UN WOMEN Jobs - 111310- UN Women Moldova Strategic Communication Consultan

UN Women Moldova Strategic Communication Consultant to support the Women in Leadership and Governance Area

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Chisinau, MOLDOVA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Mar-2023

Application Deadline :

27-Feb-23 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

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.

The work of UN Women in Moldova is guided by its new Country Strategic Note 2023-2027, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Moldova (2023-2027), UN Women Global Strategic Plan, National Programs and Strategies and aims to contribute to the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Strategic Note focuses on four main areas: 1) Ending Violence against Women; 2) Women’s Leadership and Governance; 3) Women’s Economic empowerment and 4) Humanitarian and Peace development nexus and UN Coordination on Gender equality.

Guided by its Strategic Note, UN Women provides extensive support to relevant national and local stakeholders to ensure promotion of women’s leadership and women’s meaningful political participation. Women and girls constitute more than half of Moldova’s population, yet they are under-represented in the bodies that make key decisions affecting their lives. Although Moldova committed to support the increase of women’s political participation by adopting in 2016 the 40% gender quota and by nationalization of SDGs on gender equality, women remain under-represented in political and public leadership.

In the last few years Moldova faced a significant increase related to women’s political participation, by electing in 2020 its first female President and of 40% women in the Parliament after 2021 Snap Elections due to quota provisions. The new Government Cabinet formed in 2021 is led by a female Prime-Minister and has 29% women cabinet members. Its 2019 local elections contributed less to 22 % women as mayors (compared to 20.5% in 2015), 28.73% women district councilors (compared to 18.61% in 2015) and 36.5% women local councilors (compared to 30.6% in 2015).

Despite the recorded achievements in the area of political participation, Moldova is still far to achieve 50/50 representation as per SDG commitments, with the value of the Political Empowerment Sub-index of the Gender Gap Index in 2020 being still low (0.264 – placing Moldova on 45th place)[5].

Violence Against Women in Politics and Elections (VAWP/E) continues to be a significant barrier for women to enter and remain in office. UN Women Moldova. UN Women registered close to 260 cases of gendered political and electoral violence during the 2020 Presidential and 2021 Parliamentary elections alone. With General Local Elections scheduled for last week of October 2023, efforts to raise awareness on preventing VAWP/E, geared at women candidates in particular, but also women in office need to amped. Concurrently, multi-faceted efforts are required to encourage women, including women from under-represented groups to run for office considering the relatively low representation of women in leadership roles in local municipalities. Although the 40% gender quota will be applied for the election of local and district councilors in the upcoming local elections, there are significant risks that women’s interest to enter the political races may be low, considering pre-existing inequalities, but also the emerging challenges and backlash against women leaders exacerbated by the competing economic, regional security and refugee crises. Therefore, outreach efforts to raise awareness of political stakeholders and society at large about the need, importance, and benefits of women equal representation in decision making roles, particularly women facing multiple layers of exclusion and discrimination (e.g. Roma women, women with disabilities), need to be scaled up.

In this context, UN Women Moldova Country Office intends to hire a strategic communication consultant to support the conceptualization and coordination of a series of audiovisual, print products and events on women’s leadership and political participation.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main objective of this consultancy is to provide strategic inputs and exercise oversight over the development and delivery of high-quality communication products/events/materials on topics related to Violence Against Women in Politics and balanced participation of women in politics and decision making at all levels, in compliance with UN Women standards.

More specifically, the consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

Provide substantive inputs to the development of a mix of communication products (incl. but not limited to videos, infographics, social media content, etc.) planned by UN Women Moldova CO on topics related to VAWP/E and the broader women’s political participation agenda;
Coordinate and exercise quality control over the development of audiovisual and print materials produced by UN Women services provider to ensure full compliance with UN Women standards;
Develop/provide inputs to concepts, agenda, scenarios, etc. and provide support to UN Women Communications and WILG teams in organizing public events on various topics related to women’s leadership and political participation;

Competencies

Core Values:

Cultural Sensitivity and valuing Diversity
Integrity
Professionalism

Core Competencies:

Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
Ethics and Values
Accountability
Self-management and emotional intelligence
Creative Problem Solving
Effective Communication and Information Sharing
Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing
Work in teams
Leading by Example

Please visit this 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:

Excellent command of Romanian, English and Russian
Solid understanding of and hands-on experience in communications and outreach/advocacy;
Ability to produce well-written text, including use of gender sensitive language;
Ability to achieve results and to work in teams;
Ability to use Information Technology effectively as a tool and resource;
Ability to work under pressure and within limited time frames;
Ability to consistently approach work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
Ability to work in an independent manner and organize the workflow efficiently;
In-depth knowledge of gender equality and women’s rights issues is a strong asset.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

At minimum, Bachelor’s degree in foreign languages/literature/journalism/communication and public relations or in any other relevant domain. A Master’s degree in the aforementioned domains would be an asset

Experience

At least 2 years of relevant experience in journalism, public relations and/or mass media/ communications;
At least 2 years of experience in designing/implementing/managing communication activities on social issues;
Experience in developing/coordinating events/video/audio/print materials on gender equality/women in politics and elections/violence against women is a strong asset;
Relevant experience in related areas in UN Women and/or UN agencies or other international organizations is an asset.

Language:

Native Romanian mandatory. Excellent command of English and Russian

Application Procedure:

The United Nations in Moldova is committed to workforce diversity. Women, persons with disabilities, Roma and other ethnic or religious minorities, persons living with HIV, as well as refugees and other non-citizens legally entitled to work in the Republic of Moldova, are particularly encouraged to apply.

Interested applicants should apply to this announcement through UNDP jobs site: jobs.undp.org.
Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:
All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from

https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc;
Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment, please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment;
Letter of Intent to include a brief overview of the consultant’s previous experiences makes the candidate the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. It should reflect the above-mentioned required skills and experience.
Financial proposal – specifying a total lump sum amount for the task specified in Terms of References. The Financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (daily rate). Please see ANNEX I and ANNEX II- https://sc.undp.md/jobs/2757/

Applications received after the close date will not be accepted;
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.