Consultant – Communications and Social Media
Contract
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Result of Service
Quality and timely support on communications pieces needed for the remaining project activities.
Work Location
Home
Expected duration
3 months
Duties and Responsibilities
Background The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) focuses on the central tenet of economic and social development as key to accelerating the Africa's growth. ECA's vision is framed around generating ideas for Africa's prosperity, and is encapsulated in its motto: "ideas for a prosperous Africa". The Commission does not limit itself in creating these ideas but in supporting member States to put these ideas into action. Realizing the complexity of the global development arena, ECA recognizes the role of the private sector, as well as the impact of innovation, technology, and partnerships for the implementation of ideas. Under the same vision, the recent operational reform of ECA was brought to bear. Its three core functions are convening, operational, and think tank. The Gender, Poverty and Social Policy Division (GPSPD) that this consultancy is within, focuses on: (a) measuring human exclusion and designing policies for inclusive development; (b) monitoring social investments; (c) designing of policy options to improve opportunities available for youth and reduce the intergenerational transmission of poverty and inequality;(d) development of suitable strategies to benefit from the demographic dividend; (e) supporting the designing of policies and strategies to harness urbanization for structural transformation, economic diversification, creation of productive jobs, and regional integration, and; (f) providing support to strengthen capacities for improved urban data and statistics. In addition, the Commission convenes a number of expert group meetings and policy dialogues for peer review and dissemination of its knowledge products to a wide spectrum of stakeholders including member States, UN agencies, non-state actors, the academia, and private sector, among others. GPSPD is comprised of three Sections, namely the Social Policy Section, the Urbanization and Development Section, and the Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Section (GEWES). In an effort to support the structural transformation agenda of Africa for equitable and inclusive development, the key issues GEWES addresses in its daily work include support to member States in the monitoring of national, regional and international commitments on gender equality and women’s empowerment, gender mainstreaming into sectoral issues especially in the areas of employment, trade and entrepreneurship, as well as climate change adaptation, and the acceleration of the GEWES agenda through digitalization. ECA, through GPSPD, monitors and evaluates global social policy frameworks and programmes of action such as the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Beijing +30, and the Habitat Agenda, among others. At the regional level, ECA's programmatic work is guided by, but not limited to, the African Union Agenda 2063 with a high premium on human, social and spatial development imperatives. GPSPD communicates its work with its external and internal audience through various mediums. These include external and internal websites and social media accounts. GPSPD's communications plans includes the utilization of blogs, videos, infographics and other technology platforms and engaging forms of new and traditional media. The consultant will be expected to support the ongoing work on communications by working on visualization, editing, research and digital engagement, working alongside GPSPD's communications team, as well as ECA's communications and web teams. Objective of the consultancy A Communications and Messaging Consultant is being hired to perform three core functions: (a) Assist in the implementation of the GPSPD communications plan, including editing new publications, blogs, substantive knowledge products and communication pieces; (b) Undertake messaging exercises with all sections including supporting strategic communications, updating public information on various media platforms and the creation of policy and summary briefs; and (c) support the section in finalizing relevant publications and knowledge products by restructuring, editing and proof reading relevant deliverables, as well as undertake the updating of content on the ECA website and develop and update public information where relevant. Duties and responsibilities Under the overall supervision of the Director, Gender Poverty and Social Policy Division (GPSPD) of ECA, working closely with the Chiefs of Sections for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment, Social Policy and Urbanization and Development and the ECA Communication Team, the Consultant will undertake the following tasks: • Prepare press releases and provide communications for events organized by the Division and events where the Division participates in various capacities • Prepare a communications strategy for the division for the 56th Session for the Economic Commission for Africa (Comm 2024) including participation in the commission wide fair • Engage in outreach communications around the Beijing +30 initiative and provide support to the review process. • Develop infographics for International Women’s Day 2024, in-line with the global theme and ensure dissemination across various ECA platforms • Support the restructuring, editing and design of the report on gender and digitalisation • Develop policy briefs and summary documents based on GPSPD knowledge products and publications; • Update content and revise information on GPSPD web pages based on strategic revisions; • Lead social media outreach based on approved posts in collaboration with divisional and ECA communications team members; • Develop fact sheets and infographics on new media platforms, based on feedback from section chiefs and communications team members; • Support the recording and editing of video interviews and video products; • Post reviewed and approved blogs to the external website; • Support editing services where applicable on 'one-pagers', flyers, brochures and emails; • Participate in sectional and division meetings on communications, media and digital engagement support. • Undertake other duties, which may be assigned by the Division Director, Section Chiefs, Coordinator of the communications team, and communications team focal persons. Context of the consultancy In this regard, ECA is seeking to recruit an international consultant, to coordinate communications packages for the division. The consultant will be responsible for overseeing development of and revision of the communications pieces for the division and liaising with relevant staff in ECA where necessary. In addition, edit and proofread all publications for clarity in communication as necessary. • Develop press releases where needed for milestone deliverables and results; • Restructure knowledge products for impact and work on executive key messaging; • Update the ECA website and social media platforms with relevant information; • Develop infographics using existing analysis and knowledge products to support advocacy activities; • Provide support to staff and other consultants on visually improving PowerPoint presentations for training and meeting purposes; • Undertake other duties, which may be assigned by the Division Director, Section Chief, and Coordinator of the project.
Qualifications/special skills
Advanced university degree (Master's degree) in international development, social sciences, political science, humanities, communications, engineering or a field related to communications is required. A first level university degree in a combination of additional two years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the master's degree. A minimum of five years of proven experience in an international development context. knowledge of communications tools and platforms is required. Professional qualifications in communications is desirable.
Languages
English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this position fluency in English is required. Knowledge of the other is an advantage.
Additional Information
Not available.
No Fee
THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.