Consultancy 12 months: Giga Advocacy and Internal Communications Specialist, Geneva, Switzerland

UNICEF invites applications from experienced professionals in advocacy and internal communications for a 12-month consultancy with Giga. The selected consultant will work on developing and implementing comprehensive advocacy strategies, enhancing internal communications, and engaging key stakeholders to support Giga’s mission of connecting schools to the Internet.

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...Innovate

UNICEF has a 70-year history of innovating for children. We believe that new approaches, partnerships and technologies that support realizing children’s rights are critical to improving their lives.

The Office of Innovation is a creative, interactive, and agile team in UNICEF. We sit at a unique intersection, where an organization that works on huge global issues meets the start-up thinking, the technology, and the partners that turn this energy into scalable solutions.

About Giga

Launched in 2019 as a joint initiative between UNICEF and ITU, Giga has set the ambitious goal to connect every school in the world to the internet.  Half of the world’s population has no regular access to the Internet. Millions of children leave school without any digital skills, making it much more difficult for them to thrive and contribute to local and global economies. This has created a digital divide between those who are connected and those who are not, a divide that has become even wider during the Covid-19 pandemic. UNICEF and ITU have therefore joined forces to create Giga, an initiative to connect every school in the world to the Internet and address this new form of inequality. 

Giga focuses on connecting schools so that children and young people have access to information, opportunity, and choice. It also uses schools as anchor points for their surrounding communities: if you connect the school, you can also connect local businesses and services. This creates opportunities for service providers to generate revenue from paying users, making connectivity more sustainable. A 2021 report by the Economist Intelligence Unit found that a 10% increase in school connectivity can increase effective years of schooling by 0.6% and increase GDP per capita by 1.1%. 

You can read more about Giga’s work at https://giga.global/ and by following us on twitter @Gigaglobal

How can you make a difference? 

UNICEF is seeking a highly experienced professional in advocacy and internal communications. The consultant will enhance Giga’s visibility within UNICEF and the broader development community, ensuring a coherent and compelling narrative around Giga’s goals and achievements.

In particular you will:

Developing an Advocacy Strategy:

• Create a comprehensive advocacy strategy articulated around a clear theory of change, a powerful narrative, and key messages.
• Identify key fora and events where Giga should be showcased.

Enhancing Internal Communications:

• Develop an internal communication plan to enhance knowledge sharing and collaboration within Giga and with UNICEF’s Programme Group.
• Facilitate knowledge exchange through initiatives like a Giga Academy or Masterclasses.

Photo Contest implementation:

• Support the communication team with the photo contest execution.
• Leverage experience in Geneva Art scene to identify various partners across the photo contest value chain.
• Identify and partner with Geneva Media outlets specializing in print and outdoor to drive awareness of photo contest.
• Identify judges to participate in the selection process.
• Support the Events team in the execution of the photo contest event with various partners

Communications for Resource Mobilization:

• Coordinated efforts with communication team to develop targeted campaigns, communications material, and brand messaging aligned to key stakeholders.
• Integrated support with partnerships team to support resource mobilization goals.
• Support partnerships and fundraising team to enhance donor communication and fundraising.

Stakeholder Engagement:

• Map and engage key stakeholders, including potential partners, beneficiaries, and influencers.
• Organize and support high-level meetings and events to promote Giga’s mission.

Please access the full Term of Reference (ToRs) and read a more detailed description of the assignment in this file in order to prepare your financial proposal and know more about the role:  Advocacy and Internal Communications Specialist.pdf

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

• An advanced degree in Marketing, Communication or Journalism. *An undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline combined with an additional 2 years of professional experience in project management may substitute for a master’s degree.
• A minimum of 5 years of professional experience working within the Geneva ecosystem and demonstrable networking skills within media, arts, and academia in Geneva.
• Strong background in developing and implementing advocacy strategies.
• Experience working within UNICEF across country and HQs is considered an asset.
• Proficiency in managing internal communications and knowledge sharing is required.
• Experience in stakeholder mapping and engagement.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

Travel:

• The consultant is expected to travel to Barcelona, Spain on two (2 trips), for a stay of 3-4 nights.
• The consultant is responsible for arranging his/her own travel, including visa and travel insurance.

Payment details and further considerations:

• Payment of professional fees will be based on the submission of agreed 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.
• The consultant is responsible for his/her own health and travel insurance.
• The consultant is responsible for arranging his/her own travel, including visa.
• UNICEF will facilitate the process for obtaining local permits exclusively for the consultant, excluding any dependents.
• This consultancy is based in Geneva.

How to apply:

• Interested applicants are required to submit a financial proposal with an all-inclusive fee.  Please see the financial proposal template here:  Consultancy Financial Offer template.docx
• Financial proposal must include travel costs (economy class) and daily subsistence allowance, if travel is required as per TOR and any other estimated costs: visa, travel/health insurance
• Applications without a financial proposal 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. For more information on Non-staff members IO based in Geneva, you can visit this link.

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.