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Strategic Communication Consultant to support the Women in Leadership and Governance Area

Vacancy Number: UN23/02672

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	14 Feb 2023, 12:59 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	20 Feb 2023, 12:59 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	27 Feb 2023, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	N/A
Starting date:	21 Feb 2023
Reference to the project:	UN Women
Expected Duration of Assignment:	Up to 50 working days, from February 2023 until February 2024 (with possibility of extension)
Supporting Documents: TOR_Communications Consultant for WILG Annex I. Price Proposal Guideline and Template Annex II. Price Proposal Submission Form P11 - UN WOMEN UN Women Conditions of Service Consultants

Ms. Mariana Aricova.

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 work of UN Women in Moldova is guided by its new Country Strategic Note 2023-2027, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Moldova (2023-2027),  UN Women Global  Strategic Plan, National Programs and Strategies and aims to contribute to the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Strategic Note focuses on four main areas: 1) Ending Violence against Women; 2) Women’s Leadership and Governance; 3) Women’s Economic empowerment and 4) Humanitarian and Peace development nexus and UN Coordination on Gender equality.

Guided by its Strategic Note, UN Women provides extensive support to relevant national and local stakeholders to ensure promotion of women’s leadership and women’s meaningful political participation. Women and girls constitute more than half of Moldova’s population, yet they are under-represented in the bodies that make key decisions affecting their lives. Although Moldova committed to support the increase of women’s political participation by adopting in 2016 the 40% gender quota and by nationalization of SDGs on gender equality, women remain under-represented in political and public leadership.

In the last few years Moldova faced a significant increase related to women’s political participation, by electing in 2020 its first female President and of 40% women in the Parliament after 2021 Snap Elections due to quota provisions. The new Government Cabinet formed in 2021 is led by a female Prime-Minister and has 29% women cabinet members. Its 2019 local elections contributed less to 22 % women as mayors (compared to 20.5% in 2015), 28.73% women district councilors (compared to 18.61% in 2015) and 36.5% women local councilors (compared to 30.6% in 2015).

Despite the recorded achievements in the area of political participation, Moldova is still far to achieve 50/50 representation as per SDG commitments, with the value of the Political Empowerment Sub-index of the Gender Gap Index in 2020 being still low (0.264 – placing Moldova on 45th place)[5].

Violence Against Women in Politics and Elections (VAWP/E) continues to be a significant barrier for women to enter and remain in office. UN Women Moldova. UN Women registered close to 260 cases of gendered political and electoral violence during the 2020 Presidential and 2021 Parliamentary elections alone. With General Local Elections scheduled for last week of October 2023, efforts to raise awareness on preventing VAWP/E, geared at women candidates in particular, but also women in office need to amped. Concurrently, multi-faceted efforts are required to encourage women, including women from under-represented groups to run for office considering the relatively low representation of women in leadership roles in local municipalities. Although the 40% gender quota will be applied for the election of local and district councilors in the upcoming local elections, there are significant risks that women’s interest to enter the political races may be low, considering pre-existing inequalities, but also the emerging challenges and backlash against women leaders exacerbated by the competing economic, regional security and refugee crises. Therefore, outreach efforts to raise awareness of political stakeholders and society at large about the need, importance, and benefits of women equal representation in decision making roles, particularly women facing multiple layers of exclusion and discrimination (e.g.  Roma women, women with disabilities), need to be scaled up.  

In this context, UN Women Moldova Country Office intends to hire a strategic communication consultant to support the conceptualization and coordination of a series of audiovisual, print products and events on women’s leadership and political participation.

Scope of work

The main objective of this consultancy is to provide strategic inputs and exercise oversight over the development and delivery of high-quality communication products/events/materials on topics related to Violence Against Women in Politics and balanced participation of women in politics and decision making at all levels, in compliance with UN Women standards.

More specifically, the consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Provide substantive inputs to the development of a mix of communication products (incl. but not limited to videos, infographics, social media content, etc.) planned by UN Women Moldova CO on topics related to VAWP/E and the broader women’s political participation agenda;
• Coordinate and exercise quality control over the development of audiovisual and print materials produced by UN Women services provider to ensure full compliance with UN Women standards;
• Develop/provide inputs to concepts, agenda, scenarios, etc. and provide support to UN Women Communications and WILG teams in organizing public events on various topics related to women’s leadership and political participation;

Requirements for experience

Qualifications:

• At minimum, Bachelor’s degree in foreign languages/literature/journalism/communication and public relations or in any other relevant domain. A Master’s degree in the aforementioned domains would be an asset.
• At least 2 years of relevant experience in journalism, public relations and/or mass media/ communications;
• At least 2 years of experience in designing/implementing/managing communication activities on social issues;
• Experience in developing/coordinating events/video/audio/print materials on gender equality/women in politics and elections/violence against women is a strong asset;
• Relevant experience in related areas in UN Women and/or UN agencies or other international organizations is an asset.

Language:

• Native Romanian mandatory. Excellent command of English and Russian

Core Values:

• Cultural Sensitivity and valuing Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Ethics and Values
• Accountability
• Self-management and emotional intelligence
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication and Information Sharing
• Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing
• Work in teams
• Leading by Example

Please visit this for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent command of Romanian, English and Russian
• Solid understanding of and hands-on experience in communications and outreach/advocacy;
• Ability to produce well-written text, including use of gender sensitive language;
• Ability to achieve results and to work in teams;
• Ability to use Information Technology effectively as a tool and resource;
• Ability to work under pressure and within limited time frames;
• Ability to consistently approach work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Ability to work in an independent manner and organize the workflow efficiently;
• In-depth knowledge of gender equality and women’s rights issues is a strong asset.

Documents to be included

Interested candidates are invited to submit their online applications in the https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=111311 portal, including the following documents:

• Duly filled Personal History Form PHF11 (downloadable from http://www.unwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/P_11_form_UNwomen.doc);
• Letter of Intent to include a brief overview about which of your previous experiences makes you the most suitable candidate for the advertised position.
• Financial proposal – specifying a total lump sum amount for the task specified in Terms of References. The Financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (daily rate). Please see ANNEX I and ANNEX II.