UNICEF is committed to engaging children and youth as key actors in their own development. In 2017 and beyond, Jamaica aims to reinforce real-time information, two-way communication, and citizen engagement initiatives through the use of mobile technology. Of priority is the engagement of adolescents and youth through the social monitoring tool U-Report.

1. Background:

UNICEF is committed to engaging children and youth as key actors in their own development. In 2017 and beyond, Jamaica aims to reinforce real-time information, two-way communication, and citizen engagement initiatives through the use of mobile technology. Of priority is the engagement of adolescents and youth through the social monitoring tool U-Report.

U-Report

U-Report is a social monitoring tool designed for youth and other community members to strengthen community-led development and citizen engagement. It allows citizens to speak out via SMS and other channels – through polls and unsolicited messages – on what is happening in their communities. It also provides a forum to amplify their voices through local and national media, sends alerts to key stakeholders about the issues their constituents are facing, and feeds back useful information to the U-Reporters, so they are empowered to work for change and improvements in their localities themselves.

The standard U-report strategy consists of the following components:

• A free SMS system, and integration with Facebook Messenger and Twitter for same functionality, through which poll questions and useful information are sent out to a growing community of thousands of community members who are recruited as “U-Reporters”, and data that the U-Reporters generate are sent back into the system.
• A web-based administration tool for managers and a public website.
• An ongoing media campaign to take data gathered from the U-Report community, and broadcast it out via various channels (radio, web, print, etc.)
• Direct issuing of reports to authorities and “channels of influence” to quickly address actual service delivery challenges at the local level; this will include strengthening the U-report networks themselves to enhance the use of this information organizationally.

2. Purpose:

UNICEF Jamaica intends to be the first Caribbean country to launch U-Report during Youth Month in November 2017.

The deployment of U-Report requires leadership, coordination, and project management. In view of current staffing capacity, UNICEF Jamaica seeks to hire a full-time U-Report National Coordinator to adapt, develop, scale, and coordinate U-report.

Under the supervision of UNICEF Jamaica’s Communication Specialist and in coordination with the Digital Consultant, the coordinator is expected to work with all programme sections to develop, activate, and lead the implementation of a national U-report programme strategy. The strategy will serve as a core platform for social mobilisation and youth engagement; collaboration with partners; use of the data for advocacy by UNICEF and partners; amplification in the local media; and as a key input into UNICEF programmatic work. It will be the responsibility of the coordinator to oversee this transition and evolution of the programme. The scope of work below presents the key tasks for which the Consultant will be responsible.

3. Scope of work

Main Responsibilities

3. Duration and Duty Station

The selected candidate should preferably start from 1 June 2017. This is a full-time consultancy for 11 months and the duty station is Kingston in Jamaica.

5. Supervisor

The UNICEF Jamaica Communication Specialist will supervise the Coordinator, in close collaboration with Digital Media Consultant and the UNICEF NYHQ Innovation Unit.

6. Payment Plan

Payment will be made on a monthly basis and will be dependent on successful delivery and validation of key deliverables stipulated above. A brief report on key deliverables and achievements shall be submitted with the payment invoice each month.

7. Qualifications or Specialized Knowledge/Experience Required for the Assignment:

It is required that the coordinator has:

• A university degree in a relevant field such as ICT, communications, international relations, sociology, or a similar field;
• Proven ability to conceptualise, plan and execute ideas as well as to transfer knowledge and skills.
• Familiarity with and experience using social network platforms and SMS for advocacy and/or marketing purposes.
• A demonstrated history of working with young people between 13 to 29 years old will be an asset.
• Fluency in written and spoken English required.
• Experience in partnership development, community engagement and youth outreach a plus.

 UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified candidates from all backgrounds to apply.