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, For every child, you demonstrate.

The regional website, www.unicef.org/esa features rich narratives on UNICEF’s priorities in the region, accompanied by news and feature stories from around all the 21 country offices. The website aims to maximize visibility, improve UNICEF’s role in knowledge management and intellectual leadership in the region, and highlight issues concerning children to a much wider audience.

To keep up with the day-to-day maintenance and periodic enhancement of the website, the Communication Section is seeking an experienced web consultant.

How can you make a difference?

Scope of Work

The selected consultant will work under the overall guidance and direct supervision of the Regional Chief of Communication to perform the following:

• Revamp the website to enable better storytelling and compelling narratives to enhance user experience and engagement
• Produce document pages and link them to programmatic pages.
• Copy-editing and oversight of web content gathered from multiple sources.
• Assess the ESA website structures and contents for ease of accessibility, quality of content, user-friendliness according to UNICEF guidance on external content, ease of maintenance/update, and information retrieval.
• Review and edit content to ensure that it is user-friendly and relevant for the website and ensure that the websites are updated regularly per the guidelines for the platform.
• Make the Websites accessible to persons with disabilities as per W3C 2.x guidelines over the course of 11.5 months (e.g. every month 5-10 pages are made accessible)
• Working with Drupal content management system to keep ESA websites up to date.
• Improving search engine optimization
• Constant review to ensure the ESA websites are free from misspellings, broken links, uptime monitoring, security scanning etc.

Deliverables and Payment Schedule

The consultancy has four broad deliverables, each estimated to require 78 hours, with the total consultancy hours of 312. However, due to the nature of the assignment which could be characterised by some ad-hoc requests arising from evolving situation, it is difficult to fully estimate the actual number of hours. Consequently, adjustments could be made to the actual works worked (+/-) for each deliverable, but the total consultancy hours will not exceed 312.

Deliverables	Duration (Estimated # of hours)		Timeline/Deadline		Schedule of payment
Review and edit content: Amend and incorporate edits and feedback from UNICEF sections; create content for Eastern and Southern Africa and South Sudan websites in line with UNICEF’s guidance on external content; edit content from ESARO and South Sudan Office in order to ensure that it is well written and in line with UNICEF’s Style Book	78 hours		April 15, 2024- March 14, 2025		25% payable on a quarterly basis based on actual hours worked
Update and organize websites: Package content (such as human-interest stories, press releases, photo essays and publications, and programmatic briefs) on UNICEF websites in a timely manner; make the websites accessible to persons with disabilities	78 hours		April 15, 2024- March 15, 2025		25% payable on a quarterly basis based on actual hours worked
Upload content onto websites: Upload content using the most appropriate layout on the Drupal site, sharing a preview with UNICEF colleagues when necessary.	78 hours		April 15, 2024- March 15, 2025		25% payable on a quarterly basis based on actual hours worked
Maintain websites: Constant review to ensure the two websites are free from misspelling, broken links, improve search engine optimization, Uptime monitoring and security scanning	78 hours		April 15, 2024- March 15, 2025		25% payable on a quarterly basis based on actual hours worked
TOTAL HOURS		312 hours		100%

Payment Schedule

• Payment will be made upon the satisfactory quality deliverables as scheduled and described in the previous section.
• On a quarterly basis, a single payment will be processed against the total hours worked across the four deliverables.

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

• Advanced University degree in Communication, Journalism, Public Relations or a communication-related field; a university degree in a related field plus an additional two years of required relevant professional experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• At least eight years of professional work experience in Communication, or a related field;
• Proven advocacy experience and good knowledge of development issues, especially children’ issues and UNICEF’s work;
• Excellent project management, analytical and writing skills;
• Has highest-level communication skills, including engaging and informative formal public speaking.
• Able to work effectively in a multi-cultural environment.
• Knowledge of parts of Eastern and Southern Africa is a bonus.
• Demonstrates and shares detailed technical knowledge and expertise.
• Must exhibit the UNICEF Core Values of:

• Care
• Respect
• Integrity
• Trust
• Accountability
• Sustainability

• Competencies that the consultant should have for the assignment:

• Builds and maintain partnerships
• Innovates and embraces change
• Drive to achieve results for impact
• Works collaboratively with other

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

Administrative issues

• The consultant can work remotely but would need to follow the working hours of Nairobi, Kenya and occasionally may be asked to work out of office hours due to the nature of breaking news or emergencies.
• Schedule for progress meetings throughout the contract duration will be required.
• All travel (in case of any) will be by most economical fare and reimbursement will be as per UNICEF policy.
• The consultant/contractor is expected to work remotely but should there be travel, depending on COVID-19 travel restrictions, the UNICEF office would cover subsistence allowances and travel costs. If the consultant/contractor is required to quarantine while traveling, UNICEF will pay for the quarantine if not organized by the host country.
• 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.
• 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.

Conditions

• The drafts and final documents, as well related data, will be the property of UNICEF after completion
• Any cost incurred to enable the Consultant to successfully carry out the assignment, such as phone, equipment, and Internet, will be covered entirely by the Consultant.
• Official travel is by most economical fare and reimbursement as per UNICEF policy,
• As per UNICEF DFAM policy, payment made against approved deliverables. No advance payment is allowed unless in exceptional circumstances against bank guarantee, subject to a maximum of 30 per cent of the total contract value in cases where advances purchases, for example for supplies or travel, may be necessary.
• 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 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.

Risks

Under-utilization of key communication opportunities hampers overall UNICEF communication efforts and reduces programme effectiveness. Such risks to be mitigated with proper supervision and clear terms of reference.

How to apply

Qualified candidates are requested to submit the following documents:

• Expression of interest / motivation letter
• Curriculum Vitae
• References and/or Reference Letters
• Quoted daily fees.

Interested candidates to indicate their ability, availability, all-inclusive fees, to undertake the terms of reference.

Applications submitted without a fee/ rate will not be considered.

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.