Background

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s least developed countries. It creates new opportunities for poor people and their communities by increasing access to microfinance and investment capital.  UNCDF focuses on Africa and the poorest countries of Asia and the Pacific, with a special commitment to countries emerging from conflict or crisis.  It provides seed capital – grants and loans – and technical support to help microfinance institutions reach more poor households and small businesses, and local governments finance the capital investments – water systems, feeder roads, schools, irrigation schemes – that will improve poor peoples’ lives.  Established by the General Assembly in 1966 and with headquarters in New York, UNCDF is an autonomous UN organization affiliated with UNDP.

With support from Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (“DFAT” formerly AusAid) and by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), UNCDF launched Mobile Money for the Poor (MM4P) in March 2012, a global thematic initiative to address the opportunities and challenges of implementing branchless banking and mobile money in challenging markets in Africa and Asia.  MM4P’s long-term mission is to help low income and rural households in LDCs increase their financial security through appropriate, affordable and secure means to receive, manage and save money through these “digital financial services” (DFS).  To do so, its intermediate goal is to help build inclusive digital financial sectors such that a wide range of digital financial services are provided responsibly, and at reasonable cost, by sustainable institutions in a well-regulated environment.  UNCDF’s starts by defining the different stages of a market’s development and the range of interventions needed at different levels (i.e. macro, meso, micro, client) to move it across the stages.  This combines a making markets work for the poor approach with UNCDF’s traditional operational model of directly supporting the most crucial level – retail service providers. 

MM4P launched in Nepal in 2013. The preparatory phase of MM4P has been done in consultation with the Central Bank of Nepal, the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) and with the permission of the Ministry of Finance, with a focus on research, awareness raising, assistance in strategy and business planning and working with the NRB and other stakeholders. In 2015, MM4P secured a partnership with USAID to continue its activities in Nepal through 2016.

UNCDF also received permission from the Government of Nepal (GoN) to expand MM4P activities in Nepal under UNCDF’s Inclusive Finance Country Framework – known as the Access to Finance (A2F) – UNNATI Programme. The programme focuses on the value chains of four agricultural commodities – orthodox tea, ginger, dairy and cardamom in seven hilly districts in the Eastern part of the country (EDR). Access to Finance (A2F) is a sub-component of UNNATI being implemented by Nepal Rastra Bank and UNCDF. Among other components of A2F, Digital Financial Services (DFS) is one of the major components to be implemented in the Eastern Region in order to benefit at least 250,000 small holder farmers and MSMEs.

 The Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA) is an alliance of governments, private sector and development organizations committed to accelerating the shift from cash to electronic payments. Shifting these payments from cash to electronic has the potential to improve the livelihoods of low-income people by advancing financial inclusion and enabling people to save, while giving governments, the development community and the private sector a more efficient, transparent and often safer means of disbursing payments. Nepal joined the BTCA alliance in 2015.

The Nepal office and the digital team also manages the activties of MM4P in other counrties that include Nepal, Laos and Myanmar. The different programmes focussed on digital and supported by MM4P team in country in Nepal and other MM4P countries in the region (Laos and Myanmar), has significantly increase the workload for MM4P. To address this workload, MM4P is currently seeking a communications consultant that will support its effort in bringing more visibility to its activities.  

Duties and Responsibilities

Workshop Management Support

  • Draft and edit ToR and agenda for the workshop and support in planning the activities;
  • Support in identifying the vendors or other logistic required to conduct the workshop;
  • With support from in-country team and others, plan the actual implementation of the workshops/conference and provide support during the conduct of the workshop;
  • Conduct post workshop follow-up with participants, as required;
  • Assist with producing material for further dissemination after the workshop and support in curating and managing the social media content during the event/workshop.

Social Media Management & Content Creation:

  • Support the expansion of MM4P’s social media presence;
  • Effectively support the social media presence of the programme to strengthen the MM4P’s brand awareness and to provide visibility to the programme’s knowledge management activities and outputs (publications and videos);
  • Write engaging content for the various social media channels of the programme;
  • Boost followers and engagement on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and other relevant channels;
  • Coordinate the development of campaign assets such as snapshots of publications, infographics and animations;
  • Keep abreast of social media trends and identify new opportunities to increase the visibility of MM4P’s work on online platforms;
  • Coordinate social media activities with UNCDF headquarters, donors and partners;
  • Increase in-house social media usage, by suggesting sample posts and training colleagues;
  • Produce evaluation reports on the impact of MM4P’s communications activities on social media platforms. Report on developments, trends and attitudes regarding digital financial services.  

Newsletter Management & Content Curation and Creation:

  • Monitor content produced by third parties related to mobile and branchless banking;
  • Ensure curated content is available on the relevant social media channels of the programme;
  • Compile relevant content in social media tools to be disseminated to MM4p Partners and other interested audiences;
  • Manage the list of subscribers with the support of the team, coordinate the management of multiple contact list and potential subscribers;
  • Assist in MM4P’s newsletter production, including writing, editing, gathering information from MM4P team and partners, formatting and sending it out to subscribers.

Writing and Editing:

  • Draft and edit a wide range of materials, including media products, blog posts, web content, brochures and presentations.

Other:

  • Perform any other duties in communications, as necessary.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

  • Demonstrates commitment to the mission, vision and values of UNDP/UNCDF;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religious, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
  • Exhibits integrity in the work place, including transparency and honesty.

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning

  • Experience in overseeing the communication of projects related to financial inclusion, economic development or other issues pertaining to the sustainable development goals (SDGs);
  • Fully proficient computer skills and use of relevant software and other applications; web design and/or maintenance;
  • Experience in overseeing document and report production, print and electronic publishing;
  • Preferably experience in branding, communications and experience in media relations, graphic design and video production;
  • Actively works towards continuing personal learning, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills
  • Ability to manage events, oversee contributions of other actors.

Development and Operational Effectiveness

  • Experience working with international organizations, developing country governments, donor agencies, and/or NGOs and other civil society groups engaged in diverse sectors of international development;
  • Familiarity with UNDP/UNCDF and UN system and/or the donor community;
  • Ability to organize and perform a variety of specialized tasks simultaneously related to Results Management, including administrative support to design, planning and implementation of programme, managing data, reporting.

Leadership and Self-Management

  • Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
  • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
  • Leads team creatively and effectively;
  • Remains calm, in control and good-humored even under pressure;
  • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
  • Interacts with others in a professional, respectful, and friendly manner;
  • Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors;
  • Communicates clearly and convincingly.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Masters Degree in Communications, Journalism, International Relations or a related field is mandatory.

Experience: 

  • At least one year of experience in the field of communication for non-profit organizations and/or companies, including analyzing results is mandatory. This should include professional experience with social media channels, particularly Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, including knowledge of monitoring tools;
  • At least one year of professional experience in writing and editing outstanding social media content, blogs and media products is mandatory;
  • Knowledge of digital payments, financial inclusion and/or international development is mandatory;
  • Awareness of social media communication behaviors in emerging and developing countries is desired;
  • Experience working in a multi-cultural environment is desired.

Language:

  • Excellent writing and editing skills in English;
  • Other language skills desirable.

Timeline, duration of assignment, duty station and expected places of travel:

  • Timeline: 01 March 2017 – 28 February 2018;
  • Location: Kathmandu, Nepal;
  • Total Number of Working Days of the Assignment: 264 working days (1 year).

Travel:

  • Please note that as this is a national consultancy, no travel-related costs shall be quoted in the financial proposal.
  • For unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed in accordance with UNCDF travel rules and regulations.

Provision of Monitoring, Progress Controls & Payments:

  • The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Knowledge and Communications Senior Associate, Digital Finance, based in Brussels, Belgium;
  • Payment will be made on periodical basis in accordance with number of days worked and upon satisfactorily achieved deliverables. All payments are subject to the clearance and approval of the direct supervisor;
  • Final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultant.

Application:

Applications will be rated on both technical and financial submissions.  The best proposal that will be awarded the contract shall be selected through the following method:

Highest rated proposal using the combined scoring method, which assigns the weight distribution between the technical and financial proposals as set out in the RFP.  The weight distribution shall be 70% technical and 30% financial.

All applications must contain the following information:

Evaluation:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

  • Preliminary Evaluation - Step I: Screening
  • Technical Evaluation Weight - 70% x (Step II: Shortlisting (20 points), Step III: Interview (80 points) = 100 Points)
  • Financial Evaluation Weight - 30% = Step IV.

Step I: Screening:

Applications will be screened and only applicants meeting the following minimum criteria (listed under education and experience) will progress to the pool for shortlisting.

Step II: Shortlisting by Desk Review:

UNCDF will conduct a desk review to produce a shortlist of candidates and technically evaluate them.

As applicable, only the first top 4 ranked applicants achieving 70% of the points at this stage shall be invited for an interview.

Step III: Interview:

A competency-based interview shall be conducted for the candidates. The maximum score for the interview is 80 points.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% on the total of Step II (20 points) + Step III (80 points) will be considered as technically qualified and will be reviewed further for financial evaluation.

Step IV: Financial Evaluation:

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

Lowest priced proposal/price of the proposal being evaluated x 30%.

Award Criteria:

The contact shall be awarded to the best applicant whose offer have been evaluated and determined as: responsive/compliant/acceptable and having received the highest combined weight (technical proposal & Interview) 70% + financial 30%= 100%.

Please note that UNCDF cannot guarantee residence permits or visa´s for consultants. Consultants are responsible for securing their work documentation. In the case of national consultants, applicants that are not nationals of the duty station requested will have to prove their residence status. 

Any individual employed by a company or institution who would like to submit an offer in response to a Procurement Notice for IC must do so in their individual capacity (providing a CV so that their qualifications may be judged accordingly). Please not that in such case the company institution will be asked to issue an RLA http://www.undp.org/content/dam/vietnam/docs/Legalframework/Reimbursable%20Loan%20Agreement.doc.  

Women candidates or women-owned businesses are strongly encouraged to apply.

(Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA): A legal instrument between UNCDF and a Company/institution, according to which, the latter makes available the services of an individual delivering time-bound and quantifiable outputs that are directly linked to payments. An RLA is governed by the provisions of this policy.)