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, a voice.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment

As of 8 January 2024, more than 114,000 refugees from Ukraine are recorded in Slovakia. Approximately 37,061 are children aged 0-17.

After an initial humanitarian response, conducted in coordination with the government, municipalities and civil society, the UNICEF Refugee Response Office (RRO) in Slovakia is now transitioning from emergency interventions tailored towards addressing immediate needs to interventions aimed at the longer-term inclusion of refugees, while addressing residual humanitarian needs of refugees in the areas of Child Protection, Education, including Early Childhood Development and Adolescent Development, Health and Social Policy as well as Social and Behaviour Change.

UNICEF Slovakia Ukraine Refugee Response is seeking a Junior Communications Consultant to support RRO communication and advocacy activities and associated products on on-going basis.

The Junior Communications Consultant will work in close coordination with the Communications section, under the supervision of the Communications Officer.

The consultancy is based in Bratislava, Slovakia. Travel to support communications activities and record human interest stories is also expected.

Scope of Work

Under the supervision of the Communications Officer, and in coordination with other teams, primarily the Communications team, the consultant will support communication and advocacy activities in Slovakia.

More specifically, the consultant will:

1. Contribute to communications campaigns:

• Contextualize communication activities to the Ukrainian audience.
• Support with a correct interpretation and improve target campaigning focused on Ukrainian audience in Slovakia.
• Support the Communications team with new ideas for the planned communications activities (ex. Pathways, Promoting Development Monitoring Tool, Back to School, World Children´s Day, World Mental Health Day, 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, International Day of Persons with Disabilities, etc.).
• Help further develop the MHPSS digital platform “How wonderful you are here” making mental health care more accessible, targeting adolescents and young people from Ukraine and Slovakia.
• Assist in further development of “Love shouldn´t hurt”, a digital platform addressing violence against women providing prevention and risk mitigation communication assets, as well as response in terms of referral services. The platform has not reached its potential regarding the outreach among girls and young women from Ukraine and Slovakia yet.

2. Support digital communications:

• Develop communication assets (ex. animation, presentations, graphics, flyers, social media posts, carrousels) to communicate information related to UNICEF RRO activities in Slovakia.

3. Capture Human Interest Stories:

• Identify potential Ukrainian families and co-conduct and/or translate in the interviews collecting data to write-up a human-interest story.

4. Provide support with partner:

• Organize and facilitate regular meetings with a partner Nadacia Petit Press – Novyny (Ukrainian news outlet in Slovakia). Provide Novyny with support in terms of social media content and overall communication activities to reach a wider Ukrainian audience in Slovakia.

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks / Milestone******Deliverables / Outputs******Timeline / Deadline*****1. Contribute to communications campaigns with focus to contextualize communication activities to Ukrainian audience and support target campaigning focused on Ukrainian audience in Slovakia:*****Back to School campaign

• Write contribution for the communications strategy (max 1 page) with a focus on reaching Ukrainian audience in Slovakia and promoting school enrollment for Ukrainian children.
• Write at least 1 copy for the social media and visual assets for the campaign.
• Write copies and feedback for the bullying prevention in schools content.
• Identify and distribute information to at least 3 partners.
• Write a short evaluation of outreach to Ukrainian audience (max 1 page).

2 working days;

By 30 August 2024

World Mental Health Day

• Write contribution for the communications strategy (max 1 page) with a focus on reaching Ukrainian audience in Slovakia and promoting MHPSS platform for Ukrainian audience.
• Identify and distribute information to at least 3 partners.
• Write a short evaluation of outreach to Ukrainian audience (max 1 page).

2 working days;

By 10 October 2024

World Children’s Day

• Write contribution for the communications strategy with a focus on reaching Ukrainian audience in Slovakia.
• Write at least 1 copy for the social media and visual assets for the campaign.
• Co-organize and participate in at least 1 offline event.
• Identify and distribute the information about the campaign or event to at least 3 stakeholders.
• Write a short evaluation of outreach to Ukrainian audience (max 1 page).

10 working days;

By 25 November 2024

International Day of Persons with Disabilities

• Write contribution for the communications strategy with a focus on reaching Ukrainian audience in Slovakia, further work with a GBV platform to reach a wider audience (max 1 page).
• Write at least 1 copy for the social media and visual assets for the campaign.
• Identify and distribute information to at least 3 partners.
• Write a short evaluation of outreach to Ukrainian audience (max 1 page).

2 working days;

By 3 December 2024

16 days of activism on gender-based violence

• Write contribution for the communications strategy with a focus on reaching Ukrainian audience in Slovakia, further work with a GBV platform to reach a wider audience (max 1 page).
• Write at least 1 copy for the social media and visual assets for the campaign.
• Identify and distribute information to at least 3 partners.
• Write a short evaluation of outreach to Ukrainian audience (max 1 page).

2 working days;

By 10 December 2024

The Nest Away From Home

• Co-organize and participate on at least 1 screening for public/students of the UNICEF documentary movie The Nest Away From Home.
• Identify and distribute information to at least 3 partners.

2 working days;

By December 2024

Pathways initiative

• Write contribution for the communications strategy with a focus on reaching Ukrainian audience in Kosice and Nitra.
• Prepare communications lines (at least 5) for the Pathways initiative.
• Co-organize at least 1 event for Ukrainian audience.
• Write at least 1 copy for the social media and visual assets for the campaign.
• Write an evaluation of outreach to Ukrainian audience.

10 working days;

By December 2024

2. Support digital communications:• Develop at least 20 communication materials (ex. animation, presentations, graphics, flyers, social media posts) to communicate information related to UNICEF RRO activities in Slovakia with a focus on above mentioned campaigns.10 working days;

By 31 December 2024

3. Capture Human Interest Stories:• Identify at least 2 potential Ukrainian families.
• Co-conduct and/or translate at least 2 interviews with focus on writing a human-interest story3 working days;

By 31 December 2024

4. Provide support with partner:• Organize and facilitate 10 regular bi-weekly meetings with a partner Nadacia Petit Press – Novyny (Ukrainian news outlet in Slovakia)2 working days;

By 31 December 2024

Estimated Duration of the Contract

45 working days between July and December 2024.

Consultant’s Work Place and Official Travel

The Consultant will be based in Bratislava.

As part of this assignment, some local and international travels are foreseen. The consultant will arrange her/his travel as and when they take place, and related costs will be reimbursed per UNICEF travel policy.

Travel Clause

• All UNICEF rules and regulations related to travel of Consultants apply.
• All travels shall be undertaken only upon the prior written approval by UNICEF.
• The consultant must be fit to travel, be in a possession of the valid UN BSAFE certificate, obligatory inoculation(s) and have a valid own travel/medical insurance and an immunization/vaccination card.

Estimated Cost of the Consultancy & Payment Schedule

Payment will be made on submission of an invoice and satisfactory completion of the above-mentioned deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs are incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines. All materials developed will remain the copyright of UNICEF and UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future.

Please submit a professional fee (in EUR) based on 45 working days to undertake this assignment, without travel fees as these will be reimbursed as and when they take place.

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

Required:

• Minimum of 6 months of relevant experience in Communications.
• Minimum of 6 months of relevant experience in graphic design (CANVA, ADOBE photoshop, FIGMA, etc.)
• Fluency of English and Ukrainian is required.
• Working knowledge of Slovak is required.

Desired:

• Experience working with UNICEF is a strong asset. Experience with other UN organization is an asset.
• Experience working within refugee setting is a strong asset.
• Experience working with state and NGO partners is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most marginalized children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family 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:

Please include a full CV, a Cover Letter, and samples of relevant work (as attachments or hyperlinks to online documents) in your application. Additionally, indicate your availability and professional fee (in EUR) to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a professional fee will not be considered. 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.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants 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.