Background

United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s 47 least developed countries. With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development.

UNCDF has been active in the area of financial inclusion over the past 25 years, through a market development approach combining support to governments and regulators, as well as to the private sector in order to develop scalable products and services for under-served and un-banked populations.

UNCDF mission 2030 is to accelerate the development of services leveraging digital finance & innovation by providing the right balance of technical expertise and financial support to government, private & non-profit sectors & academia. UNCDF 2024 goal is to empower millions of people to use services leveraging innovation and technology that contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

UNCDF in Malaysia

In achieving UNCDF’s vision to create an inclusive digital economy, we focus on the inclusion of low to moderately low income people in Malaysia, especially women, youth, migrants, refugees, and micro and small entrepreneurs. The goal is for these segments to fully benefit from the transformational benefits that digital innovation has to offer to improve their productivity and livelihoods, and above all, meet their aspirations in life.

UNCDF also runs the Financial Innovation Lab (FinLab). Successful implementation of new ideas is most often accomplished by iterative improvements of a compelling solution to a clear problem. Research. Design. Test. Repeat.  UNCDF Malaysia thus aims to support financial service providers and tech start-ups to embrace a culture of ‘testing and learning’ and challenge them to find innovations that improve the financial health of low income people.

UNCDF is looking for a junior consultant that can assist with promoting UNCDF’s initiatives and projects in Malaysia among practitioners in the country and globally. The communications activity should contribute to raising visibility for UNCDF and stimulating thinking and inspiring action among practitioners that are in the business of making financial services work for people with low-to-moderate income people.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work:

The consultant will focus on four major work areas as below:

Writing and designing content: Assist with writing and designing content for social media, blogs, press release, newsletter, and other means of communication. This includes:

• Writing and designing promotional material for UNCDF initiatives, projects, and events;
• Creating and scheduling regular content for various social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin for UNCDF and i3 initiative;
• Creating and scheduling regular content for the FinLab newsletter;
• Writing content such as press releases and blogs for UNCDF and i3 websites and ensuring relevant webpages have up-to-date content;
• Write blog stories in collaboration with project partners;
• Provide design and editorial support for presentation decks, publications, and written materials.

Developing multimedia content: Assist with producing multimedia content such as video and animation together with external production teams.

• Assist with developing concepts and storylines, and identifying footages/audio clips that help tell the story;
• Review edited materials;
• Do simple video/animation edits. 

Event organization: Assist with organizing events such as learning events, community gatherings. This  includes:

• Managing event checklist and assisting various people involved in the organization of the event in producing deliverables before, during, and post-event;
• Managing invitation lists;  
• Managing on-the-ground logistics such as venue checks, technical set-up, etc;
• Assist with event communications before, during, and post-event such as social media, photography/videography, feedback survey, post-event summary/updates, notetaking;

Documentation, performance review, coordination, and quality control: Ensure that communication assets are up-to-date and in one place, UNCDF communication guidelines are applied to all communications materials, and coordination is done between Malaysia team and regional/global comms team and i3 initiative implementing partners.

• Regularly update list of stakeholder contacts for newsletter, events, and other key promotional activities;
• Regularly update list of all communication assets and media coverage from both internal and external channels;
• Regularly track viewership/following on social media channels and provide updates for action;
• Use search optimization tools to improve visibility online;
• Participate in UNCDF and i3 initiative communications coordination calls and follow through on action items;
• Ensure communications materials produced in Malaysia follow UNCDF communications (editorial, branding) guideline and get sign-off from regional/global communications teams before release;
• Liaise with communication specialists in other countries to keep abreast on what is happening elsewhere and what we can adopt. 

Activities and Deliverables:

Institutional Arrangement:

The primary contact for reporting for this TOR shall be the UNCDF Country Technical Specialist and global leads for knowledge management and communications.

Payment will be made upon submission of the followings:

• Deliverables as indicates in the table above;
• Submission of Certificate of work completed (indicated detail of submitted deliverables and number of days worked);

The abovementioned documents are subject to approval by UNCDF Country Technical Specialist.

Final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultant.

Location of the Work:

The consultant will be based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and will be working with a team of specialists in digital innovation, digital financial services, and insights  Travel: For 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 according to UNCDF/UNDP travel policy.

Competencies

Functional competencies:

• Excellent communication skills;
• Excellent writing skills;
• Able to convey concepts visually;
• Fluency in using social media and using analytics to measure viewership;
• Strong project and event management skills

Other competencies:

Pays attention to detail, strives for excellence, a team player, and takes initiative

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• A Bachelor’s degree in communication, journalism, linguistics/literature, marketing, business, international development or a related discipline.

Experience:

• Experience in writing and editing communications material such as press releases, blogs, newsletters, and managing social media accounts to improve visibility of initiatives and/or organizations demonstrated through sample works relevant to the position e.g. written material, tweets and other communications material produced by the applicant;
• Experience with designing communications collateral for events such as brochures and presentations, and assisting with logistics during the event;
• Experience working on initiatives related to financial inclusion and/or entrepreneurship.

Language:

• Written and spoken fluency in English is required.
• Additional language skills either in Mandarin or Malay is a plus.  

Evaluation Method and Criteria

All applications must contain the following information:

• Cover letter with a summary statement of competencies in relation to the Terms of Reference (TOR) and earliest availability;
• Curriculum Vitae;
• 3-5 sample piece of works that are relevant to the position e.g. written material, tweets and other communications material produced by the applicant; 
• Signed financial proposal for the assignment outlining: All-inclusive fee.  Available at http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=29916. No per diem or living allowance is to be quoted in the financial proposal.

Evaluation: Desk Review

Step I:  Screening & Shortlisting

The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose profile has been evaluated and determined as a) responsive/compliant/acceptable; and b) having received score of 80% and above 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 UNCDF for the assignment.

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.

• Technical Evaluation Weight - 70% x [(Desk review 100 Points X 30%) +(Written test: 100 Points x 70%)
• Financial Evaluation Weight 30% X 100 points

Screening will be done using the following eligibility criteria:

• A Bachelor’s degree in communication, linguistics/literature, journalism, marketing, business, international development or a related discipline.
• Experience in writing and editing communications material (3-5 sample of pieces of work provided) such as press releases, blogs, newsletters, and managing social media accounts to improve visibility of initiatives and/or organizations;

Shortlisting: UNCDF will shortlist at least three candidates using the following criteria (100 points)

• 80 points: Depth of experience in writing and editing relevant communications material (40 points); managing social media accounts (30 points); and assisting with the organization and with the communications part of events (10 points).
• 20 points- Experience working on initiatives related to financial inclusion or entrepreneurship.

All candidates that obtained 80% or more from the shortlisting process will be invited for the written test. 

Step II: Written test – (Maximum 100 points x 70%)

A written test will be administered to shortlisted candidates. The minimum score to pass being 70%.

 Step III: Financial Evaluation:

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal: Lowest priced proposal/price of the proposal being evaluated x 30%.

 Award Criteria:

The contract shall be awarded to the applicant whose offer have been evaluated and determined as: Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and having received the highest combined weight technical (desk review, written test) 70% + financial 30% = 100%.

Both individual consultants and individual employed by a company or institution are welcome to apply. 

Any individual employed by a company or institution who would like to submit an offer in response to a Procurement Notice for IC must do so in their individual capacity (providing a CV so that their qualifications may be judged accordingly).