UNDP Jobs - 58416- International Consultant on Communication for the

International Consultant on Communication for the Ministry of Internal Affairs

Location :

Chisinau, MOLDOVA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

17-Aug-2015

Application Deadline :

03-Aug-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

August – October 2015

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Up to 65 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

The Concept Paper on the Reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and its Subordinated and Decentralized Units, in particular, states the need to reform the Ministry of Internal Affairs and its units in a comprehensive manner to bring them closer to the community they serve. While the demands of the population for public services are constantly increasing, the Ministry of Internal Affairs` units are not always meeting these expectations.

The project seeks to further strengthen the capacities of national stakeholders in specific areas with the focus on the tangible and visible results both for the target groups involved and the broader public. The project will also address activities that are equally important for a steady progress in the implementation of the police reform, but which have not received the relevant attention yet.

The main goal of this activity is to provide the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and where applicable other subordinated bodies such as Boarder Police, General Police Inspectorate, Information Technologies Service, Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service, territorial police inspectorates, with assistance in strengthening the capacities to design and implement activities primarily focused on legislative reform, organizational efficiency, anti-corruption, case management, etc. Embedded advisors will have the advantage of working side by side with beneficiaries, understanding problems first hand and offering practical advice and expertise.

Communication is one of the strategic areas where the capacities of Project beneficiaries needs to be improved in order to strengthen their role in the democratic society, raise the public interest towards their activity, increase public trust, enhance cooperation with national and international partners, as well as with mass-media and general public.

The development and successful implementation of Communication related strategic documents and activities shall form part of the overall reform efforts to ensure that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Moldova is more open, efficient, incorrupt and accessible to all. Moreover, strengthening the capacities for results oriented communication of project beneficiaries will contribute to the timely access to information by professionals, members of the public, civil society and relevant national and international stakeholders, as well as will increase their transparency, accountability and visibility.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs shall be the main partner for this activity and will provide the necessary conditions of work and information for the embedded advisors.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main objective is to enhance the institutional communication capacities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Republic of Moldova in order to increase its transparency, accessibility accountability and visibility by providing advice and support on effective and active internal and external communication, providing assistance in development and implementation of communication strategic documents and activities.

In order to achieve the objective it is foreseen that the Consultant will:

Assist and advise the Public Relations Department of the MIA;
Conduct an internal and external MIA’s and its subdivisions’ needs assessment (on conceptual and organizational level) in the field of communication;
Support MIA and its subdivisions in developing/updating their communication strategies and action plans;
Ensure the communication strategy and action plan are in line with other national and international strategic and legal commitments;
Providing training of and the guidance to the MIA’s senior management and the highest level commanding personnel on the improvement of their communication skills, including, but not limited to the following areas: content of the messages for the media, communication in crisis situations, press-releases, holding activities jointly organized with the media and civil society;
Ensure human rights based approach application, gender and minorities mainstreaming throughout the process of the communication strategy and action plan development/update;
Ensure gender and minorities mainstreaming are visible throughout the strategy and action plan documents;
Develop communication skills and trainer’s skills of MIA’s press-service and its subdivisions: Boarder Police, General Police Inspectorate, Information Technologies Service, Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service, territorial police inspectorates;
Support the application of innovative communication tools and instruments, in preparing individual communication activities, including in relations with media, organization of events and use of social media;
Providing guidance and transfer of expertise to communication staff of project beneficiary in applying agreed upon communication and policy consultation tools;
Collaborate with all relevant stakeholders and mass-media outlets throughout the whole period of the assignment;
Submit required reports.

Competencies

Proven commitment to the core values of the United Nations; in particular, is respectful of differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language, age, HIV status, disability, and sexual orientation, or other status;
Demonstrated skills in knowledge transfer techniques, such as coaching and mentoring;
Responsibility;
Creativity;
Flexibility;
Punctuality.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s Degree or equivalent (5-year university education) in communication, journalism, social sciences, public relation or any other relevant field.

Experience:

At least 7 years of professional experience in communication, journalism or public relations;
At least 5 years of professional experience linked to the provision of policy advice in Communications;
Advisory experience with senior public sector officials or senior staff of other organisations is a strong advantage;
Proven experience in designing and implementation of public communication strategies, action plans or other documents, including monitoring and evaluation tools;
Proven experience with participatory consultation processes, media relations, and information campaigns would constitute a strong advantage;
Experience in applying communications tools and techniques, including in the analyses and use of research data;
Proven experience in designing and delivering presentations and training programs;
Experience in working with law enforcement agencies on similar assignments would be an advantage.

Language:

Knowledge of English language;
Knowledge of Romanian or Russian is a strong advantage.

Application instructions

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

Technical Proposal:

Explaining how applicant responds to each of the qualification requirements and why he/she is the most suitable for the work (particularly providing details on the previously implemented similar projects and assignments and previous experience in the fields related to this consultancy as described in the terms of reference);
Providing a brief methodology (max. 3 pages) on how they will approach and conduct the work.

Personal information (Personal History Form /P11) including records of past experience in similar projects/assignments and concrete outputs obtained and names and contact details of three reference persons;

Financial proposal (in USD, specifying a total lump sum amount)

Note

For complete information about this vacancy including detailed tasks and responsibilities, full and detailed description of the evaluation procedure which will be applied, as well as the UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract, please refer to the Terms of Reference, the Individual Consultant Procurement Notice published at the UNDP Moldova website, Jobs Section: http://www.undp.md/jobs/current_jobs/.