National Communication Consultant to Support the Parliament Leadership on Strategic Communication

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. UN Women is operational in Moldova since 2010 based on former UNIFEM projects, which were laid and active in the country from 2007. It extended continuous support to the Government of Moldova, to key stakeholders from national and local levels, through various programs and activities aimed at creating an enabling environment for gender equality, recognized as a prerequisite for sustainable development with a strong and active policy on gender equality.

The work of UN Women in Moldova is guided by its new Country Strategic Note 2023-2027, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Moldova (2023-2027), UN Women Global Strategic Plan, National Programs and Strategies and aims to contribute to the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Strategic Note focuses on four main areas: 1) Ending Violence against Women; 2) Women’s Leadership and Governance; 3) Women’s Economic empowerment and 4) Humanitarian and Peace development nexus and UN Coordination on gender equality and women empowerment.

Moreover, UN Women is mandated to strengthen coherence between the global and regional inter-governmental processes and operational activities in the field. As part of its normative mandate, UN Women strives to support the State with the realization of recommendations from the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA), Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and other treaty and charter-based bodies at the country level, as well as leads key national level processes stemming from the international agenda.

Parliament, in particular the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus is one of the key UN Women’s partners, cooperating to promote equity and equal rights for women, prevention and combating violence against women and domestic violence, but also promote women's independence and economic empowerment, and family-friendly policies through legislative initiative and support.

In these regards, effective gender sensitive communication and campaigns are essential for enhancing public engagement, awareness, and understanding of parliamentary activities and initiatives related to gender equality and women empowerment.

In this connection, UN Women Moldova Country Office seeks to hire a national consultant to support the Parliament on strategic communication for increasing the awareness and advancing gender equality and women empowerment.

Scope of Work

The objective this consultancy is to provide strategic communication support to the Parliament, facilitating enhanced public engagement, awareness, and understanding of parliamentary activities and initiatives related to gender equality and women empowerment, through different communications means.

Working under the overall supervision of the UN Women Communications Specialist, the consultant will be responsible for the following:

Duration of the Assignment

The assignment shall commence in April 2024 and shall expire in December 2024 for up to 170 working days.

Management Arrangements

The consultant will work under the supervision of the UN Women Communications Officer and in collaboration with the Parliament representative.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

Throughout the duration of the assignment, it is expected that the national consultant is be able to come to the Parliament premises to work jointly on fulfilling the tasks and activities, based on a mutually agreed schedule.

No travels are envisaged under the current assignment. In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UN Women and the national consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Performance evaluation

National consultant’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

Financial arrangements

Payments will be made monthly upon satisfactory delivery of outputs/products in accordance with specified requirements and submission, review and approval of reports by the Communications Specialist and the Parliament representative. 

Core Values:

• Cultural Sensitivity and valuing Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Ethics and Values
• Accountability
• Self-management and emotional intelligence
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication and Information Sharing
• Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing
• Work in teams
• Leading by Example

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies.

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent command of Romanian and English, Russian will be an asset;
• Excellent writing skills in Romanian and English in preparing briefs, reports, human interest stories, news, articles and similar work for various audiences;
• Solid understanding of and hands-on experience in communications and outreach/advocacy;
• Ability to produce well-written text;
• Ability to achieve results and to work in teams;
• Ability to use Information Technology effectively as a tool and resource;
• Ability to work under pressure and within limited time frames;
• Ability to consistently approach work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Ability to work in an independent manner and organize the workflow efficiently;
• In-depth knowledge of gender equality and women’s rights issues will be an asset;

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in in foreign languages/literature/journalism/ communication and public relations or a related field is required.

Experience

• At least 4 years of relevant experience in journalism, public relations and/or mass communications is required;
• At least 2 years of experience in elaboration and conducting of communication campaigns on social issues is required;
• Experience in web content management systems (Drupal or other) would be an advantage;
• Knowledge of graphic design software would be an advantage;
• Relevant experience in related areas in UN Women or UN agencies would be an advantage;
• Experience on development of campaigns/materials on gender would be an advantage.

Language:

• Fluency in Romanian and good command of English (written and oral) is required.
• Fluency in Russian language would be an advantage. 

APPLICATION PROCESS AND SUBMISSION PACKAGE 

Interested candidates are invited to submit their online applications with the following documents:

• Cover letter to include a brief overview in English (unedited text) about which of your previous experiences makes you the most suitable candidate for the advertised position.
• P11 with experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc   a signed copy should be submitted.
• Examples of campaigns/materials/products elaborated by the candidate or under his/her coordination;

Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment. Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment.

Please note that only short-listed applicants will be contacted.

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

The United Nations in Moldova is committed to workforce diversity. Women, persons with disabilities, Roma and other ethnic or religious minorities, persons living with HIV, as well as refugees and other non-citizens legally entitled to work in the Republic of Moldova, are particularly encouraged to apply.