United Nations Development Program (UNDP) works to support the ongoing peace and confidence building process by promoting initiatives that encourage dialogue and cooperation between the communities of Cyprus.

The Office of the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Cyprus (OSASG-Cyprus, also known as the Good Offices Mission) supports the Secretary-General in his mission of good offices, as entrusted by the UN Security Council, to assist the parties in the conduct of negotiations aimed at reaching a comprehensive settlement in Cyprus.

The United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) is mandated to use its best efforts to prevent a recurrence of fighting; contribute to the maintenance and restoration of law and order; and contribute to a return to normal conditions.

Following the closure of the UN facilitated conference in Crans Montana in 2017, without an agreement being reached, OSASG-Cyprus and UNFICYP have undertaken a variety of efforts to create a conducive environment for a successful return to the negotiations, including with the support of UNDP. In this context, it is clear that civil society in Cyprus can play a critically important role by contributing to the consolidation of a constituency for peace on the island. In particular, the role of civil society to engage more people in meaningful dialogue about the future of the island remains a crucial factor in ensuring that all sectors of society contribute to and inform the debates and discussions regarding the current state of play.

Among other initiatives, OSASG-Cyprus and UNFICYP aim to support civil society efforts through a project that will utilise innovative approaches to build local capacities for utilizing data so as to engage more people in meaningful dialogue about the peace process. The objective will be achieved through bringing more data driven information to the on-going debates in an engaging and innovative way, hence fostering more meaningful bi-communal discussions on key issues.

In undertaking this project, OSASG-Cyprus and UNFICYP will be supporting the Cyprus Dialogue Forum (CDF), a non-formal dialogue space that consists of organisations – including political parties, trade unions, business and professional associations and Non-Governmental Organisations from the two communities – that work together to support change through the creation of joint visions, options and consensus building instruments, through the development of common understandings and shared knowledge resources. The direct beneficiaries of the project include the CDF Secretariat Team and a selected group of CDF Stakeholders.

For this project UNDP is seeking to hire two Data Visualization Experts to work collaboratively in order to design and deliver capacity building workshops on data visualisation and to develop draft detailed concepts and briefs on custom data visualisation tools based on identified needs.

Responsibilities/Deliverables:

1. Design and physically deliver, one (1) 24-hour induction workshop on data visualisation for CDF Team (6-10 persons).

Workshop should include the following:

• initial training on data visualisation tools and products, i.e., how to turn data into high-impact stories; framing data for target audiences; analysing and organizing data; frameworks for transforming the verbal to the visual; maximizing design for best impact; understanding and memorability of data, etc.;
• assessment & identification of data visualisation needs in order to customise follow-up bespoke workshops.

2. Design and physically deliver two (2) bespoke workshops of a total duration of 48-hours, based on the needs identified during the induction workshop, for CDF Team (6-10 persons).

Workshops should:

• be designed for both intermediate and advanced ability levels;
• support participants in the development of infographics and simple interactive data visualisations using already-existing CDF data;
• include training on how to create easy-to-use templates for simple interactive data visualisations and on how to use open-source data visualisation software.

3. Design and physically deliver three (3) workshops on data visualisation, of a total duration of 24 hours, for 3 Groups of 15 persons.

Workshops should:

• be designed for both beginner and intermediate ability levels;
• be designed for a variety of audiences (each 8-hour workshop will be dedicated to one type of audience).

4. Develop detailed concepts, briefs or draft prototypes of tools that would require custom development (based on the previously identified needs).

5. Develop a high level cost analysis and provisional timeline for each tool, based on the detailed concepts or prototypes developed and shaped with CDF.

Outputs /Deliverables:

Core competencies

• Demonstrating / safeguarding ethics and integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Client orientation;
• Planning and organizing;
• Accountability;
• Strong interpersonal skills;
• Strong communication and diplomatic skills;
• Ability to work in a team.

Corporate competencies

• Demonstrates commitment to UNDP, OSASG-Cyprus and UNFICYP’s respective mandate, vision and values;
• Demonstrates and safeguards ethics and integrity;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional competencies

• Excellent public speaking and presentation skills;
• Ability to meet deadlines and produce high quality work;
• Ability to use good judgment;
• High sense of confidentiality, diplomacy and tact;
• Excellent writing and oral skills;
• Ability to create and promote an enabling environment for open communication;
• Ability to work independently with minimum supervision and support.

Technical Competencies

• Data Analytics
• Information Design including interactives and infographics
• HTML
• CSS
• JavaScript
• SVG
• D3 JavaScript library

Education: 

• An advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in programming, computer science, information systems, data management, data visualization, statistics, journalism or related field is required.
• Or a first-level university degree in combination with  5 years of qualifying experience in the fields listed below 

Experience: 

• Demonstrated international experience in developing, designing and delivering training workshops on open source data tools and programmes for different skill levels is required;
• 5 years of experience in quantitative and qualitative data analysis and visualisation
• Demonstrated portfolio of working with varied data visualisation projects is required; 
• Experience in storytelling, support for animation and narratives, ability to provide solutions that are easy to use and are flexible for a variety of skill levels is required;
• Expertise in data management and journalism and/or experience in coding/programming is required

Language: 

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required;
• Fluency in Greek and/or Turkish is an asset

Application:

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

• CV: Submission of CV
• References: Contact details of 3 references.
• Financial Proposal: The financial proposal shall cover all expenditures including fees, health insurance, vaccination, international (all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel) or local travel (place of residence to office and office to place of residence), travel to and from the field (location of traps),  cost of living and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services. Leave benefits (annual, sick, paternity, maternity) are not applicable to Individual Contractors and absent days including weekends and office holidays are not payable.

Guidance Notes to be considered by Candidates:

The prospective ICs should take the following explanations into account during preparation and submission of her/his price proposal.

• The price proposal should be indicated in EUR.
• The price proposal should be indicated in gross terms and hence should be inclusive of costs related to tax, social security premium, pension, visa (if needed) etc.
• UNDP will not make any further clarification on costs related to tax, social security premium, pension, visa etc. It is the applicants’ responsibility to make necessary inquiries on these matters.

Evaluation / Selection Process: All applicants will be screened against qualifications and the competencies set above. Candidates fully meeting the requirements will be further evaluated based on the criteria below.

Technical Criteria (CV review written test and desk review/interview) – 70% of total evaluation – max. 70 points

CV review: 20 points

• Educational qualification as defined in the ToR (5 points)
• Experience as defined in the ToR (15 points)

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% of points (14 out of 20) would be considered for the

Desk review/Interview: 50 points

• Relevant work experience (20 points);
• Experience in storytelling, support for animation and narratives ( 10 points)
• Ability to provide solutions that are easy to use and are flexible for a variety of skill levels (10 points)
• Expertise in data management and journalism and/or experience in coding/programming ( 10 points)

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% of points (35 out of 50) would be considered for the 

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

Financial scores will be calculated using the formula [lowest offer / financial offer of the candidate x 30].

UNDP applies the “Best value for money approach” – the final selection will be based on the combination of the applicants’ qualification and financial proposal.

Payment Term: 

Payments shall be made in 2 installments upon the submission of the certification of payment form and the completion and approval of the following sets of outputs by UNDP:

• Output 1: Capacity building workshops on data visualisation
• Output 2: Custom tools concept & cost