Background

Since 1990, the Human Development Report has been UNDP’s flagship document, monitoring and assessing the development situation from a human-centred perspective. It has contributed to shifting the focus of development towards people’s lives. In addition to the annual global report, more than 620 national and sub-national Human Development Reports have been produced by 143 countries, as well as 34 Regional Human Development Reports (RHDR).

The Global and increasingly the Regional and National reports are attracting attention by media and policy makers at all levels they inspire related analytical initiatives and are looked to as an authoritative source of data and analysis.  It raises the stakes on quality of research, narrative and data analysis narrative and presentation, and a non-partisan HD perspective.

Regional and National reports pioneer themes and approaches based on local level context and expertise. They are supported by Corporate Policy processes. The reports may also reflect on themes of the Global reports.

The reputation of HDRs creates a significant potential in all countries to attract/benefit from media and public attention. Poorly put together reports may in turn weaken the opportunity to stimulate policy debate and also more broadly affect the credibility of the (N)HDRs.

The first National Human Development report (NHDR) was produced in 1996 addressing issues on the theme ‘from civil conflict to national security’. This was followed by another report in 1998 specifically focusing on ‘poverty eradication and sustainable human development. In 2007, the third NHDR was produced on ‘empowering local government for sustainable human development and poverty eradication.

This NHDR with theme ‘Building Resilience for Sustainable Development’ is the fourth report Sierra Leone has produced since the launch of the first global report in 1990. The theme essentially reflects Sierra Leone’s recovering from the twin crises of Ebola and crash in commodity prices of iron ore in 2014 and 2015 which severely devastated the country’s economy.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of key functions:

The objectives of the NHDR Writer/Editor are as follows:

  • Review, organize, edit, and consolidate material for the Report for clarity and continuity of the argument; as well as clarity of structure and core themes; Identify critical knowledge gaps which may remain; Liaise with UNDP focal point
  • Oversee technical editing and copy-editing of the Report for readability and consistency;
  • Proof-reading of layout files of the Report and Summary. The editor will oversee the implementation of the UNDP corporate editorial guidelines (UNDP Editorial Manual, will provided by HDRO).

Reviewing, organizing and editing:

  • The editor will be responsible for editing the Report’s chapters and narrative sections with a view to ensure: clarity and continuity of the argument and political focus of the Report; clarity of structure and core themes of the Report; internal consistency, both analytical and stylistic; general readability and accessibility to a broad readership (worldwide).
  • At the beginning of the assignment the editor may be requested to discuss with the NHDR team ad hoc editorial guidelines for the HDR.

Technical editing and copy-editing

  • In the later phase of the Report’s preparation, the editor will do the technical editing and copy-editing of the Report and statistical tables in close consultation with the Lead Author and the NHDR Team.
  • Special attention will be paid to the role of boxes, graphics and tables, the objective being to bring the different components of the draft together seamlessly into a single Report; the editor shall also suggest catchy and concise titles for those elements.
  • The technical editing and copy-editing will concentrate on flow and clarity of argument, sequencing, consistency, especially between text and tables and figures and integration of text and boxes, content errors, style and punctuation, spelling and grammar.
  • Lastly the editor shall ensure that the statistical data used and referenced in the text are consistent with the data in the respective tables, figures, charts and maps, as well as with the indicator tables.

Proofreading:

Once the Report has been copy-edited and laid out, the editor will perform one or more rounds of proofreading, checking spelling, country and city names as well as acronyms and other abbreviations (making sure that they follow official U.N. terminology and conventions), style consistency, callouts, layout problems, references, etc.

Competencies

  • Demonstrates leadership, team working and coordinating skills;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
  • Shares knowledge and experience;
  • Provides helpful feedback and advice;
  • Strong analytical skills;
  • Plans and produces quality results to meet established goals;
  • Generates innovative, practical solutions to challenging situations;
  • Conceptualizes and analyzes problems to identify key issues, underlying problems, and how they relate;
  • Demonstrates substantive and technical knowledge to meet responsibilities and post requirements with excellence;
  • Demonstrates strong written communication skills;
  • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
  • Responds positively to critical feedback and differing points of view.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Recognized degree (preferably master’s level) in journalism social sciences/economic fields.  

Experience:

  • At least 15 years of relevant experience as a Writer/Editor.
  • Proven experience in English editing and writing
  • Familiarity with UNDP/HDRO style and understanding of publication requirements desirable
  • The editor must understand the concept of human development and Human Development Reports themes
  • The editor has experience in working with statistical data and statistical indicators and be familiar with the logic and structure of complex statistical tables and concepts.

Language Requirements:

  • Excellent command of English and Krio languages.

Expected Duration

NHDR report (word & digital version) must be completed within 17 working days starting July 8, 2019 and ending July 30, 2019

Payment Modalities

Lumpsum payment to the consultant will be made upon certification of satisfactory completion of the assignment by the Economic Advisor (UNDP) or the National Economist

Evaluation method and criteria

Technical Criteria weight 70%

Financial Criteria weight 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% of the total technical points (49 points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

  • Technical Proposal (40 marks)
  • Technical Approach & Methodology (25 marks) – This explains the understanding of the objectives of the assignment, approach to the services, methodology for carrying out the activities and obtaining the expected output, and the degree of detail of such output. The Applicant should also explain the methodologies proposed to adopt and highlight the compatibility of those methodologies with the proposed approach;
  • ·Work Plan (15 marks) – The Applicant should propose the main activities of the assignment, their content and duration, phasing and interrelations, milestones (including interim approvals by the Client), and delivery dates. The proposed work plan should be consistent with the technical approach and methodology, showing understanding of the TOR and ability to translate them into a feasible working plan.
  • Qualification and Experience (30 marks) [evaluation of CVs for shortlisting]
  • General Qualification (10 marks);
  • Experience relevant to the assignment (20 marks)

Application Procedure

Qualified and interested candidates are hereby encouraged to apply. The application should contain the following:

  • Completed P11 form;
  • Financial proposal (fees, tickets, daily subsistence allowance and other related expenses;)
  • Technical proposal (methodology of approach to the task).