Background

UNCDF

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s 47 least developed countries. With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development.

UNCDF has been active in the area of financial inclusion over the past 25 years, through a market development approach combining support to governments and regulators, as well as to the private sector in order to develop scalable products and services for under-served and un-banked populations.

UNCDF mission 2030 is to accelerate the development of services leveraging digital finance & innovation by providing the right balance of technical expertise and financial support to government, private & non-profit sectors & academia. UNCDF 2024 goal is to empower millions of people to use services leveraging innovation and technology that contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

UNCDF in China

In achieving UNCDF’s vision to create an inclusive digital economy, we focus on the inclusion of low to moderately low income people in China, especially women, youth, gig economy workers, aeging population, and micro and small entrepreneurs. The goal is for these segments to fully benefit from the transformational benefits that digital innovation has to offer to improve their productivity and livelihoods, and above all, meet their aspirations in life.

UNCDF also runs the Financial Innovation Lab (FinLab). Successful implementation of new ideas is most often accomplished by iterative improvements of a compelling solution to a clear problem. Research. Design. Test. Repeat.  UNCDF China thus aims to support financial service providers and tech start-ups to embrace a culture of ‘testing and learning’ and challenge them to find innovations that improve the financial health of low income peoples.

Objective of the assignment 

UNCDF China requires a Communication and Public Relations Consultant to establish and consolidate UNCDF presence in China. The consultant will ensure that UNCDF initiatives and projects are well communicated and gets the right attention and engagement of key players in China and along the global community of DFS practitioners. The consultant is expected to produce high quality communication materials that are innovative, on-brand and designed to showcase the achievements of UNCDF and its partners.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will focus on four major work areas related to communication, public relations, and marketing:

1. Strategy and planning

The expert will be responsible of the development of a well-documented and clearly defined Communication and Marketing Strategy that will boost UNCDF’s brand recognition in the inclusive digital economy space in China.

• Develop and implement a Communication and Marketing Strategy and an annual workplan that promotes and enhances the work of UNCDF China and the Financial Innovation Lab (FIL)
• Ensure that the Communication and Marketing plan is executed within time and budget, keeping key stakeholders informed
• Coordinate activities with other i3 programme partners 
• Manage engagement metrics for the FIL and UNCDF China, establish benchmark metrics and reporting regularly on the performance of deliverables
• Manage inventory of events, media coverage, and content produced by UNCDF China and FIL
• Manage key stakeholders list with key profiles to be used for content distribution and event organization

2.  Content production and marketing: Ensure the production and dissemination of high-quality content relating to UNCDF work in China. The consultant will be disseminated through the right channels to reach the right audiences efficiently and effectively.

• Produce and regularly update corporate promotional material for UNCDF China and FIL;
• Develop and deliver compelling multimedia and social media stories, highlighting the impact of UNCDF and its partners  
• Develop the FIL newsletter and contribute to the Asia section of UNCDF newsletter; 
• In partnership with external vendors, proactively lead and manage the, design, production, print, and dissemination of communication and learning materials. These materials might include toolkits, guidelines, white papers, reports, videos, infographics, case studies and executive summaries. The consultant will be responsible to control timeline and budget for all the communication projects;
• Draft press releases, speaking notes, news items and other related content; provide design and editorial support for presentation decks and written materials.

3.  Engagement: Engage regularly with UNCDF stakeholders through various online and offline platforms to ensure increasing visibility and awareness about UNCDF work in China.

• Lead specific key events – organized by UNCDF and external parties relevant for FIL and UNCDF China– including defining theme, suggesting speakers, framing the content and related messages;
• Advise FIL on engagement strategy with communities of practice;
• Secure media coverage for key events and guest spots on high-value media, press mentions, and interviews;
• Structure marketing partnerships and campaigns with the broader development sector community; regularly engage with influencers to create top of mind awareness about UNCDF’s work and generate following through their network;
• Scan relevant news outlets and bring to team's attention about relevant events, trends or developments UNCDF should know of/ be part of in China.

4. Quality control: Ensure that industry standards to the communication, marketing and PR initiatives are applied, in accordance with UNCDF communication guidelines.

• Ensure that UNCDF China and FIL branding is consistent, and content is positioned appropriately for all audiences and channels;
• Liaise with the UNCDF global leads on knowledge management and communications, as well as Partnerships and Communications teams in HQ for necessary approvals, support for implementation, and compliance with UN and UNCDF editorial /branding guidelines;
• Liaise with communication specialists in other countries to keep abreast on what is happening elsewhere and what we can adopt.

Duration of Assignment, Duty Station and Expected places of Travel

Duration: 1 January – 31 December 2020, up to 240 working days.

The consultant will be based in Beijing, China with possibility of relocation to Shenzhen/Shanghai/other after first six months and will be working with a team of specialists in digital innovation, digital financial inclusion, insights, and more. 

All duty travels should be pre-approved by UNCDF Country Technical Specialist. Travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, daily subsistence allowance and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. UNCDF will cover travel costs related to the assignment based on pre-approval of expense items and according to UNDP rules.

Deliverables, Timeline and Terms of Payments

Provision of Monitoring and Progress Controls

The consultant will primarily be reporting to the UNCDF Country Technical Specialist and global leads for knowledge management and communications. UNCDF Country Technical Specialist will provide overall supervision of the consultancy and approve key deliverables.

Consultancy fees will be paid upon: (i) Submission of invoice and Certificate of Payment duly approved by the Country Technical Specialist, and (ii) Documented evidences of having delivered the outputs due on the target days of completion, duly accepted in writing by the Country Technical Specialist.  Final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultant.

Competencies

Functional competencies:

• Excellent communication skills;
• Excellent writing skills;
• Strong design fundamentals (color, form, type, layout) and the ability to experiment;
• Ability to convey concepts through visuals, graphics, storyboards, and mockups;
• Fluency in digital marketing tools or using relevant analytics tools to measure user engagement;
• Fluency in digital design tools, such as InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator would be a plus;
• Fluency in web design and/or maintenance would be a plus;
• Strong project and event management skills

Other competencies:

• Keen attention to detail and execution in craft;
• Time Management: experience managing multiple and competing deliverables;
• Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• A Bachelor’s Degree in social sciences, communication, public relations, marketing, business, international development or related discipline.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience in field of communication, public relations, marketing or other relevant field at the national or international level;
• At least 3 years of experience in branding, multimedia production, graphic design, web design, print and electronic publishing, or other technical expertise relevant to this ToR (years of experience can overlap between categories);
• At least 1 year of experience in overseeing documents and report production
• Experience in development questions, financial inclusion concepts and/or digital finance

Language:

• Fluency in English and Mandarin are required. Interview will be conducted in both English and Mandarin.

Evaluation method

The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose profile has been evaluated and determined as a) responsive/compliant/acceptable; and b) having received the highest score out of set of weighted technical criteria (70%). and financial criteria (30%).

Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment.

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.

• Technical Evaluation Weight - 70% x [(Desk review 100 Points X 40%) +(Interview: 100 Points*60%)
• Financial Evaluation Weight 30% X 100 points

The Technical Evaluation will entail three key steps:

Step 1: Longlisting

Applications will be screened and only applicants meeting the minimum criteria listed under education and experience will be longlisted.

• A Bachelor’s Degree in social sciences, communication, public relations, marketing, business, international development or related discipline
• At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience in field of communication, public relations, or other relevant field at the national or international level

Step 2: Desk review

UNCDF will conduct a desk review to produce a shortlist of candidates and technically evaluate the candidates. Criteria are as follows:

Experience and functional competencies structured accordingly

• At least 3 years of experience in branding, multimedia production, graphic design, web design, print and electronic publishing, or other technical expertise relevant to this ToR (years of experience can overlap between categories) (max 50 points);
• At least 1 year of experience in overseeing documents and report production (max 30 points);
• Excellent communication and writing skills specially in English (max 20 points)

All candidates that obtained 80% or more in Step 2 of the desk review will be invited for the interview.

Step 3: Interview (Maximum 100 points X 40%)

Step 4: Financial Evaluation

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

Lowest priced proposal/price of the proposal being evaluated x 30%.

The submitted financial proposal should take into account the reallocation to a different city and should be provided separately.

Application

Interested individuals must submit the following as proposals in order to demonstrate their qualifications: (NOTE: the system does not allow multiple uploads of document. Applicants must make sure to upload all documents in one PDF file).

All applications must contain the following information:

• Cover letter with a summary statement of competencies and in relation to the TOR; earliest availability; and proposed schedule for consultancy;
• Curriculum Vitae with names and current contacts of 3 referees;
• Financial proposal for the full assignment outlining: Total professional fee (including professional fees. Other professional expenses (such as insurance, taxes, etc.). Please use the form available at http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=29916).

Please make sure you have provided all requested materials in a single pdf file format.  The online platform for submitting application is unable to allow uploading of multiple documents.

Please note that UNCDF cannot guarantee residence permits or visas for consultants. Consultants are responsible for securing their work documentation. In the case of applicants that are not nationals of the duty station requested will have to prove their residence status.

Both individual consultants and individual employed by a company or institution are welcome to apply.  

Any individual employed by a company or institution who would like to submit an offer in response to a Procurement Notice for IC must do so in their individual capacity (providing a CV so that their qualifications may be judged accordingly). Women candidates or women-owned businesses are strongly encouraged to apply.