Background

Organizational Context

The United Nations Organization for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Somalia photo archives need to be constantly updated in order to capture emerging and evolving humanitarian crises.

To update OCHA Somalia’s photo archives in the prevailing circumstances, OCHA Somalia is looking to hire a professional photographer with experience in capturing humanitarian stories, who can travel to some of the field locations to take pictures. 

Objectives of the assignment

The Photographs taken by the consultant with guidance from the Public Information Officer (PIO) will help raise awareness on the humanitarian situation in Somalia. The photos will be used for OCHA Somalia’s website, social media channels (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.) reports, leaflets, bulletins, infographics, various printing materials etc. and also by OCHA partners as needed for various partnerships.

The consultancy will be carried out in Mogadishu, Hargeisa, Garowe, and Kismayu

At each of these locations, the photography will focus on key humanitarian issues:

  • water shortages/pre-drought conditions
  • impact of floods/recovery efforts
  • desert locust impact/response
  • diseases/COVID-19/cholera
  • at-risk populations/IDPs/returnees
  • food security
  • durable solutions

In all locations, projects of the Somalia Humanitarian Fund (SHF) will be specifically highlighted.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work

Under the direct guidance of the Public Information Officer,

  • Travel in Somalia and take photos of relevant humanitarian interventions and issues in various areas of the country.
  • The Photographer will spend three days working at each location. Two days will be spent on field photography and one working with and training colleagues to improve their photography skills.
  • From each location, the Photographer will provide photographs with complete captions in both Somali & English.  The Photographer may also offer any other photos taken during the consultancy to OCHA.
  • Develop deep captions in both English and Somali for all photos taken per location to enable the Public Information Unit (PIU) build photo galleries on OCHA websites and social media. Well-written captions for the selected photos will be expected.  
  • Develop photo-stories of specific projects or beneficiaries in Somalia.
  • Use private professional cameras and editing software and laptop.

Final product/Deliverables

  • The Photographer will spend a total of 12 working days (three days working at each of the following locations: Mogadishu, Kismayu, Harrgeisa and Garowe).
  1. Two days will be spent on field photography
  2. One day to working with and training colleagues to improve their photography skills
  • The Photographer will deliver at least 30 high quality professional pictures (edited, JPEG over 300 DPI) that capture very well the issues highlighted above (total – at least 120 pictures) with complete captions in both Somali & English.
  • S/he will deliver selected edited photos to the PIU within one week from the end of the field mission.
  • At the end of the assignment, the photographer will grant full ownership of the pictures to OCHA

A Public Information Officer (PIO) will accompany the photographer at all times during the assignment and will constantly monitor the work/performance.

The PIO will send an email to the administration unit within 3 days confirming that the products have been delivered and the quality standards have been met.

The expert will be required to have professional equipment and a laptop with final cut software for editing.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

  • Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards.
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
  • Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

 Functional Competencies:

  • Editing and shooting skills, communications abilities, teamwork

Client Orientation :

  • Ability to work in a high-pressure working environment with frequent urgent deadlines
  • High level logical and methodological organizational skills and the ability to multi-task; 
  • Excellent interpersonal and networking skills and the ability to establish and maintain effective working relations;
  • Supports and encourages open communication and responds positively to critical feedback and differing points of view;

Required Skills and Experience

Minimum: A Degree in international Relations, journalism or a related field

A minimum  of 4 years experience in TV and film production, editing and script writing

Fluent written and spoken English and Somali

Recommended Presentation of Offer

Personal CV indicating all 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;

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to submit a financial proposal.

All applicants will be evaluated based on the combined scoring method using the 70%-30% distribution whereby the technical proposal will be weighted at a maximum of 70% and combined with a price offer which will be weighted at 30%.

A two-stage procedure will be used to evaluate offers whereby the technical evaluation will be completed prior to price comparison. 

Technical Qualification Evaluation Criteria: (70% of total evaluation; Maximum 70 points)

A Degree in international Relations, journalism, or a related field - 10 points 

A minimum of 4 years’ experience in TV and film production, editing and script writing - 20 points 

Demonstrable prior experience in photographing of similar projects/activities, with portfolio provided upon request - 40 points 

Financial Evaluation Criteria: (30% of total evaluation; Maximum 30 points)

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal.  All other proposals receive points in inverse proportion.  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

Final Score

The final score will be the sum of the two scores obtained for the technical and financial proposal;

Contract Award

The award of the contract shall be made to the proposer whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

  1. Being responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
  2. Having received the highest combined score out of the pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.