Media and communication expert
Media and communication expert
TERMS OF REFERENCE
Position: Media and communication support expert to the project team
Duration: 60 days
Deadline for application: 16 April 2021
1. Background and context
The Project Inclusive Labour Markets for Job Creation in Ukraine is being implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO). The project aims to assist the Government of Ukraine in its efforts to improve the Labour market governance through the strengthening of employment services and other labour market institutions, to better align the skills development with the demand for skills and improve tripartite social dialogue.
The main challenges of the labour market in Ukraine are the limited range and effectiveness of the labour market policies, centralized employment policy making, skills mismatch in the labour market, insufficiently developed entrepreneurship spirit and self-employment.
The project will, therefore, reinforce the ongoing policy reforms as well as initiate the new reforms by delivering measurable results on the following three outcomes:
a) Labour market governance is improved through the strengthening of employment services and other labour market institutions.
b) Skills development is better aligned with demand for skills with particular emphasis on the private sector.
c) Tripartite social dialogue and collective bargaining as means to create more and better jobs are enhanced.
The main counterparts are the State Employment Service (SES) of Ukraine, Ministry for Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture, Federation of Employers of Ukraine, Workers’ Organizations KVPU and FPU; and national and regional Social and Economic Councils (NTSEC and RTSECs).
The project foresees strong media and communication activities emphasizing the role of the ILO in achieving the Decent Work Country Program objectives as well as the role and assistance of the Government of Denmark to improvement of labour market and social dialogue in Ukraine.
2. Description of the assignement
The Project activities follow the ILO’s agenda of promoting decent work for all through job creation, guaranteeing rights at work, extending social protection and promoting social dialogue, and are in line with the DANIDA goals under the Danish Neighbourhood Programme (DANEP 2017-2021).
Communications goals are thus multi-fold:
1. Promotion of Local Employment Partnerships (LEPs) as a model that effectively caters to reducing unemployment and poverty in Ukraine in a sustainable manner, i.e. leads to the creation of new jobs and safeguards the existing ones – locally driven development and employment;
2. Promotion of local ownership and of a positive role of the institutions, particularly the State Employment Service and Ministry of Development of Economy. Trade and Agriculture in Ukraine in the project implementation;
3. Promotion of entrepreneurship, lifelong learning and career development;
4. Promotion of social dialogue as a tool for collective bargaining and solving of labour related disputes;
5. Promotion of social partners as reliable and efficient service providers to their constituents;
6. Promotion of role of youth and women in labour market and of their employment;
7. Further enhancement of 1) the image and reputation of the ILO as an organization that has expertise in reforming and reviving labour markets through social dialogue and partnerships. The aim is to create greater opportunities for men and women to gain decent employment and income, and enjoy their right to work. 2) DANIDA as a reliable partner of Ukraine on its development path including through institutional development, job creation and employment with particular focus on improving living conditions of socially disadvantage groups.
Target audiences
The Project has wide-reaching goals of contributing to strategic development of Ukrainian labour market through development of sustainable tripartite social dialogue, partnership-driven active labour market frameworks at the local level and helping create jobs and effective services provided to constituents of the social partners.
While most of the Project activities will focus on 4 selected geographic areas in Ukraine, the concept and the modalities of the project implementation are relevant for the countrywide audience. This is due to the project’s approach to sustainable tripartite social dialogue and local partnerships (including skills development, entrepreneurship, labour market polices, etc) and development that pays special attention to the needs of disadvantaged groups including women and youth. The Project activities could thus be replicated throughout the country in the future and need to be communicated to a wide audience, which spans beyond the Project partners and end beneficiaries.
The Project target audience in terms of communications are following:
a) Project donor (DANIDA) and coordination structure, i.e. Project Steering Committee1 - direct communications;
b) Members/institutions involved in each selected region. – direct communications;
c) Youth NGOs – direct communications;
d) Other international organizations involved in achieving the overall development and employment goal especially in the regions where other organizations might be conducting activities simultaneously) – direct communication;
e) Donor community in Ukraine (as potential future partners) – direct communications;
f) Project end beneficiaries and their families – direct and indirect communications;
g) General public - indirect communications, i.e. through media (apart from direct interaction through social media); and
h) Media - message amplifiers – direct and indirect communications.
3. Objectives and technical requirements of the consultancy
Main objective of this assignment is to make the ILO and Government of Denmark visible in implementation of the project as well as the national Ukrainian stakeholders.
Promotion of the key project activities/milestones will as appropriate include:
- Organization of media/public relations events, including project activities launch events (e.g. selection of regions, completion of entrepreneurship trainings, social dialogue local platforms, etc.), press conferences (presentation of results and achievements), press tours at the Project activities locations, high level visits to project activities sites with press points, interviews and media appearances of the key stakeholders;
- Producing and publishing press releases, op-eds and feature stories;
- Producing beneficiary interviews and stories;
- Pitching of story ideas to media outlets (to feature members in selected regions, Project end beneficiaries, Project Steering Committee members, Project team members and Project results and achievements);
- Arranging photo/video projects with professional photographers/video-makers to document results and produce illustrations;
- Production of fact sheets, info-graphic and other print products; (6 months project achievements);
- Facebook posts and tweets linked to other communications products;
- Writing articles about project activities and publishing them in at least one daily newspaper with national coverage.
During the implementation, the consultant will closely liaise with the ILO in designing the concrete interventions/activities, in order to ensure that the undertaken interventions respond to the project needs.
4. Deliverables
- Project achievement leaflet prepared (achievements in the last 6 months)
- Organization of media coverage (including preparation and issuing press releases) of at least 3 project events.
- At least 3 articles written about project activities and distributed
- At least 3 “human-centered” stories prepared and published/broadcast in Ukraine.
- At least 50 project promotions in social media (Facebook and Twitter), including posting online photos
- Organization of media coverage of at least 1 project steering committee.
5. Main tasks for the consultant during the assignment
- The consultant shall work mostly independently.
- The consultant should be willing to travel to the targeted regions (Kherson, Rivne, Sumy, Zaporizhia, and other regions as requested) to conduct media and communication activities.
- The consultant shall make him/herself available for skype calls, conference calls or meetings with the project staff to clarify issues related to the consultancy.
- Conduct interviews and consultations with concerned stakeholders in Ukraine (including the selected regions), beneficiaries of the project interventions and make “human-centered” stories about the project intervention impact.
- Produce and distribute different types of communication products, including in social media.
6. Qualifications required
University degree in journalism or communication/media. In absence of the relevant university degree additional 5 years of professional experience as a journalist or communication/media expert is required.
At least 5 years of professional experience in working in or with the media or in public relations, particularly in gathering, organizing, editing and disseminating information and visual materials.
Prior experience with either ILO or UN agencies is preferable,
Previous experience of at least 1 year in projects that targeted either social dialogue, or labour and employment issues highly desirable but not a must.
Strong communication and moderation skills,
Fluency in English (oral and writing skills).
7. Timeframe and working modalities
The overall Assignment needs to be delivered by 31st December 2021. The consultant will be expected to travel to the regions where the project activities are implemented (Kherson, Rivne, Sumy, Zaporizhia and other regions of Ukraine upon request) and implement requested media and communication activities as well. Some of the preparation work can be accepted as home-based work. Subject to prior agreement with the Chief Technical Advisor.
Duration of the contract: The contract will have an overall duration of 60 days, starting on 01st May 2021. During this time, the consultant will be responsible for carrying out the assigned tasks and produce the requested deliverables.
Fees and additional costs: The consultant is requested to submit a financial proposal for her/his services together with a CV. The CV must include contact details of previous employers for reference check.
All applications should be submitted by 16 April 2021 to the e-mail: danukr@ilo.org
Payment modalities: The consultant will receive monthly payments after delivering a time sheet on implemented deliverables to the satisfaction of the ILO.