Background

Micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) provide work for over 4 million people in Ukraine and generate about 20% of the country’s GDP. The Government of Ukraine has been increasing its efforts to undertake economic reforms and create an enabling business environment for enterprises, strengthen the position of MSMEs in the economy. Business membership organizations (BMOs), an essential component of the business support infrastructure, face several challenges due to the weaknesses of the BMO sector and low capacity, sustainability, and maturity of BMOs in terms of the service provision strategy alignment and low level of awareness and understanding of existing and/or potential benefits of BMOs among current and potential member businesses.

During the period 2015-2018, in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and with the financial support from Switzerland, UNDP supported BMOs through the Strengthening SME Business Membership Organizations project.

Building on the experience and lessons learned, a key focus of the Project’s Phase II is to ensure the sustainability and scaling-up of the positive results achieved during Phase I, in particular to enhance the growth and competitiveness and strengthen the voice of MSMEs in Ukraine through more professional, demand-driven, and client-oriented Business Membership Organizations. The Project aims to expand BMO coverage throughout Ukraine and is expected to positively impact their ability to attract members, to promote constructive cooperation with governmental structures, and to contribute to the policy development leading to the MSMEs sector’s growth.

The partner BMOs have been selected as a result of a competitive process based on clear and transparent criteria and will be delivered tailored support to improve their institutional, organizational, financial, as well as PR and communications capacities to represent the interests of the private sector.

Within this context, the Project is seeking to hire a National Consultant to provide expert assistance and coaching on PR management in selected MSME Business Membership Organizations to ensure effective and efficient communication of 27 partner BMOs about their activities and results to all target groups, including with their actual and potential members, entrepreneurs, and the general public in Ukraine.

The incumbent will promote UNDP’s mandate as a gender-responsive organization with zero tolerance to any kind of discriminatory and abusive behaviour, including sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and abuse.

Duties and Responsibilities

2. MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The overall objective of the assignment is to provide high-quality PR advisory support to 27 partner BMOs (including 7 partner BMOs of the Project Phase I); assist in development of the communication strategy, and provide BMOs personnel with the effective professional tools and approaches to public outreach, visibility, work with social media, recommendations on communication with members, and other PR tools applicable in non-profit organizations.

The objectives of the assignment are to ensure that:

• BMOs fully understand the importance of PR and communication, and commit to establish the channels of communication or improve the existing ones;
• BMOs know their target audience and understand the needs of their target audience, and can build effective communication based on them;
• BMOs staff effectively communicate and apply the PR tools regularly to interact with their members and to attract the new members among representatives of the business community due to elaborated public outreach.

3. DESCRIPTION OF RESPONSIBILITIES / SCOPE OF WORK

Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager, the Consultant will closely work with 27 partner BMOs and perform the below activities focusing on the achievement of the following objectives:

1. Review the documents provided by UNDP to obtain a better understanding of the project goals, context, and profiles of the targeted BMOs in Ukraine, as well as any available assessments to tailor the consultancy to BMO priorities;
2. Develop a work plan covering main activities and key stages of the assignment implementation;
3. Conduct an assessment of current communication and PR tools used by 27 partner BMOs (i.e. website information, social media profiles, representation at different platforms, other ways of communication) and prepare a brief report about the results of the assessment;
4. Ensure preparation of the programs of 3 webinars addressing the following topics and/or other topics suggested by the Consultant to achieve the goals of the assignment:
   1. Review of PR and communication strategy and tools for non-governmental organizations and BMOs (how to define the target audience and its needs, how to choose the channels for communication, how to organize the advertising, how to issue a profile of the organization in social media and on a website);
   2. Maintaining social media accounts for business associations and non-governmental organizations (how to choose an SMM platform; how to organize work with social media; how to create quality content; basics of storytelling; how to promote content for free; how to analyze the effectiveness of communication in Facebook, etc.);
   3. How to build effective communication with actual members and potential members/entrepreneurs (website, subscription and mailout, digests, etc.).
5. Deliver 3 webinars (each should be 2 hours long), ensuring the recording of the webinar to enable the public distribution of training material online;
6. Provide each of 27 partner BMOs with individual recommendations (including online coaching sessions with staff and/or leadership of BMOs) and support on the establishment and/or updating the profile of the organization in social media, improving communication and PR tools;
7. Provide a generalized report to the Project, which, in addition to individual BMO recommendations, will contain recommendations for the project team on priority support for the implementation of certain communication and PR tools for all 27 partners in general and three groups separately:

• CCI;
• Industry BMO;
• Universal BMO.

To ensure the delivery of the above tasks, the Consultant will:

• Liaise and ensure constant communication/coordination with UNDP project team regarding all aspects of the assignment.
• Submit all the deliverables for review, comments and approval to UNDP project team as requested.
• Hold consultations with UNDP project team as requested.
• Ensure the mainstreaming of gender equality and women’s empowerment considerations in activities, promote a safe and enabling environment free of any kind of discrimination and abusive behaviour, and use the principles of gender-responsive communications in line with the UNDP corporate standards.

4. DELIVERABLES AND TIMEFRAME

The expected duration of the assignment is 60 working days within 4 months with a possibility of extension. The contract can be extended based on performance and funds availability. The target date for the start of work is 1 December 2020.

5. PAYMENT SCHEDULE

UNDP will pay the negotiated amount in three tranches according to the following payment schedule:

• the first payment (40% of the contract amount) upon successful completion of the Deliverables 1-2 and approval of the Interim Report;
• final payment (60% of the contract amount) upon successful completion of the Deliverables 3-5 and approval of the Final Report and indicated tasks.

The payments will be processed upon the full completion and acceptance of contractual obligations whereupon the Project Manager (Supervisor) signs the certification of acceptance.

6. MONITORING/REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

The Consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Project Manager and in close cooperation with the Project staff and BMOs assigned personnel.

Work-progress reporting/monitoring meetings will be held with the Consultant on a regular basis.

The consultant will interact with UNDP to receive any clarifications and guidance that may be needed. He/she will also receive all necessary informational and logistical support from the Project. The Consultant will duly inform UNDP of any problems, issues or delays arising in the course of implementation of assignment and take necessary steps to address them.

UNDP will be the final authority to control the quality and evaluate the work. The satisfactory completion of each of the deliverables shall be subject to the endorsement of the Project Manager. Each deliverable will be delivered in a draft for comments and feedback before finalization. No reports or documents should be published or distributed to third parties without the approval of UNDP.

All reports and results are to be submitted to the UNDP in electronic form (*.docx, *.xlsx, *.pptx, and *.pdf or other formats accepted by UNDP). The Interim and Final reports should be submitted in English.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

•     Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision, and values

•     Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability

•     Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment

Competencies:

•     Demonstrates high level of professionalism and ethics

•     Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback

•     Demonstrates excellent planning and organizational skills and able to produce high-quality products on tight deadlines

•     Able to work on location without any other supervision except for liaison with UNDP

•     Demonstrates excellent written and verbal communication skills, able to present information logically, clearly, and concisely

•     Able to think creatively, to develop and implement innovative solutions in a challenging environment

•     Knowledge of gender equality issues and ability to incorporate them in capacity building activities

Required Skills and Experience

7. EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS REQUIREMENTS

The Consultant should possess the following qualifications, experience and skills:

Educational background:

• At least Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Public Relations, Communications, Media Management, Marketing, Social Sciences, Journalism, Business Administration, Advocacy or other relevant area.

Professional Experience:

• At least 7 years of working experience in PR management, SMM, communications and\or providing PR advisory services, including for non-governmental organizations;
• At least 5 years of work experience in developing and implementing PR strategies, media/communications plans, visibility and awareness raising campaigns, writing and/or editing communication and awareness raising materials, articles, press releases, newsletters, blog entries, human and success stories, interviews and other communication products, including for non-governmental organizations (at least 3 different samples to be provided);
• Portfolio of successful PR campaigns, profiles in social media, websites (content) for non-governmental organizations (proven by at least 3 different samples);
• Previous working experience with UN funded programmes or other international organizations will be an advantage.
• Previous working experience with BMOs, sound understanding of their services and PR/communication needs would be a strong asset.

Language Skills:

• Fluency in Ukrainian and Russian is required; working knowledge of English will be an advantage.

8. DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS:

Applicants shall submit the following documents:

UNDP documents templates can be downloaded from the following link:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/297e72t7i3v2969/AADDRyUo2uoNrYjuD8NLmdl0a?dl=0  

Please combine your CV, financial proposal and other necessary information in one PDF file and upload the document. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

9. FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

 Lump sum contract

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in instalments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days and reference daily fee).  

Travel costs

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.  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.

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.

Logistics arrangements for the events, where participation of the Consultant is requested by UNDP as per this TOR, to be provided by UNDP and shall not be included in the financial proposal. 

10. EVALUATION CRITERIA

Criteria A:

Education - 4 points max

At least Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Public Relations, Communications, Media Management, Marketing, Social Sciences, Journalism, Business Administration, Advocacy or other relevant area

{3 pts – Bachelor’s degree in the relevant field; 4 pts – Specialist/Master’s degree in the relevant field};

Criteria B:

Work Experience – 52 points max

1. At least 7 years of working experience in PR management, SMM, communications and\or providing PR advisory services, including for non-governmental organizations – 17 pts max

{12 pts – 7 years; 15 pts – 8-9 years; 17 pts – 10 years and more);

1. At least 5 years of work experience in developing and implementing PR strategies,   media/communications plans, visibility and awareness raising campaigns, writing and/or editing communication and awareness raising materials, articles, press releases, newsletters, blog entries, human and success stories, interviews and other communication products, including for non-governmental organizations (at least 3 samples to be provided) – 15 pts max

{12 pts – 5 years and 3 samples; 15 pts – above 6 years and 4 samples);

1. Portfolio of successful PR campaigns, profiles in social media, websites (content) for non-governmental organizations (proven by at least 3 different samples) - 15 pts max

{12 pts – 3 samples; 15 pts – more than 4 samples);

1. Previous working experience with UN funded programmes or other international organizations will be an advantage - 2 pts max

{0 pts – No; 2 pts – Yes);

1. Previous working experience with BMOs, sound understanding of their services and PR/communication needs would be a strong asset - 3 pts max

{0 pts – No; 3 pts – Yes);

Criteria C:

Language Skills – 4 points max:

{3 points – Fluency in Ukrainian and Russian, 4 points – Fluency in Ukrainian and Russian and working knowledge of English};

Interview – 10 points max

Only those candidates obtaining minimum 42 points for Criteria A-C will be invited to the interview. During the interview the applicant will be requested to provide the relevant practical and well-elaborated examples proving their experience.

Maximum available technical score - 70 points.

11. EVALUATION METHOD

 Cumulative analysis

Contract award shall be made to the incumbent whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) having received the cumulative highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

* Technical Criteria weight: 70%

* Financial Criteria weight: 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum 70% from the maximum available technical score (49 points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal and will equal to 30. All other price proposals will be evaluated and assigned points, as per below formula:

30 points [max points available for financial part] x [lowest of all evaluated offered prices among responsive offers] / [evaluated price].

The proposal obtaining the overall cumulatively highest score after adding the score of the technical proposal and the financial proposal will be considered as the most compliant offer and will be awarded a contract.

Additional requirements for recommended contractor:

Recommended contractors aged 62 and older shall undergo a full medical examination including x-ray, and obtain medical clearance from the UN-approved doctor prior to taking up their assignment. The medical examination shall be paid by the consultant.

The BSAFE online security training course must be successfully completed prior to commencement of contract.