The conflict in Syria has caused the largest displacement of people in recent times, and has severely strained the economic and social systems and related institutions in neighbouring countries. The absence of a prospect for positive solution to the Syrian crisis and the significant influx of refugees brought substantial stress to the hosting societies and communities.

The multifaceted nature of the conflict has challenged standard conflict resolution mechanisms as well as traditional responses to protracted crisis. How the countries in the region cope with the lengthening conflict in Syria and the unprecedented demographic shock and what can be done to improve international burden sharing are therefore questions of regional and international concern.

Host communities and host countries are faced with many challenges and questions about how best to cope with the situations they face. Whether living in formal or informal shelters and housing, or hosted by the community, many refugees are suffering from loss of income, loss of productive means and disrupted livelihoods. Host communities and other affected communities may be facing pressure on services, the local economy and rule of law. Given the signs that refugee populations are unlikely to be able to return safely to their homes or new settlement areas in Syria in the near future, national and international partners have started exploring alternative scenarios to effectively address the long-term impact of the unprecedented demographic shock.

There is a general recognition that prevailing policies on refugees’ status in host communities were developed under the assumption of an early solution to the conflict in Syria, which implied a rapid voluntary repatriation to their home country. The reality has shown the opposite. One area where improvements are possible is in regulatory frameworks and practices regarding residency, access to employment and services, and access to national and local social safety-nets. The legal status of refugees, local regulations and other formal and informal practices can all act as bottlenecks to refugees’ access to assistance, especially those residing in host-communities (which is the large majority). More importantly, some approaches and practice can limit the opportunities of refugees to access livelihood opportunities and to benefit from basic public services. In general, addressing such bottlenecks can reduce the longer-term financial costs and burdens of crisis response. However, circumstances vary from country to country and what would produce the best improvements in one location may be quite different from another.

The Sub-Regional Response Facility (SRF) is helping develop a resilience-based development response, to improve sub-regional coordination, enhance cost-effectiveness, and harmonize a comprehensive, multi-country response under the leadership of the governments of Syria’s neighbours – Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt.

Under the Supervision of the Policy and Crisis-Coordination Specialist, the consultant will be responsible for reviewing, organizing and editing material for a regional policy report. The consultant will also oversee the technical editing and copy-editing of all sections of the report for readability and consistency.

Deliverables and results:

Reviewing, organizing and editing

• Conduct one comprehensive review of all report chapters; editing all chapters and narrative sections with a view to ensure the following: clarity and continuity of the argument and resilience-based focus of the Report
• Clarity of the structure and core themes of the Report
• Internal consistency, both analytical and stylistic
• General readability and accessibility to a broad regional readership

Technical editing and copy-editing

• Technical editing and copy-editing of the Report, analysis and statistical tables in close consultation with the UNDP SRF team, consultants and lead authors
• Special attention will be paid to the role of boxes, graphics and tables, the objective being to bring the different components of the draft seamlessly into a single report
• The editor should also suggest concise and catchy titles for those elements
• The technical editing and copy-editing will concentrate on flow and clarity of argument, sequencing, consistency, especially between text and tables and figures and integration of text and boxes, content errors, style and punctuation, spelling and grammar
• The editor will ensure that the statistical data used and referenced in the text are consistent with the data in the respective tables, figures, charts and maps as well as with the indicator tables

Proofreading

Once the report has been copy-edited and laid out, the editor will perform one or more rounds of proofreading, checking spelling, country, and city names as well as acronyms and other abbreviations (making sure that they follow official UN terminology and conventions), style consistency, callouts, layout problems, reference, etc 

Corporate competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the United Nations
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism

Functional Competencies

• Strong knowledge of development and humanitarian issues;
• Ability to advocate and articulate clear messages;
• Ability to work in a high pressure work environment with frequent urgent deadlines;
• High level logical and methodical organizational skills;
• Focuses on impact and result for the client;
• Interacts effectively with a diversity of stakeholders;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors;
• Demonstrates openness to change;
• Responds positively to critical feedback and differing points of view.

Management and Leadership

• Focuses on impact and result for the client
• Interacts effectively with all levels of the organization
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
• Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors
• Demonstrates exceptional ability to remain calm, in control and good humored even under pressure and tight deadlines
• Demonstrates openness to change
• Responds positively to critical feedback and differing points of view

Education:

• Bachelor’s Degree, ideally Master's, in international development, communications , public policy, international relations or related studies.

 Professional Experience:

• At least 7 years of relevant work experience as an English Writer/Editor;
• Previous experience with UN agencies;
• Proven experience in copy editing reports on development/resilience policy and current UN response frameworks or similar.
• Strong contextual knowledge of humanitarian/development situations in Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq.

 Language Skills:

• Fluency in English

Functional / Technical Knowledge: 

• Excellent written communication skills in English, including editing and proof reading;
• Excellent time management and ability to produce outputs as per agreed deadlines.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS.

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Candidates that fail to submit the required information will not be considered.

• Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
• Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per the table given in section D. template provided. 

All necessary information including: Complete Procurement Notice, The Selection Criteria, and Annexes are found on the following link under Procurement http://procurement-notices.undp.org/

Interested candidate shall apply the CV/P11 to Job advertisement website, hence consultant should submit to email:  Proc.contract.rscjo@undp.org : not later than Friday 2 August, 2018

following documents:

• CV/P11
• Confirm availability and financial proposal
• Sample piece of work: at least 3 three pages of published English material that the candidate has authored or copy edited.
• Brief description of why you consider yourself as the most suitable for the assignment

FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

Interested candidates should provide lump sum fees for requested services with detailed breakdown (consultancy fees, * number of working days)

EVALUATION

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Step I: Screening and desk review:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.

Applications will be first screened and only candidates meeting the following minimum criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting:

• Bachelor’s Degree, ideally Master's, in international development, public policy, international relations or related studies.
• At least 7years of relevant work experience as a Writer/Editor;

Shortlisted Candidates will be then assessed and scored against the following evaluation criteria.

Evaluation of Candidates (max 100 points):

• At least 7 years of relevant work experience as an English Writer/Editor; 35%
• Previous experience with UN agencies; 25%
• Proven experience in copy editing reports on development/resilience policy and current UN response frameworks or similar; 20%
• Strong contextual knowledge of humanitarian/development situations in Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq. 20%

Step II: Final evaluation

The final evaluation will combine the scores of desk review and financial proposal with the following weights assigned to each:

• Shortlisting: 70%;
• Financial proposal: 30%