Background

UNDP Cambodia is facilitating the write up of the 2015 Cambodia Human Development Report (CHDR).  The theme of the 2015 CHDR is human capital for inclusive and balanced growth. Mainly the Report will focus on the current trends of the Cambodian economy in terms of both the macroeconomic and microeconomic structural adjustments needed in the economy; the key challenges and expected policy responses to balance the economic growth with human capital development for sustainable and inclusive growth. The study will also focus on the social and welfare dimensions of the human capital developments in terms of aging and household dynamics.
Like any national human development reports the 2015 CHDR is not a policy outline rather it is an advocacy tool that will provoke policy debate and dialogue based on evidences and facts of development indicators. National human development reports appeal to wide audiences and are best understood as an on-going capacity development and advocacy process in which the published reports themselves represent only part of the process. The final report serves as key reference documents and as measurements toward the fulfillment of human development besides triggering policy dialogue and debates at all levels.

Cambodia’s move towards fostering economic growth strategies necessitates to equally developing the capabilities of and opportunities for its population and the youthful in particular. For Cambodia, recognizing and seizing the powerful potential of its young population is the only way forward to reconcile short-term economic growth ambitions with the longer-term interests of the younger generation: healthier and longer life, improved living standards, and access to jobs and productive assets. In Cambodia many young people still enter the labor market with limited soft and hard skills resulting in low pay and low productivity with huge implications to the future of the economy and poor people.

In order to confront the challenges of low education and low human capital UNDP conducts and publishes analytical reports such as the CHDR to support our government partner in areas of evidence-based policy options for human capital development.
The 2015 CHDR is an independent policy analysis document commissioned and facilitated by UNDP. It is a tool for policy analysis reflecting people's priorities, needs and aspirations besides strengthening national capacities, instigating debates and dialogues, analyzing inequalities in human development distribution and measuring progress in human development. UNDP Cambodia is looking for a professional photographer intended to be included in the 2015 CHDR and other similar reports.

To support the production of this most important evidence base study, UNDP is now looking for a professional photographer as a short-term freelancer.

Assignment will be carried out within Phnom Penh and some other identified locations. The service requester may not always be able to accompany the photographer on assignment, so clear understanding and experience of the UNDP’s image needs and general development issues will be essential in advance.

Duties and Responsibilities

Purpose of the photo clips

The purpose of the photo clips is to promote the human face of development beyond the usual statistical and quantitative measurements.
Objective

Photos produced by the professional photographer will be utilized in:

  • Analytical reports such as the human development and other policy and academic researches;
  • Summary reports, brochure, leaflets, posters, exhibition, websites, report publication etc. and to share with the national and international media; and
  • Promoting human development and advocacy, to promote the purpose, mission, objectives, and results of the UNDP’s work in Cambodia, especially Cambodian HDRs

Such product will be used to promote the mission, objectives and results of the UNDP’s work in Cambodia, especially the National Human Development Report 2015 and Human capital development policy based programme.

The work of the professional photographer will cover photo clips in the following areas or themes:

  • Education and vocational training – skills people with skills and without
  • Health – impact of health on poor people
  • Livelihood – people with access to livelihood assets – such as skills, microfinance, and so on
  • Inclusive economic growth – where people especially the poor is participating in economic activities including employment and self-employment
  • Accessing to information, finance, natural resource and education in both city and rural
  • Women in development – skilled women and economic wellbeing

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

Photographer will be expected to pre-arrange their exact deliverables with the service requester upon assignment to a certain shoot, to be completed within 15 days in starting from 1January to 30 March 2015.

Work will be submitted via CD/memory stick or a suitable file share service as arrange between the contractor and the service requester. Photographer should quote a flat daily fee, inclusive of all professional costs other than travel, subsistence and accommodation.

As a guideline, photographs commissioned by the UNDP should be submitted:

  • No less than three working days after the end of shoot (or earlier)
  • With the understanding that the people depicted in the photographs have given their permission for the photographs to be used (release forms may be necessary for vulnerable individuals e.g. people living with HIV, survivor of abuse etc.)
  • In a digital format suitable for large-size color printing (i.e. 300dpi RAW, .tiff, and/or .jpeg formats)
  • With appropriate cropping, color adjustments, noise reduction and other post-processing as agreed by the service requester.
  • Accompanied with caption and/or embedded metadata, specifying activities depicted, location, date and time, name of subjects, photographer name and any other relevant details.
  • Captions should be in English, not to exceed 100 words.

Institutional Arrangement:

The photographer will perform his/her work under the direct supervision of the Policy and Research Coordinator.  The photographer will work in close collaboration with the NHDR team and the Media, Communication and Advocacy Consultant for NHDR.

Photographer will be briefed in advance by the project team on this assignment. This may take place in person.

The Media, Communication and Advocacy Consultant for NHDR may assist or deputize during the briefing if required.

Photographers may be accompanied and guided by a UNDP staff member during the assignment, or may be required to work independently. If working independently (for example in remote rural areas), the photographer is expected to remain in daily contact with the service requester, by whatever means available.

The photographer may also be expected to liaise with other parties e.g. Partner organizations, local NGOs, local authorities, communities etc.

In the event that the photographer is asked to travel overnight away from his/her base location [i.e. Place of residence, business offices in Cambodia], UNDP Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) will be paid on a per diem basis to cover accommodation, meal etc.

Photographer is expected to cover their own travel cost if the assignment takes place within 5km of their base location.

Transportation to/from the photographer’s base location may be provided by the UNDP and/or relevant partner organizations. If not, the photographer must collect evidence of transportation costs (receipts, fuel bills etc.) and submit a claim via the service requester.

Photographer commissioned by the UNDP in Cambodia is also expected to observe UN security recommendations e.g. to avoid designated areas at designated times. The UNDP cannot provide insurance for any damage to the photographer’s equipment or personal injury experienced during an assignment.

Photographer should observe the highest ethical standards while obtaining images, and immediately disclose any relevant information to the service requester. For example, people may be ‘posed’ to obtain a good shot but the pose should be relevant to their involvement in the subject matter. High discretion is advised when photographing people living with HIV, survivors of abuse, children etc.: refer to the UNDP Communication Unit for advice and guidelines.

Duration of the Work:

The photographer is expected to work for 15 days within the period from 1 January to 30 March 2015.

Selected, edited and captioned images should be handed in no less than one week after the agreed delivery date.

Photographer is expected to propose the activities plan with exact date for this assignment once he/she is selected.

Photographer may also expect to be asked for his/her schedule flexibility at a very short notice (at least 2 days in advance), for example, certain event cover the themes mentioned above.

Duty Station:

All work will be undertaken within Kingdom of Cambodia. Locations may vary, but photographers should expect to visit remote and/or rural locations as the subject matter requires.

They should also be prepared to report back to the Policy and research Coordinator during the remote assignment, if this is no accompany by the NHDR team or the Media, Communication and Advocacy Consultant.

Competencies

Functonal Competencies:

  • Membership of relevant professional institutes and/or academic or vocational qualifications are preferred.
  • The ideal candidates will be possess extensive knowledge of Cambodia, professional photojournalism experience in Cambodia and will be based in Cambodia.
  • Offeror should have broad understanding of the UNDP development work and other relevant issue in Cambodia.
     

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Minimum of a bachelor degree in relevant field such as media, journalism, art, communication, and social development is preferred.

Experience:

  • A minimum of three years of relevant working experience as a published professional photographer.

Language Requirement:

  • Excellent in communication in Khmer
  • Excellent in English written and oral communication skills.

Other Requirements:

  • Previous work (e.g. online or printed portfolios) should be submitted (or links provided) to support the application, along with a CV/Resume and references, and a list of recent publication featuring the photograph’s work.
  • Portfolios should comprise at least 20 captioned images showing the photographer’s technical and journalistic competence.
  • Portfolios containing images of development work in Cambodia, UN or NGOs, will have an advantage.

Important note:

Interested offeror is strongly advised to read the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice, which can be viewed at http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=19839 for more detail about term of references, instructions to offeror, and documents to be included when submitting offer.

Documents to be included when submitting the application

Interested offeror/individual must submit the following documents/information.

UNDP reserves right to reject any applications that is incomplete.

Please be informed that we don’t accept application submitted via email.

Interested candidate is required to submit application via UNDP jobsite system, because the application screening and evaluation will be done through UNDP jobsite system. Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file. Your on-line applications submission will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. If you do not receive an e-mail acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application, if necessary.

Any request for clarification/additional information on this procurement notice shall be communicated in writing to UNDP office or send to email dalis.heng@undp.org and/or procurement.kh@undp.org. While the Procurement Unit would endeavor to provide information expeditiously, only requests receiving at least 5 working days prior to the submission deadline will be entertained. Any delay in providing such information will not be considered as a reason for extending the submission deadline. The UNDP's response (including an explanation of the query but without identifying the source of inquiry) will be posted in Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice page as provided above. Therefore, all prospective Offerors are advised to visit the page regularly to make obtain update related to this Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice.