Background

This assignment is divided in two parts for two different programmes:

1. Minamata Initial Assessment for Montenegro (MIA)
2. Center for Sustainable Development (CSD)

Montenegro signed the Minamata Convention on Mercury on September 24, 2014. The Convention is designed to systematically reduce emissions and releases of mercury to land and water, as well as phase out the use of mercury where alternatives exist. In order to assist the countries to sign the Convention, fulfil its obligations and prepare them for the implementation of its requirements, several barriers must be addressed. These include:

• lack of institutional capacity to ratify and implement the Convention;
• gaps in political and legislative frameworks to support Convention provisions;
• lack of data on sources of emissions and releases;
• low awareness of health risks associated with mercury among the public and government officials, with limited occupational safety mechanisms in place to reduce community exposure to mercury.

With this assignment the Project will address the issue of low awareness of health risks associated with mercury by developing Strategy for Public Awareness and Mercury Phase-Out, with the Implementation Plan, focusing on the environmental and health impacts of mercury, based on the documents produced in the MIA project. It will include public awareness activities necessary to raise awareness on mercury and the Minamata convention among the key stakeholders (decision makers) and target groups at risk, identified during the initial assessment.

The project’s overall objective is to undertake a Minamata Initial Assessment (MIA) to enable the Government of Montenegro to determine the national requirements and needs for the ratification of the Minamata Convention and establish a sound foundation to undertake future work towards the implementation of the Convention. It is expected that patterns of mercury consumption and release will be assessed to facilitate the design of targeted interventions, which in turn provide local and global benefits through reduced emissions to the environment. Through institutional capacity development and enhancement at the national level, potential contamination risks from the use of mercury-added products will also be minimized. Lessons learned and experience gained from national inventory development, as well as national and regional capacity building, can be used as a model approach to be replicated in other countries and regions to effectively address similar issues.

Objective of this assignment for project Minamata Initial Assessment for Montenegro is to develop a comprehensive Communications Strategy for awareness raising with the Plan for Implementation and organized awareness raising activities.

The Centre for Sustainable Development (CSD) is a programme jointly implemented by UNDP and the Government of Montenegro based on the "close partnership" model. The Centre's role is to advance and support sustainable development objectives of Montenegro in a number of ways:

• Developing the Policy and science interface in green economy, strengthening human and social resources and governance approaches;
• Delivering project support for implementation of Agenda 2030 through NSSD 2030 (National Strategy for Sustainable Development);
• Awareness raising and building knowledge on sustainable development.

Currently, the Centre is focused on project implementation the plan is that this evolve into broader support to implementation of the NSSD and development of new projects in line with NSSD proposed measures identified within six thematic areas:

1. Human resources – Improvement of the status of human resources and strengthening of social cohesion;
2. Social resources - Support to values, norms and patterns of importance for sustainability of Montenegrin society;
3. Greening the Economy – through carbon neutral, resource efficient and inclusive growth;
4. Natural Resources –preserving the natural capital of the country;
5. Governance for Sustainable Development;
6. Financing for Sustainable Development.

It should be noted that these six areas are not mutually exclusive and adopting a sustainable development path rests on achieving progress in each area.

The proposed vision for the Centre is for it to become a competent technical Centre to foster introduction of green economy approaches, strengthen human and social resources for sustainable development in Montenegro and support strengthening of national governance system for sustainable development and beyond. A green economy approach is one which is low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive. Gender considerations will be mainstreamed within these three tracks, green economy approaches, strengthening human and social resources and governance.

The Centre needs to develop in line with the future needs of the country’ s development priorities and its vision needs to be shaped to the national obligations and commitments set out in the National Strategy for Sustainable Development until 2030 which translates obligations arising from Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals into national institutional and policy framework.

The objective of this assignment for the Center for Sustainable Development is to develop Communication Strategy and detailed dissemination plans for awareness-raising, social mobilization and advocacy activities by the Centre between 2017 and 2021.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the UNDP Project Manager and CSD PR Officer, the Local Communications Consultant will be responsible for:

Tasks and Deliverables related to Minamata Initial Assessment for Montenegro:

Deliverable 1. Submission and acceptance of Communications Overview to International Expert and UNDP. Report should be submitted no later September 30, 2016.

• Development of a Communication Overview detailing the methodology, process and schedule of campaign events. Hold consultations with the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism and UNDP and with other relevant stakeholders as indicated by Ministry and UNDP, if necessary.

Deliverable 2: Submission and acceptance of a Communication Strategy. The report should be submitted no later than November 30, 2016.

• Develop a Communication Strategy for Awareness Raising and Mercury Phase-out; Focus on the environmental and health impacts of mercury, based on the documents produced in the MIA project. This plan will include key messages, target audiences and related public awareness activities needed to raise awareness on mercury and the Minamata Convention among the key stakeholders (decision makers) and target groups at risk, identified during the initial assessment.

Deliverable 3: Submission and acceptance of an implementation Plan for the Communication Strategy. The report should be submitted no later than January 15, 2017.

• Develop an Implementation Plan for the communication strategy; Prepare a realistic implementation plan with targeted outreach activities, including but not limited to preventive workshops and brochures on occupational exposure in short, medium and long term within the timeframe set from the Convention, brochures communicating the results of the Minimata Initial Assessment in Montenegro, taking into account phase out of mercury added products, environmental practices and other preventative programs.

Deliverable 4: Submission and acceptance of a report on the awareness raising workshops/activities. The report should be submitted no later than April 30, 2017.

• Conduct mercury awareness raising activities/workshops in Montenegro targeting decision makers, population at risk, and other relevant stakeholders. These activities should include involvement of local media, print or broadcast and include proper representation of key stakeholders; Prepare costed plan for awareness raising activities; Prepare related communication deliverables, in consultation with UNDP and team of Consultants working on this Project; Organize and implement relevant workshops.

Tasks and Deliverables related to the Center for Sustainable Development:

• Development of a comprehensive Communications Strategy of the Centre;
• Outlining clear communication channels and protocols between the main partners and with the media;
• Drafting: communication goals and objectives, key messages, stakeholder analysis recommended approach and activities, communications channels (mix and match channels), target audiences and their dissemination, recommended communication channels and evaluation;
• Development of the key public awareness activities;
• Support and guidance to the preparation of annual communication plans until 2021. Provide recommendation on structure and focus over the coming two years.

Deliverables are as follows:

• Draft Communication Strategy (2017-2021), to be submitted no later than September 25, 2016.
• Draft a complete Advocacy and Communications Strategy which should include: clear objectives, messages, allies/partners/stakeholders, monitoring and evaluation framework, implementation plan and potential funding opportunities. A detailed strategy should be provided for a period of 24 months, and an indicative strategy for the following 4 years in total, to be submitted no later than September 30, 2016
• Communication plan for each focus area that include target groups, baselines, objectives, communication channels, messages, potential materials for distribution, and timelines, to be submitted no later than October 10, 2016.
• Final Communication Strategy (2017-2021), to be submitted no later than October 31, 2016.

Time duration and travel:
The consultant is expected to start with activities in mid-September 2016, with a completion period in a maximum of 60 working days, until April 30, 2017. No travel is envisaged for this assignment.

Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UN/UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting;
• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills;
• Demonstrates ability to manage complexities and work under pressure, as well as conflict resolution skills;
• Proven ability to work in a complex environment with a lot of different stakeholders within a specific political context;
• Ability to interact and relate with people at any level;
• Ability to critically analyze issues, find root-causes and suggest optimum solutions;
• Demonstrated leadership ability and technical ability to communicate complex ideas verbally and in writing.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• University degree in Communication, Journalism, Public Relations or related field; An Advanced degree would be an asset.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years or more of working experience in public awareness campaigns/trainings in related areas;
• Proven track record of project experience in communication rollouts and public awareness campaigns. Previous experience in environmental public awareness campaigns would be an asset;
• Experience and understanding of Minamata Convention or relevant UN convention is preferred, but not required;
• Ability to draft, edit, and produce written proposals, brochures, factsheets, flyers, press kits and result focused communication reports;
• Experience in working with the Government and/or donors and/or civil society and/or international organization;
• Experience in working with local media outlets, print, digital and broadcast, is preferred but not required.
• Proficiency in office software packages (Microsoft Word and Excel).

Languages:

• Fluency in Montenegrin and English with exceptional writing, presentation and communication skills.

Criteria for selection

Combined Scoring method will be used. When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the inidividual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: (i) responsive, compliant, acceptable, and (ii) 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% (Background and education 10%; Relevant previous experience 20%; Substantial knowledge/Required competencies 30%; Required language 10%);
• Financial criteria weight - 30%.

Only offerors obtaining a minimum 490 points for technical criteria will be considered for the financial evaluation.

For more information on procurement methodology for Individual Contractors, please refer to Procurement Notice.

Application procedure:

Interested applicants are requested to submit their applications by August 22, 2016 by using the Apply now button. The application should contain a duly completed Personal History Form (P11) that can be downloaded from http://www.me.undp.org/content/montenegro/en/home/operations/jobs.html. Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file.

Only the short-listed applicants will be contacted and requested to submit a letter of interest including a price quotation indicating the lump sum (in EUR) requested for the work envisaged in the section "Description of Responsibilities".