract will be awarded to the candidate obtaining the highest combined technical and financial scores.