Background

Since 1990 the Human Development Report Office (HDRO) has produced the Human Development Report (HDR), the UNDP flagship publication and which is well known in the international development community. The Report consists of a thematic narrative section followed by statistical back matter comprising a large number of statistical indicator tables. The Report is produced in six UN Official languages and distributed to more than 100 UNDP Country Offices. The HDRO also produces other publications, including the Human Development Perspectives series, the Multidimensional Poverty Index Report, and different background and technical papers.

The online and digital team within HDRO is responsible for: 1/ managing the production and publication of the HDR and other publications, 2/ developing and implementing HDRO's online and digital strategy, which includes continuous creative development and management of HDRO's high-traffic corporate web site and its content, development of innovative digital products and platforms including mobile, online microsites, digital data products and dashboards, interactive data visualizations, and others, and 3/ advising on industry standards and practices.

The Consultant is part of the online and digital team. Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Production and Online/Digital Manager, the Consultant will assist with the coordination of publications (translation, distribution), and digital project management. The Consultant will be involved in the following tasks:

1. Provide coordination of the translation of the Report and Overview 

• Draft and continuously update schedules and timelines and monitor progress
• Coordinate translations with multiple external translation vendors to achieve milestones and deliverables on time
• Coordinate quality assurance process with external language experts and reviewers
• Help clear and manage multiple invoices to ensure timely and accurate invoice processing.

2. Provide end-to-end coordination of the HDR distribution to UNDP Country Offices for the Global Launch 

• Help prepare and test the e-commerce site, ensuring functionality
• Coordinate technical modifications and implement necessary rules and processes for smooth report distribution with the print/distribution vendor
• Act as a focal point for all UNDP country offices, review and ensure payments, respond to queries and authorize shipments
• Monitor dissemination of the HDR, and keep track of multiple shipping invoices
• Maintain inventory of global reports; prepare and submit semi-annual Inventory Reporting of the publications to BMS

3. Provide coordination support for digital projects

• Support preparation of project requirement documents and project schedule and monitor progress 
• Work with external vendors (e.g., digital agencies and contractors) on specialized projects and coordinate to achieve objectives, milestones, and deliverables on time
• Ensure HDRO website functions smoothly, brainstorming and helping implement new ideas for better user experience
• Ensure quality standards are met

Duties and Responsibilities

Coordinate translation of the HDR and other publications (40%)

• Coordinate the translation of the HDR and its Overview into six languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese)
• Draft translation schedules, and monitor implementation
• Coordinate the flow of files between translation vendors, quality assurance reviewers, and the HDRO team, and ensure deadlines and quality requirements are met.
• Coordinate the preparation of key terminologies for translation.
• Report to the Supervisor consistently and continuously on the status of projects and schedule and proactively identify, communicate, and mitigate translation bottlenecks.
• Keep track of editorial changes in the English version, and communicate changes to translation vendors and reviewers.
• Spot check translated files in PDF to ensure that pagination and content are correct.
• Coordinate translation and quality assurance of the MPI Report into French and Spanish.
• As necessary, provide support in proofreading text and other material.
• Manage all incoming invoices to ensure timely and accurate invoice processing.

Coordinate distribution of the HDR (40%)

• Handle the local and global distribution of the HDR and related materials to UNDP partners and Country Offices, ensuring timely delivery.
• Oversee the preparation and testing the online distribution system, 
• Proactively identify, communicate and mitigate distribution-related issues (e.g, late shipments) and propose solutions.
• Communicate with the distribution vendor, ensure compliance with agreed schedules.
• Prepare inventory reports for BMS, and keep track of all shipping invoices. 

Support coordination of digital projects (20%)

• Support continued creative development of HDRO digital products and platforms, including the HDRO's website, interactive online stories, mobile application, and data microsite.
• Support procurement of services and coordination of digital projects including the corporate website: web design, user experience improvements and search engine optimization, online and digital versions of the HDR, mobile application, data microsite, and others.
• Review and edit web content before publishing and perform quality assurance
• Prepare usage and analytics reports
• Contribute to other activities and provide support for other tasks as assigned by the Supervisor.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity;
• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
• Self-development, initiative-taking;
• Acting as a team player and facilitating teamwork;
• Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively;
• Creating synergies through collaboration;
• Managing conflict;
• Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others (Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member), and
• Informed and transparent decision making.

Functional competencies:

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise: Fundamental knowledge of processes, methods and procedures

• Knowledge and understanding of publishing and communication work and/or marketing;
• Understands the main processes and methods of work regarding to the position;
• Possesses basic knowledge of organizational policies and procedures relating to the position and applies them consistently in work tasks;
• Strives to keep job knowledge up-to-date through self-directed study and other means of learning, and
• Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments.

Client Orientation: Maintains effective client relationships

• Ability to work effectively in teams, with tight deadlines and under pressure
• Ability to build strong relationships with both internal and external actors
• Strong client orientation
• Reports to internal and external clients in a timely and appropriate fashion;
• Organizes and prioritizes work schedule to meet client needs and deadlines;
• Establishes, builds and sustains effective relationships within the work unit and with internal and external clients, and
• Responds to client needs promptly.

Innovation and Marketing New Approaches: Implementing processes and uses products

• Documents and tracks innovative strategies/best practices/new approaches, and
• Responds positively to new approaches

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent in communications, project management, marketing/public relations, social sciences, or related fields.

Experience:

• Minimum two years of relevant professional work experience in project management and coordination of multi-party projects.
• Demonstrated experience in project coordination, scheduling and quality assurance is required. 
• Experience with web content management systems (CMS) and MS Office is required.
• Experience with digital project management and Drupal content management system is desirable.
• Familiarity with human development terminologies is desirable.
• Experience within the UN System/UNDP is an asset.

Language:

• Proficiency in English with excellent editing and writing skills is required.
• Working knowledge of French and/or Spanish is an asset.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on UNDP's 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 weighted technical (70%) and financial (30%) criteria.

The criteria which shall serve as basis for evaluating offers will be a combined scoring method as follows:

• Technical (based on CV/ desk review and review of publications) – 70%
• Financial (fee) proposal (30%)

Only Individual Consultants obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70%) on the Technical evaluation would be considered for the Financial 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.

Application procedures:

• Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website.

The application should contain:

• Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised consultancy.  Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application;
• Signed CV that includes your past experience in similar projects and contact details of references

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document (named CV).