Consultancy - Senior Communications Adviser, Malawi Country Office

Contract

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Type of Consultant - Individual Consultant on a retainer basis (International)

Purpose of consultancy:

UNFPA Malawi Country Office is committed to deliver results outlined in the 8th Country Programme that started from 2019 and lasts till 2023, with clear outcomes in the areas of: a) sexual and reproductive health/rights, b) adolescents and youth, c) gender equality and women’s empowerment, and d) population dynamics.

UNFPA Malawi plans to scale up its high-level advocacy and communications during the forthcoming period especially after launching three new projects: 1. UN joint programme on Health System Strengthening (Umoyo Wathu) with the funding from the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). 2. Action for Teen Mothers and Adolescent Girls’ project funded by the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), which is a joint programme between UNFPA and FAO, and 3. Phase III of the ‘UN Joint Programme on Girls Education (JPGE)’ funded by the Government of Norway, which is also a joint programme with UNICEF and WFP.

In line with these new projects UNFPA Malawi has ambitious targets to improve the lives of women and girls through advancing issues at district level around sexual and reproductive health and rights, health services and targeting violence against women and girls.

To support our approaches at programming level UNFPA seeks to expand its external communications strategy both at partner and national media levels. This expansion of communications activities will build on UNFPA’s core principles and work to broaden insight and knowledge of the work of UNFPA from the highest level in Government down to grass roots communities.

Whilst UNFPA will continue to use local and national platforms to work with government to highlight the need to continue to prioritise investment in women and girls and their sexual health and rights it seeks to significantly scale up these efforts to pursue the targets set out in the new country programme. It is a crucial time for UNFPA Malawi to promote UNFPA’s development priorities to ensure women and girls and their sexual health and rights remain a priority target as new partners have also joined UNFPA programmes supporting key elements of UNFPA programming and this will require increased levels of quality, results based, and high-level corporate reporting on progress.

Under the overall supervision of the Resident Representative, direct supervision of the Deputy Representative and in close collaboration with the communications officers, M&E officers and other relevant programme officers, the consultant will support the country office produce a range of corporate documents and publication materials on a needs basis. This will include short pieces of analytical work, press and media releases as well as more extensive reporting on programming results and the production of media products and donor proposals. More specifically, the consultant will deliver the following:

• Support high level corporate reporting of programming outputs and outcomes performance to partners and provide advice on strengthening the framework for reporting in the future. • Support the delivery of key communication products highlighting priority policy issues for the UNFPA country office ensuring clear and consistent messaging. • Support the drafting and development of UNFPA Malawi corporate products to highlight achievements and increase awareness of the work of UNFPA in Malawi. • Providing technical advice to the key implementing partners as well as the Country Office on communication for the policy advocacy. • Assist in the implementation of an external communication strategy to highlight the mandate and work of UNFPA in Malawi • Support the production of statements and other forms of external communications outlining the achievements of UNFPA • Assist drafting speeches and a comprehensive strategy for messaging • Develop results based reports for the programmes highlighting key results against targets • Draft technical corporate documents to ensure smooth running of the programmes and resource mobilisation. • Produce results based reporting and tools. • Advice senior management on a range of

Duration and working schedule: The contract will run from 1 August 2021- 30 June 2022 (11 months) and will consist of a maximum of 11 days per month as requested by the UNFPA country office. The maximum number of days foreseen are 120 days over the course of this period, meaning total number of days during the period of 11 months to not exceed 120 days. policy issues related to the work of UNFPA

Expected travel: The consultant may be required to travel to Malawi as required by the country office to perform functions related to the deliverables. Travel and DSA will be provided. However, all COVID19 precautions and measures will be considered. The majority of activities are envisaged to be delivered from a home base of the consultant.

Qualifications:

• Minimum Master’s degree, in communications, journalism or related field is required while a PhD could be an asset;
• A thorough understanding of the UN system in general, and especially UNFPA mandate, policies and operations is desirable;
• Expert understanding of approaches is required for planning, executing, and monitoring communications strategies;

Experience:

• 10 years of professional experience in international development and communications.
• Strong track record in reporting on development, and development of, programming including corporate and donor requirements for results-based reporting.Experience of working in Malawi and the Southern Africa region.

How to Apply: Candidates who have the required/relevant qualifications and experience should submit their applications including a detailed Curriculum Vitae (CV), motivational letter, P11 with a copy of qualifications to the following address**: recruitment.malawi@unfpa.org.** Please specify in the email subject ‘Senior Communications Advisor’. Applications should be received on or before 18th June 2021