National Consultant to Design and Develop a Social Media Engagement Toolkit, Harare, Zimbabwe, 21 days (Open to Zimbabwe Nationals Only)
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Job no: 585445
Contract type: Consultant
Duty Station: Harare
Level: Consultancy
Location: Zimbabwe
Categories: HIV/AIDS
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.
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UNICEF has been operating in Zimbabwe since 1982. We are a team of passionate professionals committed to the protection and fulfillment of children’s rights.
Supporting the Government’s vision of a prosperous and empowered upper-middle-income society, the country programme is aimed at contributing to sustainable socioeconomic development that provides all children, including adolescents, with opportunities to fulfil their potential, lead a healthy life, access quality learning and protection and meaningfully participate in society.
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How can you make a difference?
UNICEF Zimbabwe is inviting applications for a National Consultant to Design and Develop a Social Media Engagement Toolkit. To design and develop a youth-friendly, visually engaging, and culturally relevant social media engagement toolkit for the dissemination of the What Every Adolescent Should Know About Pregnancy, Breastfeeding, and Related Facts booklet.
BACKGROUND
The “What Every Adolescent Should Know About Pregnancy, Breastfeeding, and Related Facts” booklet was co-developed with and for adolescents by UNICEF, in close collaboration with UNFPA, UNAIDS, and WHO under the 2Gether4SRH Programme, and in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC). Rooted in a participatory and inclusive approach, the booklet was shaped through adolescent consultations to ensure that its content is relevant, relatable, and accessible to young people from diverse backgrounds, regardless of gender, tribe, religion, or age.
The booklet provides comprehensive, youth-friendly information on pregnancy and early motherhood, breastfeeding and maternal nutrition, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), as well as myths, misconceptions, and cultural beliefs surrounding pregnancy and breastfeeding. It also highlights access to SRH, HIV, and psychosocial support services, which empower adolescents and young mothers with accurate, age-appropriate knowledge.
To enhance visibility and promote uptake, a dissemination plan has been developed to reach adolescents and young mothers through communities, and health facilities. The plan also encourages implementing partners, healthcare providers, and community organizations to integrate the booklet’s content into their programmes and outreach efforts, fostering a consistent and informed approach to adolescent health education.
With over 2.1 million active social media users in Zimbabwe (89% aged between 16 and 27 years), digital platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter) offer a strategic opportunity to engage young people where they are most active. UNICEF therefore seeks to leverage digital engagement by developing a social media toolkit that translates the booklet’s messages into engaging formats, supporting partners in amplifying adolescent health communication and promoting positive behaviours across digital spaces
UNICEF is seeking consultancy services from a mid–senior level consultant with proven expertise in adolescent health communication, digital media strategy, and youth engagement. The consultant will support UNICEF and its partners in designing and developing a youth-friendly, visually engaging, and culturally relevant social media toolkit based on the What Every Adolescent Should Know About Pregnancy, Breastfeeding, and Related Facts booklet.
The consultant will do the following tasks:
1. Inception
- Hold an inception meeting with UNICEF and the Ministry of Health and Child Care to clarify expectations and scope.
- Develop an inception report outlining the methodology, work plan, and proposed structure of the social media toolkit.
2. Content Review and Adaptation
- Review the What Every Adolescent Should Know About Pregnancy, Breastfeeding, and Related Facts booklet to identify key messages suitable for digital engagement.
- Assess global and regional best practices in adolescent health communication via social media.
- Identify youth-friendly, visual, and culturally relevant approaches for digital content dissemination.
3. Toolkit Development
Design and produce a comprehensive social media engagement toolkit that translates the key messages from the What Every Adolescent Should Know About Pregnancy, Breastfeeding, and Related Facts booklet into engaging, youth-friendly digital formats. The toolkit should include:
- Social media fact cards series: A curated set of short, visually engaging posters and factsheets highlighting key facts, tips, and myth-busting messages from the booklet. Each card should be suitable for use across major platforms (Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn) and adaptable for partner pages and WhatsApp sharing.
- Infographics and visual summaries: Multi-panel or single-frame infographics summarizing major themes such as pregnancy and early motherhood, breastfeeding and maternal nutrition, SRHR, and adolescent health services. These should be optimized for both digital and print dissemination.
- Template library for regular posts: Ready-to-use templates for “Did You Know?”, “Myth vs Fact”, and “Health Tip of the Week” posts. Each template should include adaptable caption text, hashtag suggestions, and design guidance consistent with UNICEF brand standards.
- Animated explainer video: A 60–90 second animation summarizing the booklet’s key messages, incorporating subtitles and voice-overs in English, Shona, and Ndebele to ensure accessibility and inclusivity.
- Ensure content is optimized for mobile viewing and accessible to adolescents with varying literacy levels.
4. Validation
- Present the draft toolkit to UNICEF, the Ministry of Health and Child Care and key stakeholders for feedback.
- Facilitate a validation workshop to assess relevance, appropriateness, and user-friendliness.
- Document feedback and refine the toolkit accordingly.
5. Finalization
- Finalize the social media toolkit incorporating stakeholder input.
- Submit final versions of:
- The complete toolkit (including editable and print-ready formats).
- The animated video.
- A brief implementation guide for partners and service providers.
|
Task |
Deliverable |
Timeline |
Payment |
|
Develop an inception report outlining the methodology, work plan, and proposed structure of the social media toolkit |
Inception Report |
3 days |
30% |
|
Design a comprehensive social media engagement toolkit |
Social Media Engagement Toolkit |
14 days |
50% |
|
Facilitate the validation and finalization and of the social media engagement toolkit with stakeholders |
Final Social Media Engagement Toolkit and accompanying notes, aides |
4 days |
30% |
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
Education:
-
Advanced degree in Media, Communications, Public Health, Digital Media, or a related field.
Experience:
- At least 5 years of proven experience in designing and implementing youth-focused communication strategies, digital media campaigns, or social and behaviour change communication (SBCC).
- Demonstrated experience in developing content for social media platforms targeting adolescents and young people.
- Experience working with health-related or development-focused organizations, preferably in Zimbabwe or similar contexts.
- Familiarity with adolescent sexual and reproductive health issues and youth engagement approaches.
-
Written and spoken fluency in English is required and knowledge of the main local languages (Shona and Ndebele) is an added advantage
Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:
- Proven expertise in designing youth-friendly digital content and social media campaigns, particularly for health communication.
- Strong understanding of adolescent sexual and reproductive health issues and effective messaging strategies for diverse youth audiences.
- Demonstrated ability to translate complex health information into engaging, accessible formats using visual, multimedia, and interactive approaches.
- Experience working collaboratively with government ministries, development partners, and community-based organizations to ensure alignment and ownership.
- Excellent communication, facilitation, and writing skills, with the ability to produce high-quality outputs within tight timelines.
Desirable
Familiarity with regional adolescent health communication strategies, digital engagement trends, and youth-focused programming in Southern Africa.
TOR National Consultant to Design and Develop a Social Media Engagement Toolkit v2 Final.pdfTechnical proposal: The Technical Proposal should articulate an understanding of the TOR and include the proposed Tasks/Milestones, Deliverables/Outputs, Timeline and level of effort by deliverable. The similar table provided in the TOR is indicative. Applicants may use the indicative table as a guide or deviate as per the proposed approach. The proposal should also cost-effectively propose the local travel proposed by the applicant to undertake the assignment.
Financial proposal: The Financial Proposal should include the costs (providing a daily rate as justification) for each task, including consultant fee, proposed travel costs and perdiem, communications costs and any other proposed cost.
For every Child, you demonstrate…
UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).
To view our competency framework, please visit here.
UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.
UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.
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.
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.
The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.
Advertised: South Africa Standard Time
Deadline: South Africa Standard Time