Communications Specialist Consultant – Lead Editor: Office of Innovation, Stockholm, Sweden, 12 months (Remote)

Contract

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UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child...innovate

UNICEF has a 70-year history of innovating for children. We believe that new approaches, partnerships and technologies that support realizing children’s rights are critical to improving their lives.

The Office of Innovation is a creative, interactive, and agile team in UNICEF. We sit at a unique intersection, where an organization that works on huge global issues meets the start-up thinking, the technology, and the partners that turn this energy into scalable solutions.

UNICEF's Office of Innovation creates opportunities for the world's children by focusing on where new markets can meet their vital needs. We do this by:

• Connecting youth communities (or more broadly -- anyone disconnected or under-served) to decision-makers, and to each other, to deliver informed, relevant, and sustained programmes that build better, stronger futures for children.
• Provoking change for children through an entrepreneurial approach -- in a traditionally risk averse field -- to harness rapidly moving innovations and apply them to serve the needs of all children.

• Creating new models of partnership that leverage core business values across the public, private and academic sectors in order to deliver fast, and lasting results for children.

  The Office of Innovation specifically looks to form partnerships around frontier technologies (like drones and UAVs, blockchain, 21st century skills, urban technologies, new banking tools, wearables and sensors, or 3D-Printing) that exist at the intersection of $100 billion business markets and 1 billion person needs – and to identify how they can grow and scale profitably and inclusively.

Our team

We're an interdisciplinary team around the world tasked with identifying, prototyping, and scaling new technologies and practices. With our partners, we focus on convening and collaborating on new and different solutions, low- and high-tech, by:

• Looking at the 2-5 year horizon to evaluate emerging and trending technologies and to see how UNICEF can work with the private sector on doing better business while improving essential services for children;
• Investing in early stage solutions that show great potential to positively impact children in the 02 year future including the Venture Fund that invests in open source technology solutions from start-ups based in UNICEF’s programme countries;
• Identifying proven solutions that can be implemented at national scale in multiple countries – taking the ideas that help thousands in one country, bringing them to dozens of countries across multiple sectors, and impacting the lives of millions of children.”

How can you make a difference?

• Embedded in the OOI Partnerships & Communication Team, the consultant will produce and edit engaging communication assets, and support the development, management, coordination, implementation and monitoring of OOI’s communication strategies and work.

Your main responsibilities will be:

• Multi-sector scoping and horizon scanning to inform creative and exceptional communication asset production and delivery.
• Lead on the production of creative content for owned OOI communications channels and content including but not limited to web stories, one-pager documents, opinion pieces etc.
• Write and copy-edit communications assets ensuring quality control, consistency in tone of voice, messaging, and brand alignment.
• Produce and curate profile-raising communications assets OOI messaging effectively engaging a range of audiences across public and private sector.
• Develop and implement partnership-focused communication strategies and associated work plans.
• Act as a liaison between the Partnerships and Communication team and other teams across OOI to ensure communication strategies, campaigns are aligned with the overall OOI brand and objectives.
• Support with brand development, media relations and audience engagements.
• Lead communication campaigns from conception to completion with minimal supervision.
• Develop and maintain relationships with communication counterparts in regional and country offices and systematically report on OOI collaborations.
• Consistently and strategically showcase OOI collaboration with external partners, National Committees, HQ divisions, and country and regional office colleagues.
• Produce profile-raising content in online communication and social media and assist in the maintenance of online platforms.
• Lead on the development and execution of communication and advocacy tools (e.g., newsletters, websites, decks, posters, brochures, pamphlets) with the view to grow audience reach and engagement.
• Develop and manage a calendar of key moments, events, and opportunities in collaboration with partnerships specialists and others.
• Contribute to an editorial calendar of public engagement assets.
• Work with technical experts to conceptualize and develop communication assets.
• Collaborate with technical experts on developing data visualization and infographics for internal and external audiences.
• Develop and disseminate communication assets for events.

Please access the full ToR and related information here Revised Communications Specialist Consultant - Lead Editor OOI TOR_GL 5th Sep 23.docx

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• Masters degree in relevant field (Communication, Journalism, Public Relations or related areas).

  *A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.

• At least 5 years of professional experience in a relevant field.

• A strong track record of delivering products for external engagement and visibility
• Experience of working with Private Sector PR and communications teams and driving communications activity that delivers business benefit.
• Significant experience working with print and broadcast media, preferably with a tech/innovation perspective.
• Solid understanding of the role technology plays in the development and humanitarian sectors, as well as the UN system.
• Understanding of UNICEF Innovation operating environment and priority partners
• Good management skills and the ability to deliver against multiple priorities and deadlines.
• Knowledge of UNICEF Office of Innovation’s key messaging and focus areas (including data science, connectivity, open-source technology, working with start-ups and a range of other partners, and others)
• Ability to work with a diverse team in a rapidly changing work environment and adapt to unforeseen changes.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to see the big picture and connect multiple story threads into one greater narrative.
• Capacity to prioritize and manage a diverse range of partners, projects and activities.
• Great interpersonal skills and the ability to unite fragmented, and occasionally opposing, teams and ideas.
• Project management skills, including task prioritization, budget monitoring, and results-driven strategies.
• Good understanding of the media landscape and the multiple ways we can engage media partners.
• Ability to quickly create reports/presentations in standard office software (Microsoft Office suite, Google Docs, Keynote, etc.)
• Demonstrates a solution-focused approach to overcoming the challenges of working with multiple stakeholders and is able to find shared and mutual outcomes.
• Consult others and shares expertise, know-how and ideas with colleagues for the best results and proactively contributes ideas, approaches and insights that enable innovation.
• Makes decisions within agreed parameters and is accountable for own actions.
• Fluency in English. Competence in another UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) preferred.

Travel:

• The consultant may be expected to travel for up to 7 days in the duration of the contract.
• The consultant is responsible to arrange his/her own travel, including visa and travel insurance.

Payment details and further considerations

• Payment of professional fees will be based on the submission of agreed deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

How to apply:

• Applicant is required to submit a financial proposal with an all-inclusive fee. Please see the financial proposal template.
• The financial proposal must include travel costs (economy class) and daily subsistence allowance if travel is required as per TOR and any other estimated costs: visa, travel/health insurance
• Applications without a financial proposal will not be considered.

Please find attached the financial proposal template Consultancy Financial Offer template.docx

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles 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.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.