Background

Blended finance, alternative and venture financing in fragile states is still limited, or in some cases, almost nonexistent. In more advanced Arab economies, commercial finance for climate, resilience and adaptation is often held back by high perceived or actual risks and up-front costs to investors.

Increasing risks and economic losses from climate change are creating a growing need for business models, technologies and investments that help countries manage these risks and to reduce losses. Accelerating climate impacts also translate into a market opportunity for small- and medium-sized enterprises that offer products and solutions in relevant sectors. Thanks to this growing market opportunity, and with the right mix of public and private finance instruments, investments opportunities in fragile states emerge to be economically viable and interesting, including to commercial investors.

UNDP’s SDG Climate Facility project plans to hold the Arab Climate and Resilience Investment Forum (ACRIF) to provide a platform for bankable projects and companies in the Arab States to:

1. Pitch their business models and investment opportunities;
2. Meet potential investors
3. Exchange new ideas with peers and stakeholders

The Forum will emphasize investment opportunities from a diverse range of early- and growth-stage companies among stable, fragile, low-income and middle-income Arab States. Participants will include: (i) Donors and development finance institutions; (ii) private investors from the region and beyond; (iii) early- and growth-stage companies from a range of targeted climate-related sectors.

This assignment aims to support the communication activities for ACRIF through the creation of communication material that will strengthen UNDP’s outreach before, during, and after the forum to ensure visibility and sustainability of the forum. 

Duties and Responsibilities

SCOPE OF WORK, RESPONSIBILITIES AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED WORK

The consultant will be responsible for delivery of the following under direct supervision of the Communication Specialist, and the overall guidance of the Chief Technical Advisor/Project Manager of the SDG Climate Facility regional project:

1. ACRIF event branding:

• Creation of Visual Identity;
• Event Video Trailer (up to 1 minute);
• After Event Video Highlights (up to 3 minutes);
• Designs of banners (roll up, display banner, broadcast banner), and Logo Opener (up to 5 seconds).

2. ACRIF Event landing page experience: Creation of a unique digital experience that will showcase the event details as well the pitches through immersive visuals, rich media, and interactivity.

3. Pitch Digital Assets: Creation of up to 10-12 Digital Experience Presentations and 10-12 Short Pitch Videos.

4. Event Digital Assets: Creation of Digital Experience Brochure Application with up to 15 sections, that users can experience on their devices, and invite them to see the event agenda, speakers, pitches, countdown to the event, submit reviews, submit inquiries etc.

5. Event Social Media Communications: Creation of up to 20 pieces of communication for the event for multiple social media channels of UNDP and the SDG Climate Facility.

6. Event Emails Creation of an estimation of 5 emails such as Welcome Email, Pitches Introduction, 3 days prior to the event, thank you after email, and event highlights.

EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES

Competencies

Corporate

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness, by modeling the UN/UNDP’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.

Functional

• Proven technical and intellectual skills in understanding and interpreting communication needs.
• Demonstrated entrepreneurial abilities and demonstrated ability to work in an independent manner.
• Background knowledge about the SDGs, United Nations and UNDP.
• Good teamwork and interpersonal skills.
• Flexibility and ability to handle multiple tasks and work under pressure.
• Excellent drafting and formulation skills.
• Excellent computer skills especially in software packages relevant to the required tasks

Leadership

• Demonstrated ability to think strategically and to provide credible leadership.
• Demonstrated intellectual leadership and ability to integrate communication and marketing products into event objectives and vision. 

Managing Relationships

• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain strategic partnerships.
• Demonstrated well developed people management and organizational management skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in communication, management, business administration, marketing, or other relevant areas.

Work experience:

• Minimum of five (05) years in communication, marketing, sales, business administration and experience in working on the Sustainable Development Goals;
• Proven track record working at strategic and advisory communication and marketing roles;
• Demonstrated experience in creating innovative and interactive digital experiences;
• Previous working experience with the UNDP is desirable;
• Previous working experience in the Arab States/MENA is essential.

Language Requirements:

• Language proficiency in both written and oral English is required.

INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT

• The individual is required to exhibit his or her full-time commitment with UNDP Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS).
• S/He shall perform tasks under the direct supervision of the Communication Specialist, and the overall guidance of the Chief Technical Advisor/Project Manager of the SDG Climate Facility regional project.
• The supervision of the Regional Hub Manager will include approvals/acceptance of the outputs and deliverables as identified in the previous section.
• The individual is expected to liaise and collaborate in the course of performing the work with other consultants, suppliers, and UN colleagues.
• The individual is required to provide periodical progress reports on regular and needed basis throughout the assignment to monitor progress.
• The individual is required to maintain close communication with UNDP-RBAS on regular and needed basis at any period throughout the assignment in order to monitor progress. In the event of any delay, S/he will inform UNDP promptly so that decisions and remedial action may be taken accordingly.
• Should UNDP deem it necessary, it reserves the right to commission additional inputs, reviews, or revisions, as needed to ensure the quality and relevance of the work.

DURATION OF THE WORK

The expected duration of the assignment is expected to be up to fifty-three (53) working days over a period of Three (03) calendar months from the contract signature date.

DUTY STATION

Home-based assignment.

TRAVEL PLAN

If unforeseen travel outside the consultant home-based city is requested by UNDP and not required by the Terms of References (ToR), such travel shall be covered by UNDP in line with applicable rules and regulations and upon prior written agreement. In such cases, the consultant shall receive living allowances not exceeding the United Nations (UN) Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) rate for such other location(s).

SCOPE OF PRICE PROPOSAL AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS

The contractor will be paid an all-inclusive Deliverables/Outputs based lump sum amounts over the assignment period, subject to the submission of Certification of Payment (CoP) duly certified and confirmation of satisfactory performance of achieved work (deliverables/outputs) in line with  the schedule of payments table hereunder, noting that the maximum number of working days for this assignment shouldn’t exceed five (05) calendar months.

RECOMMENDED PRESENTATION OF OFFER

Interested individual consultants must submit documents under points 1-5 to demonstrate their qualifications. Candidates that fail to submit these documents, the application will not be considered.

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
2. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
3. Brief Description of why you consider yourself as the most suitable candidate for this assignment;
4. Technical Proposal detailing how they will approach the assignment, prioritizing activities to meet the deliverables as set above in the most efficient and effective manner;
5. A portfolio of communication products developed by the applicant for events/entities of similar size and complexities. The portfolio could be submitted in the form of a document with links to the products with a descriptive paragraph on each product;
6. Financial Proposal: Please do not submit financial proposal in this stage. Financial proposal shall be requested from Candidates who are considered technically responsive

When the financial proposal is requested it should indicate the all-inclusive Deliverables/Outputs based total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided. The terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal. If an 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 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.

Interested candidates shall submit required documents to Job Advertisement Website (https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm) as one document not later than

Interested candidates can find Procurement Notice, Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability and P11 templates on the following link: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF THE BEST OFFERS

This selection criteria will follow the Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted a max. of 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a max of 30%, using the following evaluation criteria

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Step I: Screening and Shortlisting:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.

Applications will be first screened and only candidates meeting the following minimum requirements will progress to the pool for shortlisting:

• Criteria A: Bachelor’s degree in communication, management, business administration, marketing, or other relevant areas.
• Criteria B: Minimum of five (05) years in communication, marketing, sales, business administration and experience in working on the Sustainable Development Goals; and
• Criteria C: Language proficiency in both written and oral English is required.

Step II: Technical Review

Shortlisted candidates will undergo a technical evaluation and a submission of a proposal to tackle the assignment.

Technical Evaluation Criteria max 100 points (Weighted 70):

• Criteria A: Bachelor’s degree in communication, management, business administration, marketing, or other relevant areas; (10 points)
• Criteria B: Minimum of five (05) years in communication, marketing, sales, business administration and experience in working on the Sustainable Development Goals; (10 points)
• Criteria C: Proven track record working at strategic and advisory communication and marketing roles; (10 points)
• Criteria D: Demonstrated experience in creating innovative and interactive digital experiences; (20 points)
• Criteria E: Technical proposal; (10 points)
• Criteria F: Portfolio; (25 points)
• Criteria G: Previous working experience with the UNDP; (10 points)
• Criteria H: Previous working experience in the Arab States/MENA; (05 points)

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation

For those offers considered in the financial evaluation, the lowest price offer will receive 30 points. The other offers will receive points in relation to the lowest offer, based on the following formula: (PI / Pn) * 30 where Pn is the financial offer being evaluated and Pl is the lowest financial offer received.

Step II: Final Evaluation

The final evaluation will combine the scores of the desk review and the financial proposal with the following weights assigned to each:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis methodology (weighted scoring method), where the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical Criteria weight: [70%]

Financial Criteria weight: [30%]

Only Individual Consultants obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70%) on the Technical evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.