Background
In August 2018, UNDP in Asia and the Pacific and the European Union began work on a new project that aims to address the root causes of violent extremism and promote tolerance and respect for diversity in Southeast Asia. The project includes three major outputs:
1. Regional network of practitioners that conducts research, holds forums and develops policy recommendations for preventing violent extremism in Asia
To better understand the regional context of the specific drivers and potential mitigation strategies of violent extremism in Southeast Asia, UNDP commissioned two sub-regional analytical papers in 2016, updated in 2017. The key message to come out of both pieces of research was further analysis and partnerships are needed to ensure research is successfully transferred into policy and programming on the ground. Violent extremism in Southeast Asia poses an increasing risk yet increasing evidence shows that PVE policies that are not grounded in research or evidence can have harmful impacts on the communities they target. Furthermore, the evidence base for effective preventing violent extremism interventions is very limited. Southeast Asia is home to a large number of research institutions and policy centres working on various issues related to security, preventing violent extremism. Research in such countries remains under-resourced, disconnected, and distant from community-level PVE programming. UNDP’s Regional PVE project seeks to address these gaps by improving the research base on the issue, strengthening academic networks, and creating greater connections between research and PVE interventions in communities.
2. National policies and programmes on violent extremism developed and implemented within a human rights and gender equality framework
The UN Secretary-General’s Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism, recommends “each Member State should consider developing a national plan of action to prevent violent extremism which sets national priorities for addressing the local drivers of violent extremism”. Since 2016 UNDP has been engaging a number of countries, in the region, to develop more holistic responses to PVE. This means moving beyond a purely security-focused approach to one that addresses wider root causes. Essential to this process has been the inclusion of CSOs women, youth, civil society, and religions organizations.
UNDP has been working with the National Action Plan Taskforce (Hedayah and the Global Centre for Cooperative Security) and ASEAN to build appreciation and awareness on the importance of this holistic and inclusive approach. UNDP has engaged with the National Action Plan Taskforce to educate key individuals from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand on how a national action plan should: address drivers of extremism; promote of ownership by local non-state actors; seek the positive impact of building effective Government-Civil Society relations; promote gender and human rights consideration as key components. Furthermore, UNDP is in close contact and has signed a MOU with the United Nations Office on Counter Terrorism (UNOCT) who is the leading UN agency on terrorism related matters. UNDP organized the first regional meeting on PVE NAPs in November 2017 in Bangkok and is coordinating all national and regional efforts towards PVE strategies with UNOCT. Other partners for PVE action plan efforts in Asia and the Pacific are UNODC, UN Women, and UN Volunteers.
3. Strengthening community resilience
At the heart of efforts to prevent violent extremism it is critical to focus on empowering communities to address the social, political or economic marginalization that can act as a driver for radicalization. In recent years, the internet has become a key platform for the dissemination of extremist messaging. Extremist organizations have proven adept at using social media to expand their following, increase their presence, and create knowledge for potential terrorists. Spaces such as YouTube can offer powerful narratives and information to not only counter extremist content, but to create new ideas and solutions to the various challenges confronting societies today. Together with the European Union Delegations at the countries of implementation, UNDP will identify the relevant NGOs to work on this.
Given the localized drivers of extremism it is critical communities be given the opportunity to develop their own positive narratives to counter the influence of violent extremists. Over half a century of psychological research illustrates when communities lack opportunities to create positive identities, they are more likely to adopt identity frames that rely on discrimination and derogation of other groups.
The importance of bringing communities together to make positive contributions to the regions social, economic and political fabric will be critical in addressing radicalization and violent extremism. Technology companies such as Facebook and YouTube have changed the dynamics of how people connect, communicate and relate to each other. Both platforms are ideal for use by wide segments of the population and have a reach of influence not previously possible.
In parallel, the lack of economic opportunities for young people can open spaces for radicalization and recruitment as the lack of spaces to engage can led youth into criminal activities and therefore proximity to extremist organizations, like the case in the southern Philippines or Malaysia’s Sabah region.
Duties and Responsibilities
Objectives of the Assignment
To support the overall delivery of the Regional UNDP PVE project, the objectives of the following assignment will be to:
- Support the implementation of the National Action Plan development output of the UNDP-EU project;
- Coordinate the gender components of the PVE project including the women’s civil society organization engagement initiative and the masculinity, femininity and PVE research project;
- Assist the Research Specialist with thematic research on PVE, including data visualization
- Strengthen the coordination of PVE project knowledge management products and reports;
- Support and develop PVE concepts and initiatives related to the Strengthening Community Resilience output of the PVE project;
- Provide quality assurance to PVE written products;
- Increase outreach capacity of UNDP PVE team.
Scope of work:
The consultant will conduct the following activities under the supervision of UNDP Governance and Peacebuilding Advisor and the PVE Project Manager:
- Supporting implementation of National Action Plan development
- Coordinating the gender components of the PVE project Coordinate the gender components of the PVE project including the women’s civil society organization engagement initiative and the masculinity, femininity and PVE research project;
- Coordinating UNDP Regional PVE knowledge management including (but not limited to): donor reports, conference reports, meeting minutes, factsheets;
- Supporting the development of new PVE research, concept notes and briefing papers;
- Assisting with quality assurance on written outputs.
Institutional Arrangement
The consultant will work under supervision of UNDP’s Regional PVE Project Manager. For the effective delivery of the above outputs, the consultant will liaise with the UNDP Regional Communications Officer, and with PVE project staff in UNDP country offices.
This assignment is on a full-time Bangkok based (with occasional travel to Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines). The Consultant’s presence is required at UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub premises to work closely with the Asia-Pacific Governance and Peacebuilding Advisor and the PVE Project Manager.
Duration
The period of the assignment is estimated to be from 4 March 2019 – 6 December 2019, up to a maximum of 190 working days.
Duration and expected places of travel
The duty station will be Bangkok with occasional travel to Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Competencies
Corporate Competencies:
- Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
- Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
- Treats all people fairly without favouritism.
Technical Competencies:
- Analytic capacity and demonstrated ability to process, analyse and synthesise complex, technical information;
- Proven ability to support the development of high quality knowledge and training materials, and to train technical teams;
- Proven experience in the developing country context and working in different cultural settings.
Communication:
- Communicate effectively in writing to a varied and broad audience in a simple and concise manner.
Professionalism:
- Capable of working in a high pressure environment with sharp and frequent deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously;
- Excellent analytical and organizational skills.
Teamwork:
- Projects a positive image and is ready to take on a wide range of tasks;
- Focuses on results for the client;
- Welcomes constructive feedback.
Required Skills and Experience
The consultant should possess the following expertise and qualifications:
Education:
- Master’s Degree, or equivalent preferably in political science, human rights, security, or other relevant social science studies.;
Experience:
- Some experience working in the area of preventing violent extremism, human rights, peace and security and/or peacebuilding;
- Experience working on gender and peacebuilding/preventing violent extremism;
- Ability to produce concept notes and reports on topics relating to preventing violent extremism
- Excellent report writing and communications skills in English;
- Experience working in Southeast Asia
- Experience working on communications and content management
Language:
- Fluency in written and spoken English.
Financial Proposal:
In accordance with the requirements above, the duration of this assignment is maximum days. Consultant shall quote an all-inclusive Daily Fee in US dollars for the contract period. The term “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables, etc.) that could be incurred by the consultant in completing the assignment are already factored into the daily fee submitted in the proposal. If applicable, travel or daily allowance cost (if any work is to be done outside the IC’s duty station) should be identified separately.
Payments shall be done on a monthly basis based on actual days worked, upon verification of completion of deliverables and approval by the IC’s supervisor of a Time Sheet indicating the days worked in the period.
In general, UNDP shall 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
In the event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.
Travel costs shall be reimbursed at actual but not exceeding the quotation from UNDP approved travel agent. The provided living allowance will not be exceeding UNDP DSA rates. Repatriation travel cost from home to duty station in Bangkok and return shall not be covered by UNDP.
Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer:
The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as a) responsive/compliant/acceptable; and b) having received the highest score out of set of weighted technical criteria (70%). and financial criteria (30%). Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment.
Technical Criteria for Evaluation (100 points)
- Criteria 1: Relevance of Education – Max 20 points
- Criteria 2: Relevance working experience in the area of gender, preventing violent extremism, human rights, peace and security and/or peacebuilding - Max 30 Points
- Criteria 3: Excellent report writing and communications skills in English – Max 20 points
- Criteria 4: Experience working on communications and content management - Max 20 Points
- Criteria 5: Availability – Max 10 Points
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% of the total technical criteria points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.
Documents to be included when submitting The Proposals.
Candidates wishing to be considered for this assignment are required to submit the following documents interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document:
- 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 daily rate/fee of the candidate, in US dollars.
Incomplete proposals may not be considered. The shortlisted candidates may be contacted and the successful candidate will be notified.
ANNEXES
Annex I - TOR Junior Consultant in Preventing Violent Extremism
Annex II- General Conditions of Contract for Individual Consultant
Annex IV - Procurement Notice _TOR Junior Consultant in Preventing Violent Extremism
Annex V – P11 for ICs_(optional)
All documents can be downloaded at : http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=53015