Background
1) BACKGROUND
In 2014 the Government of Timor-Leste created the Special Administrative Region (SAR) and established the Special Zone of Social Market Economy (ZEESM) in Oé-Cusse district (an enclave nestled within Western Timor province of Indonesia and with an estimated population of 85,000). As part of the rollout process, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been providing the ZEESM office with policy advice and support since its establishment. The framework for this support was built around two components: (i) governance and (ii) sustainable and innovative development, which aligns with the priorities articulated under East Timor’s Strategic Development Plan 2011-2030 to establish special zones of the social market economy to transform the lives of the people of Oé-Cusse with an integrated approach to sustainable, social and economic development.
In 2022 the Special Administrative Region (SAR) and the Special Zone of Social Market Economy (ZEESM) and UNDP agreed on continuing this support through the implementation of “Support for Institutional and Sustainable Development of Oé-Cusse Special Administrative Region (SAR) and the Special Zone of Social Market Economy (ZEESM TL) –Phase III 2022-2025” project which aims to create sustainable economic opportunities, promote resilience to climate change, and ensure quality public services by supporting three key components; I) Livelihood and Economic Diversification, II) Clean and Safe Water and Forest Management and III) Effective and Accountable Governance.
Despite some progress over the years, the Region’s livelihood development and economic diversification remain underachieved. The employment rate of the working-age population was 47.8% (43.2% for women; 52.3% for men) which was higher than the national average of 45.2%. However, most of them are self-employed or “contributing family workers” who work in ‘vulnerable employment’ (70.9%). Tourism sector is seen as an opportunity to increase the livelihood of the population of Oé-Cusse and Community Tourism is one of the strategic pillars of ZEESM TL to achieve development in Oé-Cusse.
Oé-Cusse is one of the least-explored tourist destinations in South-East Asia and also in Timor Leste. It is blessed with diverse unspoiled landscapes, indigenous flora and fauna, abundant marine life, a complex history, traditional cultures, and hospitable communities. While the richness and diversity of Oé-Cusse tourism products offer huge rewards to adventurous, discerning, and nature-conscious travellers, tourism is still in its infancy stage. Oé-Cusse hosts just a handful of international travellers, with most of the visitors being domestic, and the contribution to the economy is minimal.
In order to promote Oé-Cusse as preferred destinations for travel, the Regional Administration is seeking to developing the regional tourism marketing strategy to attract both international and national visitors to the region and develop institutional partnerships to enhance Tourism industry in the region.
This terms of reference (TOR) defines scope of work, expected outputs/deliverable, key qualifications etc. of an international consultant to support the Project and the Regional Administration to develop the tourism marketing strategy to increase the inflow of visitors into the region.
Duties and Responsibilities
2) OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT AND SCOPE OF WORK
Objectives
The aim of this consultancy is to contribute to the development of sustainable tourism in the region through developing a Regional Tourism Marketing Strategy which promotes community-based tourism as employment opportunity, contributes to develop local businesses, attracts visitors and generates brand awareness and institutional partnerships.
Scope of Work
The assignment requires to provide technical expertise and guidance to develop Oé-Cusse’s tourism marketing strategy in close coordination with the Community Tourism Unit of President of Authority’s cabinet. The scope of work includes:
- Stakeholders mapping to identify key actors who will be indirectly and directly engaged in the implementation of the marketing strategy and the role they will play on it.
- Coordinate with the livelihood and economic diversification component of the project to identify communities and products which could be involved in tourism promotion, e.g. existing weavers and artisans working in groups (SHG/federation/producers group/producer company/cooperative etc.) in Oé-Cusse.
- Define the tourist’s profile for Timor Leste/Oé-Cusse and trends in Tourism industry in the Asia and Pacific region.
- Conduct SWOT analysis of Community based Tourism development in Oé-Cusse region in the context of post COVID 19 pandemic.
- Develop the tourism marketing strategy and identify the linkages and potential partnerships with Government/private sector/technical institutions on various aspects like capacity building of various stakeholders (community cadre, entrepreneurs), market support, technical assistance and technology support in tourism, and define the strategy to ensure active participation of the identified stakeholders in the tourism promotions activities.
- Define a consultative process and mechanism for the preparation of the tourism development component of the overall plan taking into consideration with the involvement of key stakeholders in tourism
- Organize and conduct consultations, meetings, focus group discussion with tourism stake holders as required.
- Outline and present the concept of the Oé-Cusse tourism brand and logo based on SWOT analysis and consultations with key stakeholders in Oé-Cusse’s Tourism sector.
3. EXPECTED DELIVERABLES AND PAYMENT SCHEDULE
Deliverables | Target Due Dates | Review and Approvals Required | Percentage of contract price paid on delivery |
Deliverable no. 1
| 15th November 2022 | Project Manager | 10% |
Deliverable no. 2
| 20th December 2022 | Project Manager | 40% |
Deliverable no. 3
| 12th January | Project Manager | 10% |
Deliverable no. 4
| 30th January 2022 | Project Manager | 40% |
4. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT
The selected consultant will work under the supervision of the Project Manager and the Coordinator of the Community based Tourism Unit under the President of Authority’s cabinet. The project will support the selected bidder in organizing meetings with the stakeholders.
5. DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT
60 working days over a period of three months
6. DUTY STATION
Homebased
Competencies
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Required Skills and Experience
7. REQUIRED COMPETENCIES
Education
- Master’s degree in communications, business development and e-commerce, Tourism, or related field.
Work Experience
- At least 7 years of experience in community-based tourism development, Tourism industry, Hospitality, International Business and/or related areas is required
- Demonstrated experience in sustainable tourism planning, promotion and development is required
- Demonstrated experience in advising governments (national and sub-national) on best practices in relation to Tourism initiatives is required
- Strong understanding of Tourism industry, Tourism trends, in developing countries, particularly in the Asia and Pacific region is desired
- Technical knowledge of related institutional, policy/regulatory, infrastructure and technical frameworks in the field of Tourism is desired
- Experience in working in developing countries, particularly in Timor-Leste or Southeast Asian countries will be an added advantage
Language: Proficient in written and oral English while working knowledge of Tetum and Portuguese will be an added advantage
6. SCOPE OF PRICE PROPOSAL AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS
Lump Sum Contract
The financial proposal must be expressed in the form of an "all-inclusive" lump-sum amount, supported by breakdown of costs as per template provided. The term "all inclusive" implies all cost professional fees, communications expenses etc) Under the lump sum approach, the contract price is fixed, regardless of changes in cost components. For duty travels, and other costs required to perform the demands of the TOR must be incorporated in the financial proposal.
Schedule of Payment:
The payment will be made based on the deliverables. The selected consultant must submit documents as per the deliverables which must be duly approved and serve as the basis for the payment of fees. The consultant will be expected to produce the deliverables within the agreed timeline under Section D of this TOR to be reviewed and approved as specified in the TOR.
8. RECOMMENDED PRESENTATION OF OFFER
Individual consultants interested in the assignment must submit the following documents to demonstrate their qualification in one single PDF document:
- Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP (the template to be downloaded from the procurement notice link).
- Personal CV or P11 indicating all past experiences from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (2) professional references (to be downloaded from the procurement notice link).
- Financial Proposal: that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided (the template to be downloaded from the procurement notice link).
- Technical Proposal:
- Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
- A methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment and work plan as indicated above.
9. CRITERIA OF SELECTION
Individual consultant will be evaluated based on the following methodology:
- The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:
- Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
- Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation
* Technical Criteria weight 70%
* Financial Criteria weight 30%
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.
Technical Evaluation (70%)
Qualification, Experience and Technical Proposal (70 marks):
- General Qualification (15 marks);
- Experience relevant to the assignment (35 marks);
- Technical Proposal: Brief methodology and workplan on how the consultant will approach and complete the work (20 marks).
Financial Evaluation (30%):
The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:
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
Annexes (click on the hyperlink to access the documents):
- Annex 1 - IC Contract Template (for information);
- Annex 2 - Financial Proposal Template using the template provided by UNDP (to be completed at later stage upon request by UNDP);
- Annex 3 – IC General Terms and Conditions (for information);
- Annex 4 – RLA Template (if consultant wishes to be recruited through an employer) - (for information).
Incomplete applications will not be considered and will be disqualified automatically.