Consultant - Social Listening Analysis Regional Support

Background

The overall objective of the Communications Unit is to lead and coordinate WHO/AFRO'S efforts to advocate for resources and actions on key health issues in the African Region and showcase the impact of its work on health outcomes, securing the organization's position as the regional health leader and facilitating its ability to shape health policies. The unit also manages the internal communications function to create an optimal work environment reinforcing the common purpose of staff members.

In 2020, the Africa Infodemic Response Alliance (AIRA) was created, a WHO-hosted Network that includes 14 governmental and intergovernmental operational agencies as well as non-State actors/entities mobilised to respond to the COVID-19 Infodemic, to share safe, proven facts on health and to counter dangerous health misinformation. Today, AIRA continues to lead efforts to promote healthy information ecosystems and manage mis/disinformation to support health emergency responses, health preparedness efforts and to promote Universal Health Coverage more broadly. The AIRA team is composed of a social listening analyst, a country support lead, a capacity building officer, an operational researcher and a social media content production team.

The social listening analysis technical support lead will monitor and provide comprehensive assessments of real-time data affecting health initiatives in the African region, in particular in Francophone countries. This includes analyzing trends, identifying key issues, and evaluating public sentiment and engagement. The insights gathered will be used to inform and optimize health strategies, improve communication efforts, and address emerging health concerns more effectively. Through detailed reporting and analysis, the analyst will play a crucial role in enhancing the impact and reach of health initiatives across the region.

The incumbent will also support capacity building efforts to country teams in a wide range of areas, from social listening to infodemic insights reporting to broader infodemic management in francophone countries. This work will be done under the supervision of the Technical Support lead who’s in charge of capacity building activities in the whole region.

The AIRA Secretariat is housed at WHO under the Communications Unit, and also work very closely with the WHO Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR), Universal Health Coverage and Healthier Populations (UHP) clusters, as part of the WHO Community Protection and engagement regional strategy.

Deliverables

The incumbent will be expected to perform the following duties:

• Utilize social media analytics tools to gather insights, analyze social trends, segment audiences, and develop strategies to mitigate the spread of misinformation and disinformation in the African region (francophone countries)
• Monitor and provide real-time data and robust analytics on media coverage in relation to WHO’s programmatic priorities and humanitarian emergencies to better understand audience’s perception on key issues such as vaccination, in relation to key performance indicators, including the volume of media coverage, sentiment analysis, engagement metrics, conversation drivers, among other key metrics.
• Generate reports with key trends and insights to present to senior management teams, colleagues and partners from the African region, providing a quick overview of the coverage of interest for presentation and alert reports.
• Collaborate with the communication team to develop social media strategies that align with social listening findings and utilize social listening insights to refine messaging strategies and enhance predictive intelligence.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including content creators, designers, and developers, to ensure cohesive and impactful social media campaigns.
• Engage with Infodemic managers, partners, team members to help identify the most concerning trends and triangulate information on a weekly basis.
• Support capacity building activities at country and regional level on social listening, infodemic insights generation and reporting, and broader infodemic management for Francophone countries in line with Infodemic Management HQ training guidelines and packages.
• Provide technical guidance to country counterparts as requested.

Qualifications, experience, skills and languages

Educational Qualifications:

Essential: First university degree in communications, journalism, sociology, anthropology, social sciences or related field.
Desirable: A master’s degree in communications, public health or related field.

Experience

Essential

• Minimum of 2 years in infodemic management/health communication or risk communication and community engagement with demonstrated work in social listening or data analysis or equivalent.
  
• Experience conducting training and capacity building activities in support of country offices in social listening and infodemic management.

Languages and level required:

Essential: Expert knowledge of French.
Desirable: Intermediate knowledge of English and basic knowledge of Portuguese.

Skills/Knowledge:

• Strong understanding of social media platforms, their functionalities, and best practices.
• Good understanding of infodemic insights analysis and reporting
• Ability to design and conduct training on social listening and infodemic management across a range of stakeholders in support of country WCO
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.

Technical Supervision

The AIRA coordinator.

Location

Offsite (Home based consultancy).

Travel

• Travel to WHO Regional Office in Brazzaville, or Nairobi and Dakar hubs could be expected.
• Other travels to represent AIRA at international events can also be expected.

Remuneration and budget (travel costs excluded)

Rate: Salary range according to Band A consultancy fees (P2) and dependent on relevant experience.

Duration: 3 months (renewable)

Additional Information

• This vacancy notice may be used to identify candidates for other similar consultancies at the same level.
• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
• A written test may be used as a form of screening.
• If your candidature is retained for interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.
• For information on WHO's operations please visit: http://www.who.int.
• The WHO is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. The WHO recruits workforce regardless of disability status, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, language, race, marital status, religious, cultural, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, or any other personal characteristics. The WHO is committed to achieving gender parity and geographical diversity in its workforce. Women, persons with disabilities, and nationals of unrepresented and underrepresented Member States (https://www.who.int/careers/diversity-equity-and-inclusion) are strongly encouraged to apply for WHO jobs.
• Persons with disabilities can request reasonable accommodations to enable participation in the recruitment process. Requests for reasonable accommodation should be sent through an email toreasonableaccommodation@who.int
• An impeccable record for integrity and professional ethical standards is essential. WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter (https://www.who.int/about/who-we-are/our-values) into practice.

• WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of short-listed candidates.
• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.
• Consultants shall perform the work as independent contractors in a personal capacity, and not as a representative of any entity or authority.
• WHO shall have no responsibility for any taxes, duties, social security contributions or other contributions payable by the Consultant. The Consultant shall be solely responsible for withholding and paying any taxes, duties, social security contributions and any other contributions which are applicable to the Consultant in each location/jurisdiction in which the work hereunder is performed, and the Consultant shall not be entitled to any reimbursement thereof by WHO.
• Please note that WHO’s contracts are conditional on members of the workforce confirming that they are vaccinated as required by WHO before undertaking a WHO assignment, except where a medical condition does not allow such vaccination, as certified by the WHO Staff Health and Wellbeing Services (SHW). The successful candidate will be asked to provide relevant evidence related to this condition. A copy of the updated vaccination card must be shared with WHO medical service in the medical clearance process. Please note that certain countries require proof of specific vaccinations for entry or exit. For example, official proof /certification of yellow fever vaccination is required to enter many countries. Country-specific vaccine recommendations can be found on the WHO international travel and Staff Health and Wellbeing website. For vaccination-related queries please directly contact SHW directly at shws@who.int.
• In case the recruitment website does not display properly, please retry by: (i) checking that you have the latest version of the browser installed (Chrome, Edge or Firefox); (ii) clearing your browser history and opening the site in a new browser (not a new tab within the same browser); or (iii) retry accessing the website using Mozilla Firefox browser or using another device. Click the link for detailed guidance on completing job applications: Instructions for candidates.