The United Nations (UN) COVID-19 Response and Recovery Multi-Partner Trust Fund (COVID-19 MPTF or the Fund) is a UN inter-agency finance mechanism launched by the UN Secretary-General to support low- and middle- income programme countries in overcoming the health and development crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Fund’s assistance targets those most vulnerable to economic hardship and social disruption. The Fund complements the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)’s Consolidated Global Humanitarian Appeal for COVID-19.

The Fund will be administered by the Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office as the UN systems expert on pooled financing arrangements and will also administratively host the Fund Secretariat. The MPTF Secretariat will assist and support the Secretary General’s Designate for the Fund with strategic advice, coordinating the Fund’s operations and the programming by the United Nations agencies.

Under the direct guidance and direction of the Head of the COVID19 MPTF Secretariat, the Consultant’s responsibilities will include the following main functions:

Writing, Editing, Design and Proof-reading Key Fund Documentation and Communication Materials

• Drafts and edits Fund’s Annual (2020, 2021) and Interim Reports (mid 2021) and Final Reports submitted from 70 programming countries
• Drafts summaries of the funded country proposals;
• Edits Fund documentation as required, such as the 2021 Allocation Guidelines, and periodic Summaries of Fund’s Achievements;
• Drafts minutes of the regular Advisory Committee meetings;
• Edits digital communications materials, including web-based and social media materials (messages to be included in the communication campaigns);
• Edits Fund strategic communications materials, including draft speeches of the SG Designate

Deliverables

• Fund’s Annual 2020 Report drafted by April 2021
• Interim Report drafted by August 2021
• Fund’s Annual 2021 Report drafted by March 2022
• Fund’s Final Report drafted by June 2022
• Complex text and captions for the COVID19 MPTF Reports, Annexes, edited and proofed (accompanying the Annual, Interim and Final reports as per the timelines indicated in the previous paragraph)
• Minutes of the AC regular meetings are drafted.
• Fund communication materials are substantively edited, proof-read, and ready for distribution to stakeholders (social media campaign and periodic tweets)
• The draft speeches and key communication are substantively edited, as required  

Corporate

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• 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.

Functional

• Excellent writing, editing, research, and proofreading skills;
• Previous knowledge of print design requirements and processes;
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to multi-task;
• Attention to detail is crucial;
• Responsible, responsive, and enthusiastic;
• Must be able to work in a multi-cultural environment and be aware of political sensitivities.
• Interest in global issues and the United Nations

Client Orientation and Communication

• Good interpersonal and networking skills, ability to establish and maintain effective working relations, supports and encourages open communication in the team, and facilitates teamwork;
• Ability to work under minimum supervision.

Ethics and Values

• Demonstrates an appreciation of differences in values and learning from cultural diversity

• A master’s degree or bachelor’s degree in in international relations, writing, communications, journalism, or related fields
• At least 5 years of professional experience in substantive report writing and communication for sustainable development
• Experience in writing and editing skills while working with UN organizations, Funds and Programmes will be an asset
• Excellent research, drafting and reporting skills
• Fluency in written and spoken English is required.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

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

• Online application with brief description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment; and
• 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.
• Writing and editing and editing samples if applicable (Provide only URL links of published documents)

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; cost of travel from the home base to the duty station and vice versa, where required; 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 no envisaged travel cost to join duty station/repatriation travel. 
• 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.
• 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 PROCEDURE

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 weigh 70% and Financial criteria/ Proposal weighs 30%.

Technical Criteria Total 70% (700 points):

• Relevant professional experience with writing, editing and proofreading as per the ToR (30%)
• Prior experience with nonprofit annual reports and related research/production (20%)
• Experience of quality writing while working with the knowledge of UN development system; (10%)
• Excellent Ability to research and draft reports on thematic content of this assignment (30%)

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (490 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (70 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

•       Technical Criteria weight overall: 70%;

•       Financial Criteria weight overall: 30%.

Financial Evaluation: Total 30% (300 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 ARRANGMENTS

The Consultant will be home based and will work remotely with virtual skype meetings to discuss content. The Consultant will report to the Head of the UN COVID Secretariat Fund and collaborate with the staff of the Secretariat under the overall leadership of the Head of the Secretariat. The Secretariat of the Fund is hosted in the Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office, New York, USA.

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.

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