Background

UNDP has a personnel base of approximately 20,000 individuals in over 130 different countries, the vast majority of whom do not have English as a mother tongue. At the same time, communication has been predominantly informative and in English only.

The Administrator formally launched People for 2030, UNDP’s People Strategy, in June 2019. In response, a transformational reform programme was launched to deliver new capabilities in Human Resources (HR) with the objective “to progressively transform UNDP’s culture and capacity to deliver more and better results”.

As of November 2020, the vast majority of these capabilities have been established, with the remainder in the development phase and likely to be concluded in 2021.

The challenge now is to use these new HR capabilities to build an improved working experience for all UNDP personnel so that the aim of People for 2030 can be realized. To achieve this, the sustainable delivery of an informative, engaging and inspirational narrative is essential.

Currently, OHR is developing numerous tools and initiatives to deliver the key messages, and these will continue to be developed over the coming months. The current initiatives have been effective, but they are not achieving the desired impact in terms of transformation.

OHR is seeking specific expertise in communication tools, techniques and messages which support the realization of organizational development and transformation by engaging, informing and inspiring UNDPs personnel.

Duties and Responsibilities

The objective of this consultancy is to; review OHR’s current communication activities around People for 2030, UNDP’s People Strategy, make recommendations for improvements to these activities and develop new communication tools, methodologies and messages. These recommendations must take into account UNDP’s communication practices and limitations, and the ability of OHR to continue to use the recommended activities once the consultancy has concluded. The aim of these changes is to improve the way we inform, and actively engage UNDP personnel with the new Human Resources capabilities which have recently been introduced.

OHR’s overall objective in this regard is to optimize the transformational process which is currently underway in the realization of People for 2030.

Always with a consideration for the limitations of both OHR resources and UNDP practices and procedures for communication, the consultant will;

1. Complete a critical review of OHRs current communication tools, methodologies and messages used to deliver the People for 2030 narrative; Output 1: a presentation to the OHR Director and other management team members.
2. Carry out consultations with a large variety of UNDP personnel and set out recommendations for a set of tools, methodologies and messages to communicate People for 2030’s narrative; Output 2: presentation made to the OHR Director to secure his approval.
3. Based on an agreed implementation plan, develop and commence implementation of the tools, methodologies and messages agreed upon in Output 2. This will be carried out with an OHR focal point so that the work can be handed over at the conclusion of the consultancy. Output 3: New communication tools, methodologies and messages have been developed and the OHR focal point is able to continue the work.
4. Develop Key Performance Indicators and design the reporting methodology so that OHR can track the effectiveness of our communication approaches in the future. Output 4: Key Performance Indicators and reporting methodology has been designed and agreed upon by the OHR Director.
5. Submit an end of consultancy report, recording the work undertaken and the lessons learned for OHR to consider in the future. Output 5: an end of consultancy report approved by the OHR Director.

Competencies

Corporate

• Demonstrate integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards
• Advocates and promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability

Technical / Functional

• International expertise in developing and delivering communication tools, methodologies and messages, specifically to support organizational transformation programmes.
• A broad understanding of the UN context, policies and environment surrounding communications.
• Expertise in organizational development and transformation

Communication:

• Interpersonal skills;
• Exceptional analytical skills and solution-oriented programme design skills;
• Excellent spoken and written communication skills, including the ability to liaise with technical staff and present information clearly and concisely;
• Research and evaluation skills, including the ability to synthesize information; and
• Ability to work in multidisciplinary and multicultural settings.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

• At least a bachelor’s degree in communications, Organizational Development, Management or a related discipline
• Master’s degree in the field of communications, Organizational Development or a related discipline will be an asset.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of experience in developing and delivery communication tools, methodologies and messages to support organizational development and/ or transformational change processes, for a large, global organization, required
• At least 5 years of experience in the use of digital tools (including social media tools, Microsoft Products such as Publisher, Sway and other online tools to be recommended by the consultant) and enablers to convey messages across a global organization, required
• At least 2 years’ experience in similar roles within the UN System, or with other multilateral organizations, is desirable.

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required;

Application Procedure

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

• A cover letter with a brief description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment;
• 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; and

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 is to be emailed as per the instruction in the separate email that will be sent to shortlisted candidates.

Evaluation process

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

Technical evaluation - Total 70% (700 points):

• Criteria 1: Extent of knowledge and good practices in delivering communication tools, procedures and messages (Candidates with relevant experience with social media tools, Microsoft Products such as Publisher, Sway and/or others will be given advantage). Maximum of 150 points.
• Criteria 2: Relevance of the experience conducting critical review of communications tools and methodologies. Maximum of 150 points.
• Criteria 3:  Extent of experience working in organizational development/ transformation processes. Maximum of 150 points. (Candidates with expertise designing KPIs to track communication effectiveness will be given advantage).
• Criteria 4: Relevance of the work carried out for the UN System or other international organizations (Maximum of 50 points.
• Criteria 5: Interview: Maximum Points: 200 points.

Having reviewed applications received, UNDP will invite the top three technically qualified candidates for interview who obtain at least 70% of the maximum of points obtainable during the evaluation of criteria 1-4. Out of the three candidates considered for an interview, only candidates who obtain at least 50% of the total of points obtainable during the interview (100/200 points) will be invited for financial proposal. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

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.

Financial evaluation - Total 30% (30 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 arrangement

The consultant will work under the guidance and direct supervision of the Chief, HR policy and compensation unit and will be responsible for the fulfilment of the deliverables as specified above.

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, with core hours being between 9h00 and 18h00 daily.