National Consultant: Infodemic Management - for Indonesians only

UNICEF Jakarta is looking for national consultant to build capacity, sustain and strengthen infodemic management and stakeholder coordination in Indonesia at national and subnational levels and provide administrative support to the programme. The assignment is for 6 months full time based in Jakarta.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, a voice 

UNICEF Jakarta is looking for national consultant to build capacity, sustain and strengthen infodemic management and stakeholder coordination in Indonesia at national and subnational levels and provide administrative support to the programme. The assignment is for 6 months full time based in Jakarta.

As per the request from the Government of Indonesia, UNICEF has been supporting risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) for COVID-19 response since the onset of the pandemic. The RCCE response to COVID-19 is vital to generating demand for COVID-19 vaccinations and the adoption of preventive behaviours. UNICEF works closely with the Government of Indonesia (GOI), faith-based institutions, youth networks, civil society organizations (CSOs), academia, mass media, development partners and other United Nations (UN) agencies in the country to strengthen the ongoing national efforts to address the immediate and longer-term effects of COVID-19 in Indonesia.

UNICEF RCCE’s support has contributed to the success of the GOI COVID-19 vaccination programme. However, a recent UNICEF-Nielsen omnibus survey conducted in the last quarter of 2021 indicates comprehensive knowledge on transmission is still low, handwashing with soap practice is decreasing and the proportion of people who cannot identify hoaxes and misinformation remains high. The data from the Ministry of Information, Communication, and Technology (KOMINFO) suggests that 2,217 COVID-19-related hoaxes have been circulated over 6K times on social media and 528 hoaxes on COVID-19 vaccination have been circulated over 3K times since January 2020. Hoaxes and misinformation have become one of the main challenges for COVID-19 response in Indonesia.

At present, the government is preparing for the transition from pandemic to endemic status, and addressing hoaxes and misinformation is a national priority. To support the government in this transition, UNICEF continues leading the coordination of the RCCE response, including IM to increase demand for vaccination on COVID-19 and RI.

A two-day inception workshop which aimed to understand challenges and identify priority areas for IM response in Indonesia was held in June 2022, bringing together government line ministries, including the Ministry of Health, CSOs, faith-based institutions, young people, media/journalists, UNICEF’s field office teams, and the CDC. The discussions and planning sessions highlighted the need for collaboration, community engagement, evidence generation and establishing a working group to improve coordination and facilitate collaboration at the national and sub-national levels. 

Building on the lessons learned from the workshop, the Social Listening and Infodemic Management and Response to Increase Demand for Vaccination project will use the following strategy:

1. Strengthening Government/CSO capacity for debunking hoaxes and misinformation mechanism
2. Strengthening systems to build community capacity on digital literacy
3. Establishing a fully functioning infodemic working group at national and sub-national levels

How can you make a difference? 

Under overall guidance from the Indonesia Country Office SBC Specialist/RCCE coordinator, the consultant will:

• Identify and engage with key national and subnational level stakeholders for IM.
• Strengthen the coordination between the MOH Immunization Directorate and the Ministry of Information Communication Technology (MICT) for Infodemic Management.
• Develop a subnational action plan template for IM and lead / support action planning at the subnational level for key geographic areas and/or priority populations in consultation with UNICEF field office team.
• Provide technical support to MICT, MOH and UNICEF’s implementing partners.
• Establish and ensure ongoing functioning of subnational IM working groups and document activities.
• Lead the development, training, and dissemination of communication assets that result from the IM project.
• Lead the reporting process (data collection, documentation, presentation/dissemination).
• Provide support to the International IM expert, data/M&E consultant, and government counterparts in project activities.
• Provide administrative and logistic support to the overall IM project.
• Participate in personnel orientation sessions.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… 

• Advanced university degree in related disciplines, with proven experience of at least five years in infodemic management (digital literacy, fact-checking operations, social listening, data analytic).
• Experience in health and social development programmes i.e., RCCE, COVID-19 response, routine immunization is an advantage with at least two years of experience in social and behaviour change or immunization.
• Excellent communication, writing, analytical, inter-personal and facilitation skills.
• Experience in reviewing and summarizing communications, health and research documents.
• Sensitivity to cultural diversity and team work.
• Proficiency in standard office ICT (information, communication and technology) applications.
• Experience in terms of handling social and behaviour change programmes/projects will be an advantage.
• Previous work experience in Indonesia and with multiple in-country multiple partners is an advantage.

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS) and core competencies: 

• Builds and Maintains Partnerships
• Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
• Drive to achieve results for impact
• Innovates and embraces change
• Manages ambiguity and complexity
• Thinks and acts strategically
• Works collaboratively with others

 TOR IC National Infodemic mngt TMS.pdf

To view our competency framework, please visit here. 

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles 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. 

Remarks:  

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts. 

This position is not considered an elevated risk role. However, UNICEF reserves the right to conduct further vetting/ assessment within the scope of child safeguarding as appropriate.

Disclaimer: The screening of your application will be conducted based on the information in your profile. Before applying, we strongly suggest that you review your profile to ensure accuracy and completeness. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. This vacancy is open for Indonesians only.