Консультант з комунікацій/ Short-term consultant on the developing a communications strategy, media plan, and providing mentorship services for the implementing partners (SMM-managers, Communications Experts)

Global Communities is seeking qualified short-term consultants for Ukrainian Communities Countering Corruption Together Project (UCCCT):

POSITION:                                                    Short-term consultant on the developing a communications strategy, media plan, and providing mentorship services for the implementing partners (SMM-managers, Communications Experts)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE:            12 months (with a possibility of extension)

LOE (Level of Effort) DAYS:                233 working days

OBJECTIVE:

Global Communities is implementing the project Ukrainian Communities Countering Corruption Together (UCCCT) aims to engage citizens in local governance, building civic and government understanding and capacity for anti-corruption efforts. The program goal is to reduce corruption at the community level, with a focus on enabling improved services in healthcare and education as the two key sectors of citizen concern in the incidence and prevalence of corruption, pursuing two objectives:

• Objective 1: Build citizen awareness of corruption risks and effective mechanisms supporting local government transparency and integrity; and
• Objective 2: Communities establish social accountability and oversight mechanisms to counter corruption in local government.

Global Communities together with the partners will work closely to implement this project in 20 communities over a two-year period to train and support civil society, media, and local governments to identify and adopt effective oversight mechanisms, and engage citizens to effectively use them. The project will combine training, coaching and awareness-raising for citizens and officials with opportunities for learning-by-doing, such as through advocacy campaigns conducted in coordination with government.  UCCCT will develop online tools and a manual for monitoring activity and spending in the education and healthcare sectors, and support the initiation of institutional mechanisms for oversight such as supervisory boards and community integrity coalitions.

Project Implementing Partners

The Public Partnership “For Transparent Local Budgets!” administered by Odessa CVU, is a network of 19 civil society organizations and 20 media outlets across Ukraine dedicated to the ideals of fighting corruption, and bringing high levels of organizational, operational and expert capacity to that work. The Odessa Branch of the national CVU network acts as the secretariat of the Partnership, and will partner with Global Communities. Odessa CVU and the Partnership have worked with Global Communities since July 2017 on the development and implementation of corruption prevention mechanisms in communities. In the course of that work, they have proven effective in designing, coordinating, and implementing programming that achieve key anti-corruption goals. The Partnership has the proven ability to provide high quality training services to different audiences, implement effective advocacy campaigns, achieve sustainable results and successfully promote local-level reforms. In 2017, they assisted 23 DOBRE communities to design and adopt 53 corruption prevention tools, and has earned a positive reputation in and feedback from DOBRE communities. The Partnership has an extended network of trainers and experts in public budgeting, transparency of public funds, good governance, and corruption prevention, as well as a strong foundation for organization and coordination.

CASE Ukraine, a consulting group which also developed a unique budget simulator for amalgamated communities, the Consolidated Community Budget Simulator, and has extensive experience in budget analysis and visualization tools for socio-economic processes that make complex ideas clear and digestible for the public. UCCCT will also leverage CASE Ukraine’s experience promoting online tools to reach community residents.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES / SPECIFIC TASKS:

The UCCCT will select the candidates that will be able to provide the development and support of a coherent and coherent communication strategy of the project, in cooperation with Global Communities and project partner partners, media plan and dissemination of major project messages, including assistance in highlighting public project activities, results, using a variety of media tools, as well as an effective coverage of the interim results and successes of the project (social networks, publications in the media); communicating the goals and objectives of the project to communities by identifying key results and success stories based on the communication strategy techniques, establishing cooperation and creating horizontal communications within the project’s target audiences on its implementation. A key priority and the main goal will be raising public awareness of corruption risks and manifestations and effective mechanisms that prevent them and support the transparency and integrity of local authorities, as well as community-based accountability and public oversight tools to prevent local corruption.

Specific tasks for developing a communications strategy, media plan, and providing mentorship services for the implementing partners:

Task 1. Develop an overall project communication strategy and media plan. As part of the program’s overall communication strategy, UCCCT will conduct ongoing activities that promote the actions and achievements of participating communities at the local, regional, and national levels. In addition to traditional communication through media or events, the program will establish a Facebook page to share information and results, and a unique social media hashtag. The program will develop and publicize a large number of anti-corruption materials, from the leaflets in the initial promotional campaign, community analytical reports on education or healthcare spending, and Citizen Budgets. The consortium will post and promote new tools and trainings to allow other local governments may also access them;

Task 2. Develop a communications strategy for community entry that promotes the project by communicating the benefits of corruption prevention and citizens oversight. The campaign will cover corruption risks and anti-corruption tools that have been successfully applied at the local level. It will present the benefits of these mechanisms to governments and communities, including examples of successful communities as ambassadors of change, while also formally launching the application process and materials. The campaign will ensure the inclusion of marginalized groups by developing messaging targeted for key demographics that underscores the need for an inclusive anti-corruption conversation in all materials. The campaign will ensure the inclusion of marginalized groups by developing messaging targeted for key demographics that underscores the need for an inclusive anti-corruption conversation in all materials. It will also include information about the online simulator that the program will design and offer to participating communities to incentivize engagement;

Task 3. Design a public awareness campaign and strategy for promoting key project tools and deliverables, such as “Real Cost of Services” – online tool for spending analysis in health and education, supervisory boards in schools and medical institutions, community integrity coalitions, policy of resolving conflict of interests, citizen engagement in planning and controlling spending in education and healthcare, investigations and reporting of corruption risks, and cooperation of local activists, media, and governments. The campaigns should be low-budget, realistic to be implemented in communities, including villages and small towns, and account for hard to reach audiences such as uninterested citizens and vulnerable populations;

Task 4. Provide mentorship support to project implementing partners in running the campaigns and disseminating project results. In addition to media outlets, all the program results and tools shall also be shared with the relevant ministries, including the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Regional Development, and Ministry of Finance, to promote their use in other local communities across the country, and applied in the daily work of these authorities. The mentorship should build the capacity of project implementing partners in local awareness campaigning and media relations to ensure that by the end of year 1 of the project, the partner is capable to lead project communications with minimal supervision. The implementing partners will have dedicated communications people on the team, as well as consultants working directly with communities and coordinating awareness campaigns and media relations.

Expected Results and Deliverables

1. Project communication strategy with action plan, media plan, key audiences, communication materials, communication channels and tools.
2. Communications strategy and plan for community entry and project promotion in support of community recruitment process – project entry campaign. Implemented project entry campaign that results in high interest of communities in joining the project. Expected number of applying communities – 40.
3. Promotion strategy for project tools. Assistance to project implementing partners in the application of the strategy.
4. Consulting and supervision of project implementing partners’ efforts in daily project communications and dissemination of project results.

 TIMELINE:

The general timeline of activities by category is included in the chart below. This is a general guide only and many of the activities may shift. A brief outline and illustrative timeline of activities is the following:

COORDINATION AND SUPERVISION:

To ensure the fulfillment of the above tasks, the Consultant will:

• Liaise and ensure constant communication/coordination with UCCCT project team and partners of the project;
• Submit all the deliverables for review, comments and approval to UCCCT project team as requested;
• Hold consultations and briefings with UCCCT project team and partners of the project as requested.

THE SELECTION PROCESS:

Global Communities will select consultants based on meeting the following criteria:

• A bachelor’s degree (in journalism, communication, public relations, and other related areas);
• At least 2 years of experience in public relations / strategic communications / research in public opinion;
• Previous experience in the development of communication strategies, planning and implementation of communication companies for various groups of the public, experience in social networks (SMM);
• Previous experience in writing press releases, articles and materials for print and electronic media;
• Establishing working contacts with national and regional mass media;
• The experience of previous participation in international projects as a public relations / communications consultant is an asset;
• Previous work experience (or demonstrated ability to work) with the amalgamated communities;
• Knowledge of English at the work level is an asset;
• Ability to work in a team according to established terms, good skills of time distribution;
• Creativity, initiative, focus on results and responsibility.

In submitted application, applicants should:

• Clearly identify and describe how they propose to complete the described activities by providing samples of work and references (clients/participants) demonstrating their competence.

To apply please send your CV as well as cover letter with summary of your experience as described above to [email protected] indicating “UCCCT project Consultant” in the subject line by January 21, 2019.

Only applicants selected for interviews will be contacted. No telephone inquiries will be accepted.