Consultancy – Arab Region and Afghanistan Advocacy, Profiling, External Communications and Storytelling

Purpose and Objectives: The overall purpose of the consultancy is to strengthen ActionAid’s advocacy, external profile and storytelling in the Arab Region and Afghanistan, amplifying the voices of women, young people and crisis-affected communities to regional and international audiences. Specific objectives are to: - Develop and support the roll-out of an advocacy, profiling and external communications strategy covering both contexts, aligned with ActionAid’s global strategy and country/regional priorities as well as country strategic priorities; - Advice and support raising ActionAid’s visibility and credibility with media, policymakers, donors, UN agencies, civil society networks and the public; - Produce compelling, ethical, feminist, human-centered stories and communications products that profile ActionAid’s humanitarian and women’s rights work; - Identify and capitalise on key advocacy moments and media opportunities (e.g. international days, high-level events, humanitarian appeals); - Facilitate strengthening the capacity of ActionAid staff and partners in storytelling, media engagement and ethical content gathering Scope of Work and Key Tasks: Working closely with ActionAid Arab Region, ActionAid Afghanistan and relevant Global Secretariat teams, the consultant will: - Conduct a rapid review of existing advocacy and communications materials, channels and capacities in both contexts; - Map key stakeholders, media outlets, journalists, creative allies, policy processes and advocacy opportunities relevant to ActionAid’s priorities; - Develop key messages, narratives and a positioning framework tailored to distinct audiences (media, donors, policymakers, public), including risk-sensitive messaging for the Afghanistan context; - Gather, write and edit human-centered stories, case studies, op-eds, blogs, press releases, briefing notes and social media content, working through country teams and local facilitators where direct access is not possible; - Support media engagement, including building media relationships, drafting press materials, pitching stories and preparing spokespersons; - Plan and support ActionAid’s engagement in key advocacy moments both nationally, regionally and globally during the consultancy period; - Design and deliver practical capacity-building sessions for staff and partners on storytelling, ethical content gathering, media engage...