Consultancy: U-Report Country Support Consultant (full time, 11.5 months) -Youth Engagement, DOC - UNICEF, NYHQ

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, [A Voice]

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. Within UNICEF’s Division of Communication (DOC) the Youth Engagement Team works to strengthen the organization’s capacity to engage young people as advocates and campaigners for children’s rights, through our flagship campaigns and initiatives; and ensure that the perspectives and voices of young people are an integral part of our communications and advocacy. U-Report is one of UNICEF’s flagship initiatives to engage and empower young people. It is designed to strengthen community-led development, citizen engagement and access to and use of real-time monitoring and participation platforms. U-Report allows youth to speak out via SMS and other channels –through polls and unsolicited messages –on what is happening in their communities. It provides a forum to amplify their voices through local and national media and acts as a citizen-sourced, real-time data point for key stakeholders, service providers and decision-makers about the issues being faced in communities.

The platform also feeds back useful information to the U-Report participants so they are empowered to work for change and improvements in their localities themselves.

How can you make a difference?

PURPOSE

Under the guidance and supervision of the U-Report Global Coordinator the consultant will be responsible for

• formulating strategies on how to support countries to scale up U-Report, work with key Strategic Partners, other UN agencies and special projects -EU, AU but primarily supporting UNICEF Country Offices in scaling up U-Report for impact to achieve programme goals; and
• support organisational priority initiatives. In particular, reviewing all country office U-Report roll out strategies, ensuring they support the Strategic Plan outcomes to the fullest extent, advising offices on improvements and opportunities, coordinating Global polls across multiple countries to support UNICEF global advocacy priorities and documenting and sharing lessons learned.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ASSIGNMENT

1.Overall Project Management and Country roll out and implementation support

• Coordinating inputs from the U-Report Team into Youth Engagement team, divisional and other reports.
• Managing the U-Report Global poll calendar and motivating country opt-in for all Global coordinated actions through regular follow up and support calls.
• Supporting the use of the U-Report KPI and monitoring systems for key initiatives and activities with country offices.
• Engagement with COs, ROs and Natcoms reviewing concept notes and start up documents for new countries.
• Coordination with Country and Regional Offices on U-Report plans, activities and results. •Preparing and tracking correspondence with countries on key U-Report initiatives.
• Updating the U-Report community contact lists.

2. Project Management of the EU work with 50%-time commitment to specific U-Report country offices both existing on the partnership and new countries.

• Support all countries on the EU collaboration with U-Report in preparation for the 2022 summit.
• Work with countries to produce detailed and timely narrative reports and financial budgets and expenditure reports.
• Work closely with the EU and Brussels office with weekly check ins on status of the partnership and country progress.
• Financial management and budget tracking of the EU grant and ensuring all deadlines on reporting are met in a timely manner.

3. Knowledge Management and Capacity Building

• Update/create guidelines and repositories of information for Country and Regional Offices to use in U-Report strategy.
• Support U-Report coordinated actions across multiple countries simultaneously.
• Support U-Report countries with activation of platforms for their partners.
• Update, maintain and translate U-Report guidelines and assets.
• Provide support on U-Report rollout and uptake of new technologies, platforms and measurement initiatives.
• Monitor and provide best practices and guidance on RapidPro, particularly when associated with a U-Report Guideline or Key Principle.
• Organizing and scheduling U-Report Global calls, webinars, scale cafes and documentation of case studies on best use cases. •Provide day to day support to the U-Report Global Coordinator in overall platform management.

4.Identify, build and nurture strong, long-term collaborations and partnerships to sustainably scale the U-Report platform:

• Write ToRs for partnerships and new services required.
• Identify opportunities and build collaborations with Civil Society Organizations, Youth Networks and Student Associations and manage the relationships with U-Report Partners.
• Develop strategies and prepare advocacy and information materials for U-Report for maximum impact and outreach to promote partnership and program awareness; establish partnerships/alliances and support the Global Coordinator to enhance resource mobilization for U-Report.5.Provide strategic and technical support to colleagues at Country Office level to implement U-Report and ensure it caters to local programming needs and reflects that of the young people who will use it working with Business Analysts, Regional ICTD leads and EMOPS teams.

5. Provide strategic and technical support to colleagues at Country Office level to implement U-Report and ensure it caters to local programming needs and reflects that of the young people who will use it working with Business Analysts, Regional ICTD leads and EMOPS teams.

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS (IF APPLICABLE)

Standard UNICEF Performance Evaluations will be conducted every 6months and at end of each month a progress report will be shared per contract. The performance indicators for evaluation of results will be the quality and timeliness of outputs delivered by consultant.

DUTY STATION

Remotely based

TRAVEL (IF APPLICABLE)

No travel is expected. In case of unforeseen official business travel, actual cost, including the visa fee, vaccination will be reimbursed in accordance with UNICEF Policy/procedure on official travel.

TIMEFRAME

Estimated Start date: 30th July 2021

Estimated end date: 15th June 2022

Below is a list of possible deliverables and an estimated number of units that may be needed during the assignment. Adjustments to these deliverables (type and quantity) may be necessary during the assignment.

DELIVERABLES

DURATION

DEADLINE

Monthly U-Report Global call deck, monthly newsletter U-Report input, monthly planner U-Report input

ongoing

15 June 2022

Monthly progress reports on country scale up status and onboarding status of new countries.

ongoing

15 June 2022

Monthly progress report on capacity building/knowledge management activities undertaken.

ongoing

15 June 2022

End of consultancy report

Ongoing

15 June 2022

TOTAL

11.5 months

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

• Advanced degree in relevant field of communications, Project Management, Budgeting and Finance/Accounting, Social Science or related field or Bachelor’s degree in similar field with 2 additional years of relevant experience.
• At least 3 years of work experience managing diverse teams, M&E, reporting, project management, knowledge management, capacity building, partnership management and working with remote teams across time zones and cultures.
• Proven track record in report writing, budgets and Grants management.
• Excellent communication skills and planning and coordination skills.
• Demonstrated strong project management skills
• Knowledge of U-Report and Rapid Pro is an asset and highly desirable.
• Experience in documenting case studies and capacity building of big teams is an asset.
• Previous UNICEF, UN and/or INGO experience in a similar role is highly desirable.
• Ability to prioritize and deliver high quality work in a short period of time and meeting deadlines.
• Fluency in English (both written and verbal) is required.
• Knowledge of an additional UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) is considered an asset. •Experience in the field of youth engagement is considered an asset.

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.

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are...

Deciding and Initiating Action

Relating and Networking

Applying Technical Expertise

Creating and Innovating

Formulating Strategies and Concept

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

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.

Please indicate your ability, availability and daily/monthly rate (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference above (including travel and daily subsistence allowance, if applicable). Applications submitted without a daily/monthly rate will not be considered.

With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4. At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage for the duration of the contract.

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.