Antecedentes

The UN Women office in Ethiopia plays a dual role, consisting of representation to the African Union (AU) and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and representation to Ethiopia. Under its regional/liaison function, the Ethiopia country office engages with the AU and its various organs, the UNECA as well as the diplomatic community, among others. UN Women provides technical support to member states and the AU in the adoption, implementation and monitoring of commitments on gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE). In this regard, UN Women works closely and directly with different African Union Departments including the Department of Social Affairs to support the development and implementation of Gender Equality and Women Empowerment (GEWE) related joint projects and initiatives.  

Since 2014, UN Women has been engaged in a partnership with the Department of Social Affairs for the gender responsive implementation of the AU Campaign to End Child Marriage since its launch in 2014. The AU campaign aims to support member states to frame, launch, and execute national strategies and programmes, and support building on national social movements towards an end to child marriage and other harmful practices. The campaign recognizes that education is one of the most powerful tool to prevent the early marriage of girls and allow them to fulfil their potential as actors of development towards the implementation of Agenda 2063, SDGs and other policy commitments. It therefore aims to catalyze greater investment by Member States in quality primary and secondary education including in Science, Technology and Math fields by removing barriers to children and girls’ access to education including early marriage and other harmful practices.

Other new initiatives such as the joint project titled “African Girls Can CODE Initiative (AGCCI)” additionally aim at strengthening the ongoing partnership between UN Women and the Department of Social Affairs (AUC). The four-year project spanning the period 2018-2022 is designed to expose and equip young girls with digital literacy, coding and personal development skills. Implemented by UN Women and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in collaboration with AUC-DSA, this initiative will train young girls to become programmers, creators and designers, placing them on track to take up educations and careers in ICT and coding.

These interrelated initiatives employ, among others, advocacy and communications as a strategy to enhance understanding and the visibility of the issues, promote multi-stakeholder partnerships and institutionalize exchange of best practices among the relevant actors at various levels in AU Member States. Accordingly, the AUC in collaboration with relevant partners proposes to sustain and scale up its advocacy and communications efforts to enhance the impact of the AGCCI project and the AU Campaign to End Child Marriage, among others. To this end, the AUC through its Department of Social Affairs will collaborate with UN Women to increase its communication capacity by engaging the services of a communication consultant who will closely work with the AUC and UN Women’s communication team to carry out the tasks outlined under this TOR.

Deberes y responsabilidades

The communications consultant shall carry out the following tasks;

• Provide communication support during the coordination of advocacy and capacity building activities under the AGCCI and AU Campaign to End Child Marriage among other initiatives
• Draft and edit communications copy (e.g. press releases, publications, social media posts)

• Assist in maintaining web content and executing social media strategies
• Update databases and media lists
• Track the effectiveness of communication activities and media exposure
• Coordinate all publication activities, including content management, norms for publishing, design, liaison with printers and other suppliers to oversee production and dissemination;
• Collaborate with UN Women Ethiopia and relevant partners in promoting joint advocacy and communication campaigns
• Facilitate effective internal communications
• Prepare presentations and reports
• Maintain calendars and appointments
• Perform all other duties may be requested by the supervisor

DELIVERABLES

• High editorial quality and relevant communication content
• Up to date web-content, data bases and media lists
• Social media posts (Facebook….etc.)
• A weekly update on social media (posts, tweets, etc.)
• High quality publication
• Reports and minutes of advocacy events and consultations
• Focused communication strategies

Competencias

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards.
• Commitment to UN Women’s mission, vision, values and strategic goals.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.
• Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Academic qualifications

• A bachelor's degree or equivalent in Communication, Marketing, External Relations or other related disciplines

Professional experience

• Minimum 2 years of experience with digital marketing and communications strategy, including social media, email, and website management
• Experience working on gender equality, women, children and youth empowerment and/or social development issues in Africa.
• Experience working in a fast-paced and team-oriented environment.
• Experience working for United Nations system, the African Union or other inter-governmental organizations will be considered an advantage.

Language and other skills

• Excellent knowledge of written and oral communication and writing skills in English while work with more than one AU official language is highly desirable;
• Full command of Microsoft applications, particularly Word and Excel, and other relevant software.
• The ability to work quickly to tight deadlines under pressure