Background

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women 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, the 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 will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Objective of the Assignment

Given that most reports, project documents and advocacy material produced by the UN Women Country Office (CO) is written by individuals whose native language is not English, drafting content in and editing content into English that can be published requires the services of a Copywriter/Editor.

The main objective of this consultancy is to ensure professional and high quality of UN Women external-use documents. These documents must comply with UN Women’s standards and formats.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work 

Under the supervision of the Communications focal point and in close collaboration with UN Women CO staff, the Copywriter/Editor will provide i. Editing and proof-reading, and ii. Copywriting of material provided by the UN Women CO.

Specifically, the Copywriter/Editor will

• Participate in a two-day Strategic Note workshop taking place in Bishkek approx. in late June to understand the background to the Strategic Note to be drafted by UN Women and take notes
• Copywriting: compose from draft material generated in the aforementioned workshop and other material provided the narrative of the Strategic Note 2018-2022 for the UN Women Kyrgyzstan Country Office (approx. 7,500 words);
• Copywriting: compose the narrative section of two project documents of approx. 20 pages and each from material provided in the structured format of a donor;
• Edit and proof-read final drafts versions of research reports and related documents of this research (approx.. 87,500 words);
• Edit and proof-read final draft versions of leaflets and brochures for publication (approx. 20,000 words).

The above deliverables will be provided to a standard not requiring further proof reading. UN Women reserves the right to make substantive changes to the text provided to the Copywriter/Editor, for these changes that will not exceed 10% of the overall content drafted under the contract, to be English language edited once more as part of this contract.

The contractor will compose and present all text to a high standard of the English language, using ‘Oxford English’, also in relation to spelling. Text will be presented in an accessible manner. Text is to be succinct, lucidly written and grammatically correct.

Expected Deliverables:

The payment will be based on the actual number of pages/words edited by the contractor.

The assignment is to be completed by 15 December 2017 with deliverables to be provided as per the aforementioned table.

The payment is to be done as a lump sum upon submission and acceptance of the deliverables by UN Women.

Competencies

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

Required Skills and Experience

Required Skills and Experience  

Education:

• Master’s degree in the social sciences, preferably in linguistics or English literature or philology;

Experience:

• At least 3 years of relevant experience as an Editor of English language texts and writing reports;
• The Copywriter/Editor must understand the concept of gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• Experience in drafting strategic development documents and/or research reports is desirable;
• Familiarity with UN Women/UN style of writing and with UN publication requirements is desirable;
• Work experience in and on Central Asia is desirable;

Language:

• Superior written English language.
• Knowledge of Russian and/or Kyrgyz is an asset