Background

UNDP is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP’s policy work carried out at HQ, Regional and Country Office levels forms a contiguous spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in the Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of field-based and global technical expertise across a wide range of knowledge domains and in support of the signature solutions and organizational capabilities envisioned in the Strategic Plan.

Within the GPN, the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. BPPS staff provides technical advice to Country Offices; advocates for UNDP corporate messages; represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora, including public-private, government and civil society dialogues; and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. BPPS works closely with UNDP’s Crisis Bureau (CB) to support emergency and crisis response. BPPS ensures that issues of risk are fully integrated into UNDP’s development programmes. BPPS assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results-based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working.  BPPS supports UNDP and partners to be more innovative, knowledge and data driven including in its programme support efforts.

Nature, Climate and Energy Team

UNDP’s 2018-2021 Strategic Plan emphasizes the critical links between environmental sustainability, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and broader efforts to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda and Paris Agreement. As part of the Global Policy Network in the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, UNDP’s Nature, Climate Change, and Energy (NCE) Team promotes and scales up integrated whole-of-governance approaches and nature-based solutions that reduce poverty and inequalities, strengthen livelihoods and inclusive growth, mitigate conflict, forced migration and displacement, and promote more resilient governance systems that advance linked peace and security agendas.

The NCE Team works with governments, civil society, and private sector partners to integrate natural capital, environment and climate concerns into national and sector planning and inclusive growth policies; support country obligations under Multilateral Environmental Agreements; and implement the UN’s largest portfolio of in-country programming on environment, climate change, and energy. This multi-billion dollar portfolio encompasses: Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services including forests; Sustainable Land Management and Desertification including food and commodity systems; Water and Ocean Governance including SIDS; Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation; Renewable and Modern Energy; Extractive Industries; Chemicals and Waste Management; Environmental Governance and Green/Circular Economy and SCP approaches. This work advances crosscutting themes on innovative finance, digital transformation, capacity development, human rights, gender equality, health, technology, and South-South learning.

In addition to UNDP’s bilateral partnerships on natural capital, environment and climate, UNDP is an accredited multilateral implementing agency of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Multilateral Fund (MLF), the Adaptation Fund (AF) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) which  includes the Global Environment Facility Trust Fund (GEF Trust Fund); the Nagoya Protocol Implementation Fund (NPIF); the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF); and the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF)). As part of UNDP’s partnership with these vertical funds, UNDP provides countries specialized integrated technical services for eligibility assessment, programme formulation, capacity development, policy advice, technical assistance, training and technology transfer, mobilization of co-financing, implementation oversight, results management and evaluation, performance-based payments and knowledge management services.

 The Sida-UNDP strategic Collaboration Programme

The Government of Sweden, through Sida, has agreed to fund a four-year, USD$40m global Strategic Collaboration Programme designed to strengthen UNDP capacities to achieve its overall SD vision for poverty eradication through a more integrated, coherent approach to the environmental and climate dimensions of the UNDP Strategic Plan. Sida funds will be used to augment the delivery of programming and policy support to countries in ways that leverage synergies across UNDP’s technical service delivery options.

The Sida-UNDP Strategic Collaboration Programme is grounded in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Paris Agreement, Addis Ababa Action Agenda, and multilateral environmental conventions and agreements. It includes an overarching priority on poverty eradication and an understanding of the many direct links between multidimensional poverty and natural resource management.

The Programme covers three main complementary areas of strategic collaboration, which also encompass nexus issues such as sustainable food systems, and a closely linked set of cross-cutting themes around gender and women’s empowerment, conflict sensitivity, and finance. The three main thematic areas are:

• Sustainable management and use of ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural capital;
• Sustainable water and ocean governance; and
• Scaling up climate action for sustainable development.

The priorities of the Programme aim to advance a more integrated, programmatic and strategic approach that strengthens the environmental dimension of UNDP’s overall sustainable development vision. This will involve a medium to long-term process that strengthens UNDP internal institutional capacities to deliver on its Strategic Plan and operationalize its newly formed Global Policy Network (GPN), while in turn also enabling UNDP and partners to more effectively and efficiently deliver on-the-ground results. In this way, this Programme will ensure better dialogue, stronger partnerships, and a more coherent set of country-focused sustainable development solutions.    

The joint Swedish EPA-UNDP Environmental Governance Programme – Mining (EGP)

EGP is a global programme jointly implemented by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and UNDP.  The EGP is fully funded by Sida. Phase one of the EGP (2014-2019) has just finished and the Phase two of the Programme will run from 2020-2023 and provide targeted support to 8-10 countries, as well as lighter support to many others through EGP’s global work.

The EGP works with ministries of mining and environment, EPAs, National Human Rights Commissions, civil society, communities and the private sector to integrate environmental and social concerns and human rights-based approaches into the governance of the mining sector.

This includes support for large, medium and small-scale mining across all stages of the mining cycle from initial environmental and social impact assessments and licensing through closure.

EGP works at the national and community level to advance environmentally and socially responsible mining through the following areas of technical assistance and capacity building: 

•  strengthen and ensure coherence across legal and policy frameworks;
• conduct rule-of-law, governance, and strategic environmental impact assessments;
• strengthen public institutional capacities for policy design, implementation, and oversight;
• facilitate and strengthen stakeholder engagement through dialogue platforms and linked monitoring, accountability and conflict prevention mechanisms; and
• protect substantive and procedural rights including access to information and participation.

At the global and regional level, the EGP supports a global community of practice; influences and informs major fora and policy debates; facilitates platforms for advocacy and awareness raising, training, South-South learning, and peer-to-peer exchanges; and curates a range of knowledge management resources around the human rights, environment and mining nexus.

These workstreams in Phase 1 have included a focus on:

• co-organizing with IISD the annual global Intergovernmental Forum on Mining;
• co-facilitating with the World Bank GOXI - a global e-platform on sustainable mining;
• supporting implementation of the African Vision on Mining and LAC Escazu agreement; and
• designing and applying demand-driven policy guides, training courses, and webinars.

Phase 2 will replicate Phase 1 good practices while providing expanded and deeper technical support to additional countries and linked sustainable development themes in line with Sida, SEPA and UNDP corporate priorities, comparative advantages and complementary initiatives.

It will continue to support Phase 1 countries, i.e. Colombia, Mongolia, Kenya and Mozambique. It will also provide additional technical support to a new set of countries, e.g. Kyrgyzstan, Namibia, Ecuador, Argentina, Peru and Liberia, and others supported through ongoing EGP global activities. Phase 2 will also have a greater focus on the following SD themes and cross-cutting issues:  water, soil, air and noise pollution; health; biodiversity loss and climate change; socio-environmental conflicts; and gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Phase 2 Partnerships and Resource Mobilization

EGP will deepen collaboration and co-financing with complementary UNDP projects including:

• GEF Gold, GEF Small Grants Programme, and other projects on the Minamata convention;
• ACP-EU Development Minerals Projects;
• Green Commodities Programme and related programming on forestry, PEM and safeguards;
• Rule of Law and Human Rights Global Programme: Youth Programme;
• Sida Strategic Collaboration Framework Programme and linked Climate Promise.

The EGP will continue to collaborate with sister UN Agencies including UNEP, UNITAR, UN Women, OHCHR, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Environment, and the World Bank.

EGP will also deepen its collaboration with international partners including: The Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development hosted by IISD; Folke Bernadotte Academy; Canadian International Resources and Development Institute; Environmental Law Institute; Stockholm Resilience Center; CISDL; and Lund University.

Duties and Responsibilities

SCOPE OF WORK, RESPONSIBILITIES AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ANALYTICAL WORK

The consultant will work closely with the Sida Programme and EGP teams to provide support to and improve the visibility of the Sida Programme and EGP in order to strengthen impact, partnerships, and implementation and to maximize resource mobilization through the following:

1. Contribute to the development and implementation of a three-year communications strategy and workplan for both the Sida Programme and EGP.
2. Design and promote regular newsletters (every other month);
3. Develop success stories, with a focus on pilot country work, and regularly share these with Sida and other relevant partners;
4. Identify and curate content for regular sharing on UNDP’s internal COP, including blogs, videos, graphics and social media updates;
5. Identify and share lessons learned and best practices from programme implementation and results, with a focus on the impact of integrated pilot country programming;
6. Regular contributions to UNDP’s social media account and web;
7. Upkeep of EGP website
8. Contribute to developing a yearly workplan for GOXI;
9. Light moderation of GOXI;
10. Support to annual reporting to Sida;
11. Communications support to meetings and events, including prep of material and support to video conferences/recording.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies

• Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s vision, mission and values;
• 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 favoritism;
• Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Technical Competencies:

• Ability to provide guidance on communications strategies;
• Knowledge of methodologies, tools, and platforms to plan, monitor, and evaluate communications products;
• Ability to efficiently handle and share information and knowledge;
• Ability to plan, organize, motivate, and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals;
• Knowledge of energy and climate change mitigation issues;

Functional Competencies

Project/Programme Management

• Ability to productively share UNDP knowledge and activities (at UN and other venues).
• Client Orientation, Professionalism, and Communications
• Ability to make new and useful ideas work;
• Ability to improve performance and satisfaction;
• Ability to listen, adapt, persuade, and transform;
• Capable of working in a high-pressure environment with sharp deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously;
• Exercise the highest level of responsibility and be able to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

Master's degree in communications, journalism or another relevant field is required

Experience:

• At least 5 years of professional experience working on different aspects of communications such as media relations, content production, community of practice management and social media management required;
• Minimum 3 years of previous experience working on sustainable development issues including mining, environmental practices, green corporate social responsibility or similar field) required
• At least 2 years of Demonstrated experience with donor relations and resource mobilization required
• Demonstrated experience in using different communications tools and platforms required;
• Demonstrated success of communication products from past assignment required.
• Please attach or provide links to 2 samples of previous work in your application
• Demonstrated experience in developing, producing, and editing videos an asset;
• Previous UNDP experience is an asset
• Strong oral and written communication skills in both English and Swedish is a requirement.

Language:

• Native level oral and written communication and presentations skills in English required (Pass/Fail);

Application Procedure

The application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):

• A cover letter with a brief description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment;
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects and specifying the relevant assignment period (from/to), as well as the email and telephone contacts of at least three (3) professional references;

Note: The above documents need to be scanned in one file and uploaded to the online application as one document.

Shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal.

• The financial proposal should specify an all-inclusive daily fee (based on a 7-hour working day - lunch time is not included - and estimated 21.75 days per month).
• The financial proposal must be all-inclusive and take into account various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; (excluding mission travel); living allowances at the duty station; communications, utilities and consumables; life, health and any other insurance; risks and inconveniences related to work under hardship and hazardous conditions (e.g., personal security needs, etc.), when applicable; and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services under the contract.
• This consultancy is a home-based assignment, therefore, there is envisaged travel cost to join duty station/repatriation travel.Travel costs to duty station should be included in the daily rate.
• In the case of unforeseeable travel requested by UNDP, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNDP and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. In general, UNDP should 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.
• A mission to one EGP country, Sida Programme pilot country, or Geneva may be required in 2020. Any necessary missions must be approved in advance and in writing by the Supervisors;

• Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the Medical DIrector;

• Consultants are responsible for obtaining any visas and security clearances needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP;

• The Consultant is required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under https://dss.un.org/dssweb/  ;    

• The consultant will be responsible for making his/her own mission travel arrangements in line with UNDP travel policies;

• All related travel expenses will be supported by UNDP funds and will be reimbursed as per UNDP rules and regulations for consultants.  Costs for mission airfares, terminal expenses, insurance, and living allowances should not be included in financial proposal.  

If the 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 a 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.

The Financial Proposal is to be emailed as per the instruction in the separate email that will be sent to shortlisted candidates.

Evaluation process

Applicants are reviewed based on Required Skills and Experience stated above and based on the technical evaluation criteria outlined below.  Applicants will be evaluated based on cumulative scoring.  When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Being responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation where technical criteria weighs 70% and Financial criteria/ Proposal weighs 30%.

Technical evaluation - Total 70% (70 points):

Desk review: 50 points

• Criteria 1. At least 5 years of professional experience working on different aspects of communications such as media relations, content production, community of practice management and social media management; Maximum Points: 20;

• Criteria 2: At least 3 years of previous experience working on sustainability related issues including mining, environmental practices, green economy, corporate social responsibility) an advantage; Maximum Points: 15;

• Criteria 3. At least 2 years of demonstrated experience with donor relations and resource mobilization: Maximum Points: 15;

Having reviewed applications received, UNDP will invite the top three shortlisted candidates for interview. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

• Interview: Maximum Points: 20.

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (70 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial evaluation - Total 30% (30 points)

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

• p = y (µ/z), where
• p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
• y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal
• µ = price of the lowest priced proposal
• z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Contract Award

Candidate obtaining the highest combined scores in the combined score of Technical and Financial evaluation will be considered technically qualified and will be offered to enter into contract with UNDP.

Institutional arrangement

The consultant will work under the guidance and direct supervision of UNDP EGP/Sida Programme Project Manager and the Swedish EPA staff on loan and will be responsible for the fulfilment of the deliverables as specified above.

The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own laptop.

Payment modality

• Payment to the Individual Contractor will be made based on the actual number of days worked, deliverables accepted and upon certification of satisfactory completion by the manager.
• The work week will be based on 35 hours, i.e. on a 7-hour working day, with core hours being between 9h00 and 18h00 daily.

Annexes (click on the hyperlink to access the documents):

• Annex 1 - UNDP P-11 Form for ICs
• Annex 2 - IC Contract Template
• Annex 3 – IC General Terms and Conditions
• Annex 4 – RLA Template

Any request for clarification must be sent by email to cpu.bids@undp.org 

The UNDP Central Procurement Unit will respond by email and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.