National consultant to provide technical support to social media monitoring and demand for immunization activities with UNICEF in Uzbekistan

UNICEF is engaging local consultant to support with design a mid- and long-term plan for establishing social listening mechanism and building the capacity of the Committee on sanitary-epidemiological wellbeing and the public health.

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, visibility

Background 

UNICEF supports the Ministry of Health and the Committee on sanitary-epidemiological wellbeing and the public health in the promotion of positive behaviour towards vaccination, including routine immunization, COVID-19 vaccination and health seeking behaviours in general.

Social listening is now a critical mechanism for data generation in behavioural intervention related to health. Following unprecedented levels of misinformation and conspiracy theories that are now surrounding any type of vaccination and a growing number of pseudo health sciences on the internet, it is critical to arrest and address any misinformation in real time.

In view of that, for the promotion of the vaccine uptake for the routine immunization and broadly health seeking behaviours and practices for mothers and children, as well as COVID-19 vaccination UNICEF jointly with national partners identified the monitoring of the social media to address the rumours and misinformation as one of the key areas. This will support UNICEF and national partners in the development of communication materials in line with the questions arising from the population. 

In 2022, UNICEF supported the Committee on sanitary-epidemiological wellbeing in the preparation of weekly social media monitoring reports, conducted initial introductory capacity building trainings for the relevant personnel of the Committee. 

Building on the activities conducted in 2022, UNICEF is engaging local consultant to support with design a mid- and long-term plan for establishing social listening mechanism and building the capacity of the Committee on sanitary-epidemiological wellbeing and the public health. The consultant will work with a team to support the following.

Objectives 

Under the direct supervision of SBC Officer and overall guidance of the Communication Chief the consultant will be responsible for the following:  

• Support development and implementation of mid- and long-term plan for establishing social listening mechanisms and capacity building for national partners.
• Conduct regular manual social media monitoring of public channels in the Telegram Messenger application with the purpose of identifying incorrect information and rumors regarding COVID-19 vaccination, routine immunization, shared through this social media platform in Uzbekistan.
• Consolidate and finalize bi-weekly reports highlighting key issues, topics, concerns raised and addressed online both through the public platforms on the Telegram Messenger application and other relevant social media, providing recommendations for better engagement.
• Support the development of communication materials to address the rumors and misinformation on COVID-19 vaccination, immunization. 

Timeline & Deliverables 

Start day of the assignment: 1 March 2023 

End day of the assignment: 31 December 2023   

Task 

1. Support development and implementation of mid- and long-term plan for establishing social listening mechanisms and capacity building for national partners:
- Organization of FGDs, and key informant interviews.
- Mapping of the existing platforms, tools, and mechanisms that could contribute to the social listening.

2. Conduct regular manual social media monitoring of public channels in the Telegram Messenger application with the purpose of identifying incorrect information and rumors regarding COVID-19 vaccination, routine immunization, shared through this social media platform in Uzbekistan.

Consolidate and finalize bi-weekly reports highlighting key issues, topics, concerns raised and addressed online both through the public platforms on the Telegram Messenger application and other relevant social media, providing recommendations for better engagement.

3. Support the development of communication materials to address the rumors and misinformation on COVID-19 vaccination, immunization.

Deliverables 

1. At least 5 interviews and FGDs organized. 

Mapping of the existing platforms, tools, and mechanisms that could contribute to the social listening.

2.  20 reports on social media monitoring 

3.  6 communication materials developed

Management 

The consultant will work under the supervision of SBC Officer and overall guidance of the Chief of Communication.    

Resource requirements and payments 

According to UNICEF policy, the final fees will be set up based on the “best value for money” principle. Total project is expected to be allocated for the period of 10 months. The Consultant will be paid on deliverables upon submission of her/his report and subject to certification by the Supervisor, based on the monthly work-plan, outlining the expected work outputs agreed in the beginning of the reporting period.

The candidates are requested to submit their financial offer consisting of fee for the services to be provided. The Consultant will receive direct payment to his/her indicated bank account in Uzbek Sums based on the UN currency exchange rate.

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

• Advanced university degree in social sciences, communications, media, journalism, digital engagement or a related field
• Work experience on public communication issues in the field of public health, ideally Immunization is an asset
• Work experience social media monitoring and misinformation/rumours tracking is an asset
• Good command of written English and Russian/or Uzbek

Procedures and Working Conditions 

Consultant is expected to work from home and expected to participate at all required meetings online. The applicants shall be required to submit a statement of good health prior of commencement of work and to take full responsibility for the accuracy of that statement. Consultants are not eligible to participate in the life or health insurance available to UN staff members. 

Reservations 

UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if deliverable(s) incomplete, not finalized or for failure to meet deadlines. UNICEF will reserve copyright of all developed materials and own primary data collected through this assignment. The materials cannot be published or disseminated without prior written permission of UNICEF. UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future. The contractor must respect the confidentiality of the information handled during the assignment. Documents and information provided must be used only for the tasks related to these terms of reference. 

UNICEF undertakes no liability for taxes, duty or other contribution payable by the consultant on payments made under this contract. 

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

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

 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:  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. 

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.