UNICEF recruits 01 C4D Specialist: Social Media Monitoring & Rumour Management

Consultancy – C4D Specialist: Social Media Monitoring & Rumour Management (Home-Based)

Job Number: 531099 | Vacancy Link

Locations: Africa: Kenya

Work Type : Consultancy

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.

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTORS/ CONSULTANTS

PART I
Title of Assignment	C4D Specialist social media monitoring and rumour management (COVID-19 preparedness and response) – Individual Consultant
Section	C4D
Location	Remote / home-based/ ideally working in any country under the time zones: GMT to GMT +5
Duration	6 months
Start date	From:  20 April 2020	From:  20 October 2020

 Background and Justification

Background

 On 31 December 2019, WHO was alerted to a cluster of pneumonia patients in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. One week later, on 7 January 2020, Chinese authorities confirmed that they had identified a novel (new) coronavirus as the cause of the pneumonia. To date the corona virus (COVID-19) has spread to over 200 countries, including over 15 in East and Southern Africa (ESA).

Given the increasing number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Eastern and Southern Africa the Regional office (ESARO) is proposing to strengthen internal capacity to enhanced support to the 21 countries through deployment of additional human resource.

Purpose

The UNICEF Communication for Development programme is at the forefront of UNICEF emergency response, where knowledge, attitudes, practices and social norms are key to preparedness and response. Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) plays a key role in providing real-time lifesaving information ensuring that people know what to do to protect themselves and others against various diseases.

As per the UNICEF ESARO C4D guidance note on COVID-19 Social Media Listening & Rumor Tracking in ESA, social media is increasingly emerging as a major source of COVID-19 related information as highlighted by some recent surveys. While this is a promising trend with potential for using online platforms, social media has also been used to distort correct information, contributing to the spread of disinformation and misinformation as witnessed in the recent weeks. The importance and urgency of access to timely, relevant trusted information in this pandemic cannot be overemphasized. Rumors offer a threat to correct information and can be a matter of life and death. A rumor is defined as unverified information that is transmitted from one person to others. There are two sub-groups of rumors, which are defined by the intent of the people spreading them. Misinformation is incorrect information spread by people without the intent to deceive, while Disinformation is spread to deceive or manipulate others. There are three types of rumors: wish rumors: these reflect the hopes of the community; hostility rumors: these reflect threats to the community or prejudices and often target outside groups; and fear rumors: these reflect the anxieties of the community.

In the context of the COVID-19 epidemic, in ESA social media is one the most significant communication channel, as confirmed by the recent GeoPoll assessment conducted on COVID-19 in Kenya, with social media accounted for 44% as main information source (the highest). Tracking of social media content including rumors and other online discussions is therefore necessary to identify trends and ensure quick and timely responses at regional and national level.

 Scope of Work

 Goal and Objective:

Under the supervision of the C4D Specialist and in close coordination with External Communication section and other sections involved in the COVID-19 preparedness/response, the consultant will provide technical assistance in aspects of social media monitoring, Â rumor tracking and management, online listening, and support with digital/online content production and dissemination linked to COVID-19.

Alignment with ESARO 2020 AWP:

This activity contributes to priority 7 of the C4D Workplan: COs provided with technical guidance and oversight to implement and monitor C4D preparedness and response for emergencies. The Consultancy aims to support the ESARO technical assistance in the context of the COVID-19 preparedness and response.

Major duties and responsibilities

Develop and implement a regional social media monitoring and rumor management action plan for the COVID-19 epidemic.

Develop a C4D regional social media monitoring and rumor management action plan, taking into consideration all initiatives undertaken by UNICEF and other partners in the region for COVID-19 prevention, including Social Media content production and dissemination, U-Report chatbots, polls and counselling hubs, Internet of Good Things;

In the context of the action plan, adapt the ESARO RCCE M&E framework into an online regional COVID-19 online tracking dashboard with the aim to integrate information reported by COs, most common rumors and identify additional segments to be developed for regional social media monitoring.

Through online monitoring tools, identify COVID-19/Coronavirus highly assessed conversation threads to identify wrong information and/or myths being circulated in our region.

In collaboration with the ESARO Social Media consultant in the Communications section, identify regional social media influencers in order to engage them with COVID-19 myth busters information and tools;

Analyze the information collected through the U-Report myth-busters chatbot and polls launched in the region to identify the most common source of information per country, assess the level of correct information of U-Reporters and identify the most common myths reported.

Produce weekly and monthly reports highlighting key issues, topics, concerns raised and addressed online providing recommendations for better engagement.

Participate in and contribute to the community feedback sub working group of the regional RCCE coordination mechanism.

Contribute to content to the various reporting requirements including but not limited to Situation Reports, weekly updates to HQ, and any other reporting needs related to COVID-19 RCCE response focusing on the social media monitoring dimension.

Document the lessons learnt and best practices in social media monitoring and rumor management undertaken in ESAR countries.

Technical support to UNICEF ESAR Country Offices (COs)

Provide technical assistance to design and implement high quality digital-based C4D content and social media monitoring plans in line with the COVID-19 RCCE plans.

Support the development and implementation of a system to track COVID-19 related rumors (misinformation and disinformation) and general public concerns.

Support COs to establish appropriate strategies and mechanisms to manage rumors and effectively respond to misinformation and disinformation.

Undertake a daily review of the regional COVID-19 online tracking dashboard to identify trends and liaise with respective country offices to address them.

Support COs with ad hoc remote capacity building sessions to ensure dissemination of high quality COVID-19 digital-based C4D content.

Identify opportunities to synchronize and use content across various UNICEF platforms such as the Internet of Good Things (IoGT), U-Report, and other UNICEF supported digital tools or platforms for effective message dissemination.

Consolidate, analyze, and share social media monitoring and rumor tracking data from countries in a systematic and regular manner.

Identify country-specific online influencers for potential engagement to amplify correct information about COVID-19.

Keep an updated mapping of digital-based platforms available to support country offices partnerships for in country-based COVIS-19 rumors tracking mechanism.

Support the preparation of fundraising proposals; identify/follow up on the country specific resource mobilization needs.

3. Capacity strengthening

Organize webinars to reinforce capacity of COs colleagues and their counterparts on C4D online content development/adaptation and rumor management;

Organize webinars and online training for the UNICEF C4D ESARO partners, such as the Scouts Africa Regional Office and the Africa Council of Religious Leaders (ACRL) and their networks in the region.

Key expected Results

 Output 1: regional social media monitoring and rumor management strategy and analysis

Regional social media monitoring and rumour management strategy

Weekly and monthly reports with analysis of social media content and trends related to COVID-19

Output 2: technical assistance to COs provided:

High quality digital-based content production and disseminated with COs and social media monitoring plans developed in line with the COVID-19 RCCE plans in all 21 ESAR countries.

System to track rumors and other online information established in each CO

Output 3: capacity building to COs and UNICEF ESARO partners:

UNICEF COs social media managers and their counterparts are trained on COVID-19 C4D online content development/adaptation and rumor management in at least 7 countries

UNICEF ESARO C4D partners (Scouts and ACRL) and their networks are trained on C4D online content development/adaptation and rumor management.

Output 4: Consultancy final report including:

Key lessons learnt and good practices in ESAR from the COVID-19 in social media monitoring and rumour management interventions

Recommendations to reinforce social monitoring and rumour management in ESA region.

Outputs/Deliverables/Payment schedule:

The consultant will be required to produce the outputs as specified below.

Number	Output	Deliverable	Timeframe	Payment
1.1	Regional social media monitoring and rumour management strategy and analysis	– Regional social media monitoring and rumour management strategy, including the M&E dashboard.   – Regional monthly social media analysis of content and trends related to COVID-19 and correlated report   – Monthly report of activity	By mid-May 2020	Payment n.1 15%
1.2			By mid-June 2020	Payment n. 2: 15%
1.3			By mid-July 2020	Payment n. 3: 15%
1.4			By mid-August 2020	Payment n. 4: 15%
1.5			By mid-September 2020	Payment n. 5: 20%
1.6			By 10 October 2020	Payment n. 6: 20%
2.1	Technical assistance to COs provided	High quality C4D digital-based content is produced and disseminated with COs and CO’ social media monitoring plans are developed in line with the COVID-19 RCCE plans in all 21 ESAR countries	By mid-June 2020	* (linked to payment n.2)
2.2		System to track rumors and other online information established in each CO	By mid-July 2020	* (linked to payment n.3)
3.1	Capacity building to COs and UNICEF ESARO partners	UNICEF COs social media managers and their counterparts are trained on C4D online content development/adaptation and rumor management in at least 7 countries	By mid-August 2020	* (linked to payment n.4)
3.2		UNICEF ESARO C4D partners (Scouts and ACRL) and their networks are trained on C4D online content development/adaptation and rumor management.	By mid-September 2020	* (linked to payment n.5)
4.1	Consultancy final report, Documentation and Lessons learned	Lessons learnt documented both from the regional level and in at least 3 countries.	By mid-September 2020	* (linked to payment n.5)
4.2		Delivery of final consultancy report and 15 slides max PPT on key achievement	By 10 October 2020	* (linked to payment n.6)

 Desired competencies, technical background and experience

Education

Advanced university degree or equivalent experience in Statistics, Communications, Marketing, Data Science and/or Knowledge management. Training in one of these several Social Media and/or Data Science technical competencies: Social media management, Digital monitoring, Business Analytics.

*A first-level university degree in a relevant field combined with seven years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.

Work Experience

At least 5 years of proven experience in social media monitoring and analysis and/or digital listening

Previous experience with social media management, trend monitoring, and influencing

Experience in the design and implementation of interventions on rumor management/misinformation

Excellent writing skills planning and coordination skills, with proven ability to work independently.

Language Proficiency

Fluency in English (verbal and written). Knowledge of French and Portuguese is an added advantage

 Core Values:

Care

Respect

Integrity

Trust

Accountability

Conditions

The Consultant will mostly be home-based with limited travels in line with recommendations on travel restrictions. Regular remote meeting (frequency to be defined with the supervisor) will be organized to provide updates. The consultant will use his/her own office equipment. As most of the work will be done remotely, the consultant must have high internet connectivity and must be available/reachable online throughout the consultancy.

Limited travel anticipated, due to current travel restrictions and economy class travel when its confirmed.

As per UNICEF DFAM policy, payment is 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 advance purchases, for example for supplies or travel, may be necessary.

The candidate selected will be governed by and subject to UNICEF’s General Terms and Conditions for individual contracts.

Risks

Given the increased workload around supporting RCCE for COVID-19 response, not having this additional support poses a reputational risk to UNICEF.

All applicants must provide an all-inclusive financial proposal for the work outlined above

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The functional competencies required for this post are…

View our competency framework at http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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.

Closing Date Tue Apr 21 2020 22:55:00 GMT+0200 (Paris, Madrid (heure d’été))