International consultant to advance understanding of journalists and media towards gender equality (UN WOMEN).

Vacancy Number: Pr18/01666

Location:Home based
Application Deadline: 31 Jan 2018, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:Individual Contract
Starting date: 12 Feb 2018
Reference to the project: UN Women
Expected Duration of Assignment:up to 60 days during 9 months starting at February 12, 2018
Submission Instructions:

Submission Instructions:

This is a international position, therefore all nationalities are eligible to apply. Applications should be submitted on line and include fully completed UN Women Personal History Form as attachment instead of CV/resume, with the mark “International consultant to advance understanding of journalists and media towards gender equality” by 31 January 2018, 23:59 NY time.

Failure to disclose prior employment or making false representations on this form will be grounds for withdrawal of further consideration of his/her application or termination, where the appointment or contract has been issued.

Note:

The system will only allow one attachment, hence all supporting document e.g. P11, CV and Cover letter must be scanned as one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment. Only qualified, shortlisted candidates will be contacted for test and interview.

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Supporting Documents:
Annex II
P11
Procurement Notice
Terms of Reference
UN Women Conditions of Service Consultants



Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

The media plays a significant role in perpetuating stereotypes as well as challenging social norms that condone discrimination or violence against women. UN Women collaborates closely with the media as a key ally in advancing women’s rights, mainly on two fronts: 1) in their reporting, in disrupting stereotypes and biases towards a non-stereotypical and dignified portrayal of women, and ensuring a more balanced representation of women and men’s roles in society 2) In increasing the number of women in the media, including in leadership and decision-making roles.

In the Republic of Moldova, UN Women has been working in challenging the stereotypical portrayal of women in media since 2008 through employing various tools, most notable among which is gender self-assessment of media organizations. In 2013, in total 17 print and on-line media organizations participated in the self-assessment initiative and scored positive results, with some of them increasingly portraying women in the domains of politics and economy as well as increasing practices of gender sensitive reporting. A similar exercise was undertaken in 2015-2016, in partnership with the Association with Independent Press (API), through UN Programme “Women in Politics”/ UN Women component, and was extended to a broader range of 30 print, on-line and audio-visual media organizations to undertake gender self-assessment before, during and after the elections. This led to stronger awareness, and resulted in an increase in the share of women featured as main protagonists in sections where they were significantly under-represented in some of the participating outlets.

In September 2016, the self-assessment exercise peaked with the signing by 37 TV, print and online media outlets of commitments to respecting gender equality principles, specifying concrete steps to be performed. One of these steps is publishing a specific number of articles per month dedicated to promoting gender equality. Another is the use of gender sensitive language. Despite the progress made, an independent monitoring of the target media institutions in 2017 revealed that only some of them have maintained the progress made during the self-assessment and some have slipped backwards. Many have not managed to fulfill the gender equality commitments made. In addition, in the previous years, UN Women has carried out different trainings and workshops with journalists on the topics of gender equality and gender sensitive reporting, as well as hands-on peer support in writing success stories for women in different fields of life.

Based on this work, further efforts are needed to increase understanding and strengthen the knowledge, capacities and skills of journalists to respect gender equality principles when developing media products and to use ensure gender sensitive and high-quality story-telling and reporting.

Therefore, UN Women is seeking to hire an individual international consultant to international consultant to advance understanding of journalists and media towards gender equality

 

 

Scope of work

Under the overall guidance of the Deputy Representative and direct supervision of UN Women Communications Specialist, the consultant will be responsible to lead and coordinate two major tasks to be considered as separate, generally aimed at strengthening media understanding on gender sensitive storytelling. Specifically, the consultant will be responsible for following:

Task 1: The launch of UN Women capacity building Programme for journalists, 2018 edition, which will be composed of the following stages: contest for participants on creating gender sensitive media materials/articles; capacity building sessions; and study mission to a country from Europe with good practices of promoting gender equality in media.

Task 2: Provide support to Audiovisual Coordinating Council (ACC) in mainstreaming gender equality in their work, including developing a methodology for external monitoring of audiovisual media outlets, revision of Audiovisual Code. Besides this, the international consultant is expected to develop some knowledge products related to gender mainstreaming in media to be used by UN Women.

The international consultant will work in close collaboration with a national company/organization and UN Women designated personnel, which will be directly responsible of provision of conceptual and logistical support for organization of above mentioned Programme. 

Requirements for experience

Education:

  • Master degree in Communications, Journalism, International Relations, Gender Equality, Human Rights and other related fields. Additional points will be granted for PhD degree in the fields mentioned above.
  • Additional certification in the area of gender equality will be an asset.

Experience

  • A minimum of 5 years of experience in the area of gender equality, communications and journalism;
  • A minimum of 3 years of experience in organization of various capacity buildings and high-level events, with a special focus on media and journalism;
  • Work experience in provision of trainings and other capacity building activities for journalists;
  • Previous experience in revision and reviewing of national and international policies, regulations, Codes of Conduct and other documents regulating gender mainstreaming in media’s work;
  • Experience in gender equality issues pertinent to RM context will be an asset;
  • Work experience in organization of contests and/or study missions will be an asset;
  • Proven experience in working with international organizations (successful experience in working with UN agencies is an asset).

Language Requirements:

  • Excellent command of English language.

Working knowledge of Russian and/or Romanian languages is an asset

Documents to be included

Interested candidates must submit via online submission system the following documents/ information to demonstrate their qualification:

  • Letter of Intent with justification of being the most suitable for the work, vision and working approach, specifically indicating experience of mobilization of excluded communities for participation and inclusion
  • Duly filled Personal History Form (P11) and/or CV, including records on past experience in similar projects/assignments and specific outputs obtained; P11 can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment;
  • Financial Proposal

Financial proposal

Financial proposal (in USD) should specify a total lump sum amount for the tasks specified in this Terms of Reference). The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (daily rate and number of anticipated working days and any other possible costs); Please see Annex I: Price Proposal Guideline and Template and Annex II: Price Proposal Submission Form