1. Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development; human rights; as well as humanitarian action and peace and security.

“Implementing Norms, Changing Minds” is a regional programme under the UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, which aims to support a reduction in discrimination and violence against women and girls in the Western Balkans - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia - and Turkey. The programme is anchored in the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention), and also in alignment with European Union accession standards. The programme is funded by the European Commission under IPA II.

The regional programme supports the development of an enabling legislative and policy environment on eliminating violence against women and all forms of discrimination (Specific Objective 1); promotes favorable social norms and attitudes to prevent gender discrimination and violence against women (Specific Objective 2); and pursues empowering women and girls (including those from disadvantaged groups) who have experienced discrimination or violence to advocate for and use available, accessible, and quality services (Specific Objective 3).

Communications is a key component of UN Women’s work in the region and constitutes a vehicle for ensuring visibility for successful UN Women initiatives, results and programmes, including the regional programme “Implementing Norms, Changing Minds”, as well as for raising awareness about key issues on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Within this scope, UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia and the regional programme “Implementing Norms, Changing Minds” regularly develop impact stories, news materials, and other web-related information and web projects to be featured on the regional UN Women Europe and Central Asia website to showcase UN Women initiatives and impact on women’s and girl’s lives. The regional programme also produces e-newsletters throughout the year to inform key stakeholders working on ending violence against women of the programme’s initiatives and impact.   

2. Scope of work and responsibilities

The consultant will be responsible for updating the website with content provided by the regional programme “Implementing Norms, Changing Minds” and the Regional Office, developing specific web-projects and producing graphics and infographics to disseminate key messages on social media and digital platforms.

The consultant will work closely with UN Women to perform the following tasks:

• Conceptualize and develop website pages, web projects and graphic designs;
• Update and maintain the regional Europe and Central Asia website with content, including the webpage of the regional programme “Implementing Norms, Changing Minds”;
• Conceptualize, design and layout high-quality innovative, creative and attention-grabbing materials, such as briefs, infographics, etc.;
• Modify, revise and edit materials as required by and in consultation with relevant UN Women staff;
• Prepare final files for online distribution.

The consultant should:

• Follow UN Women Branding Guidelines and Identity Standards as well as the EU Communication and Visibility tools and the EU-UN joint visibility guidelines;
• Follow and apply the regional programme “Implementing Norms, Changing Minds” branding for the materials produced within the programme;

• Explore and propose ways to convey information through design elements.

3. Principles

• Messages should be positive and empowering and reflect the UN Women’s and programme’s principle of partnership with women’s organizations and support to women from disadvantaged groups;
• Materials designed in such a way that they can be updated and adjusted for future use (all colours, pantones, fonts, inserted bitmaps or any other used resource should be included in the design package; fonts should not be converted to outlines in order to follow further edits and adaptations in the future);
• Ensuring the design of the materials is consistent with UN Women Communications Guidelines and in line with the EU Communication and Visibility tools and the EU-UN joint visibility guidelines;
• UN Women has non-exclusive world rights in perpetuity of all designed submissions and products.

4. Competencies

• Very good creative skills in website production and graphic design;
• Very good creative skills and advanced command over a full range of website and graphic design software;
• Familiarity with UN Women;
• Excellent written and oral skills in English.

5. Qualifications and experience

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in web development, programming, communication or other related discipline.

Experience

• At least 5 years of professional experience website applications management;
• Experience in use of web publishing applications such as Sitecore, and design software such as Adobe Suite/CC such as Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, etc.;
• Experience in development of communication materials on gender is an asset;
• Working experience with UN and/or international organizations is an asset, particularly UN Women.

6. Deliverables and timeline

7. Duration of assignment

The time required for the consultancy is estimated up to 40 working days for the regional programme “Implementing Norms, Changing Minds” and up to 17 days for the UN Women ECA Communications Team, a total of up to 57 days within the period from 1 February 2021 to 31 January 2022. The consultant will be engaged under a retainer contract, which facilitates direct engagement of the consultant depending on need and availability within the contract period for a pre-agreed fee.

8. Contract supervision 

The consultant will work in close cooperation with the Communications and Visibility Consultant and the Regional Programme Manager of the regional programme, who will be responsible for the quality assurance of the deliverables. When there is an assignment by the UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, the consultant will work in close cooperation with the Regional Communications and Advocacy Specialist and the Communications Analyst.  

9. Schedule of payments

The Consultant will be paid monthly for the actual submitted/approved working days.

The Consultant shall be paid upon successful completion and acceptance of the deliverables by Regional Programme Manager/Communications and Visibility Consultant, regional programme “Implementing Norms, Changing Minds” (for Regional Programme assignments) and Regional Communications and Advocacy Specialist for Europe and Central Asia (for Regional Office assignments).

10. Application procedure:

The following documents should be submitted as part of the application:

• Cover letter to include a brief overview in English (unedited text) about which of your previous experiences makes you the most suitable candidate for the advertised position.
• P11 with past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment, a signed copy should be submitted.
• Financial Proposal (Specifying a total lump sum amount for the tasks specified in this Terms of Reference). The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum by indicating the daily rate with an anticipated 57 working days.
• A portfolio with at least 3 examples of graphic design and website development – provide two of each work carried out in the last two years.

11. Evaluation of applicants:

The candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of qualifications and financial proposal. Contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer receives the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

Financial Evaluation (30%) – max. 30 points:

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion. A suggested formula is as follows:

p = 30 (µ/z)

Using the following values:

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

µ = price of the lowest priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated