Home-based Consultancy: Visual Story-Telling Artist Consultant (7.5 Working days), ECARO, O/P Rome, Italy

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, Protection

Scope of the work:

Since 2016, the UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO) outposted office in Italy is providing support to the Government of Italy on children and young migrants and refugees, to ensure timely, equal and appropriate care, protection and support for social inclusion, as part of the Regional Migrant and Refugee Response.

Language learning constitutes one of the most crucial factors to ensure social inclusion of students with migration background into the national school system, to fulfil their right to education and, at the same time, to comply with the obligation to complete the first cycle of the school system. More broadly, Italian language learning represents one of the first steps towards their social inclusion in Italy.

To respond to these needs the UNICEF ECARO National Response in Italy and Akelius Foundation have established a partnership to facilitate the accessible continuous learning for children identified by the schools as being intensively delayed in literacy skills, particularly children with migration background, by providing access to literacy skills development through the Akelius Italian digital language learning course. Launched in the school year 2021-22, Akelius benefits children in primary schools (aged 6-10 years old), and in the first two years of lower secondary school (aged 11-12 years old). Currently, the programme involves over 50 Comprehensive Schools across three main regions (Latium, Emilia-Romagna, and Lombardy). While at national level the implementation is carried out in partnership with ISMU Foundation, in the specific city of Bologna, where the pilot phase was launched, the initiative is implemented also in close collaboration with local authorities and in partnership with the AIPI Social Cooperative.

As part of the implementation of the programme, a series of activities will revolve around monitoring, evaluation, communication, and advocacy. In 2023, a new methodology was tested as part of the monitoring activities, through the development and rollout of visual storytelling workshops with students with a migrant background who had used the Akelius platform in Bologna, in collaboration with UNICEF’s Office of Research Innocenti and with support from AIPI and the University of Bologna. The objective of the workshops is to capture children’s views on their Italian language learning process, through a creative methodology that facilitates children’s expression of their perspectives. As a result of a first testing of the workshops, in 2023 a dedicated blog was published: Through the Eyes of Children (unicef-irc.org).

For the current year 2024, the objective is to continue the testing of the visual storytelling workshops, introducing a creative and artistic component that will support communication and advocacy activities on the Akelius programme.

Specifically, the Visual Storytelling Artist will contribute to gain insight into students’ experiences with learning the host country’s language, and to gather children’s perspectives on how language learning contributes to their sense of belonging, bonding and inclusion.

Key responsibilities include:

Artist to to organize a 5-day visual storytelling workshop:

• • Liaise with UNICEF team for guidance on presentation and treatment of the topics.
  • Liaise with UNICEF and partners in Bologna to prepare for the workshops.
  • Prepare the presentations and activities for a 5-day workshop, including practical exercises.
  • Conduct training and lead the methodology for 10-15 participants.

Methodology

• • Artist supplies all equipment for workshop participants.
  • Artist creates a canvas as a result of the work with children, which will be donated to the school.
  • UNICEF has non-exclusive concomitant world rights in all media in perpetuity.

How can you make a difference? 

Work location: Home-based in the Italy.

To apply:

Applicants are invited to: 

1. Complete their UNICEF profile;
2. Submit a financial proposal with a daily fee in EUR. Applications without fees will not be considered.
3. Interested candidates should share a link to their portfolio.

– Payment schedule: The consultant will be paid based on satisfactory and timely submission of deliverables.

– Duration: 7.5 days between August 2024 and September 2024

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

• Art and Design or another relevant field. At least 5 additional years of experience accompanied by professional certifications may replace the degree.
• At least five years of professional experience in art, design, processing in graphics programs.
• Experience in conducting workshops to children and adolescents, particularly children with disadvantaged backgrounds, including drawing techniques and group management for idea discussion.
• Good organizational, analytical and communicational skills;
• Demonstrated ability to work in multicultural situations requiring flexibility, imagination and creativity to achieve the project objectives.
• Fluency in Italian and English.

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.