Consultancy - C4D Specialist: Social Media Monitoring & Rumour Management (Home-Based) at UNICEF

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTORS/ CONSULTANTS

PART I

Title of Assignment

C4D Specialist social media monitoring and rumour management (COVID-19 preparedness and response) - Individual Consultant

Section

C4D

Location

Remote / home-based/ ideally working in any country under the time zones: GMT to GMT +5

Duration

6 months

Start date

From: 20 April 2020

From: 20 October 2020

Background and Justification

Background

On 31 December 2019, WHO was alerted to a cluster of pneumonia patients in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. One week later, on 7 January 2020, Chinese authorities confirmed that they had identified a novel (new) coronavirus as the cause of the pneumonia. To date the corona virus (COVID-19) has spread to over 200 countries, including over 15 in East and Southern Africa (ESA).

Given the increasing number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Eastern and Southern Africa the Regional office (ESARO) is proposing to strengthen internal capacity to enhanced support to the 21 countries through deployment of additional human resource.

Purpose

The UNICEF Communication for Development programme is at the forefront of UNICEF emergency response, where knowledge, attitudes, practices and social norms are key to preparedness and response. Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) plays a key role in providing real-time lifesaving information ensuring that people know what to do to protect themselves and others against various diseases.

As per the UNICEF ESARO C4D guidance note on COVID-19 Social Media Listening & Rumor Tracking in ESA, social media is increasingly emerging as a major source of COVID-19 related information as highlighted by some recent surveys. While this is a promising trend with potential for using online platforms, social media has also been used to distort correct information, contributing to the spread of disinformation and misinformation as witnessed in the recent weeks. The importance and urgency of access to timely, relevant trusted information in this pandemic cannot be overemphasized. Rumors offer a threat to correct information and can be a matter of life and death. A rumor is defined as unverified information that is transmitted from one person to others. There are two sub-groups of rumors, which are defined by the intent of the people spreading them. Misinformation is incorrect information spread by people without the intent to deceive, while Disinformation is spread to deceive or manipulate others. There are three types of rumors: wish rumors: these reflect the hopes of the community; hostility rumors: these reflect threats to the community or prejudices and often target outside groups; and fear rumors: these reflect the anxieties of the community.

In the context of the COVID-19 epidemic, in ESA social media is one the most significant communication channel, as confirmed by the recent GeoPoll assessment conducted on COVID-19 in Kenya, with social media accounted for 44% as main information source (the highest). Tracking of social media content including rumors and other online discussions is therefore necessary to identify trends and ensure quick and timely responses at regional and national level.

Scope of Work

Goal And Objective

Under the supervision of the C4D Specialist and in close coordination with External Communication section and other sections involved in the COVID-19 preparedness/response, the consultant will provide technical assistance in aspects of social media monitoring, Â rumor tracking and management, online listening, and support with digital/online content production and dissemination linked to COVID-19.

Major Duties And Responsibilities
 

• Develop and implement a regional social media monitoring and rumor management action plan for the COVID-19 epidemic.

• Develop a C4D regional social media monitoring and rumor management action plan, taking into consideration all initiatives undertaken by UNICEF and other partners in the region for COVID-19 prevention, including Social Media content production and dissemination, U-Report chatbots, polls and counselling hubs, Internet of Good Things;
• In the context of the action plan, adapt the ESARO RCCE M&E framework into an online regional COVID-19 online tracking dashboard with the aim to integrate information reported by COs, most common rumors and identify additional segments to be developed for regional social media monitoring.
• Through online monitoring tools, identify COVID-19/Coronavirus highly assessed conversation threads to identify wrong information and/or myths being circulated in our region.
• In collaboration with the ESARO Social Media consultant in the Communications section, identify regional social media influencers in order to engage them with COVID-19 myth busters information and tools;
• Analyze the information collected through the U-Report myth-busters chatbot and polls launched in the region to identify the most common source of information per country, assess the level of correct information of U-Reporters and identify the most common myths reported.
• Produce weekly and monthly reports highlighting key issues, topics, concerns raised and addressed online providing recommendations for better engagement.
• Participate in and contribute to the community feedback sub working group of the regional RCCE coordination mechanism.
• Contribute to content to the various reporting requirements including but not limited to Situation Reports, weekly updates to HQ, and any other reporting needs related to COVID-19 RCCE response focusing on the social media monitoring dimension.
• Document the lessons learnt and best practices in social media monitoring and rumor management undertaken in ESAR countries.

• Technical support to UNICEF ESAR Country Offices (COs)

• Provide technical assistance to design and implement high quality digital-based C4D content and social media monitoring plans in line with the COVID-19 RCCE plans.
• Support the development and implementation of a system to track COVID-19 related rumors (misinformation and disinformation) and general public concerns.
• Support COs to establish appropriate strategies and mechanisms to manage rumors and effectively respond to misinformation and disinformation.
• Undertake a daily review of the regional COVID-19 online tracking dashboard to identify trends and liaise with respective country offices to address them.
• Support COs with ad hoc remote capacity building sessions to ensure dissemination of high quality COVID-19 digital-based C4D content.
• Identify opportunities to synchronize and use content across various UNICEF platforms such as the Internet of Good Things (IoGT), U-Report, and other UNICEF supported digital tools or platforms for effective message dissemination.
• Consolidate, analyze, and share social media monitoring and rumor tracking data from countries in a systematic and regular manner.
• Identify country-specific online influencers for potential engagement to amplify correct information about COVID-19.
• Keep an updated mapping of digital-based platforms available to support country offices partnerships for in country-based COVIS-19 rumors tracking mechanism.
• Support the preparation of fundraising proposals; identify/follow up on the country specific resource mobilization needs

Work Experience

• At least 5 years of proven experience in social media monitoring and analysis and/or digital listening
• Previous experience with social media management, trend monitoring, and influencing
• Experience in the design and implementation of interventions on rumor management/misinformation
• Excellent writing skills planning and coordination skills, with proven ability to work independently.

Language Proficiency

• Fluency in English (verbal and written). Knowledge of French and Portuguese is an added advantage