Background

UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women.  A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. 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. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality, and in all deliberations and agreements linked to the 2030 Agenda. The entity works to position gender equality as fundamental to the Sustainable Development Goals, and a more inclusive world.

UN Women’s goal in Timor-Leste is to promote women’s human rights and gender equality as the country works towards sustaining and furthering achievements in stability and development, This includes efforts to ensure women’s right to live free from any form of violence, efforts to advance women’s economic empowerment, advance women’s leadership and participation in support of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda, and advance international agreements and commitments related to gender equality and women’s empowerment, including through adequate planning and budgeting.

Building on 20 years of experience in the area of women, peace and security (WPS), including conflict prevention and resolution, peacebuilding, security sector reform and access to justice, UN Women Timor-Leste is working to ensure a gender-sensitive approaches to promoting social cohesion and gender equality as part of wider efforts at the regional level to counter hate speech and prevent violent extremism. It is firmly based on the empowerment of women to build resilient, cohesive and peaceful communities, with a focus on those that are most marginalized and in particularly vulnerable situations. One of the components of this work is the empowerment of young women to promote social cohesion and counter hate speech and stigma in their communities.

COVID-19 has exacerbated gender inequalities and, in some cases, social tensions. Both on- and offline, hate speech, fake news, discrimination and stigma are rampant as a result of the virus’s quick spread. Groups who might use violence to assert their power in communities are likewise capitalizing on the spread of COVID-19 to advance their agendas. COVID-19 may become a driver of conflict, with devastating impacts on women and girls. In light of these developments, it is of particular importance to enhance young women’s abilities to promote social cohesion and awareness in their communities and to enhance their digital literacy so that they can engage positively online.

Toward implementing this initiative, UN Women Timor-Leste is seeking a consultant on Consultant on Digital literacy trainings to counter hate speech and promote social cohesion in the context of COVID-19 in Timor-Leste

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the Head of Office, and direct supervision of the Communications Officer, the consultant will support to conduct the training on digital literacy training aimed to promote social cohesion in the context of COVID-19.

The consultant will work with 50 young women and men, to:

• Enhance digital literacy: provide training based on UN Women’s training module for the youth to understand and identify hate speech, fake news, and misinformation (especially in the context of COVID-19), how to counter these threats and how to participate online safely.
• Create and spread positive content online and Contribute to media monitoring by identifying negative content online and ways to counter them: this will include developing a mass of positive online content in posters or videos targeting youth to participate online safely in a way that promotes social cohesion and peace in communities and increases skills of young people to counter threats in online spaces. Also to identify hate speech, fake news, and misinformation (especially in the context of COVID-19 and existing gender inequality).  
• Support linkages with other relevant campaigns and social media influencers in Timor-Leste: engage participants in the advocacy events or campaigns and also identify and facilitate connections between positive social media influencers and support greater visibility of online content that promotes gender equality and social cohesion issues in some related celebration of human right day (Ex: Imternational Day of Ending Violence Against Women, World Children Day, Internationla Day Against Hmophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, International Day of People with Disability, etc).     

All activities should be able to be carried out by following COVID-19 ptotocols, include limiting travel and following guidance related to in-person gatherings. The delivery of trainings should be linguistically accessible to participants in Tetum, including for persons with disabilities.

Scope of work and tasks

Task 1:  Review UN Women’s training module for conducting the training and develop work plan

• Review UN Women’s online curriculum modeule and develop a workplan for the project, taking into account limitations in travel and gatherings.

Task 2:  Enhance digital literacy

• Develop capacity of youth (18-26 years old) to build their digital literacy and to spread positive content online. The capacity development activities should include at least 8 trainings/meeitngs and reach a minimum of 50 young women per country.

Task 3:  Develop monitoring tools and assessment to measure the impact from the training to the participants

• Develop a monitoring tool and produce an assessment of the impact from the capacity development activities, including information on knowledge change over time and results of the online positive content.

Task 4:  Create and spread positive content online and Contribute to media monitoring by identifying negative content online and ways to counter them

• Develop templates for sharing consistent messaging.
• Research and develop examples of positive messaging, with clear explanations of the features that make good examples
• Work with youth to align messaging with youth perspective, culture and experiences
• Work with youth on strategies to promote positive messaging based on research, and including risk communication.
• Develop monitoring and assessment tool (can be extension of tool from Task 1) to track application of this training and support and the posting of positive messages. Tracking should include occurrence of posts, themes of posts, whether posts are free-standing or in response to hate speech or misinformation, and how the youth felt following posting.

Task 5: Support linkages with other relevant campaigns and social media influencers in Timor-Leste.

• Research human rights and youth campaigns, and social influencers, to identify collaboration/amplification opportunities, collect hashtags, visuals. Work with youth develop collaboration strategy and prioritize use of key messages, hashtags, upcoming events (1325 Anniversary, 16 Days of Activism in November-Dec, Intl Day for Persons with Disabilities, Intl AIDS Day, Intl Human Rights Day) etc.
• Work with youth to emphasise the value of amplified messages and unity in promoting human rights.

1. Expected Deliverables

All deliverables should incorporate UN Women feedback before finalization and all reports and training material shall be presented in English, in electronic version.

Due to work requirement and current situation, preference will be given to candidates based in Dili Timor-Leste.

1. Principles

• Training should be sensitive to gender equality and women’s empowerment and inclusive to people with disability and LGBTI community.
• The advocacy messages (social media content developed) should be positive and empowering to counter hate speech and promote social cohesion in the context of COVID-19 in Timor-Leste and assess the risk communication management.
• Materials designed in such way that they can be updated and adjusted for future use (content of the messages, all colours, fonts, or any other used resource should be included in the design package).
• Ensuring the design of the materials is consistent with UN Women communication guidelines.

1. Duration of the assignment

The total duration of the contract assignment will be from 16 July 2021 to 15 October 2021.

1. Schedule of Payment

Payment in full upon final submission and satisfactory outputs/products in accordance with specified requirements.

All the deliverables, including events, materials, notes and reports should be submitted in written in English language. Upon receipt of the deliverables and prior to the payment of the instalment, the deliverables-related reports and documents will be reviewed and approved by UN Women. The period of the review is one week after receipt.

1. Inputs

• The consultant is expected to use her/his own computer and have all needed software for related tasks.
• Cost of mobile phone communication needs to be covered by the consultant.
• UN Women will provide the consultant with office space, access to internet and a printer in Dili, if needed.
• UN Women team will support resource materials, and reference documents as relevant;
• UN Women will cover cost of travel and travel allowance to the municipalities as per UN Women rules and regulations.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• 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:

https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Functional Competencies:

• Strong commitment to gender equality and the empowerment of women, with demonstrated experience of researching or working on gender issues;
• Strong research and writing skills, with strong analytical skills and creative thinking;
• Ability to think and work logically and work precisely with attention to detail;
• Initiative, sound judgment and demonstrated ability to work harmoniously with staff members of different national and cultural backgrounds;
• Previous experience (also volunteer experience) from the non-profit sector is an advantage.
• Ability to multi-task and address competing priorities
• Ability to produce quality deliverables in a timely manner
• Strong computer skills, including Word, Excel, and Power Point

Required Skills and Experience

Consultant’s performance will be evaluated based on: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the deliverables.

1. Required experience and qualifications

The Consultant should fulfil the following requirements:

1. Education

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Communication or Social Science or relevant disciplines.

1. Experience:

• At least 2-years previous work experiences in digital literacy development, ideally related to gender equality or human rights. 
• Previous work experiences with a demonstrable ability to undertake analytical work, prepare reports, publications, web-based communication materials.
• Experience working with young people through remote channels of communication to promote gender equality, social cohesion or human rights.
• Familiarity with the context of Timor-Leste and popular social media platforms would be an advantage.
• Very good creative skills and command over basic video production, and InDesign, Photoshop would be an advantage.
• Previous experience in developing audio-visual communication material would be an added advantage.

1. Language and other skills:

• Excellent verbal and written English communication skills are essential, Tetum would be an advantage.
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, Internet and email. 
• Ability to use video equipment and video editing material is an added advantage

Submission of application 

Interested candidates are requested to submit electronic application to UNDP Job site  no later than 24 May 2021

Submission of package 

1. Cover letter and copy of the latest academic certificate;  

1. CV, including contact information for 3 references; 
2. Two writing samples, preferably including an evaluation where applicant was a team leader.

1. Financial proposal. The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount per each deliverable, and indicating separately any travel, per diem and administrative fees, based on the template in Annex 1. The lump sum costs must be accompanied by a detailed breakdown of costs calculation. 

All applications must include (as an attachment) the CV and the financial proposal. Applications without financial proposal will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further processing.  

Selected candidates will need to submit prior to commencement of work: 

1. UN Women P-11 form, available from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment 

1. A statement from a medical doctor of ‘good health and fit for travel’ 

1. The consultant will need to provide proof (certificate) of BSafe training (which can be accessed at undss.trip.org) – in case of travel

1. Evaluation 

Applications will be evaluated based on the Cumulative analysis.  

• Technical Qualification (100 points) weight; [70%]  
• Financial Proposal (100 points) weight; [30%] 

 
A two-stage procedure is utilised in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated. 

Technical qualification evaluation criteria: 

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria: 

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically-qualified candidate. 

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation: 

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated.  
• The total number of points allocated for the price component is 100.  
• The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price. 

Annex I: Financial Proposal  

 
BREAKDOWN OF COSTS SUPPORTING THE ALL-INCLUSIVE FINANCIAL PROPOSAL 

Breakdown of Cost by Components: 

The above lump sum costs includes all administration costs and expenses related to the consultancy. All prices/rates quoted must be exclusive of all taxes. The lump sum costs must be accompanied by a detailed breakdown of costs calculation incl. travel related costs,  daily professional fee.