Misinformation, Disinformation + Hate Speech Pilot Project for Chile

Tags: Human Rights Law English Spanish language Environment
  • Added Date: Friday, 12 May 2023
7 Steps to get a job in the United Nations

Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)A (least hardship)

Family Type (not applicable for home-based)

Family

Staff Member / Affiliate TypeCONS International

Target Start Date2023-06-15

Job Posting End Datemayo 27, 2023

Terms of ReferenceThe ideal candidate should have a masterโ€™s degree or equivalent in Social Sciences, or related with at least 7 years of work experience dealing with issues related to hate speech, incitement to hatred and violence, discrimination, conflict resolution, asylum, and migration and/or human rights issue, as well as quantitive and qualitative research experience with excellent command on social media monitoring tools.
Demonstrated ability in managing data and information, including research, design, processing, analysis, publication, and evaluation is a must.
Report writing at professional level is required in Spanish and in English.
The research and evaluation work will be done at local level, so familiarization with the Chilean context is an asset.
Flexibility to work in changing environments with dual reporting lines is desired.

General Background of Project or Assignment:
In 2022 ECHO approved funding for two projects which under pin the Digital Protection Pillar of UNHCRโ€™s Digital Transformation Strategy. One project on Digital AAP, the other is on Misinformation, Disinformation and Hate Speech (โ€œMDHโ€).
The MDH project is titled โ€œA new capacity to understand, mitigate and help prevent the harmful impact of misinformation, disinformation and hate speech on digital platforms on protection and displacement within the humanitarian sectorโ€.
The two-year project is practical and highly collaborative, seeking to unify systems to maximize impact. It features seven activities including research, mapping, analysis, and horizon scanning; development of guidelines, an action plan, strategies and common standards including on leveraging partnerships with social media platforms; training and capacity building; and communications and advocacy.

Critically, the project activities also include two field-based pilot projects. This document is the TORs for the Americas-based pilot in Chile.

UNHCR National Office in Chile is covered by the UNHCR Multi-country Office (MCO) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which opened in 1965. MCO Argentina covers: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay with presence in Argentina (MCO) Chile (National Office Santiago, Field Unit Arica, and presence in Antofagasta and Iquique) and Uruguay (NO Montevideo). UNHCR opened the office in Santiago, Chile in 2008 and extended its presence to Arica and Antofagasta in 2019 with an increase of arrivals of refugees and migrants via Peru. In 2021 with the increasing arrivals on the border with Bolivia, UNHCR also expanded its presence to Iquique.
Currently, Chile is home to 1,482,390 foreign people from diverse nationalities (7,7% of the total of population) and represents fourth largest Latin-American country to host refugee and migrant population from Venezuela (an estimated 452,000 Venezuelan refugees and migrants (up to June 2022) without considering those who entered irregularly.
For several years, the situation of vulnerable refugees and migrants in the country has been at the forefront of citizens' concerns, especially due to widespread beliefs and stereotypes that linked foreigners to increased crime and public disorder, as well as on demand for public services. In one year, the negative view of human mobility rose from 43% to 67%.
Moreover, the Government implemented the New Migration Law and presented projects to Congress to reinforce border control. The current policy concerning irregular entries into Chile is expected to continue for longer.
UNHCR set up a plan for 2022-2024 which is focused on supporting the Chilean Government on enhancing protection and solutions space for all people UNHCR serves, namely asylum-seekers and refugees of different nationalities, refugees and migrants from Venezuela, and stateless persons or those at risk of statelessness. The protection and solutions strategy in Chile includes providing access to information in a simple manner to favor the inclusion of the people UNHCR serves, providing access to orientation and legal assistance, improving the communication with communities, and using digital tools to diversify the ways of communicating with the population. Likewise, another of the current priorities is focused on promoting inclusion by developing projects that reduce xenophobia, stereotypes and fake news associated with refugees, so that they can fully develop in an environment free of prejudice.

Amongst the main challenges UNHCR has identified to provide access to information are the diverse type of media used by the population to inform themselves, including prominently social. This diversity of media has allowed the dissemination of fake information regarding entry requirements to Chile and the consequences of irregular entry, facilitating the emergence of trafficking and smuggling networks. There is also a high demand for information on asylum and other forms of regularization of the legal condition, especially with people who enter through irregular border crossings points.
Results from a recent survey carried out by R4V to identify the existence/absence of xenophobic attitudes towards Venezuelan people in Chile, in addition to determining the profile of people with these attitudes, based on different sociodemographic variables, revealed that the perception of the number of refugees and migrants in Chile is considerably higher than the reality; that the arrival of refugees and migrants is an important problem for the country; that the main indicator to expressions of xenophobia is related to the situation of poverty; as well as that TV and social media are the main channels by which people form their perception on human mobility issues.
The entire situation has begun to forge a protection risk for refugees and migrants, especially those in an irregular migratory situation, who are increasingly finding limitations in order to fully integrate into the country. Humanitarian entities, which work to serve this population and ensure their protection and integration, have also been the target of a coordinated campaign of hate and fake news that transmits false and imprecise information about its work.
Against this backdrop, UNHCR in Chile is looking for a consultant to further build on the analysis carried out previously in the office to (1) better understand, mitigate and help prevent the harmful impact of misinformation, disinformation and hate speech on digital platforms on protection and displacement in the country; and (2) identify preferred means of communication of persons UNHCR serves to obtain information and assess the level of trust and effectivity of Communication with Communities (CwC) initiatives in place.

General Objective:
Develop a plan of action to mitigate and reduce the negative impact of hate speech and disinformation on social against refugees and migrants in the country, and the level of trust and effectivity of Communication with Communities initiatives/ Effective decision-making of refugees and migrants
Specific objectives:
1. Provide a clear understanding of how MDH - misinformation, disinformation and hate speech - in Chile manifests on digital platforms and its off-line impact on: A) the lives of refugees and migrants, B) UNHCR's work.

2. Provide a clear understanding of the preferred means of communication of persons UNHCR serves and the level of trust and effectiveness of CwC efforts, as well as possible mechanisms to reach further audience .

Deliverables
Once selected, UNHCR will share with the consultant the detail of products and deliverables expected for the execution period. In general, the consultant is expected to be able to develop analysis reports, conclusions and strategic plans regarding disinformation/misinformation/xenophobia/reputation of humanitarian entities, through the following tools: digital monitoring, social listening, as well as focus groups and meetings with key actors (from local communities, refugee -led organizations, authorities, key media actors, politicians and advisors), and a media analysis.
The consultant is also expected to carry out trainings on reputational risk, misinformation and hate speech to UNHCR staff and partners agencies.

Evaluation and monitoring phase

- Short monitoring reports to be delivered to UNHCR every quarter to report on the advance of the products
- Bi-monthly meetings with supervisor to review issues of common interest.
- Horizon-scanning, identifying trends for next 2 to 5 years and beyond, recommendations for capacities and workflows after the pilot project ends.

Overall, Purpose and Scope of Assignment

Required level, qualifications, and work experience:
Individual Consultant (can outsource certain specific products)
0Qualification and experience required (degree required, years of work experience, field of expertise, language required):
๏‚พ Masterโ€™s degree or equivalent in Social Sciences (Law, Sociology, Political Science, etc.) or Journalism.
๏‚พ Minimum of 6 years work experience dealing with issues related to hate speech, incitement to hatred and violence, discrimination, conflict resolution, asylum, and migration and/or human rights issue.
๏‚พ Quantitative and qualitative research experience.
๏‚พ Demonstrated ability in managing data and information, including research, design, processing, analysis, publication, and evaluation.
๏‚พ Experience using one or more social media monitoring software tools.
๏‚พ Excellent research and analytics skills using statistical processing software.
๏‚พ Experience using Microsoft Office (World, Excel, Publisher, PowerPoint, and Outlook).
๏‚พ Fluency in Spanish, both written and spoken
๏‚พ Familiarization with the Chilean context is an asset

Home-based international consultancy with possible missions to Santiago de Chile. Availability to work full-time, adapting to Chilean time zone.

๐Ÿ“š ๐——๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—›๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—š๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—ฎ ๐—๐—ผ๐—ฏ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—จ๐—ก ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฏ! ๐ŸŒ๐Ÿค ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ก๐—˜๐—ช ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ถ๐˜๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—š๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—จ๐—ก ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฏ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—จ๐—ก๐—›๐—–๐—ฅ, ๐—ช๐—™๐—ฃ, ๐—จ๐—ก๐—œ๐—–๐—˜๐—™, ๐—จ๐—ก๐——๐—ฆ๐—ฆ, ๐—จ๐—ก๐—™๐—ฃ๐—”, ๐—œ๐—ข๐—  ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€! ๐ŸŒ

โš ๏ธ ๐‚๐ก๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐‹๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž ๐๐จ๐ฐ: ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐“๐ž๐œ๐ก๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ฎ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ ๐ž๐ญ ๐š ๐ฃ๐จ๐› ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐”๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐Ž๐–!

Standard Job Description

Required Languages Spanish

,English

Desired Languages

,

Additional Qualifications

Skills

Education

Certifications

Work Experience

Other informationThis position doesn't require a functional clearance

Recommended for you