Communications Associate

Contract

This is a National Consultant contract. More about National Consultant contracts.

Background

The UNDP and UNICEF joint project aims to strengthen the basic service provision system in Armenia, through a life-cycle approach and provision of continuous care and support to children and adults with disabilities. This includes habilitation and rehabilitation, health, social and developmental services, all of which are extremely weak or not available in most regions of Armenia. Persons with disabilities (including children with disabilities) have very limited choice when it comes to needs-based services and support, especially in areas far from the capital city. The project will assist the Armenian Government in its efforts to reform the disability assessment and service provision system by enhancing equitable access to services and participation of persons with disabilities in public life.

The project will build on UNPD- and UNICEF-supported Government reform (since 2014), which resulted in the development and establishment of a human rights-based model of disability assessment. The project aims at developing the service system, focusing on areas requiring serious investment, for example: establishing a policy framework and service categories and making equipment and human capital available to serve the needs of persons with disabilities and as well as those of the broader population.

The project aims to support the Government of Armenia in revising the Disability Certification and Individual Rehabilitation Planning procedures in line with the principles of UNCRPD and based on the conceptual framework of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Through this, the project has contributed to the overall objective to enhance access to services and participation of persons with disabilities.

The population of the country is getting elder gradually. In 2018 persons of 63 and over ages made 14% of the whole population of Armenia. It is said, that by 2050 persons of 63 and over ages will make 22-23% of the total population. The number of persons with disabilities has been increasing gradually during recent years and exceeded 205k in 2017. Besides, the average life expectancy was 75.7 in 2018, which had an increasing trend over the period of 1990-2018. These trends are anticipated to be continued in the future as well.

Veteran Support: In response to the conflict-related and post-war crisis we focused our multidimensional support to veterans through strengthened mechanisms and capacities for physical and/or psychological rehabilitation. Cooperation was established with leading rehabilitation centers in Armenia for the purpose of conducting a needs assessment to identify the needs and gaps for the provision of relevant physical and psycho-social rehabilitation services. Moreover, in the framework of the cooperation, capacity building is planned for mid-level medical personnel, including physiotherapists, ergotherapists and nurses and for regional rehabilitation centers.

AT can have a positive impact on the health and well-being of a person and their family, as well as broader socioeconomic benefits, such as:

• Proper use of hearing aids by young children leads to improved language skills, without which a person with hearing loss has severely limited opportunities for education and employment.
• Manual wheelchairs increase access to education and employment while reducing healthcare costs due to a reduction in the risk of pressure sores and contractures.
• Assistive technology can enable older people to continue to live at home and delay or prevent the need for long-term care.
• Therapeutic footwear for diabetes reduces the incidence of foot ulcers, preventing lower limb amputations and the associated burden on health systems.

For this purpose, investment will be raised from government, private or blended sources.

Duties and Responsibilities

Taking into consideration the above-mentioned, UNDP Armenia Country Office is seeking a highly-skilled Communications Associate, who will be responsible for outreach, community mobilization and event organization for the implementing projects. The Communications Associate will work under direct supervision of UNDP CO ROLJHR Programme Manager.

Under direct supervision of the Project Coordinator and overall guidance of the Programme Manager, the incumbent will perform the following duties:

• Design and facilitate the implementation of a robust communication strategy and action plan aimed at increasing the awareness about the project and its achievements among the target audience (integrate web products of the Project into communications strategy)
• Monitor media to analyze the effectiveness of the communications strategy and make necessary tweaks for continuous success of the visibility.
• Develop and manage Project’s online community, by engaging with stakeholders via social media accounts and the Project’s website.
• Develop visual materials to increase Project’s visibility.
• Manage Project’s website (regularly update website blog page, project page and events page) and social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Medium, YouTube).
• Design, develop and disseminate all outreach materials and activities to advertise the beneficiaries’ products, including outreach folders, fact sheets, blog and social media posts, brochures, website updates, photo essays, video broadcast and print/online media articles.
• Create human-interest stories, that will highlight the successes of the beneficiaries and the Project.
• Design and support organizing public/online events which, where relevant, are adjusted to COVID-19 rules.
• Provide support to project’s annual and interim reports, various visibility materials to ensure attractive visual appearances and layout.
• Organize, facilitate and track online events.
• Support UNDP overall communications team with preparing communications materials for social media, print documents and provide other support as requested.
• Serve as the liaison for donor communication in visibility and branding compliance.
• Collect and analyze data on target project areas and deliver to colleagues upon request.
• Provide translation of any materials required for the project.

Expected deliverables:

1. Designed and implemented the Project’s communication strategy
2. Engaged and managed Project’s online and offline community
3. Content provided for the Project’s social media and reporting
4. Organized, facilitated and tracked online events
5. Respective support provided to project’s annual and interim reports
6. Final Report on the completed tasks

Payment mode:

Payment will be made in one 100% installment upon completion and approval of all deliverables by the UNDP country office.

Competencies

• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to establish and maintain effective work relationships with people of different social and cultural backgrounds;
• Proven knowledge of communication tools, excellent writing skills;
• Excellent coordination and collaboration skills, with the ability to work under time pressure and handle multiple activities and projects concurrently;
• Ability to work independently and to participate effectively in team-based information sharing;
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems;
• Teamworking skills;
• Demonstration of initiative, tact and high sense of responsibility and discretion;
• Ability to meet deadlines, prioritize and maintain a flexible schedule;
• Personal responsibility, accuracy and punctuality;
• Respect to gender and cultural diversity.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• University degree in PR, communications, journalism, marketing or relevant field.

Experience

• At least 5 years of relevant experience in the field of communications and/or PR;
• Proven experience in developing media materials and human-interest stories in various formats to target various audiences;
• Portfolio of social media accounts in relevant contexts (links to Facebook and Twitter pages);
• Direct experience with online engagement and digital communications.

Language Skills:

• Fluency in Armenian and English is required (written and oral), knowledge of Russian will be considered an asset.

CANDIDATES WILL BE EVALUATED BASED ON THE FOLLOWING METHODOLOGY:

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants' technical qualifications, experience and financial proposal.The contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as technically responsive/compliant/acceptable to the requirements of the ToR and received the highest cumulative (technical and financial) score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation - max. 70 points

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation - max. 30 points.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE APPLICATION.

• Financial Proposal and Availability form: OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP (A total lump sum option is applicable for this assignment)
• CV shall include Education/Qualification, Processional Certification, Employment Records /Experience

General Conditions of Contract is available here: GENERAL CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT

Note: Please note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents that should be included in the application in one single PDF file and upload it).