Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women works for the elimination of all forms 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.

In order to better monitoring results, UNW compilates key achievements through its Annual report, a strategic corporate tool that compiles lessons learnt and main results of UNW initiatives and strategic support provided to countries in the region.

This year in particular, brought several challenges regarding GEWE. Marked by COVID-19 pandemic, UNW presence and partnerships in the region has been marked by COVID-19 recovery ad response initiatives, by the enormous challenges to health systems and spurring widespread shutdowns, school and business closures, and job losses with high levels impact on women and girls in terms of violence, economic empowerment and participation in the public spheres. Nearly all countries are facing an unprecedented economic downturn and UNW has positioned itself at the forefront of the global response.

WCARO Annual Report 2020 will focus on UN Women´s action on COVID 19, around  10 to 15 pages which will highlight (position) our action in the region by making it visible (donors and Resources Mobilization) and will combine elements of advocacy particularly aimed at young people, women and girls. To this end, it is not intended to be exhaustive but to highlight the main areas of action (public policies, strategies) which have had an impact in the form of good practices (clusters).

In that context, WCARO seeks the services of a consultant with in-depth expertise in result-based reporting, macro analysis capacity based on qualitative and quantitative data (infographics) to showcase UN Women action on Covid 19 throughout the region considering January - December 2020 as reporting period.

NB: This year the annual report will focus on the impact of the COVID 19 which was experienced at every level- individual, household, community, and society. WCARO provided technical and financial support to strengthen country office COVID-19 response and recovery coordination efforts. Key results through Covid 19 context should be highlighted in this report.

Under the supervision and overall guidance of WCARO’s Planning, Monitoring and Reporting Unit and Communication team, based in Dakar, in close collaboration with relevant units and country-level offices, the consultant will be responsible entails in-depth research and writing the draft report and associated documents (e.g. Annual report, Newsletters, policy brief, pictures) upon initial comprehensive technical guidance provided by WCARO. A commitment to deadlines will be required while at the same time accommodating flexibility with regards to the current context of COVID19.

Objective of the Assignment:

The overall objective of the assignment is to prepare and develop a high quality, analytical and results- oriented annual report focused on UN Women action on Covid 19 and the impact on women and girls in the West and Central African Region, during the period of reporting from January to December 2020.

The Consultant will perform the following tasks:

• Conduct comparative research on lessons learnt from countries of the West and Central African Region on initiatives aiming at empowering women and girls in a context of COVID-19 pandemic, including responses and recovery initiatives.
• Conduct a survey or interviews if needed to gather valuable information
• Draft, edit, copy-edit and proofread draft regional annual reports (based on desk review of internal resources such as Annual reports, donor reports, etc.) including charts, graphs based on data visualization tools;
• Draft an outline based on research, consultations within the CO as well as with relevant external stakeholders to ensure that the content accurately reflects and includes the major results achieved by the CO in 2020;
• Ensure correctness of report language (i.e. use of grammatically correct language, spellings, politically appropriate language among others), tone and style, adhering to the UN Women style guide and results language;
• Proofread the texts as they are laid out by the designer;
• Work with the relevant team to revise the draft report following amendments and clarification and to respond to feedback from the Regional Office following technical review, as necessary.
• Work with communication and the graphic designer selected to develop ideas for graphics and charts that creatively convey key messages/data in the report, as well as write captions for the photos in the publication.
• Incorporate revisions related to content, design and/or language. The text will adhere to UN Women’s branding standards for language and presentation.
• Submit finalized reports to the Regional Office within the indicated timeline.

As a Result-Based Report, the 2020 Annual report prepared by the consultant will need to:

• demonstrate the effectiveness of the interventions / projects / programmes;
• make the case to stakeholders and donors for continued resources and support;
• demonstrate accountability to governing bodies of UN Women, government and donors and other relevant stakeholders.
• allow UN Women management, Resident Coordinators and UNCTs to inform their decision making.

Deliverables:

Core Values

• Respect for Diversity;
• Integrity;
• Professionalism.

Behavioural Competencies:

• Ability to be flexible and respond to changes to text/layout as part of the review and feedback process;
• Strong interpersonal skills, able to communicate and work with diverse people;
• Participate effectively in team-based, information-sharing environment, collaborating and cooperating with others;
• Focus on impact and results for the client.

Education

Masters’ Degree in Public Relations, English Language or Literature, Communications, Journalism or Creative 

Functional Competencies:

• Writing with at least five (5) years’ experience.
• Strong research and excellent writing skills in English and French, including analytic writing skills;
• Good macro analysis skills based on qualitative and quantitative data (infographics)
• Excellent organizational skills;
• Experience in producing corporate products;
• Good understanding of UN, including UN Women, development issues;
• Knowledge of UN terms, language and style;
• Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure. Ability to work effectively in team-based, information sharing environment, collaborating and cooperating with others remotely through online ICT solutions (zoom, MS teams, etc.)