Background

The one and half-year conflict in South Sudan is not only about the political contentions within the ruling party-SPLM but it stems from the historically accumulated grievances which remain un-addressed. These range from socio-economic and political differences as well as disparities in approaches and priorities to nation-building post the much celebrated independence in 2011.

Many critics blame the failure by the political leadership in managing these differences and the lack of a robust and inclusive post-conflict peace-building framework to address issues of reconciliation and social cohesion. Unfortunately, these untamed grievances coupled with the multiple woundedness experienced by citizens pose huge challenges to peace and stability in South Sudan.

Following the crisis in December 2013, the international media immediately framed the issue as an ethnic conflict between the Neur and the Dinka, the two largest ethnic groups in South Sudan. The effect was the fuelling of the conflict and hate speech especially comments made on online media sites by the Diaspora population. The ethnic lens though which this conflict was viewed shaped the international community’s policy response. The media found itself either being used as propaganda machinery or on the receiving end of state repression.

Consequently, the South Sudanese people were denied balanced reporting on the crisis. The government cracked down on independent media, radio stations were closed by the National Security Agency, there was arbitrary arrest and detention of journalists on allegations of biased reporting and spreading falsehoods. Those media houses that reported anything in opposition controlled areas were the primary target. In this way the media assumed an active role in the conflict and was to a certain extent responsible for increased violence.

Given this background, it is imperative that the local media be supported in re-establishing its independence but also becoming a key actor in the reconstruction of South Sudan and working towards social cohesion.

Secondly the media needs to be supported in enhancing its role as the fourth estate providing alternative voice piece for the disadvantaged.

UNDP’s Community Security and Arms Control (CSAC) project has plans for long-term engagement with the media as partners in peacebuilding work and giving voice for the poor and marginalised sections of the south Sudanese population.  The project will shortly be sending out an Expression of Interest (EoI) that will specify the nature of the engagement.

It is envisaged that this engagement with the media fraternity will incorporate the support of the UNDP communications team as a means of deepening its relationships with local media houses and leverage this as necessary to provide more visibility to other UNDP programmes and activities.

The selected consultant will therefore be expected to support the pre-qualified media organisations and journalists during this assignment.

Duties and Responsibilities

Purpose of the Assignment

The Community Security and Small arms Control (CSAC) project would like to work with the media as a key partner to Strengthen Civil Society Voice, Promote Accountability and Engender Social Cohesion.

Through:

• Reporting and documentation of local-level peacebuilding efforts;
• Documentation of experiences of civil society organisations working with the CSAC project and giving visibility to the work that they do;
• Production of radio and television drama series that promote nation building and social cohesion;
• Continued capacitation of journalists in Conflict sensitive journalism through AMDISS.

The project seeks the services of an experienced international consultant to support media houses and journalists to practice conflict sensitive reporting and analysis of news to sustain the delicate peace in South Sudan.

Specifically, the consultant will:

• Convene a consultative dialogue with media houses owners, editors and sub-editors on the role of the media in peace building in South Sudan;
• Design and conduct two five-day conflict sensitive journalism training programmes targeting key media players in South Sudan including editors, sub-editors and journalists. This will include print, electronic and internet-based operators;
• At the completion of the training, the consultant will support the  media houses and freelance journalists in developing concept notes and project proposals outlining how they can pay a meaningful role in social cohesion;
• Support Association of Media Development in South Sudan (AMDISS) to develop a curriculum on conflict sensitive journalism to enable them to conduct short courses in different parts of the country.

The CSAC project will provide small grants to successful applicants for the implementation of proposed activities over a period of six months

Scope of work

The consultant will provide training to a total of 60 journalists, 50% of whom shall be women journalists. The CSAC project team will be responsible for liaising with media houses to ensure this parity is achieved. Participants will be drawn from State and independent print and electronic media houses as well as community-based radio stations; such as those run by religious organisations and NGOs these will be identified through the Expression of Interest (EoI) on Media and Peacebuilding sent out by the CSAC project. The project will facilitate the participation of journalists working at national level as well as from the 10 states.

Deliverables  and duration of the assignment:

• Training programme and materials;
• Deliver the training;
• Training reports;
• Final project proposals up to a total of 10 from journalists for funding by the CSAC project;
• End of assignment reflective report identifying key recommendations for strengthening the partnership with the media and possible additional interventions to strengthen the capacities of the journalists trained;
• Presentation and de-briefing meeting with the CSAC project and the UNDP communications teams.

Duration

It is envisaged that the assignment will be conducted over a 30 working day period as follows:

• Developing of training materials and agenda, 3 days;
• Sensitization dialogue with owners, editors and sub-editors,1 day;
• Conducting training, 10 days;
• Training  Report writing, 3 days;
• Curriculum development, 5 days;
• Presentation of the draft curriculum to AMDISS and finalisation, 1 day;
• Refining of project proposals and concept notes, 5 days;
• Writing, Presentation and Submission of final report outlining next steps to CSAC project team, 2 day.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Displays cultural gender, religion, race, nationality, and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Demonstrates diplomacy and tact in dealing with sensitive and complex situations.

Functional Competencies:

Professionalism:

• Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter;
• Demonstrated ability to negotiate and apply good judgment;
• Is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results.

Planning & Organizing:

• Establishes, builds and maintains effective working relationships with staff and national counterparts to achieve the planned results.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Journalism, Conflict and Peace building or Similar.

Experience:

• A minimum of 15 years’ experience in peacebuilding in Africa is a requirement;
• Experience in the design training and delivery of experiential  training workshops with Journalists working in conflict affected areas;
• Prior work experience as a media practitioner would be an added advantage;
• Specific experience of peace building in a post-conflict setting is an added advantage.

Language:

• The Candidate must be fluent in English.

Additional Qualifications:  

• Strong writing and oral communications skills;
• Strong analytical skills, including in the identification of key issues and how they relate.

Institutional Arrangements

The consultant will work full time, based in the UNDP Office space and limited administrative and logistical support will be provided.  The contractor will use their own laptop and cell phone.

The consultant will report to the UNDP Chief Technical Advisor Peace and Development, who will review progress and will certify delivery of outputs. Technical guidance will also be provided by the UNDP CSAC project team.

How to Apply

Please submit the following documents:

• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the   Candidate and three (3) professional references;
• Brief description (max. ½ page) of why you consider yourself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a methodology (max. 1 page) for how you will approach and complete the assignment;
• Financial Proposal:  that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs.

Forms can be dowloaded from http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=23478

Notes:

• The information in the breakdown of the offered lump sum amount provided by the Offeror will be used as the basis for determining best value for money, and as reference for any amendments of the contract;
• The agreed contract amount will remain fixed regardless of any factors causing an increase in the cost of any of the components in the breakdown that are not directly attributable to UNDP;
• Approved local travel related to this assignment will be arranged & paid by UNDP South Sudan;
• The Contractor is responsible for arranging and meeting the cost of their vaccinations and medical/life insurance.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

Offers received will be evaluated using a Combined Scoring method, where the qualifications and proposed methodology will be weighted 70%, and combined with the price offer, which will be weighted 30%.

Criteria to be used for rating the qualifications and methodology
Technical evaluation criteria (total 70 points):

• International experience in designing and delivering similar training programmes [20 marks];
• Good experience in developing media and peace building projects 30 marks];
• Proposed methodology [20 marks].

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the Technical Evaluation will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Financial evaluation (total 30 points):
All technically qualified proposals will be scored out 30 based on the formula provided below. The maximum points (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal.

All other proposals receive points according to the following formula:
p = y (µ/z)
where:

• p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated;
• y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal;
• µ = price of the lowest priced proposal;
• z = price of the proposal being evaluated.