National Consultant - Story Writer

Background

In support of the Arab Republic of Egypt’s Vision 2030 and the National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women (NSEEW), the work of the UN Women Egypt Country Office (ECO) is grounded in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA). Under the Egypt/UN Cooperation Framework, UN Women implements its triple mandate of supporting normative standard-setting to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment, working with the Government of Egypt, civil society and the private sector on implementing international and national commitments and best practices, and strengthening UN system coordination in this regard. Since the early 1990s, UN Women ECO has consolidated its expertise, partnerships and investments around three main areas of work: women's leadership and system-wide support to advancing gender equality; women's economic empowerment; and eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls, including harmful practices.

Under the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2023-2027), the ECO’s country portfolio continues to focus on the above, utilising the following strategies: supporting regional and global normative for a and related commitments; drawing from global standards and practices; contributing to evidenced-based, nationally-led legislative reform and knowledge development; supporting all women’s access to skills, services, and networks; supporting platforms and partnerships for women’s enhanced voice and leadership, including young women, rural women and women living with disabilities; developing nationally specific innovative financing mechanisms and tools, including gender-responsive budgeting; and advancing nationally and community- owned change in the attitudes and behaviours which may limit the advancement of women and girls, with the close engagement of men and boys as champions.

Under UN Women’s economic portfolio, programmes focus on women’s access to decent work, women business owners and entrepreneurs, engaging private sector as key drivers of change, women’s financial inclusion, and support to unpaid care work on the home. To support monitoring the impact of these programmes on women’s lives, UN Women will recruit a story writer who will meet with programme beneficiaries and capture their engagement and individual achievements.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective and Required Tasks of The Assignment

Reporting to the Communications and Advocacy Analyst in consultantion with the project managers of the aforementioned programs under the overall supervision of the Country Representative, the consultant is expected to capture and reflect on the impact of UN Women's interventions on women's lives while highlighting the challenges and opportunities within context. the onsultant is required to prepare in both English and Arabic languages stories of Proramme beneficiaries as follows:

For Rabeha Programme: Develop 30 human-interest and feature stories including 30 inspiring quotes from Rabeha programme participants in English (5 stories/governorate). (Expected days: 55 days including collecting stories from the field).
For Work for Women Programme: Develop 15 human-interest and feature stories including inspiring quotes from programme beneficiaries under the UN Women/ILO Regional Programme on access to decent work. (Expected days: 25 days including collecting stories from the field) (Interviews for stories could be done over zoom, phone calls, or in person.)
Develop 12 human-interest and feature stories including inspiriting quotes from programme beneficiaries under the KOICA-funded project “Women’s Economic Empowerment”. These stories include 4 from each governorate: Cairo, Alexandria, and Beni Seuif (Expected days: 21 days including collecting stories from the field)
Prepare Arabic translations of the final approved stories with a total of 57 stories (30 stories for Rabeha, 15 stories for Women for Work and 12 stories for KOICA funded project)
Capture high resolution photos of women in action/in the field, with at least one high resolution photo for each participant

Methodology and Scope of Work

To complete the task effectively and efficiently, the consultant should:

Literature review: review of relevant programmes’ documents (e.g., annual reports, knowledge documentation, communication materials) as well as success stories and audio-video materials available, if any.
Consultation meetings with relevant programme staff members and communication team to have better overview for the different programmes and activities, list out the potential partners/participants/beneficiaries to interview, as part of the story development process. This includes getting familiar with UN Women related communications policies and guidelines.
Conduction of field visits and interviews (All expected expenses for the field visits should be included in the consultancy offer): for meeting relevant beneficiaries’ groups, individuals and stakeholders for the development of stories. The stories should capture how the individuals/communities have built on the achievements and learning based on each target group for each individual programme. The language of the story should be based on “impact on people’s lives, change in attitudes, mindsets, stereotypes, etc.” Stories should be supported with “high-resolution/quality” photos (Photos should be taken based on beneficiaries’ letter of consent for publication). It is important to note that the consultant is responsible for covering his/her travel expenses to the field and below is an estimate travel plan for each progamme:
Rabeha Programme: Travel to Minya, Beni Suef, Alexandria, Beheira, Fayoum (2 days/governorate) = 10 Days
Access to Decent Work Regional Programme: All participants to be featured in the story are based in Cairo. An estimate of 2 days is expected for the interviewing phase.
WEE-KOICA Funded Project: Travel to Beni Suef and Alexandria (1 day/governorate) = 2 days
Submission draft stories for initial feedback.
Submission of revised versions for the stories collected and receiving feedback from UN Women team for approval
Submission of final version of success stories (English and Arabic) along with high quality photos for each story. This includes the consent forms/Recordings/photos/stories drafts.

Competencies

Core Values

Respect for Diversity;
Integrity;
Professionalism.

Core Competnecies

Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
Accountability;
Creative Problem Solving;
Effective Communication;
Inclusive Collaboration;
Stakeholder Engagement;
Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional Competencies

Experience and understanding in gender equality and women’s economic empowerment;
Good communication and interpersonal skills;
Excellent writing skills in English and Arabic;
Aware of Egypt’s culture, social issues, social norms and values, gender equality and social inclusion;
Demonstrated analytical skills on issues related to gender, social, and economic aspects;
Strong analytical and innovative skills;
Basic Photography skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

A minimum of bachelor’s degree in journalism, Mass Communications, Integrated Marketing Communication, Literature, Sociology, Economics or related studies, is required;
Additional certification in gender studies, is an asset.

Experience

Demonstrated skills in the development of stories and taking high quality photos (consultant should submit samples of work showcasing experience in content development particularly for development-related communications materials including photos), is required;
Minimum 5 years of extensive experience in story writing, journalism and including strong editorial skills, is required in Arabic and English;
Experience working with the UN System, preferably in a similar assignment, is an asset;
Basic photography skills, is an asset.

Language

Fluency in English and Arabic, is required.

Evaluation Criteria

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology: Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for the financial evaluation.

Technical Weight Criteria: 70% (70 points)

Criteria 1: A minimum of bachelor’s degree in journalism, Mass Communications, Integrated Marketing Communication, Literature, Sociology, Economics or related studies. (10 points)
Criteria 2: Additional certification in gender studies is an asset. (5 points)
Criteria 3: Demonstrated skills in the development of stories and taking high quality photos (consultant should submit samples of work showcasing experience in content development particularly for development-related communications materials including photo). (25 points)
Criteria 4: Minimum 5 years of extensive experience in content writing, journalism, including strong editorial skills is required in Arabic and English. (15 points)
Criteria 5: Experience working with the UN System, preferably in a similar assignment, is an asset. (5 points)
Criteria 6: English and Arabic editorial skills. (10 points)

Financial Proposal

Financial Weight Criteria: 30% (30 points) – Lowest Financial Daily Rate Proposal

The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula:

Contract will be awarded to the technically qualified consultant who obtains the highest combined score (financial and technical);
The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula: (Lowest Bid Offered*)/ (Bid of the Consultant) x 30;
'Lowest Bid Offered' refers to the lowest price offered by Offerors scoring at least 49 points in the technical evaluation.
Financial Proposal should include estimated travel expenses for 10 Days to the following governorates: Fayoum, Beni Sueif, Minya, Beheira, Alexandria to be incurred by the consultant

Application

Interested Individual Consultants must submit the following documents/information in English to demonstrate their qualifications:

Completed and Signed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment; make sure that you provide a valid email address for future communications, and
Financial proposal; Daily Rate in EGP inclusive of all the travel and other related costs.
Portfolio with previous work must be submitted showcasing experience (both in Arabic & English)

IMPORTANT: The above-mentioned documents should be merged in a standalone file including all of them, since the online application submission only permits one file upload per application. Incomplete submission can be grounds for disqualification.

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel 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.)