Overview

Result of Service

The Office of the Under-Secretary-General (OUSG) would like to engage an Individual Contractor, with the requisite experience and skills, to draft the UN DESA Preparedness Review with inputs from colleagues across the Division from DESA. The Individual Contractor will be involved in multiple editing rounds of the report and will assist in the design of the print document and online representation of the review.

Work Location

Remote

Expected duration

8 weeks

Duties and Responsibilities

In the past three years, the world has faced a combination of long-term and short-term crises with interlinked and compounding effects on the achievement of the SDGs and implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Climate change is causing more droughts, floods, and severe weather events. The COVID-19 pandemic lumbers on, slowing economic growth, increasing unemployment, raising poverty and hunger, and especially impacting women and children. The war in Ukraine is affecting the lives of those in and around the conflict directly, and having a broader effect on global commodity markets, finance, and the nature of global partnerships, and all with the greatest effect on the people and countries least able to respond. In this context, the analytical capacity and training programmes of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) have been leveraged to help countries better understand how to build greater resilience to recurrent crises and bring the 2030 Agenda back on track.

To showcase the broad range of areas in which these important efforts are being undertaken, the Department will present this work in the form of a dynamic narrative, The UN DESA Preparedness and Foresight Review, will aim to engage readers without deep knowledge of resilience measures through accessible language and format, while also serving to inform SDG stakeholders of the important work being supported by the Department. The review will be shared through our various networks and social media platforms and will serve as a background note for a UN DESA global online policy dialogue on resilience to crises to be held in early 2023.

This project will leverage UN DESA’s substantive knowledge of preparedness measures in the context of sustainable development. It will focus attention on vulnerable groups of people (women, youth, older persons, persons with disabilities, refugees, and migrants) and groups of countries (LDCs, LLDCs, SIDS, African States and States affected by conflict).

The Office of the Under-Secretary-General (OUSG) would like to engage an Individual Contractor, with the requisite experience and skills, to draft the UN DESA Preparedness Review with inputs from colleagues across the Division from DESA. The Individual Contractor will be involved in multiple editing rounds of the report and will assist in the design of the print document and online representation of the review.

Under the supervision of the Head, Strategic Planning and Communication Services, OUSG, the Individual Contractor will:

  • Write a one-page narrative of UN DESA’s preparedness and foresight work, using inputs from DESA Divisions
  • Write a one-page outline of the report, by chapter and short description.
  • Draft the UN Preparedness and Foresight Review (approx. 50 pages) with inputs from DESA Divisions.
  • Collaborate with DESA colleagues on the communications and design strategies, including photo selection, to be used in the UN Preparedness Review, both in print and online format.
  • Finalize the Review incorporating the feedback and comments from DESA Divisions.

Qualifications/special skills

– First-level university degree with minimum 5 years’ experience in journalism, communications, or similar subject. Master’s degree is desirable.
Familiarity with recent multistakeholder efforts to enhance preparedness is an asset.
Familiarity with the United Nations Development System is an asset.
Experience working on editorial design is an asset.
Capacity to work under tight deadlines and accommodate change, with proven skills in delivering outputs on time.
Ability to work independently.
Ability to synthesize complex information and present it in an easy-to-understand written format.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.

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