Background

The UNDP Oslo Governance Centre (OGC) was established in 2002 and is one of UNDP’s 6 Global Policy Centres (GPCs). OGC a is part of the Governance and Peacebuilding (GP) Cluster in the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support.

The Centre has a specific mandate to work on governance and peacebuilding by focusing on the distillation of existing global knowledge, expertise and perspectives, to develop innovative policy solutions that promote effective and accountable governance and to contribute to conflict prevention and peacebuilding.

OGC aims to become a global Centre for policy development and applied research with an overarching focus on democratic governance and peacebuilding in crisis, conflict and transitional contexts. It will act primarily as a knowledge and convening hub bringing together like-minded Norwegian, Nordic and other partners from the South in undertaking applied research and developing policy options and tools for governance support in post-crisis and post-conflict environments, in order to find practical solutions on the ground which address the following thematic areas:

• Governance and democratic challenges in countries that are transitioning out of crisis and conflict towards more inclusive institutions and more peaceful, prosperous equal and resilient societies;
• Governance of extractive industries in post-crisis and post-conflict settings and its impact on sustainable development pathways and progress towards more inclusive institutions;
• Governance of inclusion, and in particular how societies evolving from crisis and conflict address gender equality and the political and economic empowerment of women in a conflict sensitive manner;
• Measuring governance for development results to inform and influence the contributions of UNDP and partners in the discussions on the post-2015 agenda and the measuring and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Duties and Responsibilities

II. Scope of Work

The consultant will provide support to OGC’s Communications work and help implement the Centre’s Communication Work Plan, as well as cover certain aspects of information management and knowledge management and its related dimensions. The consultant is expected to be familiar with the latest thinking and best practice in the area of communications and information of particular relevance to OGC’s areas of activity. Broadly, the consultant is expected to provide support in four main areas of work:

1. Help build OGC’s brand as a leading centre of policy and applied research in the area of Governance and Peacebuilding
2. Make sure OGC’s communications-related work is effectively implemented
3. Build a good communications ecosystem connecting with different parts of the Centre’s work to ensure information about the centre and its activities is available as quickly as possible to OGC’s partners and the wider public
4. Ensure complementarity between OGC’s communication work and that of UNDP’s Nordic Representation Office, and UNDP more broadly.

Specific duties and responsibilities:

1. Manage and monitor delivery of OGC’s communication plan, providing communication expertise to other staff
2. Build a network of media and journalists who are aware of OGC’s work and can help promote the Centre’s activities.
3. Promote OGC through social media and other channels.
4. Support OGC staff in writing Op-Eds that can be published in Norwegian, Nordic and International Media
5. Working with others, manage and implement the communication elements of OGC activities, including convening events like Policy Dialogues / brown bags /webinars / workshops
6. Develop and disseminate OGC’s Advocacy and communication-related products, including key messages, brochures and press releases
7. Link OGC’s communication work to the broader UNDP communication work of the Nordic Representation Office, and UNDP more broadly, working on joint campaigns as appropriate.

III. Expected Outputs and Deliverables

1. OGC’s communication plan is implemented
2. OGC-authored content is available in relevant media
3. High quality communications related to OGC activities are delivered

IV. Institutional Arrangement / Reporting Relationships

Under the overall authority and supervision of the Director of the UNDP Oslo Governance Centre, the IC will work closely with UNDP Nordic Representation Office (NRO) and the Policy Specialist (Knowledge Management) and other OGC and UNDP staff/consultants/interns as required.

V. Duration of Work  

The consultant will be contracted for a period of up to 120 days over a 12-month period

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

• Experience of working in the area of democratic governance and peacebuilding or a related development field
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and Norwegian
• Proven ability to organize and structure information
• Computer literate in standard software applications and ability to use current social media and web 2.0 tools
• Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP, and partner organizations:
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;

Required Skills and Experience

Important Note: The Consultant is required to have the above-mentioned professional and technical qualifications. Only the applicants who hold these qualifications will be shortlisted and contacted.

VII. Schedule of Payments

The consultant will be paid for days worked on a monthly basis.  The consultant must submit invoices to be approved by UNDP OGC.

Travel

No travel is foreseen for this consultancy.

Application Procedure

The application is a two-step process. Failing to comply with the submission process may result in disqualifying the applications.

Step 1: Submission of technical proposal. That will include providing application via UNDP Job-shop (jobs.undp.org )

Interested candidates should provide the following documents and information:

• Uploading a CV/P11 and a statement of interest indicating all past experience for similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate and at least three (3) professional references (the template can be downloaded from this link: http://sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc;
• Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability which also includes a brief description (not more than 300 – 500 words) of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
• Submit two recent relevant writing samples: one in Norwegian and one in English.

Step 2: Submission of Financial Proposals:

Applicants are required to submit their financial proposals in US Dollars for this consultancy, using the financial proposal template available here: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=45780   Please fill in section A I and II on p. 4. The total sum of I and II should be divided by 120 days to get the “all-inclusive daily fee” to be filled in on p. 1, e)

The proposals should be sent via email to oslo.governance.centre@undp.org with the following subject heading: “Financial Proposal Communications” by the application deadline. Proposals received after the deadline may be rejected. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal should be all-inclusive professional daily fee, and include a detailed breakdown of the cost. The term ‘all-inclusive’ implies that all costs (professional fees, assignment related travel expenses to join the duty station, communications, tax, utilities, consumables, insurance, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the financial proposal.

Criteria for selection:

Only those candidates who meet the minimum level of education and relevant years of experience requirements will be considered for the consultancy. The shortlisted candidates will be scored based on a review of their functional competencies and other criteria as described above. The candidates with the highest scores may also be invited for interviews.

Combined scoring method: where the qualifications and competencies will be weighted a max of 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a max of 30%.

Method: cumulative analysis method will be used to evaluate proposals.

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will 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 (70% of total obtainable scores):

Only those candidates who meet the minimum level of education and relevant years of experience requirements will be considered for the technical evaluation. The technical evaluation will include a desk review, and may also include interviews with shortlisted candidates.

The technical evaluation of shortlisted candidates will be done on the basis of a review of the following:

• Experience of working in the area of democratic governance and peacebuilding or a related development field (15 %)
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and Norwegian. Application, submitted brief description of suitability and writing samples will be assessed (20 %)
• Proven ability to organize and structure information. Application, submitted brief description of suitability and writing samples will be assessed (15 %)
• Computer literate in standard software applications and ability to use current social media and web 2.0 tools (10 %)
• Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure (10 %)

 Financial criteria weight: 30 (30% of total obtainable scores).

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70%) on the technical part will be considered for the financial evaluation.

Criteria for financial evaluation (30 points maximum):

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:

The award of contract will be made to the individual consultant who receives the highest combined score out of the weighted technical and financial criteria as specified above.

 GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS_INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT (IC) http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf.