Web Content Developer on Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, gender identity and sexual orientation, as well as persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. UNICEF’s office is accessible to a certain extent, and employees are entitled to reasonable accommodations that are needed for ensuring equitable working conditions.

The UNICEF Serbia Country Programme of Cooperation 2021 – 2025 seeks to address the existing prevention and response gaps in mental health and psychosocial support services for children and adolescents. One important step is to “meet children and young people where they are” – namely online. In this regard, UNICEF Serbia seeks a specialist to support the development of a national online mental health and psycho-social support (MHPSS) platform for young people, which will provide a space for comprehensive information and awareness-raising on relevant topics, on the importance of building emotional and mental health resilience among young girls and boys, the benefits of healthy life styles, a space that will provide young people with relevant information on self-care, resilience, positive coping mechanism, sexual and reproductive health, early self-detection of mental health conditions, as well as provide them with relevant information on existing mental health and psychological support and another important services in their communities. The platform will include texts on mental health, wellbeing and self-care for youth, their parents and school workers.

To help create age-appropriate services which would be easily understood and used by young people, UNICEF has established the Youth Advisory Group on Mental Health which consists of 15 young people (age 17-23), all of them with some prior mental health difficulties and interest in psychology and advocacy. The Advisory Group will work closely with the consultant to advice on the best manner to reach out to the youth.

Work Assignment Overview:

The purpose of this assignment is to develop 40 articles on youth mental health, wellbeing and self-care which will be ready to upload on a mental health platform UNICEF Serbia is currently developing. The assignment will include the following priorities:

• Research into resources on youth mental health and wellbeing provided by UNICEF.
• Outline 3-5 general section topics for the articles (e.g. mental health, wellbeing, relations, etc.) based on the resources provided and needs articulated during the consultation process with the young people, parents, teachers and mental health professionals.
• Outline particular topics and titles for 40 articles related to youth mental health, wellbeing and self-care. The articles should cover mostly general information such as sleeping for wellbeing, how to deal with a bad mood, what to do if you are bulled, etc. The articles might contain mostly narrative content, as well as tips, check lists, stories from young people, etc. The articles should be equally distributed under the outlined section topics.
• Develop the articles based on the resources provided by UNICEF, as well as additional resources the consultant might be aware of (all additional resources require the approval of the UNICEF staff) that are free to use and from reliable sources.
• Ensure the safety of the information, the youth-friendly approach, and the general digestibility and structuredness of the articles in the consultations with UNICEF Youth Advisory Group on Mental Health and UNICEF staff.

Each article for the website should:

• contain at least 4,000 characters and no more than 7,500 characters (with spaces),
• have an introduction, main part and conclusion and be highly structured,
• avoid using terms/information that might be dangerous for young people,
• be youth-friendly and written in a simple language easily understood by young people from various backgrounds, including the most vulnerable and marginalized groups (youth who dropped out of school, Roma youth, youth with disabilities, youth from low-income families, etc.),
• put the focus on the universal nature of the issues,
• contain references to the resources approved by UNICEF Serbia.

Duration of the assignment: August – October 2021 (up to 27 workdays)

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• A university degree in psychology or related fields (sociology, philosophy, etc.). An advanced university degree will be an asset.
• Minimum 3 years of experience in a relevant field (preferably related to work in the area of mental health and direct work with adolescents and youth).
• Experience in the development of MHPSS knowledge products and resources and sound understanding of the health, education and social protection context in the Republic of Serbia, as a part of the inter-sectoral response in the area of mental health.
• Flexible work attitude: the ability to work productively in a team environment and independently, and to handle requests or issues as they arise.
• Understanding of issues related to child safety and protection.
• Proficiency in Serbian and English, written and spoken.
• Specific knowledge/experience in the MHPSS therapeutic/counselling work would be an advantage.
• Interest in digital communications and understanding of communication styles of young people.

How to apply:

The application must include a financial proposal in RSD as a separate document, providing the following information:

1. Daily rate (all costs included, e.g. usage of mobile phone).

Important notes:

Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration.

Only shortlisted candidates will be notified and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

For every child, you must demonstrate UNICEF's core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability.

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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.