National Consultant - Design Communication, Advocacy and Campaign Materials, Freetown

Background:

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.

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 provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

The project aimed at enhancing the participation and leadership opportunities of women within the Republic of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) and thereby improving the eligible pool of uniformed women available for peacekeeping deployments through the promotion of institutional policies, training facilities, healthcare for female personnel and accountability for sexual harassment and abuse at institutional level.

Organizational setting, reporting and collaborators:

Reporting to the Head of Office, with technical support from the programs team, the consultant in collaboration with UN Women, RSALF, will provide overall technical support in design of Advocacy Materials in close coordination with the RSLAF Public Relations and communication unit the consultant will further support campaigns outreach documentaries, lessons learnt and best practices including organizing of events and campaigns; providing

Strategies and products; coordinating communications and visibility around the entire project implementation period with the aim of promoting gender equality and the promotion of women within the Republic of the Sierra Armed Forces and the participation of women in United Nations Peace keeping Missions including the development of host of materials such as inspirational videos lives and journey of the female RSLAF personnels in action serving on-duty in the military.

The National Consultant will collaborate with the project stakeholders with guidance from UN Women and RSLAF to develop a robust communication and advocacy plan on the popularizations of all RSLAF policies action plan on rolling out of the review policies including support with project visibility and other communication deliverables on the project.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

Deliverables

1. Development and promotion of high-quality advocacy materials

• Concept notes outline the proposed methodology for communication outputs.
• A detailed Communication Strategy, aligned with project objectives and UN Women communication standards

2. Provide technical assistance in media engagement and relations

• Media engagement reports and documentation.
• Visibility and outreach evidence materials (media coverage, press releases, event summaries, etc.).

3, Production and promotion of high-quality communication and reporting products

• Comprehensive report capturing all communication and visibility products delivered.
• Consolidated communication outputs aligned with programme reporting frameworks

4. Provide timely reporting on deliverables

• Timely submission of quality deliverables and periodic progress reports, as required
• Final report, including identified gaps, lessons learned, and actionable recommendations

5. Final report, including identified gaps, lessons learned, and actionable recommendations

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy and is open to residents living in sierra leone and expected to be traveling in all RSLAF locations in the regions on regular bases.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

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 Values and Competencies Framework:

Functional Competencies:

• In-depth knowledge of gender equality and women's rights issues and familiarity with UN Women;
• Proven experience in Communications and Advocacy;
• Excellent communications skills. Communicates sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies;
• Demonstrates very good understanding of and experience in communications and outreach/advocacy;
• Proven networking skills, and ability to generate interest in UN Women’s mandate;
• Strong initiative-taker;
• Very effective at multi-tasking;
• Focuses on impact and results
• Interacts effectively with all levels of the organization, including senior management;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Identify opportunities and build strong relationships with clients and external actors
• Strong knowledge of gender equality and women's rights issues, WPS agenda, political science, law, development, public policy.
• Strong writing and communication skills.
• Knowledge and understanding of the UN system, familiarity with inter-governmental processes.
• Familiarity of government of Sierra Leone policy environment, especially with security sector institutions
• Strong IT skills, including databases, extranet and office software packages.

. Required Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in communication, public policy and governance, gender/women's studies, international development, or a related field is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• Experience and knowledge of the use of social media;

Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of experience in working in the field of communications, advocacy and/or public relations
• Minimum 5 years of experience in communications, events or campaign management or related field preferably with international organizations/companies including advocacy, and public relations;
• Graphic design skills and video editing skills are desirable;
• Outstanding oral and written communications and editorial skills, with proven ability to produce communications products and content for online platforms and social media
• Extensive experience in managing stakeholders in a complex environment
• Excellent knowledge of the UN system, especially UN WOMEN, The government of Sierra Leone policy environment especially security sector institutions.
• Experience and knowledge on gender equality and women’s empowerment, EVAWG, WPS gender analysis and the related mandates within the UN system; experience/knowledge of women’s movements
• Excellent analytical, facilitation and communications skills and ability to negotiate amongst a wide range of stakeholders.
• Experience in conducting research and analysis/review of social, economic, and public policy trends is a must
• Experience writing briefs, development of policy brief, newsletters is a strong asset
• Experience and understanding of working with traditional media is a strong asset

Languages:

Fluency in English

Fluency in Krio is an advantage

Statements :

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.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.