U-Report Coordinator - Local Consultant

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TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR

COORDINATOR - U-REPORT (CONSULTANT)

Nature of Assignment                :            U-Report Coordinator

Location                                       :           Prishtina, Kosovo

Duration                                        :          11.5 Months

Start Date                                      :          1^st January 2018

End Date                                        :          15th December 2018

Reporting to                               :           Innovations Lab Management

Background of Assignment

People under the age of 25 constitute nearly half of Kosovo’s population of approximately 1.8 million inhabitants. It is an opportune time to engage with youth to accelerate positive development: to focus on the promise they hold for the future and harness their energy for change; learn from their perspectives on development; invest in them as emerging leaders; and, focus on their potential as agents of economic, political and socio-cultural growth.

As a result, UNICEF Kosovo aims to support the Government in its efforts to strengthen youth participation and engagement into policy development. In order to do so, UNICEF Kosovo is in the process of establishing a communication platform – initially based on Facebook chat but with the potential to expand to incorporate other data services - that will enable youth to have increased access to information and participation on key issues that concerns them.

The U-Report platform is a social monitoring tool designed for youth and other community members to strengthen community-led development, citizen engagement and access to and use of real-time monitoring and participation platforms. It allows youth to speak out via SMS and other channels – through polls and unsolicited messages – on what is happening in their communities. It provides a forum to amplify their voices through local and national media and acts as a citizen-sourced, real-time data point for key stakeholders, service providers and decision-makers about the issues being faced in communities. The platform also feeds back useful information to the U-Report participants so they are empowered to work for change and improvements in their localities themselves.

U-Report is based on a global model that has been successfully deployed in a range of 30+ countries. Kosovo has a high mobile density rate and youth and adults wide access to the internet. Furthermore, the technology for this platform has already been developed (www.rapidpro.io) and structures are in place to support the development of a sub-regional version of the system – in this case a Kosovo-Albania-Montenegro initiative. As a result, there is significant opportunity to capitalize on existing systems.

Purpose of Assignment

The consultant is expected to develop a U-Report strategy and scale up the initiative at national level with a concrete plan to reach into communities, gather relevant information, and use it to empower them to address child and adolescent relevant issues as well as use this information to exert influence on local, regional and national stakeholders as part of a larger governance and accountability strategy. He/she is also expected to ensure that information collected feeds into UNICEF and the Government of Kosovo’s programmatic goals: to provide the best possible environment for children to stay alive, protected and engaged in learning. Finally, he/she is expected to lead the liaison and coordination efforts with the U-Report team of UNICEF Albania and UNICEF Montenegro COs for an effective sub-regional joint initiative.

Scope of work (Work assignment)

1. Technically coordinate and lead the Sub-regional U-Report efforts with the Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro CO.

2. In coordination with the other participating COs, develop a Kosovo U-Report strategy.

3. Adapt U-report to local needs, implement, test, and launch it as soon as possible; including setting up and coordinating a technical steering committee.

4. Assist in setting up the U-report website including setting up of sub-thematic technical groups of respondents.

5. Create Standard Operating Procedures to be followed by all users of the U-Report platform.

6. Create a Roadmap of integrating U-report into common/shared initial set of priorities that are in line with key partner priorities.

7. Assist in setting up media launch of U-Report - Working with the UNICEF Innovations Lab and UNICEF CO Communications section, design awareness raising and advocacy plan to run both national and subnational communication campaigns across all media outlets (print, radio and TV, as well as strategies for reaching venues of community activism and dialogue).

8. Monitoring, analysis and evaluate aspects of the U-Report roll-out process.

9. Conduct the training for the trainers (ToTs) of partner’s focal points on the utilization of U-report at partner premises.

10. Evaluate partner usage of U-report and understanding incentives and constraints involved between high level users and low level users.

11. Set up a system to ensure that the information collected via U-report is available to the program sections to guide their activities.

12. Train and Mentor the National U-Report Coordinators of Albania and Montenegro CO.

13. Ensure that project deliverables are done on time and on budget. 

    Expected Deliverables & Work Schedule:

14. U-report strategy and documentation (guidelines & standard);
15. U-report up and running in Kosovo with the sub-regional coordination with the Albania and Montenegro CO - sub-thematic groups in place to respond to critical unsolicited questions raised by children/youth; selected programs/partners’ priorities, and capacities for 2016/17 U-report polls;
16. U-report Website up and running;
17. U-report Media campaign launched;

18. Awareness raising and advocacy plan in place.

    Final Output/Product

    U-Report fully adapted and being used by various partners in Kosovo.

    Desired background and experience

    Qualifications or specialized knowledge/experience required:

    It is required that the program officer has:

    University degree in a relevant field such as IT, communications, international relations, sociology, or a similar field;

• At least 3yrs of progressive experience in partnership development, youth engagement and youth outreach;
• Previous working experience with U-Report an asset;
• Prior working experience with UNICEF an asset;
• Proven ability to conceptualize, plan and execute ideas as well as to transfer knowledge and skills;

• Fluency in written and spoken Albanian required. Fluency in written and spoken Serbian preferred.

  It is highly recommended that the program officer has:

  Experience with a high-level communications campaign across multiple mediums, with national brand recognition;
• Experience giving user-based feedback to the development of software applications;
• Understanding of community-based channels of influence, community-based communication and development, participatory action research (PAR) methodologies, and/or ethnographic research;
• Experience working with community based organizations;
• Experience engaging with political structures, civil society pressure groups, and other channels of national influence;

• Experience with monitoring and evaluation of large, complex projects with multi partner engagement.

  It is advantageous (but not essential) for the program officer to have:

• Previous experience working in the developing sector and with development actors: donors, UN agencies, civil society, government ministries.

  Official Travel Involved

  The consultant will be required to travel locally throughout Kosovo, with occasional travel to Albania and Montenegro.

  Type of Supervision which will be provided

  The consultant will be supervised by the UNICEF Innovations Lab management and required to provide weekly status updates and monthly progress reports.

  Consultant’s Work Place

• Consultant will be based in the UNICEF Kosovo Office; with frequent travel to the field;

  Nature of penalty clause to be stipulated in Contact

  Failure to produce quality work within the agreed time frame will result in non-payment.

  Payment Schedule

  Payment will be executed monthly as per satisfactory work on deliverables.

  Application Deadline

  The application deadline for this position is 22 November 2017.