Individual Consultancy – Graphic Designer, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) Remote Eight (8) Months REQ#

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, an education…

Education Cannot Wait (ECW) is the first global fund dedicated to education in emergencies and protracted crises. It was launched in 2016 during the World Humanitarian Summit by international humanitarian and development aid organizations, along with public and private donors, to help reposition education as a priority on the humanitarian agenda, usher in a more collaborative approach among actors on the ground and foster additional funding to ensure that every crisis-affected child and young person is in school and learning.

Based on the recognition that continuous access to quality learning is a priority for children and families affected by conflicts, natural disasters and displacement and that no programme nor organization can do it alone, ECW comes as a ground-breaking initiative bringing together public and private partners eager to work together differently and mobilize the funding required to deploy immediate and sustainable solutions.

ECW’s mandate is articulated around five core functions:

1. Inspire political commitment so that education is viewed by both governments and funders as a top priority during crises .
2. Generate additional funding to close the $8.5 billion funding gap needed to reach 75 million children and youth .
3. Plan and respond collaboratively, with a particular emphasis on enabling humanitarian and development actors to work together on shared objectives.
4. Strengthen capacity to respond to education in emergencies and protracted crises, nationally and globally, including the ability to coordinate the response.
5. Improve accountability by developing and sharing knowledge, including collection of more robust data in order to make better-informed investment decisions, and knowledge of what works and does not.

ECW’s day-to-day work is managed by a lean Secretariat that is hosted and administered by UNICEF.

How can you make a difference?

The ECW Secretariat is scaling up its operations and concurrently needs to strengthen its overall communication, public advocacy and fundraising efforts. Graphic design is to play an important role in effectively communicating ECW’s messages to key audiences and stakeholders. Graphic design support is needed on an ad hoc basis to complete specific projects and tasks in support of ECW’s advocacy and communications unit.

ECW seeks a qualified graphic designer who is available for a certain number of days between 01 April 2021 and 31 December 2021 to fill these ad hoc needs. The incumbent of this post will report to ECW’s Communication Specialist and have the responsibility to support the production of compelling advocacy and communications assets and products through quality and creative design direction as well as graphic design execution and production in line with ECW’s brand and target audiences’ information needs. This include graphic design execution for both print and digital products, such as reports, advocacy briefs, social media and digital campaigns, microsites, etc.

OBJECTIVES AND TASKS:

 Under the guidance and supervision of the Communications Specialist, the consultant will assist the ECW Secretariat in:

3. Designing a creative and compelling 2021 ECW Case for Investment, including print and digital assets.
4. Designing the ECW 2020 Annual Results Report under the guidance and in collaboration with the report’s team. This includes design direction, execution and revisions of the layout for print and digital formats of the full 160 pages report as well as additional accompanying assets (microsite, executive summary, social media assets, etc). The scope of work includes using datasets to design charts and ensure compelling data visualization and sourcing of relevant photos.
5. Supporting ECW’s ad hoc needs for creative and compelling graphic design, including brochures, reports, fact sheets, infographics, social media cards and digital media campaigns promoting ECW strategic advocacy messages and showcasing ECW’s results.
6. Supporting ECW’s web vendor in applying ECW’s brand design in the development of the new ECW website.

EXPECTED RESULTS: (MEASURABLE RESULTS)

Produce creative & compelling advocacy and communication assets and products:

• ECW 2021 Case for Investment, be designed and delivered in digital & print formats; to include overall document design and infographics
• ECW Annual Result Report 2020, be designed and delivered in digital & print formats; to include overall document design and infographics
• ECW ad hoc graphic design needs supported, to include brochures, fact sheets and infographics on ECW-supported programmes and results
• ECW web vendor be supported in applying ECW’s brand in developing the new ECW website.  

TIMEFRAME

Start date:  01 May 2021                            End date: 31 December 2021

DELIVERABLES	DURATION (ESTIMATED# OF DAYS)	DEADLINE
Graphic design execution, production and revision of 2021 ECW Case for Investment	10 (days)	05/10/21
Design direction of ECW 2020 Annual Results Report	6 (days)	06/15/21
Graphic design execution and production of 2020 Annual Results Report and series of accompanying assets (microsite, summary, digital media campaign)	25 (days)	08/01/21
Revision of Annual Results Report and accompanying assets	4 (days)	08/05/21
Ad hoc support to the design production of ECW print and digital communication products and assets	25 (days)	12/31/21
TOTAL	70 (days)

Under the guidance of the Education Cannot Wait communication’s team, the graphic designer will use photos of children that have been pre-approved by Education Cannot Wait and our partners for use in public information products, in line with UNICEF ethical imagery principles and child protection principles. Using the photos in professional design layout will require between 5%- 10% of the time of the overall graphic design work.

PROPOSED PAYMENT SCHEDULE – By Deliverable

Payment upon deliverables/milestones:  UNICEF will only make milestone payment based on achievement of specific deliverables as listed on the table above. These payments should be stated in terms of percentage.  Also note that UNICEF does not make advance payment except under certain conditions in line with UNICEF Financial Rules and Regulations.

Individual Contractors who are working in a full-time capacity (for a minimum of 1 full month) and with the same working schedule as staff at the duty station (generally office-based, working five weekdays per week and following the office hours) receive Paid Time Off (PTO) credit at the rate of one- and one-half days (1.5 days) for each full month of service. Please refer to Paid Time off for Individual Contractors for further information.

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

• Master’s in graphic design or equivalent
• At least 8 years of experience in graphic design creation and production;
• Demonstrated experience in creating and producing compelling creative design for a wide range of advocacy and communications assets and products for various audiences;
• Demonstrated experience in creating and producing quality graphic design for complex annual reports for the United Nations, multilateral organizations or international NGOs in the education sector, including data visualization, charts, and infographics;
• Good understanding of Education Cannot Wait’s work
• Attention to details and good editorial judgment
• Fluency in English and another UN language.
• Ability to work effectively in a multi-cultural environment.
• Ability to handle multiple tasks, prioritize, and work under tight deadlines.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

Core competencies

• Communication
• Working with People
• Drive for Results

Functional Competencies

• Leading and Supervising
• Formulating Strategies and Concepts
• Analyzing
• Relating and Networking
• Persuading and Influencing
• Entrepreneurial Thinking

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

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.

UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children.

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.

Remarks:

Applicants are invited to:

Include a cover letter of interest, CV, your approach to the assignment, technical proposal fee (daily in US$) to undertake the above TOR. Applications submitted without a proposed fee will not be accepted.

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.

ECW is hosted by UNICEF. The Fund is administered under UNICEF’s financial, human resources and administrative rules and regulations, while operations are run by the Fund’s own independent governance structure that provides strategic guidance and oversight to its investments. ECW’s day-to-day activities are carried out by a Secretariat under the direction of the Education Cannot Wait, Director.

If selected for this consultancy the resulting appointment will be limited to ECW, a UNICEF hosted fund.