Consultant (Communications), Education Outcomes Fund (EOF), Hosted Fund, 6 Months, REMOTE, Req:568866

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, EDUCATION 

The Education Outcomes Fund (EOF) is dedicated to improving education and employment outcomes for children and youth globally. Our team is working at the cutting edge of development finance, leveraging our platform at the UN and our innovative, results-focused approach to change the way education is financed to support the next generation of youth.

There are few greater challenges faced by the global community than the twin crises of learning poverty and youth unemployment. In response, the Education Commission (chaired by Gordon Brown, former UK Prime Minister and UN Special Envoy for Global Education) and the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (chaired by Sir Ronald Cohen) came together with our founding CEO (Her Excellency Dr.) Amel Karboul to create EOF. We aim to improve the education and employment outcomes of 10 million children and youth, by supporting governments to utilize outcomes funds and other results-based financing (RBF) instruments. EOF is backed by a range of world leaders who support us to shape our approach and achieve our ambitious aims, as well as leaders in education and impact investing.

EOF supports improvements in the quality of education and skills programs, with a special focus on girls and underserved populations, including those in the hardest to reach rural areas. It measures (and pays for) what matters – both core skills like literacy and numeracy, but also critical 21st Century skills such as socio-emotional skills, ICT skills, and other broader fundamentals of a quality education. It helps close the persistent gap between the skills needed by employers and those attained by today’s youth.

For all the above, EOF pays primarily on the basis of the results achieved, ensuring that taxpayer-funded domestic resources, aid, and philanthropic funds are only used to pay for what works. This is a game-changing way to finance results in education, focusing attention and realigning systems on the most challenging but most important measure of a program’s performance: whether it is improving lives.

Together with our supporters, we believe this is the early stages of a much larger movement, with huge potential to increase learning outcomes for children and youth around the world, though improved aid effectiveness and government spending.

Since our inception in 2018, EOF has:

• Partnered with governments in Ghana and Sierra Leone to establish the two largest outcomes funds to date in developing countries, mobilising ~$50M for these programs.
• Established itself as a leading global player in RBF, and the only dedicated center of expertise for RBF in education and skills.
• Become the first outcomes fund hosted by the United Nations within UNICEF, as a scalable platform to partner with governments around the world.
• Established a major partnership with the LEGO Foundation, to develop a scale portfolio of RBF programs in early childhood across a diverse range of countries, as well as to amplify the movement and ecosystem of partners around this approach.
• Had our innovative approach featured in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, FT, Economist, Brookings, and more.

How can you make a difference?

RATIONALE FOR THE CONSULTANCY

We are seeking to recruit an exceptional consultant to provide support for a period of 6 months to develop and implement EOF’s communication strategy across the breadth of its work. This assignment can be completed remotely. 

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

As Consultant (Communications), you will support EOF’s Chief of Operations to develop and implement EOF’s communications strategy, advising EOF’s leadership team about EOF’s communications for the central organization and for EOF’s programs. The consultant will report directly to EOF’s Chief of Operations.

1. The Consultant will lead the development of guidelines and procedure for the planning, development, revision, and publication of content across the different channels, to raise the profile of EOF as the lead organization for innovative financing in the education sector. The communication and visibility will have a target audience of sector-savvy organizations from different backgrounds, connected by the interest in supporting the education sector. The target audience includes Governmental agencies, United Nations agencies, Foundations, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Impact investors and corporate organizations active in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

DELIVERABLES

SLEIC Programme

Deliverable	Description	Estimated number of working days	Deadline/ timeline
Deliverable 1: Plan and write communications content for EOF’s publication and support EOF to distribute it.	In collaboration with the Chief of Operations, update an existing comms planning calendar for all EOF’s external comms activity in 2024, including proposed content (EOF news, programs, partnerships activity etc.), audience (e.g., donors, Board members), and timelines, such as social media, newsletters, website updates, blog posts, knowledge products. Newsletters (estimated 2 total) written and issued of approximately 2-pages each, updating EOF’s network of existing and prospective partners on our work. Emails written and sent to prospective partners about EOF’s programmatic work and pipeline (estimated 1 email per month). Weekly posts on EOF’s organization social media platforms: LinkedIn and X. Drafting and distributing an estimated 2 press releases for public announcements. Distribution of select publications (estimated 4 pieces) such as thought-leadership pieces and white papers to relevant sources, publishing social media posts and/or blog posts to share the publications widely and with relevant audiences.	a) 4 days b) 2 days (1 per newsletter) c) 2 days total d) 6 days (1 days per month) e) 2 days f) 2 days (0.5 days per publication) 18 days total	a) Within first 2 weeks of the assignment b) 1 by the end of March 2024, the other by the end of the assignment c) Monthly d) Weekly e) As required – estimated 1 by the end of April 2024 and the other by the end of the assignment f) 6-weekly
Deliverable 2: Maintain and optimize EOF’s website by writing blog posts and updating relevant pages when changes occur (for example team changes or programmatic changes).	Ongoing maintenance and optimization of EOF’s website; writing blog posts of approximately 500 words to support the distribution of select publications (deliverable 1f – estimated 4 blogs required) and updating pages to reflect changes to EOF’s team, board, or programs (estimated 6 changes required).	6 days	Monthly, estimated 1 day per month
Deliverable 3: Event support and planning.	Identifying strategic events for EOF’s participation in 2024 and coordinating the application process (estimated 5 applications total). Provide light-touch comms support for an estimated 6 events, by planning the comms coverage and visibility around EOF’s participation in the events – for example, by writing social media posts, emails, and invitations (estimated 0.5 days’ work required per event). More substantial comms support for 3 other events, including developing EOF’s communications objective for attending events, drafting talking points for keynote addresses and panels, developing key messages, liaising with other organizations, developing a run of play (estimated 5 days work required per event). Examples of events include EOF’s attendance at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Conference of the Parties (COP), and senior EOF governance events.	a) 7 days (1 day per application and 2 days for research) b) 6 days (1 day per event) c) 15 days (5 days per event) 28 days total	a) Estimated 1 event per month b) Estimated 1 event each 2 months of the assignment
Deliverable 4: Develop and implement three comprehensive communications plans around the launch of three new programs by EOF in 2024.	Develop and implement, in consultation with EOF Program Managers, 3 comprehensive communications plans for programs that EOF is launching in 2024 (focused on early childhood education and youth employment), spanning international and national media sources, traditional and digital media, including blogs, articles, interviews, press releases and social media.	15 days (5 days per program)	By the end of April
Deliverable 5: Develop and implement communications strategy for EOF’s two basic education programs in Ghana and Sierra Leone for 2024.	Develop and implement, in consultation with EOF Program Managers, a comprehensive communications plan to capitalize on the announcement of year 2 results from EOF’s first 2 programs that support basic education in Ghana and Sierra Leone.	10 days	By the end of July
Deliverable 6: Identify comms content from EOF’s programs for external publication.	Coordinate with EOF’s relevant staff and in-country consultants to identify and develop relevant content on EOF in-country program activities, such as stories, photos, and video media, interviews and more, that can be incorporated into external publications.	6 days	Estimated 1 day monthly
Deliverable 7: Codify EOF’s approach to writing and publishing content online.	Codify an approval process for EOF publishing content online (including guidance on tone of voice), with a checklist for staff to follow. Estimated 1 page guidance and description of process. Oversee quality control before content is published externally (setting up and implementing a weekly review and approval process).	a) 2 days b) `12 (2 days per month) 14 days total	a) By the end of the first four weeks of the assignment b) Weekly
Total estimated working days – 97

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

• An advanced university degree is required in one of the following fields: Communications, Marketing, Journalism, Politics, Policy, Education, Economics, International Studies, andInternational Development.
• A minimum of eight years of relevant professional experience in communications or a related field or work is required.
• Experience developing and executing communications strategies within complex, politically nuanced environments is required.
• Experience leading international campaigns is required, utilising both traditional and digital media.
• Exceptional writing abilities are required, able to distill intricate concepts into clear, compelling content tailored to diverse audiences.
• Experience, or an interest in, the global education sector is strongly preferred.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).

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.