Communication support to IFRC global programs At International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies

Background

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC or “the Federation”) is the world’s largest volunteer-based humanitarian network. The Federation is a membership organization established by and composed of its member National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Along with National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Federation is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The IFRC aims to enable healthy and safe communities, reduce vulnerabilities, strengthen resilience and foster a culture of peace worldwide. It works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises.

The Federation is at the forefront of humanitarian crisis preparedness and response. As part of its ongoing work, several initiatives have been developed to strengthen the expertise and capacity of National Societies to prepare for and respond to disasters and crises worldwide. The Federation provides technical guidance and institutional support to National Societies to implement global, regional or local initiatives according to the Red Cross Red Crescent Fundamental principles and 2030 Strategy.

Purpose

This consultancy seeks a communication professional who can develop and implement strategies and design communication materials targeting a wide range of audiences to advocate, disseminate information and share knowledge about a selection of priority programmes. The consultant will mainly support the IFRC teams focusing on Global Health Security, National Society Preparedness, and Information Management, with a possibility to support other units if additional needs arise.

Alignment to the IFRC’s objectives and strategy

Through the IFRC Plan and Budget 2021–2025, the Federation laid out ambitious goals and identified strategic priorities related to disaster management and health:

• Goal 1: People anticipate, respond to, and quickly recover from crisis
• Goal 2: People lead safe, healthy and dignified lives and have opportunities to thrive
• Strategic Priority 2: Evolving crisis and disasters
• Strategic Priority 3: Growing gaps in health and well-being

Six flagship initiatives were established to guide operational plans to respond to global challenges in a coordinated way and at scale. Three of them are directly related to multihazard National Society Preparedness and epidemic risk management:

• Going to Scale on Humanitarian Action and Risk Reduction
• Global Health Security: Epidemic-Pandemic Preparedness and Response
• Reduce cholera related cases by 50%.

IFRC Strategy 2030

“We will enhance local response and preparedness capacities alongside complementary international support mechanisms, so that our network will respond effectively to any emergency.”

“We will also significantly invest in epidemic and pandemic preparedness. This includes investing in local actors, networks and volunteers as frontline responders and early risk detectors.”

Theresolution “Time to act: Tackling epidemics and pandemics together”, and the integratedDisaster Risk Management (DRM) Policy adopted at the 33rd International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in December 2019 have laid a strong foundation for IFRC’s work inglobal health security and disaster risk management.

The IFRC health and care framework approved in July 2020 includes epidemic, pandemic preparedness and response as an area of focus, in addition to the NS Preparedness Framework, supporting the operationalization of the IFRC DRM related policies, principles and rules and its Preparedness for Effective Response approach.

Objectives

The objectives of the consultancy are:

• To develop and support the implementation of strategic communications and advocacy plans for three IFRC units: Global Health Security, National Society Preparedness and Information Management, for local, regional and global outreach in close coordination with the IFRC and National Societies technical and communications teams.
• To design and produce digital, print, audio, and audiovisual communication materials to share knowledge, disseminate programmes’ outcomes and advocate for multi-hazard preparedness and strengthened information management.
• To develop, manage and produce content for social media to disseminate activities through local, regional and global social media channels from the Red Cross Red Crescent network.
• To create, edit and layout content for digital platforms such as web pages on institutional websites and internal or external web repositories to guarantee a knowledge management process.

Desired outcomes and outputs

1. Community Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness Programme (CP3), Global Health Security
2. Development of country-level communications, advocacy and knowledge sharing plans with IFRC country clusters and National Societies involved in the CP3 initiative.
3. Strategic advice and identification of target audiences, key messages and campaigns for advocacy on epidemic and pandemic preparedness.
4. Development and update of communication materials (PowerPoint, infographics, leaflets, others) to raise awareness and share knowledge about Global Health Security.
5. Content management and update of the CP3 webpages on ifrc.org (Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Epidemic preparedness tools and resources) and the Epidemics Control Toolkit website.
6. Coordination, development and/or design of case studies and posters about epidemics risk management, institutional preparedness, community-based surveillance, data readiness and other activities related to the CP3 initiative.
7. Development of digital, audio and audiovisual content for social media assets and periodical newsletters.
8. Creation of scripts, storyboards, and guiding questions for videos about CP3’s impact (i.e. promotional videos, testimonials, conferences, animated videos, others).
9. National Society Preparedness
10. Further develop, review and/or update a global strategic and advocacy communications plan to promote institutional preparedness along the Red Cross Red Crescent network.
11. Strategic advice and identification of target audiences, key messages and activities for advocacy on institutional preparedness.
12. Enhancement of standard materials (PowerPoint, infographics, leaflets, posters, others) to inform on the Preparedness for Effective Response (PER) approach implementation.
13. Content management and update of the Disaster preparedness webpage on ifrc.org and for internal or external web repositories to guarantee a knowledge management process (FedNet, SharePoint).
14. Coordination, development and/or design of case studies, country profiles, strategic documents and reports.
15. Development of digital, audio and audiovisual content for social media assets and periodical newsletters.
16. Creation of scripts, storyboards, and guiding questions for videos about the importance of National Society Preparedness and the Preparedness for Effective Response (PER) outcomes implementation (i.e. promotional videos, testimonials, conferences, animated videos, others).
17. Information Management
18. Enhancement, update and creation of IFRC Disaster Management’s GO Platform standard materials, such as flyers, PowerPoint presentations, user and administrator guides, and others.
19. Layout key documentation for the area like the IFRC Information Management framework, work plans, and infographics.
20. Identification and update of Information Management explanatory content on the IFRC webpage.
21. Production, edition and captioning of video conferences, tutorial videos and testimonials on the use of the Go Platform.

Requirements

• • Minimum of 5 years of experience in developing communication strategies and advocacy plans with humanitarian organizations – Experience in conducting similar consultancies, with demonstrable evidence of producing high-quality results – Experience producing digital, print, audio, and audiovisual communication materials – Experience producing and developing social media content – Experience with the management of websites and analysis of web statistics – Excellent communication and interpersonal skills – High degree of discretion, tact and sensitivity in dealing with internal and external clients and stakeholders at all levels – Fluent spoken and written English. Spanish, French and Arabic are an asset – Prior experience working with Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies, IFRC and/or ICRC.

Timeframe

The consultancy will be for up to 380 days between October 2022 and 30 September 2024.

Estimated time allocation

Consulting Days (approx)

Community Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness Programme 200

National Society Preparedness 150

Information Management 30

Total number of days 380

Management of consultancy

The consultant will be managed by the IFRC Health and Care Department Epidemic & Pandemic Preparedness Grant Manager officer, in coordination with other IFRC teams.

The IFRC will reimburse travel expenses when the consultant needs to travel for communications missions, based on prior approval of files holders and following IFRC institutional rules and regulations. The consultant is expected to work from home. Travel will be agreed upon with respective file holders.