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, an Advocacy Specialist 

Advocacy and Communication are at the center of UNICEF’s mandate. We advocate to decision makers for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. We communicate to key public and private audiences to build support for the cause of children.

UNICEF is mandated to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, and our Strategic Plan recognizes the importance of advocacy to deliver against UNICEF’s mission and secure results for children. Advocacy plays an essential role in supporting and pressing governments and other influential actors to ensure measurable, sustainable change for children, whether through private influencing, mobilizing public support, policy advice, or a holistic blended approach.

This role is based in UNICEF’s Global Advocacy Section, in the Division of Global Communications and Advocacy (GCA).

GCA’s Advocacy Section has three core objectives:

1. To collaboratively develop, strengthen and implement advocacy, campaigns and communication strategies, with robust monitoring and evaluation, on advocacy priorities.
2. To build and strengthen strategic partnerships for advocacy – with civil society, influencers, partner organizations (UN and non-UN) and other actors, to ensure a strategic approach to deploying these partners to increase our advocacy impact.
3. To develop and implement clear plans to build advocacy capacity across UNICEF

How can you make a difference?

Based in the Child Health and Nutrition Advocacy Team, a Campaigns and Advocacy Specialist (the Consultant) is sought to design and deliver high-impact child health and immunization advocacy campaign and high-profile activities with partners. 2024 is the 50^th Anniversary of the Expanded Programme of Immunization (EPI@50). This milestone moment in history provides an opportune moment to deliver ambitious public engagement and political influencing initiatives that help drive concrete action on childhood immunization. Given the ambition of UNICEF and partners in this anniversary year, we are seeking a consultant for a time-bound period to develop a range of advocacy plans, materials, resources and products to enable UNICEF’s Child Health Global Advocacy Team to deliver An ambitious advocacy agenda around key moments in 2024.

This role calls for someone with an advocacy and communications background with a passion for changing hearts and minds through thoughtful campaigns. UNICEF is looking for someone who is both a strategic thinker and who also has the creative flair to turn complex issues into compelling public and political campaigns that advance UNICEF’s global advocacy strategies.

 Expected results: (measurable results)

1. 2024 Global Campaign Strategy for EPI@50 and associated immunization and community health advocacy moments: Develop a campaign strategy to deliver the advocacy outcomes in UNICEF’s Immunization Advocacy Priority associated with EPI@50. This will include drafting a theory of change, proposed tactics and activities, with a costed business case, and written guidance on how offices can operationalise the strategy in their own market.
2. High-impact campaign activities are effectively implemented: Draft proposals, pitches and strategic briefs to help GCA select and deliver at least two new flagship global advoacy activities/partnerships which have measurable public reach, and advance our health advocacy agenda.
3. Advocacy and Campaign resources are available: Develop internal documents, resources, and slide decks which set out campaign strategies, showcase flagship activities, and which evaluate campaign and activities impact and ensure they are easily available for UNICEF colleagues and partners.
4. Produce plans for partnership working (such as WHO, Gavi, BMGF and others) to successful implement join partnership initiatives under the EPI@50 umbrella campaign.

Description of the assignment

Based in UNICEF’s Division of Global Communications and Advocacy (GCA), the Consultant will be responsible for designing and developing campaign strategies to support UNICEF’s child health and immunization priorities in 2024 which will be focused on celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI@50).

Principle goals and expectations for the consultant:

• Propose a campaigns strategy for UNICEF centred on EPI@50 anniversary that drives public and political action on childhood immunization. Strategies will be developed following consultation with UNICEF teams and external partners to ensure thoughtful analysis of the problem and relevant, realistic and implementable solutions, and include impact and output indicators.
• Prepare internal resources to support the implementation of the strategy. This is to ensure that colleagues within UNICEF are able to understand the role they can play in achieving immunization advocacy outcomes in 2024.
• Propose, plan, and identify resourcing solutions for at least two high-impact EPI@50 projects from inception phase to implementation and ensure that activities align with partner priorities and grant expectations. This is likely to include at least two of the following:
  • Scope out and propose effective, costed, campaign plans and tactics to achieve advocacy goals, through the use of a range of channels and media, to drive political and public engagement examples might include – podcasts and other ‘storytelling’ devices, which showcase the value of vaccines and helps build public confidence in childhood vaccines with a wide online audience.
  • Scope out and propose effective, costed cultural partnerships to engage a range of key audiences with the history and future of immunization, for example exhibitions, or other ‘experiential’ offline initiatives  highlighting the history of vaccines with one or more major academic/cultural institutions.
  • Develop a strategic brief for an advocacy and communications initiative that helps create an ‘endowment effect’ – increasing knowledge, salience and engagement among the general public of the impact of vaccines on child survival over the past 50 years and the next 50 years ahead
• Provide relevant inputs on campaign plans and results to the Child Health Advocay team, especially to inform grant reporting and monitoring and evaluation processes.

Working in close coordination with the Advocacy Specialist plus other internal and external stakeholders, the advocacy consultant will deliver the following;

Timeframe

Start date:  November 2023

End date:   July 2024

Travel (If Applicable) – No travel is anticipated with this consultancy assignment at this time.

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

• Bachelor’s degree in International Development, Human Rights, Communications, Marketing, Journalism, or Related Creative Sectors and Disciplines.
• At least five (5) years of progressively responsible and relevant professional work experience in advocacy/ campaigning and communications is required.
• Experience in leading the development and implementation of advocacy and creative strategies, with clear theories of change, with specific, measurable and timebound objectives and performance indicators.
• Proven experience in deploying a range of campaigns, advocacy and communication tactics based on a clear theory of change.
• Strong communicator with emphasis on being able to present complex policy ideas in succinct, engaging ways through campaign narratives and creative tactics.
• Demonstrated experience in design and management of projects, including budget management and monitoring and evaluation of results.
• Knowledge of children’s rights, public policy, international development and humanitarian issues.
• Experience in advocacy at the international level is an asset.
• Experience in training and facilitation is an asset.
• Experience working in a developing and emergency environment is an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

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.

Application Guidance

All applications must contain the following (incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration)

1. Fully completed FINANCIAL PROPOSAL FORM  Financial Proposal Form – Updated 10 April 2023.xlsx

2. Fully completed TECHNICAL PROPOSAL FORM   Technical Proposal Form – Updated 10 April 2023.xlsx  

3. Fully completed applicant online applicant profile

4. Cover letter

5. Resume

EVALUATION AND SELECTION PROCESS

Technical Assessment Criteria (applications will be evaluated based on the following technical criteria):

Candidates are requested to submit their Financial Proposal form and it will be evaluated based on the overall financial offer.

FEE

Requests for services under an individual contract requires that the consultant indicates their all-inclusive fees (including lump sum travel and subsistence costs, as applicable) for the services to be provided.

When submitting their bid, the consultant is also advised to take into consideration as part of their bid for the assignment the cost of health insurance and/or photographic, video-graphic equipment if such equipment is needed to complete the deliverables of the assignment.

Health Insurance

The Consultant is fully responsible for arranging, at their own expense, such life, health, and other forms of insurance covering the term of the Contract as he or she considers appropriate. The Consultant is not eligible to participate in the life or health insurance schemes available to UNICEF and United Nations staff members.

VISA REQUIREMENTS

With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4.    

IMPORTANT – G4 Visa is only valid if the consultant will reside within the tri-state area during the duration of the assignment. It is illegal to apply and obtain a visa for consultants who do not intend to reside within the tri-state area during the duration of the consultancy assignment.

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.