Background
The Regional Electoral Support Project for Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is part of the Global Project for Electoral Cycle Support (GPECS), which is UNDP main instrument for contributing to the formulation and implementation of electoral policy. The GPECS consists of country, regional, global and gender components that sustainably support policy development, knowledge management and programme support and that use a process-driven approach rather than an event-driven one. In particular, the GEPCS adopts an electoral cycle approach –as opposed to election day- looking at the electoral process over time, while seeking also to integrate electoral assistance into a wider framework of democratic governance and peacebuilding, as well as to engage with different actors throughout the cycle. The overall goal to which GPECS contributes is towards deepening democracy and accelerating human development.
The regional component of the GPECS is carried out with the support of the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). Its overall aim is to improve accountability, participation and representation in the electoral and political processes in the Arab States by raising awareness and enhancing knowledge and capacity on elections and broader democratic governance topics throughout the region, as well as supporting civic engagement. The project provides expanded technical assistance to institutions, electoral stakeholders, and civil society on electoral issues. Some of the partners the project engages with include the newly established Arab Electoral Management Bodies and the Electoral Affairs Department of the League of Arab States.
Against this background, the project is seeking a consultant to proofread copyedit and translate of different UNDP documents. The Consultant will work under the management of Regional Electoral Advisor and the direct guidance of the Regional Electoral Policy specialist.
Duties and Responsibilities
Under the overall supervision of Regional Electoral Advisor and the direct guidance of the Regional Electoral Policy specialist, the selected candidate, contracted under IC contract modality, will support the Regional Electoral Support project with the following main responsibilities:
- Translate, proofread and copyedit the project’s publications and documents
- Create and edit charts and graphs as needed
- Ensure the fluidity linguistic correctness and terminology issues of the text
- Review and homogenize style both in terms of linguistic and production (i.e., fonts, distances, citations, etc.).
Competencies
Corporate
- Demonstrates integrity and fairness, by modeling the UN/UNDP’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.
Functional
- Solid experience in facilitation high level meetings;
- Background knowledge about the SDGs, United Nations and UNDP;
- Demonstrates ability in conducting creative-thinking and innovation learning events;
- Good teamwork and interpersonal skills;
- Flexibility and ability to handle multiple tasks and work under pressure;
- Excellent computer skills especially Word, Excel and Power Point, Email;
Leadership
- Demonstrated ability to think strategically and to provide credible leadership;
- Demonstrated intellectual leadership and ability to integrate knowledge with broader strategic overview and corporate vision;
- Demonstrated flexibility in leadership by performing and/or overseeing the analysis/resolution of complex issues;
- Strong managerial/leadership experience and decision-making skills with proven track record of mature judgments;
- Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision from the spectrum of development experience.
Managing Relationships
- Demonstrated well developed people management and organizational management skills;
- Excellent negotiating and networking skills with strong partnerships in academia, technical organizations and as a recognized expert in the practice area;
- Strong resource mobilization and partnering skills and ability to accept accountability for management of large volume of financial resources.
Managing Complexity
- Ability to address global development issues;
- Substantive knowledge and understanding of development cooperation with the ability to support the practice architecture of UNDP and inter-disciplinary issues;
- Demonstrated substantive leadership and ability to integrate knowledge with broader strategic, policy and operational objectives;
- A sound global network of institutional and individual contacts.
Knowledge Management and Learning
- Ability to strongly promote and build knowledge products;
- Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example;
- Seeks and applies knowledge, information and best practices from within and outside of UNDP;
- Provides constructive coaching and feedback;
- Demonstrates a strong capacity for innovation and creativity in providing strategic policy advice and direction.
Judgment/Decision-Making
- Mature judgment and initiative;
- Proven ability to provide strategic direction to the project implementation process;
- Independent judgment and discretion in advising on handling major policy issues and challenges, uses diplomacy and tact to achieve result.
Required Skills and Experience
Academic qualification:
- Master’s Degree in Arabic, Translation or related fields.
Work Experience
- International/regional experience in producing election resources.
- A minimum of seven-years professional experience, preferably in the field Arabic editing and teaching Arabic
- One year of experience working with a UN agency and any relevant international organization;
- Experience working in the Arab Region within the electoral field
Language Requirements
- Language proficiency in both written and oral English and Arabic.
SCOPE OF PRICE AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS
Payments will be made based on the number of days worked and upon completion and approved time sheet following the submission of the relevant Certification of Payment (CoP) duly certified as well as confirmation of satisfactory performance of achieved work and upon completed time sheet on monthly basis
INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT
- The individual is required to exhibit his or her full-time commitment with the UNDP Regional Electoral Advisor;
- S/He shall perform tasks under the guidance of the UNDP Regional Electoral Advisor;
- The supervision will include approvals/acceptance of the outputs as identified in previous sections. The supervisor will approve the deliverables/outputs for payment upon their technical clearance by the Regional Communication Advisor;
- The individual is expected to liaise and collaborate in the course of performing the work with other consultants, stakeholders and UN colleagues;
- S/He will report to and consult with the UNDP Regional Electoral Advisor on regular and needed basis at any period throughout the assignment. Reports shall be prepared by the expert on the basis of specific requirements;
- The individual is required to maintain close communication with the UNDP Regional Electoral Advisor on regular and needed basis at any period throughout the assignment in order to monitor progress. In the event of any delay, S/He will inform UNDP promptly so that decisions and remedial action may be taken accordingly. Delays that would affect the flow of the collaborative work and the delivery of outputs on schedule will lead to termination of contract Should UNDP deem it necessary, it reserves the right to commission additional inputs, reviews or revisions, as needed to ensure the quality and relevance of the work.
Financial proposal
All proposals must be expressed in a daily unit rate/day fees must be “all-inclusive”. Please note that the terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables, etc.).
Travel cost shall be paid when travel take place. In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed upon UNDP IC rules and regulations
DURATION OF THE WORK
The duration of the work is 60 days over a period extending from 20 September 2019 till 31 March 2020 (6 months).
DUTY STATION
- Home Based
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;
- At least three work samples of previous work;
- 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.
If an 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 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.
Please do not submit financial proposal in this stage. Financial proposal shall be requested from responsive offers.
Interested candidates shall submit above documents to the Job Advertisement Website: https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm as one document not later than 28th August 2019.
- Interested candidates can find Procurement notice, letter of confirmation of interest and availability and P11 http://procurement-notices.undp.org/
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:
- Master’s Degree in Arabic, Translation or related fields;
- At least 7 years of relevant regional professional experience;
- Language proficiency in both written and oral English and Arabic.
Shortlisted Candidates will be then assessed and scored against the following evaluation criteria noting that an interview will be conducted to the shortlisted candidates.
Technical evaluation Criteria - max 100 points (Weighted 70):
- Experience working in the Arab Region within the electoral field. (30 points);
- Prior experience working with the UN in the electoral domain (20 points);
- At least 7 years of relevant professional experience, preferably in Arabic and translation; (20 points);
- Samples of previous related works; (30 points);
Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation
For those offers considered in the financial evaluation, the lowest price offer will receive 30 points.
The other offers will receive points in relation to the lowest offer, based on the following formula:
(PI / Pn) * 30 where Pn is the financial offer being evaluated and Pl is the lowest financial offer received.
Step II: Final evaluation
The final evaluation will combine the scores of desks review, and financial proposal with the following weights assigned to each:
Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis methodology (weighted scoring method), where 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 technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.
Technical Criteria weight: [70%]
Financial Criteria weight: [30%]
Only Individual Consultants obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70%) on the Technical Evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.