UNDP Jobs - 50617- Advisory Services in Advocacy & Communications for

Advisory Services in Advocacy & Communications for South-South/East-East Cooperation in the Arab States, Europe & CIS, and Organizational Services in South-South Cooperation in Agricultural Development in the Arab States

Location :

Home-based with possible travels in the region

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

27-Oct-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Estimated November 2014 – October 2017

Languages Required :

Arabic English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Up to 252 full working days

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Considering the realistically ambitious development agendas of Arab States region and the Eastern Europe and CIS region as well as a highly competitive development assistance environment, South-South Cooperation (also sometimes referred to as East-East Cooperation) is considered as a complementary means in broadening opportunities for creating partnerships and coalitions among various development stakeholders in the two regions. It is in this context that triangular cooperation is gaining additional importance. Serving as a potential bridge between the North-South, South-South/East-East Cooperation systems, and building on the principles of South-South Cooperation, such as non-conditionality, national ownership, and equality, triangular cooperation provides all the actors involved with a unique opportunity for a transformational change in the ways that challenges are addressed in the regional development context.

In the Nairobi outcome document, Member States encourage Southern “centers of excellence, as well as regional and sub-regional economic groupings, to establish closer links among themselves, with the support of the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation (currently referred to as the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation - UNOSSC), including through its Global South-South Development Academy, Global South-South Development Expo and South-South Global Assets and Technology Exchange”. Similarly, at the seventeenth session of the High-level Committee in May 2012, the European Union acknowledged that the “UNOSSC had successfully created a space where United Nations actors, Member States, the private sector and non-governmental development actors can forge inclusive partnerships for effective development”. The Secretary-General in his report on the quadrennial review (A/67/93) also acknowledged that UNOSSC has “created a three-in-one multilateral South-South architecture to enable all stakeholders to forge inclusive South-South and triangular partnerships”.

On the basis of the above record of performance, the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation aims to systematically provide the Member States in the Arab region, and in the Eastern Europe and CIS, including the governments, civil society, academia and the private sector, as well as the United Nations agencies, funds and programmes active in the two regions with the support in advancing their respective South-South/East-East Cooperation agendas by providing access to the Global Three-in-One Multilateral Support architecture for South-South Cooperation. UNOSSC support is based on the complex of advisory modules in various aspects pertinent to the afore-mentioned Three-in-One architecture, as well as in piloting specific project initiatives on South-South Cooperation that can be used as a basis for testing such modules in specific areas of development.

More specifically, based on the mandate of the UNOSSC as the coordinator for promoting and facilitating South-South and triangular cooperation for development on a global and United Nations system-wide basis, it was suggested that UNOSSC comes up with the proposal on supporting South-South cooperation in the field of Agricultural Development. The resulting project initiative supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) aims to contribute to improved self-reliance of pilot rural communities in selected countries in Arab States, Europe and CIS, further improvements in cross-regional South-South cooperation for enhanced food security, to streamlining access to relevant knowledge and expertise, as well as to mainstreaming South-South Cooperation model and approaches in the national-level decision making processes where appropriate.

Type of Contract:

Individual Contract (Advisor) - The offered assignment will be implemented through individual contract designed as the framework long-term agreement (LTA) as the indicated services are needed on an intermittent and repetitive basis. The individual contract designed as the framework agreement does not form a financial obligation or commitment from the UNDP/UNOSSC at the time the Individual Contract is signed. Financial commitments will be established each time the services are requested within the scope of the Individual Contract, through the call-off in the standard one-page service request form accompanied by the issuance of a purchase order.

Duration of assignment:

EstimatedNovember 2014 – October 2017, up to 252 full working days, given that 8 working hours - whether within one or several days - constitute a full working day.

Mission travel:

The assignment envisages possible mission travel to Istanbul (Turkey), Cairo (Egypt), and possibly other geographic locations as needs may arise. Mission-related costs shall be calculated as per UNDP rules and regulations and paid for separately.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Chief, Division for Arab States, Eastern Europe and the CIS of the UN Office for South-South Cooperation, the incumbent is responsible for provision of advisory services in advocacy & communications for South-South/East-East Cooperation in the Arab States, Europe & CIS, as well as organizational services in South-South Cooperation in Agricultural Development in the Arab States. More specifically, the incumbent will:

As an overall guiding framework for the provision of advisory services under the TOR and as a group of deliverables in itself:

With a view of ensuring relevance and responsiveness of services provided, regularly acquaint herself/himself with the standards, norms and principles of South-South/East-East Cooperation described in relevant guiding policy documents, including:

Nairobi Outcome Document (http://ssc.undp.org/content/ssc/library/policy_papers/statements/nairobioutcomedoc.html),
Strategic Framework of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (http://ssc.undp.org/content/dam/ssc/documents/Key%20Policy%20Documents/N1362177.pdf),
Recent decisions of the UN General Assembly’s High-level committee on South-South Cooperation,
Framework of operational guidelines on United Nations support to South-South and triangular cooperation,
Regional Strategic Approach on advancing South-South, East-East, and Triangular Cooperation for development in the Arab States, Eastern Europe and CIS.
In line with the range of overall priorities identified by the supervisor, as well as based on the requests from/consultations with relevant stakeholders vis-à-vis concrete tangible outputs expected as a result of provision of the incumbent’s services in line with the given TOR, proactively recommend proposed scope of works and concrete tangible deliverables on a quarterly basis and seek comments/endorsement from the supervisor in the form of request for services under the LTA subject to the supervisor’s decision on the relevance/efficiency of the proposed activities and other considerations (this deliverable is only expected 30 calendar days after the date of first request for services under the LTA).
Prepare (on months when services are requested under the LTA and delivered) concise one page service delivery reports outlining concrete tangible deliverables relevant to the overall priorities identified as well as key activities that have not yet led to concrete results but are essential for future success.

In the part of the TOR related to the advisory services in advocacy & communications for South-South/East-East Cooperation in the Arab States, Europe & CIS:

Ensure production and promotion of relevant policy-related and thematic articles in national and international electronic and printed media with the active participation of national government focal points on South-South/East-East Cooperation, other relevant national government counterparts, United Nations officials at national (UN RC office, UN Country Teams), regional, and headquarters levels (Target deliverable: 12 articles per year);
Facilitate mainstreaming of the notion of South-South/East-East Cooperation in sector-specific national media including line ministry journals and newspapers, specialized TV programs, relevant online resources (Target deliverable: 12 dedicated interviews with national-level decision makers widely published);
Lead the design and implementation of the regional division’s website as part of the UNOSSC global portal and regularly oversee its timely updates by monitoring the key deliverables of division’s work and preparing relevant information inputs to be published online (Target deliverable: website in place, at least 6 recorded updates per year);
Ensure the regional division’s outreach to wider public through the use of social media tools including Facebook and Twitter (Target deliverable: 20,000 followers cumulative);
Prepare consolidated annual and quarterly reports on regional division's activities and tangible results of its work, as well as results of the work of national government counterparts and other institutional partners (as an additional service line to division’s partners in facilitating their overall progress reporting in South-South/East-East Cooperation);
Facilitate the production and dissemination of quarterly online bulletin based on the proceedings of quarterly regional coordination and knowledge exchange workshops for government and institutional focal points on South-South/East-East Cooperation and highlighting key progress and achievements of the partner institutions reflected in quarterly reports (Target deliverable: 4 bulletins per year);
Organize and conduct regular communications training for the regional division’s team and its key partners aimed at clarifying and standardizing key policy messages, as well as to further positioning South-South/East-East Cooperation as an effective and efficient model of cooperation (Target deliverable: 2 trainings per year – one for each region);
Create and regularly update Policy documents review criteria log, Communications standards log and Standard communication templates (linked to the key service lines offered by the division) to facilitate effective outgoing communication (Target deliverable: 1 communications standards log, 20 key communication templates);
Review on a demand driven basis formal outgoing communication with the 24 hour turnaround cycle;
Facilitate design, implementation, and quality control of three knowledge products and other analytical and advocacy materials and media products in the framework of UNOSSC-IFAD partnership on SSC in agricultural development (Target deliverable: 3 knowledge products);
Facilitate design, implementation, and quality control of two regional reports on the State of South-South/East-East and Triangular Cooperation both for Arab States, as well as Europe and the CIS regions (Target deliverable: 2 regional reports);
Facilitate design, implementation, and quality control of online and printed elements of Mapping of South-South/East-East Cooperation Mechanisms and Solutions series in the framework of UNOSSC-IDB partnership (Target deliverable: 2 parts of the online mapping portal, 2 printed supplements).

In the part of the TOR related to organizational services in SSC in agricultural development in the Arab States:

Organize and facilitate transfer of successful innovative solutions through pilot initiatives in water preservation technologies, cultivation of water-efficient crops and cattle-breeding, including through:

Assessments and capacities-needs matching (Target deliverable: 10 community needs assessment reports with clearly identified needs of each of the communities identified and matching of these needs with technological solutions implemented – the activity to be implemented in close cooperation and coordination with other respective IFAD projects in the participating countries)
Community mobilization and local commitments (Target deliverable: At least 2 groups consisting of up to 50 young agricultural entrepreneurs, women and men, are identified in each of the 10 pilot rural communities in beneficiary countries and have committed their time and resources available to create/strengthen their agricultural cooperative)
On-going training, business and technology planning, and organization of expert exchange (Target deliverable: at least 20% of the leading members of agricultural cooperatives received formal training, the remaining members benefited from on-site expert advice resulting in preparation of detailed business and technology plans by each of 20 groups for creation/strengthening of their agricultural cooperative. The formal training will be provided to the members of the agricultural cooperatives who will be in charge of respective tasks)
Creation/strengthening of agricultural cooperatives (Target deliverable: 20 agricultural cooperatives created/strengthened in the rural communities of participating countries)

Advise partner government institutions on how to improve conditions for scaling up including replication, adaptation, and expansion of successful solutions in agricultural production and income-generation, and organize relevant institutional/capacity development activities, including through:

Supporting South-South Cooperation sectoral sub-units (Target deliverable: Support provided to the Ministries of Agriculture of the participating countries in establishing and developing the institutional capacity of the specialized units for South-South and Triangular Cooperation in agricultural development)
Establishing inter-ministerial network (Target deliverable: Inter-ministerial network supported by interactive online platform for participating Ministries of Agriculture is set up and operational, focusing on exchange of assets and technologies, including legislative analysis on formalizing such exchange and elaboration of country-specific recommendations)
Policy support for scaling up, including replication, adaptation, and expansion of solutions (Target deliverable: at least five national-level consultative boards established with the participation of the respective units of the Ministries of Agriculture and the Ministries of Finance (and other relevant entities) within the participating countries aimed at scaling up solutions piloted within the given project and other similar solutions)

To facilitate South-South knowledge exchange through providing access to documenting successful solutions and methodologies, as well as providing online access to relevant home-grown expertise and solutions, including through:

Providing access to the national government counterparts and other participating institutions to the online portal on Mapping South-South Cooperation Mechanisms and Solutions (Target deliverable: the online portal on Mapping South-South Cooperation Mechanisms and Solutions that is expanded to Central Asia and Eastern Europe with at least 20 additional new solutions documented online);
Needs-based research on SSC in agricultural production leading to three knowledge products (Target deliverable: Needs-based research on trends, obstacles and priority areas of support to expanding South-South and Triangular Cooperation in the field of resource-efficient agricultural production is conducted leading to three online and printed publications focusing on innovative experiences and knowledge transfer in sustainable water resources management, biotechnology, as well as in organization of agricultural cooperatives);
Production of promotional online videos (Target deliverable: at least 3 promotional online video clips produced with the participation of resource persons from the participating communities, focusing on spreading the successful solutions in resource-efficient agricultural production and aiming at policy decision makers and civil society organizations dealing with the rights of rural youth and women);
Ensure effective and timely monitoring and reporting on the implementation of initiative in South-South Cooperation in Agricultural Development for Enhanced Food Security (Target Deliverables: baseline survey covering all the participating countries, quarterly progress and financial reports, mid-term and final project evaluation reports, annual audit reports);
Provide any other work inputs as may be required in the framework of provision of advisory services in advocacy & communications for South-South/East-East Cooperation in the Arab States, Europe & CIS, as well as organizational services in South-South Cooperation in Agricultural Development in the Arab States.

Competencies

Professionalism

Shows pride in work and achievements; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results.

Teamwork

Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relations in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity, including gender balance.

Communication

Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and respond appropriately;
Asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication;
Tailors language, tone, style and format to match the audience, demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

Client Orientation

Considers all those to whom services are provided to be “clients” and seeks to see things from the clients’ point of view;
Establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect;
Identified clients’ needs and matches them to appropriate solutions;
Keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client.

Technological awareness

keeps abreast if available technology;
Understands applicability and limitations of technology to the work of the office;
Activity seeks to apply technology to appropriate tasks;
Shows willingness to learn new technology.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

University degree in development, communications, human sciences, agriculture, environment, or another relevant field is essential.

Working experience:

Minimum of 3 years of highly responsible experience in communication and management;
Prior experience of at least 1 year in the field of South-South Cooperation or Agricultural Development, preferably with one of the United Nations institutions or another international organization, is a considerable asset;
Knowledge and experience in the use of standard office software (e.g. word processing, spreadsheets);
Demonstrated ability to assess, plan, coordinate and monitor related activities.

Languages:

Fluency in spoken and written English and Arabic.

Evaluation of Applicants:

Individual contract applicants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.

The award of the contract will be made to the applicants whose offer will have been evaluated and determined as:

Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Only the highest ranked candidates who would be found qualified for the job will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max. 35 points:

Criteria A: number of years and quality of working experience in the field of communications & management – max points: 10
Criteria B: type/quality of working experience in the field of South-South Cooperation or Agricultural Development – max points: 10
Criteria C: results of the written test (both the understanding of relevant South-South Cooperation approaches, practical value proposition in the offered assignment, as well as the ability to assess, plan, coordinate and monitor related activities will be evaluated) – max points: 15

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max. 15 points.

Application procedures:

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website. The application should contain:

Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application;
Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees (blank form can be downloaded from http://europeandcis.undp.org/files/hrforms/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc ); please upload the P11 instead of your CV;
Financial Proposal* - The financial proposal shall indicate the hourly fee in the US Dollar equivalent;
Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.

*Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the individual contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee, health insurance, vaccination and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services...) except for the costs related to the mission travel. Mission-related costs shall be calculated as per UNDP rules and regulations and paid for separately as mentioned above.

Payments will be made only upon confirmation of UNDP/UNOSSC on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner.

Individual Contract holders are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org

General Terms and conditions as well as other related documents can be found under: http://on.undp.org/t7fJs.

Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply.
Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.