Historique

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN organization that promotes volunteerism to support peace and development worldwide. Volunteerism can transform the pace and nature of development and it benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer. UNV contributes to peace and development by advocating for volunteerism globally, encouraging partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming, and mobilizing volunteers.

Since 1970, UNV has collaborated with a variety of partners at different levels to promote volunteer contributions to sustainable human development and peace.  Every year around 8,000 skilled individuals from about 160 nationalities serve as UN Volunteers in about 130 countries (Africa, Arab States, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Baltic States and CIS). Many live and work in challenging conditions. The majority of UN Volunteers are from low and middle income countries. UNV also operates the Online Volunteering service, which connects development organizations directly with online volunteers who can provide services and advice over the internet. Every year, UNV mobilizes more than 10,000 online volunteers who undertake more than 15,000 online volunteering assignments. 62 percent of online volunteers come from developing countries.

The UNV organization

UNV is headquartered in Bonn, Germany and has approximately 150 staff positions – with the majority in Bonn and some positions with different UN peacekeeping and political missions, and in other Headquarters locations (e.g. New York and Tokyo). www.unv.org

Organizational setting and background

The Volunteer Knowledge and Innovation Section enhances UNV’s proactive capacity to mainstream volunteerism into peace and development initiatives by supporting the development of UNV core expertise, knowledge and research on volunteerism.

With a strong field presence of about 7000 volunteers and Field Units and partners geographically dispersed around the world, and more than 15,000 Online Volunteers, one of UNV’s greatest assets is its capacity to mobilize citizens based on commitment, solidarity and engagement that is unique to volunteerism; and which strengthen and promote individual and collective action.  This network has also a big comparative advantage that its presence reaches across all UN Agencies; bring people from all technical background and is based on the value of goodwill. UNV is at the centre of a network of people which knowledge and expertise are UNV’s strongest assets to demonstrate the impact and role of volunteerism in peace and development.

UNV Strategic framework also states that UNV, as a catalyst, knowledge broker and/or convener and will seek to develop new and innovative partnerships with UN Member States, private foundations and the private sector as part of developing innovative volunteer solutions, in particular where their specific skill-based knowledge and experience can contribute strongly.

Through A/Res/67/138 UNV is also encouraged to invest “further efforts to build and strengthen networks among volunteers and all relevant partners at the national, regional and international levels, including World Volunteer Web as a global networking hub, as well as new technologies and social media;”   The importance of promoting knowledge creation and knowledge sharing have also been highly recognized by UNV's external partners involved in the consultation process for the 10 Years action plan on volunteerism, a key constituency that has voiced the need for "documenting best practices especially on volunteer management and the meaningful involvement of local communities in the development agenda, improving networking and collaboration within volunteering sector, and the development of ways to improve the measurement and impact of volunteering."

The Organization is aware of this potential yet it doesn’t have the approaches and mechanism in place to harvest it and to fully benefit from it. It becomes therefore fundamental for UNV to develop a volunteer knowledge approach which focusing on UN Volunteers, UNV Staff, and UNV partners experience, to enhance collaboration, generate, transform, manage, and use knowledge to further: 1) Inform programme and volunteer management practices; 2) Drive research 3) Influence policies

Objectives and Scope

Through this consultancy UNV wants to develop a volunteer knowledge strategy which will meaningfully attract and engage with its broader constituency to facilitate knowledge generation, learning and engagement around volunteerism for peace and development.

The consultancy will focus on helping UNV in shaping its volunteer knowledge strategy based on the following questions:

• What volunteer knowledge exsists, is needed and can be generated internally and externally for purposes of informing practice/programming, influencing policy and drive research?
• How can UNV best connect and engage with its constituencies on generating and using that knowledge?
• What innovative approaches and products can be put in place to enhance UNV’s value proposition on volunteer knowledge?

This consultancy will focus on:

Situation analysis of volunteer knowledge in UNV with a focus on the following questions:

• What volunteer knowledge exsists, is needed and can be generated internally and externally for purposes of informing innovative practice/programming, influencing policy and driving research?
• Is there a shared/coherent vision of UNV’s volunteer knowledge approach and expected outcomes among senior managers, the knowledge team and other parts of UNV?
• What are the comparative advantages and value-added of UNV’s knowledge activities in relation to main stakeholders (National Governments, UN partners, Volunteer Involving Organizations)?
• How should the UNV work on knowledge dovetail with other internal UNV initiatives (global programmes, communication, volunteer management)

This will be done through:

Desk review as well as internal and external consultations.

The desk review documents includes but are not limited to are:

• UNV Strategic Framework;
• UNV Global programmes;
• Advocacy strategy and Ten Years Action Plan – Decade on volunteerism;
• UNV draft KM Strategy (2014) as well as UNV KM review ( dated from 2008);
• UNV Communication strategy and brand exercise;
• Consultation to obtain necessary data and explore possible recommendations.

Analysis of trends, innovative approaches and opportunities and their potential influence on UNV’s approach to volunteer knowledge:

• What are the main content and engagement innovative approaches and trends? (e.g inbound methodology) and their potential influence on UNV’s engagement with its constituencies around volunteer knowledge?
• How can those approaches help UNV in obtaining, analyzing and making that knowledge available in usable format?
• What approaches are already used by stakeholders (UN Agencies and Volunteer organizations) and to which UNV can build on or bring value?
• What opportunities for resource mobilization and partnership exist to engage with UNV on volunteer knowledge?

This will be done through external exploration, external consultation and comparison.

Articulation of a Volunteer Knowledge Strategy describing:

• The value proposition and the business objectives that support volunteer knowledge including the comparative advantages and value-added of UNV’s knowledge activities in relation to main stakeholders (Volunteer Organizations, UN partners, National Governments);
• The expected results and the main priorities for the period 2015-2017;
• Approaches and products to support business objectives;
• The measurements criteria to judge the outcome (success or failure) of its knowledge activities (indicators and methods can be used to monitor and assess performance);
• Risk factors and mitigation;
• Financial implication and potential source of funding;
• Return on investment/value for money (monetary and non-monetary).

Devoirs et responsabilités

Methods and Approaches

The Content and Engagement Consultant will be partly home-based with two travels to UNV Headquarters in Bonn, Germany. One in April (approximately in beginning or mid-April for three days) and one (approximately in beginning or mid-June for two days) in June. Travel costs should be included as a lump sum in the Financial Proposal.

The source of information will be UNV primarily. The consultant will also identify and pursue additional secondary information sources and will be responsible for implementing additional research and exploratory consultations to be able to compare UNV’s situation with other UN organizations and Volunteer Organizations.

Methods and tools can be combined at various stages of the process. Guidance to the consultant and support to the process will be provided by the Volunteer Knowledge and Innovation Team. In addition, a core reference group (made up of Chiefs of Development and Peace Section, The Programme Coordination Section, the Partnerships section and the Communications section) will provide advice throughout the consultation process. It will contribute to framing the consultation as well as providing feedback on materials emanating from the process.

Consultation Process and Deliverables

Under the responsibility of the overall guidance of the Volunteer Knowledge and Innovation Chief, and the direct supervision of the Knowledge Management Specialist, the content and engagement Consultant is expected to work on the deliverables presented in the table below.

For each of the deliverables below, the consultant/consultancy firm is expected to submit a draft, to which s/he will incorporate the Volunteer Knowledge and Innovation Team’s and reference group’s comments (up to two rounds of comments) before submitting a final version.

Based on the above, this consultancy is expected to deliver the following four deliverables:

Deliverables: 

• Situation analysis report (with one travel to Bonn Headquarters): due by 8 May 2015 (to be confirmed at a later date);
• Trends and opportunities analysis report: due by 15 May 2015;
• Draft strategy and presentation to UNV: due by 15 June 2015;
• Final Volunteer Knowledge Strategy (with one travel to Bonn Headquarters): due by 30 June 2015.

The assignment will be contracted to a consultant/consultancy firm with demonstrated expertise and experience in content and engagement strategy.

Compétences

Functional Competencies:

• Proven track record of developing content and engagement strategies, especially for non-profits organizations;
• Experience in the field and advanced knowledge of trends and new developments in the field content/knowledge generation and marketing;
• Excellent analytical and strategic thinking skills;
• Knowledge of UN agencies and their needs would be an asset.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:  

• Advanced university degree in relevant field.

Experience: 

• Minimum 7 years of experience in content and engagement strategy development.

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is an absolute requirement;
• Knowledge of French and/or Spanish is an asset.

Application Procedure:

Applicants have to provide a technical and financial proposal.

The technical proposal shall describe the methodology and the approach how to fulfil the required deliverables as well as outline the major components of its implementation.

The financial proposal shall consist of all-inclusive lump sum for the whole duration of the contract period, which shall include the consultancy fee, costs of living, costs for insurance, and cost of travel to and from the duty station. The financial proposal shall contain a breakdown of these costs and indicate the number of off-days the consultant wants to take during the contract period (if any).

The lump sum/contract price is fixed regardless of subsequent changes in the cost components.

Criteria for Selection of the Best offer:

The selection of the best offer will be based on the combined scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted 30%.

Evaluation Criteria:

• Experience in knowledge/content strategies (25%);
• Experience in the field of engagement strategy and marketing (25%);
• Methodology (20%).

Qualified candidates/consultancy firms are requested to apply online via the UNDP website. Interested candidates are advised to carefully review this ToR and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications described above.

Applications should be received by 27 March 2015 and it should contain: a brief cover letter, a short summary of relevant qualifications and a technical proposal. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application. A current completed and signed P11 form/ UN Personal History Form in English. Blank form can be downloaded from www.sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc

Please also include your CV, at least two writing samples and contact details for three references. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you provide all requested materials. All documents should be scanned and attached in one pdf format document.

Interviews might be used to further determine the technical competencies of the candidates.

Financial Proposal should be received by 27 March 2015 in a separate e-mail and addressed to: procurement@unv.org clearly marking the job title in the subject line: “68944: Consultancy for Content and Engagement Strategy”.