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Qualifications

Purpose of consultancy

To provide technical guidance to WHO and Member States in advancing rehabilitation communications in line with the WHO Rehabilitation communication strategy.

Background

An estimated 4 billion people worldwide would benefit from rehabilitation at some point in their lives. This number is expected to increase in the coming years due to people living longer and with more chronic disease and disability. Despite this huge need, rehabilitation services remain limited in much of the world. Where rehabilitation is available, major barriers often persist including lack of funding, leadership, available data on rehabilitation and functioning, skilled workforce and resources.

The need for ear and hearing care services is also increasing worldwide. Over 430 million people live with disabling hearing loss that affects the quality of their lives, with an overwhelming majority of these residing in lowand middleincome countries. Unaddressed hearing loss is one of the leading causes of morbidity, in terms of ‘disability adjusted life years (DALY’ and years lived with disability (YL, globally.

Globally, at least 2 billion people have a near or distance vision impairment. In at least 1 billion – or almost half – of these cases, vision impairment could have been prevented or has yet to be addressed. Vision impairment poses an enormous global financial burden with the annual global costs of productivity losses associated with vision impairment estimated to be US$ 411 billion.

The WHO Sensory Functions, Disability and Rehabilitation unit is committed to supporting Member States in addressing challenges related to rehabilitation, hearing and vision health services through several strategies. These include the provision of technical support, the development of normative guidance and practical tools, and increasing the development of robust research and evidence. Advocacy is another fundamental component of WHO’s work, aimed at increasing awareness on the health, social and economic benefits of rehabilitation, vision, ear and hearing care services, and building political support for these health services amongst decisionand policymakers. WHO’s rehabilitation, hearing and vision advocacy efforts include three key initiatives:

• The World Rehabilitation Alliance (WR: A WHOhosted global network of stakeholders whose mission is to support the implementation of the Rehabilitation 2030 Initiative through advocacy activities.
• The World Hearing Forum: a WHOhosted global network of stakeholders promoting ear and hearing care worldwide, and supporting implementation of World Health Assembly resolution WHA13 on “Prevention of deafness and hearing loss” through advocacy.
• The WHO Global SPECS Partnership: a WHOhosted global network of stakeholders to promote collective and coordinated advocacy and action towards the achievement of the 2030 global target for refractive error and support the implementation of the WHO SPECS 2030 initiative.

In 2024 the rehabilitation programme developed a Communications strategy aimed at two key stakeholder groups: the general public; and technical partners.

WHO Sensory Functions, Disability and Rehabilitation unit is now seeking a consultant to contribute to their communication activities on rehabilitation, vision, and ear and hearing care.

Deliverables

• Objective 1: To contribute to communication activities prioritized in the rehabilitation programme strategy
  • Deliverable 1: To develop and publish monthly rehabilitation testimonies (from Dec 2024) and launch the testimonies page on the WHO website
  • Deliverable 2: To contribute to the development and publication of at least 9 feature stories to be posted on the WHO rehabilitation
  • Deliverable 3 To compile issues of the rehabilitation programme newsletter
  • Deliverable 4 To oversee and manage the rehabilitation master presentation
  • Deliverable 5 To design a flow communication graphic for the WHO rehabilitation tools to guide Regional and Country Offices.
  • Deliverable 6 To advice the technical lead, rehabilitation on social media aspects
  • Deliverable 7 To undertake at least one communications country visit, with a rehabilitation consultant or advisor, to document and communicate rehabilitation in action
  • Deliverable 8 To contribute to the design and social media aspects of the World Rehabilitation Alliance
  • Deliverable 9 To advise the technical lead, rehabilitation in developing, managing and implementing the annual plan of the rehabilitation programme communications strategy.

• Objective 2: To contribute to communication activities for the other teams within the ADR unit
  • Deliverable 1: To act as a focal point within the unit for the newsletter design and publications, guiding the programmes to design their newsletters
  • Deliverable 2: To contribute to communication activities of SPECS and World Hearing Forum as requested by the technical lead.

Qualifications, experience, skills and languages

Educational Qualifications

Essential:

• University degree in communications, languages, medicine, public health or another related field.

Desirable:

• Advanced university degree in communications, languages or another relevant field.

Experience

Essential:

• At least 510 years of experience working on communicationrelated project, particularly digital communication.
• Demonstrated experience conducting rehabilitationrelated health communications research (at least five communications materials focused on rehabilitatio.
• Demonstrated experience in establishing and managing digital communications and social media.

Desirable:

• Previous experience working with WHO or another multilateral organization.

Skills/Knowledge

Essential:

• Advanced skills in digital communication including social media, journalism/article writing and design.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Languages and level required

Essential:

• Expert knowledge of English
• Expert knowledge of at least one other UN official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanis

Desirable:

• Intermediate knowledge of a third UN official language

Location

Off site: Homebased

Travel

The consultant is expected to travel.

Remuneration and budget (travel costs are exclude:

Remuneration:

Band level B: USD 7,0009,980 per month

Living expenses (A living expense is payable to onsite consultants who are internationally recruite:

N/A

Expected duration of contract (Maximum contract duration is 11 months per calendar yea:

11 months

Additional Information:

• This vacancy notice may be used to identify candidates for other similar consultancies at the same level.
• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
• A written test may be used as a form of screening.
• If your candidature is retained for interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(/diploma(/certificate(required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHE, a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IA/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESC. The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.
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