The Paris Agreement on Climate Change 2015, is the world’s first global agreement to address climate change and to transition to a resilient, low-carbon economy. The goal it to limit average global temperature rise to less than 2 degrees Celsius, and ideally below 1.5 Celsius, by the end of the century. Each country submitted a contribution in terms of emission reduction targets. UNDP has been one of the leading organizations supporting countries on the design and implementation of these national climate plans through direct technical support, and capacity building through peer-to-peer knowledge sharing forums.

Under the Secretary General’s “One UN” strategy, UNDP is one of the three leading organizations on the implementation of the Paris Agreement. UNDP’s work on climate change already spans more than 140 countries and USD $2.8 billion in investments in climate change adaptation and mitigation measures since 2008. A new programme funded by the European Union, and the Governments of Germany and Spain, will help countries implement their climate commitments in the context of their development priorities. Communication to raise awareness, share knowledge and engage key stakeholders is critical for the success of UNDP’s support.

Duties and Responsibilities:

UNDP is looking for a digital communications whiz to help us share our findings and mobilize action around the Paris Agreement. As part of this process, you will take the lead on digital content production, and the management of our social media community and communication networks. You will also lead on the re-design of the program website as a core element to the successful delivery of our services.

You will be part of one of UNDP’s flagship climate change programs - a technical team focusing on inclusive governance, climate finance and private sector engagement. Working closely with the team’s communication and advocacy specialists, you will support the development of digital content, and advocacy campaigns across multiple channels. This requires superior writing and editing skills to convey technical, complex content in an easily accessible manner. You will also develop or manage production of visual assets for UNDP, including engaging presentations, social media graphics and website infographics, to advance our narrative on climate and development action.

This is an ideal opportunity to work with a technical team on cutting edge climate change advocacy issues and contribute to the One UN Climate Change Advocacy Campaigns. You will help UNDP share ideas and experiences and raise ambition for a rapid global transition to green economies. The objective of the position is to (a) lead on content production and website maintenance and redesign (b) strengthen program’s social media community and engagement on other platforms (c) support implementation of program’s communication strategy.

Content Production

• Manage content production (writing and multi-media) for visual story telling platforms and digital channels including website, newsletter and social media;
• Lead on website maintenance and re-design, including stakeholder coordination, content design and content curation;
• Create visually compelling presentations, and support production of advocacy/marketing collateral, including info graphics, memes, videos, and photos;
• Develop, edit and manage visual assets via Flickr etc.
• Coordinate work with designers, writers, and UN Volunteers as needed; 
• Advise team on how to repackage work outputs for easy sharing of ideas, experiences and achievements in real-time.

Newsletter and Social Media

• Help UNDP/United Nations in the “movement-building” to make the Paris Agreement on Climate Change a reality, using creative campaign ideas to communicate complex/technical content;
• Co-manage UNDP’s climate community on Twitter, Yammer, Youtube, LinkedIn and the website with other UNDP teams;
• Develop social media campaigns, liaise with UNDP digital team, partners and country offices as needed;
• Draft and schedule social media content for UNDP Climate and UNDP channels using existing content and messaging guidelines;
• Draft monthly newsletter to share ideas across countries, partners, donors and development institutions.

Communications Strategy

• Support refinement and roll-out of new program communications and visibility strategy; help countries amplify their achievements and lessons learned;
• Develop internal and external communications networks; pitch stories to relevant platforms;
• Draft and/or edit articles, blogs, press releases, speeches and public remarks
• Support editing and review of all program documents for consistency, accuracy, and clarity
• Manage due diligence process for new research and advocacy products to ensure quality standards and proper branding
• Support the planning and execution of communication/outreach strategy for external events

Corporate Competencies

• Excellent communications and networking skills;
• Ability to work effectively as part of a team;
• Strong interpersonal and negotiating skills;
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment; and
• Sound judgment and discretion.

Functional Competencies

• Content Production - strong drafting, editing and writing skills, to distill complex, technical content into clear and relatable content. Familiarity with visual story telling platforms.
• Social Media and Digital Content Management - ability to implement event-driven and continuous social media and web strategies, generate continuous project updates, run website CMS, basic HTML/CSS/AEM skills a plus .
• Project Coordination - ability to liaise with relevant parties, coordinate input and meet deadlines. Drive website redesign, publication production and support implementation of communication strategy.
• Design and Visualization - strong sense of aesthetics and design. Ability to translate complex content into simple visual assets (infographics, graphics, GIFs, presentation slides) and/or coordinate with multi-media designers. Ability to search for images that associate with content in a compelling way.

Education

• Minimum of a BA/BS degree, graduate degree in digital or visual communication, journalism, communications design, or similar field required; Master’s degree preferred;

Experience

• A minimum of 4 years of demonstrated experience in content management, digital/visual communications, content visualization/digital design, and social media campaigns required
• Strong writing and editing skills in English required, ability to translate technical content into clear and concise messaging required;
• Experience with content management systems (AEM/CQ5, Drupal) and visual story telling platforms required; multi-media experience a plus;
• Solid experience with social media campaigns and community engagement required;
• Experience with Canva, Adobe Photoshop, Lighthouse, InDesign, and other design software desired;
• Experience with website (re)design process a plus;
• Strong communications skills for multiple audiences, and experience with communicating technical/complex content desired;
• Familiarity with international development and climate change issues a plus;

Languages

English is the working language for this assignment; therefore, excellent oral and written communications and presentation skills in English are required; and knowledge of Spanish and/or French is an asset.

Application Procedure

The application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):

1. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects and specifying the relevant assignment period (from/to), as well as the email and telephone contacts of at least three (3) professional references.
2. A Financial Proposal is to be emailed as per the instruction in the separate email that will be sent to shortlisted candidate.

Evaluation process

Applicants are reviewed based on Required Skills and Experience stated above and based on the technical evaluation criteria outlined below.  Applicants will be evaluated based on cumulative scoring.  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:

• Being 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 where technical criteria weighs 70% and Financial criteria/Proposal weighs 30%.

Technical evaluation - Total 70% (70 points):

• Demonstrated knowledge of digital content management, digital/visual communications, content visualization/digital design - 15 points  
• Knowledge of website content management sytems (CMS), and experience with website development process and digital content production - 10 points  
• Demonstrated writing and editing skills, preferably on technical/complex issues – 15 points
• Experience with Canva, Adobe Photoshop, Lighthouse, Illustrator, InDesign, and other design software required – 10 points
• Experience with newsletter and social media campaigns – 10 points
• Practical experience in carrying out communication strategies, including project coordination - 10 points

Having reviewed applications received, UNDP will invite the top three shortlisted candidates for interview. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (700 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial evaluation - Total 30% (30 points):

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

Contract Award

Candidate obtaining the highest combined scores in the combined score of Technical and Financial evaluation will be considered technically qualified and will be offered to enter into contract with UNDP.

Duty Station, Travel and Administrative Arrangements

• The Consultant will be requested to work in New York;
• The consultant will be supervised by and report directly to the NDC Support Program Manager;
• Payments will be made upon submission of a detailed time sheet and certification of payment form, and acceptance and confirmation by the Supervisor on days worked and outputs delivered;
• The consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment;
• The consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own working station (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, etc.);
• Any necessary missions must be approved in advance and in writing by the NDC Support Program Manager Program Manager; 
• The Advanced and Basic Security in the Field II courses must be successfully completed prior to commencement of travel;
• The selected candidate is responsible for ensuring that s/he has the necessary vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director;
• The selected candidate is responsible for obtaining any visas needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP;
• Consultants are required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under https://dss.un.org/dssweb/;  
• All related travel expenses will be supported by the project travel fund and will be arranged according to UNDP entitlements and travel policy.  Costs for airfares, terminal expenses, and living allowances should not be included in financial proposal.