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Vacancy Announcement: Consultant

 Consultancy Title: Consultant to support CNF communications efforts

Section/Division/Duty Station: Nutrition, Programme Division, NYHQ

Duration:  1 November 2024 to 1 October  2025

Home/ Office Based: NYHQ / Remote

 About UNICEF – DO NOT EDIT

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries.

BACKGROUND

Purpose of Activity/ Assignment:

The consultancy seeks to enhance the communications and advocacy efforts of the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF), a UNICEF-led initiative aimed at addressing global malnutrition. The consultant will be instrumental in driving global awareness and support for CNF’s mission by implementing strategic communication and advocacy initiatives.

 The Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) is a UNICEF-led financing mechanism designed to transform the way we address malnutrition. The CNF mobilizes financing to enable the sustainable scale-up of policies, programmes, practices and supplies to address malnutrition. To do so, the CNF provides new opportunities to financially support essential actions to prevent, detect and treat wasting, stunting and/or anaemia in children and women.

 The primary objective of this consultancy is to strengthen the CNF’s communication and advocacy efforts, contributing to the fund’s overall mission by increasing global awareness and support. The consultant will work closely with a wide range of stakeholders, including national governments, donors, partners, and civil society organizations, to ensure that CNF’s initiatives are effectively communicated and advocated.

 Scope of Work:

The consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

a. Annual and Donor Reporting

• Contribute to the development of the CNF Annual Report, ensuring comprehensive coverage of CNF’s activities and achievements.
• Assist in preparing donor reports as required, highlighting the impact and outcomes of CNF-supported initiatives.
• Document and curate human interest and impact stories from countries benefiting from CNF support, showcasing the real-world effects of CNF’s efforts.

b. Communication and Advocacy Materials

• Prepare and develop communication and advocacy materials that align with CNF’s objectives and strategic goals.
• Coordinate with DGCA on the production of videos and other multimedia materials for CNF.
• Edit, copy edit, and proofread reports and other communication materials to ensure clarity, accuracy, and consistency.

c. Website and Social Media Management

• Maintain and update the CNF website to ensure that current and relevant information is readily accessible to stakeholders.
• Develop and manage content for the CNF website as needed, ensuring it aligns with CNF’s messaging and objectives.
• Enhance CNF’s social media presence by managing platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, and others, with the goal of increasing global awareness and engagement.

Visibility Guidelines

• Develop and implement CNF visibility guidelines to ensure consistent and cohesive representation of CNF across all communication platforms at global, regional, and country levels.

Reporting

The Programme Specialist, Financing for Child Nutrition & Development will be the contract supervisor. to. The role will require close collaboration with a diverse group of stakeholders to ensure that all communication and advocacy efforts align with CNF’s mission and strategic goals.

Deliverables

The consultant is expected to deliver high-quality outputs:

• Contributions to the CNF Annual Report and donor reports.
• Documented human interest and impact stories from CNF-supported countries.
• Developed communication materials that support CNF’s objectives.
• Active and well-maintained CNF social media channels that drive engagement.
• An updated and user-friendly CNF website with relevant and current information.
• Established and implemented CNF visibility guidelines.
• Effective support for key events such as UNGA and N4G Summit.

Conclusion

This consultancy is pivotal in advancing CNF’s global objectives by enhancing its communication efforts. The consultant’s work will directly contribute to increasing global awareness and support for CNF’s mission to address malnutrition on a global scale.

Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables:

Work Assignment Overview Deliverables/ Outputs Delivery deadline

CNF Annual Report

• The CNF Annual Report and at least five donor reports finalized – By 1 October 2025

Impact Stories

• A package of human interest and impact stories from 10 CNF-supported countries is developed – By 1 August 2025

Communication Materials

• A set of communication materials that support CNF’s objectives (10-15 products, including advocacy briefs, documents and slides). – I July 2025

Social media

• CNF social media channels created and at least 15 updates are made to the channel. – 1 October 2025

CNF Website

• An improved CNF website in Drupal with at least 24 updates with relevant and current information, and materials. – 1 October 2025

Visibility guidelines

• Established and implemented CNF visibility guidelines – By 1 January 2025

Event support

• Multimedia Content for at least 5 Global Events: Create, repurpose, and manage Multimedia content (messaging, social media kits, etc.)  created for at least 5 global events like N4G, UNGA, SUN Global Gathering, and others – 1 September 2025

Qualifications

Education: Masters

Communication, journalism, advocacy, social sciences, international development, public health, nutrition, etc.

 Work experience:

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required *:

• Minimum eight years of relevant work experience at national and international levels in communication, advocacy and social media engagement.
• Excellent writing and communication skills.
• Knowledge of Drupal and/or other CMS platforms is highly desirable.

Knowledge and experience in nutrition is considered an asset

Requirements:

Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and

- Upload copy of academic credentials

- Financial proposal that will include/ reflect :

• • the costs per each deliverable and the total lump-sum for the whole assignment (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference.
  • travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.
  • Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.
  • Indicate your availability

- Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.

- At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.

- Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

U.S. Visa information:

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.  

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

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results. View our competency framework at: Here

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:  

Individuals engaged under a consultancy 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. Consultants 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.