National Radionovela Coordinator Consultant, Luanda, Angola

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have worked in Angola continuously since 1976 with mandate to support government and non-state actors to protect the rights and promote the wellbeing of every child.

Our work is aligned with Sustainable Development Goals and aims to ensure each child in each 18 provinces has access to good health services, quality education opportunities, clean water, and toilets; and children grow up protected and develop in an inclusive, just, and peaceful society.

Since its establishment, UNICEF has been helping the government of Angola to strengthen national policies, programmes and services to ensure that every child enjoy their rights.

UNICEF’s capacity, technical skills and structure allow us to work effectively with policy and decision-makers and be among the first responders to humanitarian crisis. It allows us to assess and respond quickly to the priorities and needs of communities in the most remote and underserved areas of the country. 

UNICEF protects and promotes the rights of every child in Angola.

For every child, Health!

Purpose of Activity:
UNICEF Angola proposes to hire a consultant to coordinate the important preparation of a radionovela activity, under the Finnish Natcom Africa2030 grant, which will bring attention to key issues including harmful gender norms, teenage pregnancy, and child marriage with the young population, and their communities.
The Radionovela Coordinator Consultant will identify adolescents, girls, and boys, to make up the adolescent advisory group (AAG) which will promote a participatory approach to developing key messages, to be utilized and verified through the Radionovela Content Advisory Committee (RCAC) and inform the basis of storylines to be developed through five creative writers’ workshops, and produce 52 storylines that will be pre-tested before endorsement and airing through a national radio program and on various media platforms. The pre-tested storylines and key messages will be reformatted to both inform a national communications strategy, drafted by the consultant, and social media content to be disseminated across media channels.

Background

Supporting adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights, access to education, and prevention of gender-based violence in order to tackle teenage pregnancy and child marriage, and promote gender equality, are key components of the UNICEF Angola mandate, and gender agenda, in alignment with the Country Programme 2024-2028. Given the opportunity of funding via the Finnish Natcom, the Angola Country Office (ACO) is launching a versatile and multisectoral campaign to tackle two of the biggest barriers to health and education outcomes for young girls: teenage pregnancy and child marriage. The different interventions will be implemented in collaboration with a variety of partners, with leadership from the respective UNICEF Section. In alignment with the development of a national advocacy and communication strategy and campaign on SRHR, GBV, and gender equality, funds will be allocated for the production and roll-out of a Radionovela programme to reinforce key messages on harmful gender and social norms to support raising awareness and shifting mindsets, with an ultimate goal of reducing teenage pregnancy and child marriage in Angola. The Social Behaviour Change Section (SBC) will lead the social mobilization and awareness raising on the importance of adolescent reproductive health and rights (ASRHR), empowerment, and well-being, using radio and different media platforms along the duration of the strategy development and launch.

Radio is one of the channels used for educating the public and can reach the masses. In Angola, radio is the most common means of accessing information, particularly in rural areas. In partnership with the national radio, the Ministry of Youth and Sports as the lead Ministry, in conjunction with the Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technologies, and Social Communication, the Ministry of Social Action, Family and Promotion of Women (MASFAMU), UNICEF, and with support of the Finnish Natcom, a weekly radionovela is to be produced and aired on once a week, with the repeated broadcast in the same week.

The radionovela targeting adolescents, their health, rights, empowerment, and well-being, will be designed in an interactive, participatory way, to attract both adolescents’ and parents’ attention, and to speak across generations bridging divides through drama, humour, and building connection.

The weekly programme, created with and for adolescents, takes a unique approach to stimulate discussion amongst friends and within families, to bring light to taboos impacting ASRHR, such as menstruation, knowledge on fertility and ovulation to support a better understanding of reproductive health and rights, and will discuss gender barriers and inequalities to bring attention to unjust challenges for girls and how boys/men and support girls/women both leveling the playing field, and creating a safe space for adolescents to speak up, be heard, be acknowledged, and be at the discussion table. Utilizing this momentum, a national communications strategy will be developed centering adolescents and ASRH, supporting a community-led SBC approach.

Justification:

The radionovela will bring different talents together to produce adolescent-friendly content covering key topics in SRHR, empowerment, and education, within the framework of gender equality and dismantling social norms, in the form of drama, music, storytelling, vox pops, etc. This project requires different expertise ranging from drama writing, creating media content, conducting interviews with adolescents, and expertise from key sectors including gender, SBC, child protection, health, nutrition, education, and social policy. The Radionovela process will engage with a range of stakeholders, including the Adolescence Advisory Group (AAG), which will be in the front seat, and the Radionovela Content Advisory Committee (RCAC), compromising of government partners, CSOs, and NGOs, youth and women-led organizations, the UNICEF CO team and experienced drama writers. The consultant will ensure professional facilitation of the adolescent advisory group focus group discussions to create the key messages, documenting the discussions and bringing the range of skills and expertise together of the RCAC to produce participatory content for adolescents in Angola. The participatory content will be critical to the acceptance of the national communication strategy, ensuring messages are made from the people for the people, that they are relevant, appropriate, and fit-for-purpose to address key gaps and persistent inequalities that impact the livelihood, development, and capabilities of the adolescent population in Angola.

Objectives / Target:
The individual consultant will provide both technical guidance and coordination support, with the leadership of UNICEF’s SBC and Gender teams to generate creative ideas and storylines, which will guide the development of content for the upcoming episodes of the radionovela which will also inform campaigns to be used on various media platforms and inform a national communications strategy.

The individual consultant will be responsible for identifying members of the adolescence advisory group (AAG), organizing and facilitating two AAG focus group discussions to develop the key messages which will be the basis of the main story-lines of the radionovela, coordinate meetings of the Radionovela Content Advisory Committee (RCAC) members and experienced drama writers, and compile all the ideas to develop rundowns for at least 52 skits for the Radionovela which will be pre-tested before endorsement and use.

Scope of Work:
The individual consultant will undertake different tasks listed below to ensure the content for the radionovela is established through a participatory approach and pre-prepared for an airing duration of 12 months:
Desk Review
1. Conduct a literature review of resources, including social media, and services available to adolescents in the areas of ASRHR, well-being, skills, and employment, particularly noting any inequities related to gender, ability, ethnicity, geographic location, or socio-economic status.
2. Prepare and submit an Inception Report outlining the suggested way forward for the development of the two committees including the draft of proposed key messages to be reviewed, discussed, shifted/edited by the AAG.
Coordination
3. Identify members of the Adolescent Advisory Group (AAG) with attention to gender balance, age, ethnicity, ability, and geographic location to support maximized representation of the adolescent population (including supporting adolescents from the provinces to engage online).
4. Develop the agenda, invite the AAG, and facilitate dialogue to support the identification of key messages to inform the radionovela and social media story plot on areas including ASRHR, wellbeing, empowerment, gender equality, social norms, access to education, employment/skills, ability, and human rights.
5. Identify members of the Radionovela Content Advisory Committee (RCAC), including technicians from key ministries (MINJUD, MASFAMU, MoH, MinTTICS), CSOs/NGOs working in these areas, youth and women-led organizations, adolescents, select actors (TBC), UNICEF staff members, representatives from the radio, and experienced drama writers, with attention to gender balance (particularly for the voice of the drama).
6. Develop the agenda of five workshops to support the development of the 52 storylines (10~ storylines per workshop).
7. Identify the venue for the workshops in consultation with UNICEF.
8. Invite the workshops’ participants and follow-up on the invitation to ensure participation.
9. Manage all the workshops’ logistics, including organizing transportation to and from the workshops’ venues, and provision of necessary stationery, equipment, and secretarial services for the workshops.
10. Facilitate the workshops as per the agenda agreed upon with UNICEF.
11. Write-up the five write-shops’ reports.
Production of Documents
12. Write up to the gender transformative skits of the radionovela (52 skits in total), collect and incorporate feedback from AAG and RCAC members (including UNICEF), and revise and produce the final document after each of the workshops (in Portuguese).
13. Facilitate pre-testing of the skits’ content with the relevant group of adolescents and parents/caregivers and provide the report of pre-testing findings for each batch of 10 skits.
14. Produce adapted content for social media platforms.
15. Utilize the key messages to inform a national communication strategy for rolling out.

How can you make a difference? 

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

• University degree in an area of social studies, communications, accountability, management field, or other relevant field.
  ▪ At least three years of experience in facilitation, coordination, and direct experience working with youth networks or other relevant groups.
  ▪ Relevant knowledge of gender issues including gender equality, sexual and reproductive health, and gender-based violence.
  ▪ Experience moderating public conversations on radio, TV, and public events.
  ▪ Knowledge of issues related to adolescents’ context in Angola.
  ▪ Relevant knowledge sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), including teenage pregnancy, child marriage, menstruation, mental health/wellbeing, gender equality, and empowerment for adolescents in Angola, particularly girls is desired.
  ▪ Professional experience in drama, creative communications, media content development, or any other related fields.
  ▪ Strong coordination skills.
  ▪ Proven experience in facilitating workshops.
  ▪ Proven experience in event management.
  ▪ Experience working with media.
  ▪ Knowledge of computer systems, internet, and various office applications.
  ▪ Fluency in Portuguese.
  ▪ English proficiency is desired, but not mandatory.
  ▪ National language is an asset.
  ▪ Experience in interacting with children, adolescents, and youth, particularly on sensitive issues is an asset.
  ▪ Experience in radio, is an asset.
  Must be sensitive to special needs and implement a right-based approach demonstrate experience in facilitation and moderation of similar events as well as communication skills.

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.