Consultancy - Community Manager, NFTs, Remote, Office of Innovation, 11.5 months (work from Home)

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

About Giga

Launched in 2019 as a joint initiative between UNICEF and ITU, Giga has set the ambitious goal to connect every school in the world to the internet.

Half of the world’s population has no regular access to the Internet. Millions of children leave school without any digital skills, making it much more difficult for them to thrive and contribute to local and global economies. This has created a digital divide between those who are connected and those who are not, a divide that has become even wider during the Covid-19 pandemic. UNICEF and ITU have therefore joined forces to create Giga, an initiative to connect every school in the world to the Internet and address this new form of inequality.

Giga focuses on connecting schools so that children and young people have access to information, opportunity, and choice. It also uses schools as anchor points for their surrounding communities: if you connect the school, you can also connect local businesses and services. This creates opportunities for service providers to generate revenue from paying users, making connectivity more sustainable. A recent report by the Economist Intelligence Unit found that a 10% increase in school connectivity can increase effective years of schooling by 0.6% and increase GDP per capita by 1.1%.

You cannot fix a problem unless you can see it, so the first step is to map schools and their connectivity levels. Giga uses machine learning to scan satellite images and identify schools. These are then marked by coloured dots on an open-source map: green where there is good connectivity (over 5mb/s); amber where it is limited; and red where there is no connectivity at all. The project has already mapped over 1,000,000 schools in 42 countries, including several which were previously unknown to governments.

Connecting every school in the world could cost US$428 billion or more. Much of the funding already exists but it is not always well aligned. Giga therefore works with governments to unlock public funds for use in delivering connectivity and to attract private investors by reducing the risks in harder-to-reach areas.

Once school connectivity has been mapped and financing secured, Giga works with a range of partners to bring the Internet to schools. We support governments in designing competitive procurement processes. We are also developing real-time payment mechanisms, meaning that if a dot on the connectivity map is only green for three hours a day, the provider only gets paid for three hours of access. Giga is already connecting schools in 19 countries and is prototyping several test solutions, including in refugee camps and remote, mountainous regions.

Just as building railroads allowed previously isolated towns to flourish, providing good quality Internet access will allow communities to participate in the digital economy for the first time. But Giga’s work in laying the tracks for connectivity is only one part of a wider effort to bridge the digital divide. UNICEF’s Reimagine Education initiative brings all of this work together and has set the goal of connecting every child and young person – some 3.5 billion - to world-class digital learning solutions by 2030. In addition to Giga, it includes components focusing on the affordability of data and content, access to devices, teacher certification and the engagement of young people. Along with ITU’s digital skills programme and other initiatives, Reimagine Education aims to ensure that, once connected, young people are empowered with the tools they need to shape their own futures.

Our partners are a huge part of our work, supporting us with both financial resources and in-kind support. We currently have a portfolio of a small group of major financial partners, and a larger group of others who provide technical assistance on important projects, including data sharing, cost model development, and more.

You can read more about Giga’s work at https://gigaconnect.org/ and by following us on twitter @Gigaconnect

How can you make a difference?

We are looking for a motivated community manager to join the Blockchain team at Giga. This will be a diverse and hands-on role ranging from social media outreach across our various media channels, including Twitter, Discord and Instagram to the hosting of various live online events, such as webinars, interviews and AMAs.

The Blockchain team is building several experimental products that provide value to the Giga ecosystem. The team also runs Giga’s NFT Genesis project, Patchwork Kingdoms (PWK). The Community Manager will help facilitate the growth of the community that has gathered around this project. The team’s ambition is to leverage the PWK community as a starting point for a much larger collection in the coming year. In order to achieve that objective, a healthy and vibrant community will need to be built up.

The Community Manager will provide key support to the following tasks:

• Developing a communication and social media strategy.
• Growing the number of social media followers of the project, thereby increasing the project’s reach.
• Maintaining a “news” page on the PWK website, where all media mentions and project activities will be noted.
• Writing blog posts and other communication materials with the purpose of disseminating the achievements of the project and other blockchain work.
• Researching and contacting other NFT and blockchain projects with the purpose of engaging in partnerships.
• Increasing the visitor numbers and engagement on the project’s discord server.
• Ensuring a welcoming and positive digital environment for existing and new members.
• Organizing a series of online events with the purpose of growing our community, for example events hosted on our discord server or on twitter spaces.
• Gathering constructive feedback and insights from the community. For example, by conducting surveys or polls.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in communication, international development, social sciences or related field. *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.
• A minimum of 2 years of experience in the field of communications
• Experience from working within UNICEF, and with experience or strong exposure to Country Offices is considered an asset.
• Experience in facilitating and growing communities is required. Any experience in managing online communities in the NFT space is considered a big plus.
• Strong planning/organizing skills.
• Knowledge of social media channels (especially twitter) is required.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including presentation skills.
• Proven capacity to work with collaborative teams across different locations and with different technical skills.
• Fluency in English is required. Proficiency in an additional official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

The competencies required for this post are….

• Builds and maintains partnerships - Lv 2
• Innovates and embraces change - Lv 2
• Manages ambiguity and complexity - Lv 2
• Thinks and acts strategically – Lv 2
• Works collaboratively with others – Lv 2

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Payment details and further considerations

• Monthly payment, based on monthly tasks and progress reports, approved upon monthly review with supervisor.
• Consultant is responsible for his/her own health and travel insurance
• Consultant is eligible for standard DSA for all work-related travel

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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.