National Consultant (Advocacy and visibility services for the sanitation social norms campaign)

UNICEF Ghana seeks the services of an expert and committed professional who will be engaged as a national consultant and assigned the task to provide advocacy and visibility services for implementing a national sanitation social norms campaign in Ghana. This assignment will involve field trips to five designated regions. The assignment will be required to put in 10 days of work per month within a period of 11 months. Only nationals of Ghana are eligible to apply.

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you.

For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

Purpose of the Assignment

Since 2007, the Government of Ghana (GoG) has in partnership with UNICEF and other development partners implemented Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) as an approach to eliminate open defecation in the rural areas of Ghana. CLTS uses interpersonal communication and social mobilization methods to ignite social change in entire communities and propel them to attain Open Defecation Free (ODF) status using a social norm perspective. CLTS was piloted in Ghana from 2007-2009 after which it was evaluated and recommended as the approach for promoting sanitation in rural areas. From about 300 communities in 2009, CLTS activities were scaled up to 1,500 in 2012 and currently being implemented in over 5,000 communities. Over 600,000 people are estimated to be living in communities with no open defecation, as a result of CLTS activities in the country. After 5 years of scaled-up implementation, the GoG and UNICEF are partnering with other stakeholders to develop and implement a national sanitation campaign to eliminate the practice of open defecation and establish the use of latrines as a social norm. The campaign builds on the basic principles of CLTS.

The social campaign stands on the social norm framework developed by Dr. Cristina Bicchieri for creating new social norms (Bicchieri, Cristina and Muldoon, Ryan. 2011: ‘Social Norms’, in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Available at http://tinyurl.com/bicchierimuldoon2011.)

The campaign aims to contribute the following desirable social outcomes:

• Influence beliefs and attitudes about open defecation and how to address it
• Engage people in collective discussions and decisions to end open defecation and build their own latrines
• Highlight collective discussions and decisions at all levels to heighten normative and empirical expectations on open defecation and building household latrines
• Ignite social change in sanitation and hygiene practices to improve health outcomes

The campaign focuses on five key behaviours to create new social norm and build strong normative and empirical expectations in Ghana.

•  Stop open defecation
• Build household latrine
• Safe disposal of child faeces
• Handwashing with soap and running water at critical times
• Safe storage of water at household level

The campaign will be implemented at national, regional and district level and will target both influencers and practitioners.  In order to facilitate the social norm establishment process, UNICEF has worked with multiple creative agencies to develop comprehensive communication materials to enhance the results of the social norm campaign.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, UNICEF seeks to hire a consultant to support the Government advocacy components of the sanitation campaign.   The assignment will be implemented with funding support from Global Affairs, Canada and the Netherlands Directorate General for International Cooperation (DGIS)

Assignment Tasks

1. Support Government staff from five focus regions to engage strategically with the media  to undertake public advocacy on sanitation over the campaign period:

 The Consultant will support the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate to develop and implement a strategic media communication plan to showcase sanitation results being achieved in the field to increase normative and empirical expectations as part of the Social Norms Campaign. Specifically the consultant will undertake the following:

• Establish a strategy framework to facilitate Government staff collaboration and interaction with the media
• Facilitate training for Government staff at all levels to roll out the media collaboration strategy

• Assist regions to collaborate with media partners in their regions to cover CLTS events in the region on a systematic basis with a focus on providing visibility for the establishment of the new social norm

2.  Support District Assemblies to promote the sanitation campaign. 

1. 1. Publish the District Sanitation Digest featuring innovations from the best performing districts
   2. Profile sanitation champions in districts in sector communication platforms, such as the campaign website and WhatsApp platforms giving due recognition to high profile personalities promoting sanitation issues
   3. Provide support to regions to engage in improved strategic advocacy with the district sanitation league tables.

3. Support documentation and dissemination of key sanitation strategies for both sector and public advocacy. Specifically undertake the following

1. 1. Develop and maintain a website for the campaign ensuring that it is updated at least once a week with news from communities and districts
   2. Develop a compilation of positive sanitation stories from communities
   3. Develop an abridged printed and video versions of the implementation of sector strategies and reports for sector advocacy.
   4. Publish a monthly electronic newsletter dubbed the “Toilet Agenda”  on topical sanitation issues
   5. Facilitate the development of  an annual Sanitation Sector Status Report

Methodology

This assignment is facilitative in nature and requires that the consultant works in collaboration with various stakeholders in the WASH sector including the Department of Community Development, Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate, Ghana Education Service and the Ghana Health Service at National, regional and district level. Regular meetings are to be held with the identified stakeholders to ensure Government leadership of the visibility aspects of the campaign.  UNICEF will provide support in the delivery of the assignment as the organization managing the contract.

Expected Deliverables

1. Improved media coverage of sanitation campaign activities in programme regions
2. Quarterly District Sanitation Digest Published
3. Campaign Website functional over an eleven month period and updated weekly
4. Monthly electronic “Toilet Agenda” publication  circulated to sector stakeholders
5. A minimum of five abridged printed and video versions of the results of sector strategies and reports for sector advocacy developed
6. Annual Sanitation Sector Status Report developed and submitted for Government review and publication

Reporting

The Consultant will be required to submit monthly progress reports in writing to UNICEF. Monthly meetings shall also be held with the Supervisor of the contract. A Final Completion Report is expected at the end of the assignment.

Qualifications of Successful Candidate

Education

• First Degree in Communications, Marketing, Public Relations, Social/Sciences or other related field.

Years of relevant experience

• A minimum of 5 years progressively responsible professional work experience in communications.
• Experience in the WASH sector particularly in sanitation is highly desirable
• Experience in Media training

General Conditions: Procedures and Logistics

1. The consultant will be provided with the applicable DSA when travelling outside Accra for work purposes.
2. The Consultant will be provided with Transport for official assignments outside Accra
3. The consultant will be provided with a computer and office supplies for the assignment.

4. Plan for schedule of payment: Final payment to consultant will be dependent on the completion of deliverables. Consultant will be paid, according to the agreed deliverables per month.   All payments will be made through the consultant’s bank account.

    

   Schedule of payment.

   The Consultant will be paid in ten tranches.

Application Procedure:

Financial proposal

Interested candidates should submit a financial proposal for executing the assignment together with their application. The proposal should quote a daily rate for implementing the assignment in Ghana Cedis and should cover cost of movement within Accra (the base station for this assignment). The consultant is not required to budget for costs related to travel outside Accra as this will be borne directly by UNICEF. Interested candidates who meet the minimum requirements should please submit their application with the financial proposal together with a copy of their CV and P11 form

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization.