Background

UN Women’s programme on Second Chance Education (SCE) and Vocational Training aims to reach out to and enable 40,000 young women and women from marginalised communities in India through education, training, employment and entrepreneurship skills. The programme is trying to address the structural barriers young women and women face in realizing their full economic potential by trying out innovative pilots in all these verticals across project states viz Bihar, Maharashtra, Odisha and Rajasthan. To support young women and women in getting skilled and gainfully employed, the project adopts an empowerment approach to livelihoods as against the instrumental approach where the focus is merely on skills/income generation. The activities to strengthen women’s learning and earning pathways, therefore, will be coupled by the capacity building initiatives on making women aware about their rights and entitlements, raise voice against violations and demand accountability from duty bearers. The Programme adopts evidence-based policy advocacy, leveraging UN Women’s and implementing partners’ institutional relationships with key relevant Ministries such as Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Rural Development/National Rural Livelihoods Mission and Ministry of Human Resource Development. The programme intends to create a supportive ecosystem to enhance; women’s participation in the workforce and opportunities of self-employment, at the state as well as national level.

The Communication Consultant will maintain a working relationship with the UN Women India CO/the Regional Communications Team/ and the HQ Communications team. The Consultant will work in close collaboration with the UN Women India Office and Partners of the Second Chance Education Programme, Operations teams, staff of other UN Agencies, ensuring successful implementation of the programme documentation and communication strategy implementation.

The objective of this assignment is to increase the visibility of the Second Chance Education Programme by documenting best practices, advocacy efforts and outreach.

Duties and Responsibilities

Support the development of programme communications and advocacy materials:

  • Draft press releases, Newsletters, articles, key messages, and other advocacy materials
  • Standardise the communications material and layout of the 12 Empowerment hubs in the 4 states – Rajasthan, Odisha, Bihar and Maharashtra; including physical standardisation
  • Collating best practices on similar Empowerment Hubs across the globe and ensuring it is reflected in the layout of the Hub
  • Media collaboration strategy
  • Review translations, contact with printers and other suppliers to ensure production;
  • Review of videos and photographs submitted by partners and/or external agencies, if need be visit to the field to collect high resolution photographs and videos
  • Maintain library/ database of reference materials and photos;
  • Support Geneva office in communications and reporting. Also, align the communications of  SCE India programme with the communications of Geneva Office.
  • Follow guidelines from HQ and Geneva office.

Support and manage the SCE programme social media presence and on other platforms:

  • Gather information for the development of content for the India website and social media channels;
  • Share updates with the Communication team for the website and social media channels, as required;
  • Maintain files, databases, and systems relevant to the SCE programmes digital presence;
  • Track and monitor social media and report relevant information to UN Women staff;
  • Research, compile and produce reports on web statistics on a regular basis and electronic surveys;
  • Design and create social media content (infographics, videos, GIFs, social media cards etc.).

Facilitate knowledge management and sharing:

  • Support M & E analyst in documenting case studies and stories of change.
  • Organize trainings and workshops on communication practices;
  • Provide/ exchange information with Geneva HACRO and other SCE programme countries.

Other:

  • Perform other tasks as assigned by supervisor.

Deliverables:

  • Provision of efficient communications related support in planning, preparing and implementing communications and advocacy material for the SCE programme.
  • Effectively support the development and review of audio-visual material capturing the journey of young women and women under the SCE programme.
  • Development and publication of communications materials such press releases, social media posts and human impact/news stories/articles/blogs for SCE programme and liaising with print media.
  • Support Geneva office in communications and reporting.
  • Monthly Reports on implementation of the communications activities. This report shall also tackle issues faced during implementation of the assignment and recommend follow-up actions.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

  • Demonstrates commitment to UN Women’s mission, vision and values;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning:

  • Shares knowledge and experience;
  • Actively works towards continuing personal learning, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

  • Ability to perform a variety of specialized tasks related to design, planning and implementation of programme, managing data, reporting;
  • Ability to provide input to and use new IT based systems.

Leadership and Self-Management:

  • Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
  • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
  • Remains calm, in control even under pressure;
  • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
  • Good understanding of gender and development in South Asia;
  • Demonstrable ability to work in a team;
  • Ability to work under pressure;
  • Good writing and communication skills;
  • Excellent computer literacy and skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in communications, media relations, journalism or any other related field.

Experience:

  • 1-2 years of relevant experience at the national or international level in public relations, electronic and print media , communications or advocacy.
  • Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages, good knowledge and experience in handling of web-based management systems. Knowledge of gender and human rights issues desirable.

Language Requirements:

  • Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of official national language essential.

Application:

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 http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs;
  • 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;
  • Applications received after the close date will not be accepted;
  • Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Evaluation and Selection Criteria

Criteria for shortlisting of CVs will be based on the following assessment:

  • Required Degree and Qualification (5 points);
  • 1-2 years of relevant experience at the national or international level in public relations, communications or advocacy. (5 points)
  • Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages, good knowledge and experience in handling of web-based management systems. (5 points);
  • Excellent analytical and writing skills in English (5 points).

The evaluation process for selection of the candidate will be based on the following assessment:

  • Interview – 70%;
  • Writing Samples – 30%.

Please Note:

  • For an assignment requiring travel, consultants of 65 years or more require full medical examination and statement of fitness to work to engage in the consultancy.
  • Due to large number of potential applicants, only competitively selected candidates will be contacted for remaining steps of the service procurement process.

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.