Consultancy for preparation of Early Childhood Development Campaign in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (For Saudi Arabian only)

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, equal chance

UNICEF Gulf Area Office (GAO) 2019-2023 sub-regional programme covers Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar. Though each country has its own country-specific programme, UNICEF sub-regional programme is underpinned by two mutually reinforcing priorities: fulfilling programmes for the children of the Gulf as well as supporting Gulf based partners to serve as champions for children both in the region and around the world.

Early Childhood Development (ECD) is one of GAO’s program priorities. Early childhood is the period from conception to school entry. Neuroscience evidence has shown that the period, especially the pregnancy and the first thousand days after birth, is the most is critical for cognitive, social, emotional and physical development as the brain grows fastest during this period and is most responsive to the outside world. The international community has recognized the extraordinary potential of ECD to contribute to children’s wellbeing as well as countries’ development, and enshrined it in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Provision of ECD services is even more critical for families in emergencies, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, since the circumstances affect their resources and opportunities to provide optimal early care, stimulation and learning to their children. This campaign, therefore, comes at the opportune time and is aimed to support parents/caregivers in Saudi Arabia who are currently spending more time at home with their children through providing easy and straightforward guidance/resources on responsive caregiving for young children to enhance positive outcomes for the children.

1. Purpose of the assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to design and implement an effective ECD campaign in KSA coordinating with the Family Affairs Council and all relevant stakeholders.

The campaign is aimed to promote responsive caregiving at home for male and female caregivers of small children utilising UNICEF and government digital platforms and social media. The approach to content development for the campaign will be structured around eight weekly themes that build on each other and designed to maximise the utilisation of existing resources. The weekly theme will start with an overview of ECD followed by Brain development in early childhood and the five components of the Nurturing Care Framework (Nutrition, Responsive caregiving, Security & Safety, Early learning and Health). Considering the special situation due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, a theme on parents such as prevention and management of mental health and well-being as importance of parents’ role will be added to the weekly themes. Each theme will include two parts: 1) Theory to learn and 2) Practical materials/takeaways to use with children at home.

Outline of weekly theme:

Week 1: Overview of ECD

Week 2: Brain Development

Week 3: Nutrition

Week 4: Responsive caregiving

Week 5: Security and Safety

Week 6: Early Learning

Week 7: Health

Week 8: Parent’s perspective

2. Deliverables

The deliverables and tasks in below are expected for the consultant to complete within the assignment period:

1) Operational plan

• Develop a detailed operational plan for the campaign in consultation with key stakeholders.
• Collect information on social media in Saudi Arabia to assess effective platforms for the campaign.
• Work with UNICEF GAO to review existing materials developed by UNICEF to address early childhood development broadly, and in the context of the pandemic to feed into the proposed campaign.
• Design and conduct a baseline survey to measure the reach and impact of the campaign.

2) Content package delivered in digital platforms and physical assets and Implementation of campaign

• Supervise asset generation including finalization of all contents and resources developed for the campaign.
• Create 3-4 key messages with content for each week that should respond to: theory underpinning the sub-theme for the week, as well visual materials that offer key “take-aways”. This content can be produced through “tip sheets”, animated videos, user-friendly advocacy messages, animated drawings, among others.
• Mobilize and liaise with internal and external stakeholders relevant to the operational plan to ensure that campaign resources are available in time and disseminated to the right platforms as per the operational plan.
• Develop the contents for physical assets such as poster, booklet and etc, utilising the contents of media campaign and make arrangement of publication.

3) Final report on achievements

• Monitor and report on achievements both during and after the campaign and capture lessons learnt for future reference.
• Design and conduct an endline survey, utilising the questions of the baseline, to assess the impact of the campaign.

3. Duration

This contract is for the duration of 3 months. Due to COVID-19 related restrictions the consultancy would be started with distance working. It would, however, require frequent communication with key stakeholders in KSA and other Gulf countries.

The schedule of deliverables and payments: 30% of the overall consultancy fee would be payable upon submission of 1) Inception Report with detailed plan; 40% of the overall consultancy fee would be payable upon submission of 2) Contents delivered in the campaign and physical assets; and 30% of the overall consultancy fee would be payable upon the completion of 3) Final report.

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

• An advanced/University degree in communication, social sciences, public policy, or other relevant field.
• Prior experience developing social media campaigns in Arabic, preferably for the Gulf region.
• Experience of coordinating projects and communication activities such as media campaigns.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in Arabic and English.
• In-depth knowledge of effective tools for social media campaign and awareness raising such as infographics.
• Work experience with a project in Saudi Arabian context.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

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:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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.