UNDP’s Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction team provides technical support to deliver on, and contribute to, global policies, including efforts to achieve the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Through the NDC Support Programme - which supports countries to deliver on their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement - as well as through engagement in global policy development (COP24, Global Climate Action Summit, the 2019 Climate Summit), UNDP helps shape the climate agenda while simultaneously working with countries to deliver on ambitious commitments.

Ahead of the 2019 Climate Summit, the consultant will work with UNDP’s Climate Change and External Engagement Teams to support communications, advocacy and partnership efforts on global climate change policy and advocacy. This includes, but is not limited to, supporting the development and execution of the Pathway to Paris ‘Concert for Climate Action’ in San Francisco during the Global Climate Action Summit; engaging with media; and supporting the development of multimedia products (written, video, social media, etc.) for both the California and COP24 climate summits. Additionally, the consultant will work with the Policy Specialist in the Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction Team as well as teams in the Bureau for External Relations and Advocacy (BERA) to ensure UNDP engages fully in preparations for the 2019 Climate Summit.

The consultant is expected to produce the following deliverables over the duration of this consultancy:

Expected outputs and deliverables:

Deliverable 1: Support the development and execution of the ‘Concert for Climate Action’ at the Global Climate Action Summit in September 2019.

The consultant will work closely with UNDP and partners ‘Pathway to Paris’ to ensure that the concert is successfully developed, advertised, promoted, and executed. Specific deliverables include:

• Developing a social media plan to promote the concert ticket sales;
• Ensuring widespread promotion of the concert and key advocacy messages through mainstream media (a solid media list and background establishing media connections is an asset);
• Work with UNDP and Pathway to Paris colleagues to ensure that the concert logistics and arrangements are in place and seamlessly rolled out;
• Support efforts to fundraise and seek sponsorship for the concert and related advocacy events;
• Any other responsibilities for marketing/media/communications related to the concert as needed.

Deliverable 2: Contribute to UNDP’s communications and advocacy for both the Global Climate Action Summit in California as well as COP24 in Poland.

The consultant will support UNDP and partners to prepare and execute an external engagement and advocacy strategy that includes key messages, developing and organizing key events, mapping out advocacy objectives, and liaising with partners on elements such as media, press conferences, op-eds, and social media. 

• Support implementation of the communications and advocacy strategy (includes blogs, op-eds, video production, drafting success stories and producing multimedia such as photo essays);
• Support major events during the General Assembly/Climate Week NYC that relate to climate change. This includes the launch of the Mongolian documentary ‘Blue Gold’;
• Develop, together with UNDP colleagues, the ‘Climate 2020’ site that will include all relevant details on upcoming climate conferences and overall advocacy messages; publications; videos; blogs, etc.;
• Prepare a series of social media strategies that can begin in September 2018 and continue through to September 2019;
• Reach out to media and help coordinate interviews with key personnel, both in New York and in California.

Deliverable 3: Provide support to implementation of an Advocacy and Communications Strategy for the 2019 Climate Summit.

The consultant will support the development and implementation of advocacy, partnership and communications elements around the 2019 Climate Summit. In particular:

• Work with social media focal points from across various agencies to develop a series of social media plans that can be rolled-out over the course of a year;
• Support efforts to reach out to and build partnerships with the private sector and with major foundations. Overall aim to build a grand coalition on climate communications;
• Building on the network of climate change-focused journalists, arrange for interviews with key UN personnel, in particular Resident Coordinators and Resident Representatives, UN senior officials, etc. to help push for climate action at country level;
• Carry out detailed data collection on latest climate trends/news articles. Provide a daily overview. And help synthesize climate information into digestible articles or tweets that can be shared more broadly;
• Develop a system to collect and share success stories, videos, op-eds and blogs from UNDP Country Offices;
• Work with the Department of Public Information (DPI) at the UN Secretariat, as well as UN partners, help to roll-out a Youth Strategy that is a key part of the communications campaign

• Communication: The consultant should be able to communicate effectively in writing to a varied and broad audience in a simple and concise manner
• Professionalism: The consultant should be capable of working in a high-pressure environment with sharp and frequent deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously; Able to handle a large volume of data/information and reports accurately and thoroughly, with great attention to detail; Exercise the highest level of responsibility and be able to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner.
• Teamwork: The consultant should be able to work well in a team; Projects a positive image and is ready to take on a wide range of tasks; Focuses on results for the client; and welcomes constructive feedback
• Knowledge Management and Learning: The consultant should willingly share knowledge and experience and make contributions to UNDP practice areas (e.g., documented knowledge, community of practice building initiatives); actively develop substantive understanding and experience in one or more knowledge areas, including process and/or technical knowledge

Academic qualifications:

• Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in communications, international relations, environmental policy, or other related field is required.

Years of experience:

• At least 3 years of professional work experience in advocacy and communications is required. In particular emphasis on developing and implementing communications strategies.
• Experience in climate change policy and/or programming (this includes renewable energy) is required.
• Knowledge of UNDP’s work at country level, particularly in climate change, is an asset.
• Ability to design infographics and use relevant software (adobe, etc.) is an asset.
• Experience developing multimedia content (e.g. videos, photo essays) is an asset.
• Excellent analytical and organizational skills is an asset.

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required;
• Working knowledge of another UN language would be an asset

Application Procedure

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

• Online application with brief description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment; and
• 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.
• A portfolio of past work examples: This should include any multimedia projects that were developed - including at least 2-written pieces (blogs, op-eds), and 2-multimedia pieces (videos, photo essays, etc).

Note: The above documents need to be scanned in one file and uploaded to the online application as one document.

Shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal.

• The financial proposal should specify an all-inclusive daily fee (based on a 7-houra working day - lunch time is not included - and estimated 21.75 days per month).

• The financial proposal must be all-inclusive and take into account various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; cost of travel from the home base to the duty station and vice versa, where required; living allowances at the duty station; communications, utilities and consumables; life, health and any other insurance; risks and inconveniences related to work under hardship and hazardous conditions (e.g., personal security needs, etc.), when applicable; and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services under the contract.

• In the case of unforeseeable travel requested by UNDP, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNDP and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.
• If the Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.

The Financial Proposal is to be emailed as per the instruction in the separate email that will be sent to shortlisted candidates.

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):

• Criteria 1: Experience in developing and implementing communications strategies: Weight = 15%; Maximum Points: 15;

• Criteria 2: Experience in drafting key messages and preparing written materials (op-eds, blogs, success stories, etc.): Weight = 15%; Maximum Points: 15;

• Criteria 3: Experience in developing and supporting the execution of major events Weight = 10 %; Maximum Points: 10;

• Criteria 4: Experience in developing and undertaking social media campaigns. Weight = 10 %; Maximum Points: 10; and

• Criteria 5: Interview: Weight = 20 %; Maximum Points: 20.

Having reviewed applications received, UNDP will invite the top three/four 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 (70 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.

Institutional Arrangement:

The consultant will work under the guidance and direct supervision of Policy Specialist: Advocacy, Results Reporting and Partnerships, and will be responsible for the fulfilment of the deliverables as specified above. Consultant will work with Team Leaders on Energy, Climate Change and External Engagement, as well as with colleagues in other clusters and the Bureau for External Relations and Advocacy.  The consultant will be provided with office space

The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own laptop.

Payment Modality:

• Payment to the Individual Contractor will be made based on the actual number of days worked, deliverables accepted and upon certification of satisfactory completion by the manager.
• The work week will be based on 35 hours, i.e. on a 7 hour working day, with core hours being between 9h00 and 18h00 daily.