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Negotiation ID: UNDP-UKR-00226

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1. Background
In 2022, the government of Ukraine has launched a digitalization of the adoption process in the country. New digital solutions, introduced with support of the international partners, were aimed to make the adoption process in the country easier, simpler, and more convenient for adoptive parents. These efforts became of even greater importance due to the war and the humanitarian crisis it caused, as it heavily affected the most vulnerable people, especially children.
In particular, on 1 June 2022, the first online service in sphere of child adoption became available on the portal Diia – it has been possible to submit an application to have a consultation on the adoption of a child. After submission, an application is processed within 15 working days. During this time, departments for children contact applicants and arrange a consultation. As a result of counseling, people are able to find out whether they can become adopters and learn what they have to do to become ones. The service also makes it easier to submit the necessary documents and speeds up their review.
Later in September 2022, the second online service on adoption was launched on the Diia portal – it has been possible to register as a candidate to become an adoptive parent online. Previously, this service was only available offline. Within five working days after the verification of documents submitted online on the portal, the Children's affairs service conducts an examination of the applicant's living conditions. As a result, it makes a decision on sending the applicant to study for the purpose of further registration as a candidate to become an adoptive parent.
These two services were expanded with five more automatic adoption services that were launched on the Diia portal in February 2023. The services allow users to formalize forms of adoption such as foster family, or a family-type orphanage, guardianship, or childcare; to extend the validity of their registration as being a possible adopter if the child has not been adopted within a year; and to cancel a person’s registration as a candidate to adopt a child. The project, within which the services were introduced, was implemented at the initiative of the Adviser-Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for Children's Rights and Children's Rehabilitation, the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, and the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, with the support of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine, with funding from the Government of Sweden.
UNDP, with the strategic support of Sweden, is helping the Government of Ukraine in digitizing the adoption process in Ukraine. The partners, namely, strive to create a set of e-services covering the steps facing people who want to adopt a child so that more Ukrainian children can find their families and gain protection, which is especially important in times of war. The interventions were made in the framework of the “Digital, Inclusive, Accessible: Support to Digitalization of State Services in Ukraine (DIA Support) Project” (cutt.ly/DIA-Support-Project), which was launched on 1 January 2021. The project aims to bridge the digital divide between generations and different social groups in Ukraine. Its ultimate goal is that Ukrainian women and men have the necessary knowledge and digital skills to use digital and mobile-based services available to them.
Furthering these efforts, as part of the project, UNDP is aiming to promote adoption electronic services to build awareness among potential adoptive parents about the possibilities of child adoption in Ukraine in times of war and online services available to them in this sphere. Several interventions are planned to promote the services by offline means, for example, through the responsible children's affairs service offices. At the same time, it is expected that the services shall be promoted to social media users via, namely, cooperation and integration with social media influencers that will be defined as the most applicable to reach a necessary target audience.
Thus, the project seeks the services of a Consultant on the Promotion of Adoption Services on Social Media (hereinafter referred to as Consultant) who is expected to support the project with communication about two adoption services available on the Diia portal (on counseling about child adoption and on registration as a candidate to become an adoptive parent) on social media.

2. Objectives of the assignment / Scope of work

Given the abovementioned, the Consultant will concentrate his/her efforts on development and implementation of the thematic communication strategy for the promotion of two adoption related e-services via social media: registration for counseling about adoption and registration as a candidate. A developed communication strategy should be implemented in cooperation with social media influencers.

The aim of this campaign is two-fold:

1. To inform people that adoption in Ukraine is allowed even in times of war – in the regions where a children's affairs service operates;
2. To inform people about the new electronic services that are available in this sphere and encourage them to use these digital instruments.

The campaign, implemented in cooperation with social media influencers, will strive to reach the target audience, who are primarily women, 30-45 years old, who can be but are not necessarily married, are living in small regional or bigger oblast cities, have secondary or higher education, are employed and, therefore, have a stable financial income, are tech-savvy and active social media (Instagram, Facebook) users.

The actual promotion of developed communication materials on social media by influencers that will be defined by the Consultant and agreed by UNDP shall not exceed 1.5 months. The Consultant will take full responsibility for engaging and establishing partnerships with social media influencers. UNDP cannot fund paid cooperation with media influencers directly.

Hence, the main responsibilities and tasks of a Consultant will include:

• Support the communication campaign of the UNDP DIA Support project on the promotion of two adoption e-services on counseling about adoption and on registration as a candidate to become an adoptive parent on social media by designing a communication strategy to increase awareness of social media users on the possibilities of child adoption in Ukraine utilizing two e-services in collaboration with social media influencers;
• Identify and liaise with social media influencers (6-8) that will be the most applicable to reach the target audience, have the highest level of recognition among the target audience, and at least one of them has no less than 1,000,000 followers;
• Supervise and coordinate the development of communication materials by social media influencers and their publications according to the content plan which is based on the approved communication strategy;
• Monitor and assess the results of the digital communication efforts conducted by social media influencers.

The assignment has to be carried out under UNDP supervision.

3. Measurable outputs of the work assignment/deliverables

Hence, it is expected that the Consultant will deliver the following services (non-exhaustive list):

4. Management arrangements

The Consultant will be solely responsible for achieving the objectives of the assignment. He/She will be responsible for all personal administrative expenses associated with the assignment.

5. Monitoring requirements / Terms of payment

The Consultant will work under the overall supervision of the DIA Project Manager and will work closely with Digital Literacy Specialist and PR/Communication Associate of the DIA Support project.

All deliverables shall be approved by UNDP in written form through e-mail. No documents should be published or distributed to third parties without the approval of UNDP.

All documents should be submitted to the UNDP in electronic form (*.docx, *.xlsx, *.pptx, and *.pdf or other formats accepted by UNDP). The language of the materials and reports is Ukrainian. The analytical paper should be submitted to UNDP for comments and approval no later than 1 November 2023.

UNDP will provide payment upon provision of each deliverable duly certified by UNDP in accordance with the schedule below:

Deliverable 1 -           50%

Deliverable 2 -           30%

Deliverable 3 -           20%

6. Competencies

• Strategic thinking combined with a proactive, energetic approach to problem-solving and initiative-taking;
• Communicate effectively, encourage and participate in open communication in the team; excellent interpersonal skills;
• Strong organizational and time management skills;
• Demonstrate creativity and innovation management competencies, ready to multitask;
• Enthusiastic about the topic of digital transformation and innovations.

7. Required experience and qualifications

• At least university degree (Bachelor’s) in journalism, communication, PR, marketing, political science, social sciences, philology, or other related fields;
• At least 4 years of relevant experience in journalism, public relations, marketing, or communication;
• Proven experience in the development of communication/PR strategies for the cooperation with social media influencers;
• Experience in the development of a communication and/or PR strategy for the cooperation with social media influencers – to be demonstrated through provision of at least 1 example of a successful communication/PR strategy developed and implemented by the applicant in cooperation with a social media influencer;
• Proven practical experience in producing communication materials (social media posts, stories, videos, etc.) – at least 5 communication materials to be provided;
• Previous work experience with UNDP or other UN agencies (at least one project implemented) will be considered as an asset;
• Fluency in Ukrainian and English (at least upper-intermediate level).

8. Documents to be included when submitting the proposal

- CV, including information about experience in similar projects / assignments, as well as the email and telephone contacts of at least three (3) professional references;

- Financial proposal in line with information presented in Section 4. Measurable outputs of the work assignment/deliverables;

- Examples of at least 1 successful communication/PR strategy developed and implemented by the applicant in cooperation with a social media influencer under applicant’s supervision with samples of at least 5 communication materials: social media posts, stories, videos, etc., which were produced in the framework of such campaigns (links to the relevant documents to be included in the respective CV section or provided separately);

- Example/ sample/ brief overview of at least 1 implemented project confirming work experience with UNDP or another UN agency (link(s) to the relevant document(s) to be included in the respective CV section or provided separately) – optional requirement (will be considered an asset);

- Technical proposal (approach) explaining how the applicant proposes to handle the task at hand (vision) and what the proposed draft working plan is with a timeline for the deliverables and preliminary identification of a) social media channels to be used, b) a list of social media influencers (6-8) that can help accomplish the task: They should be the most applicable to reach the identified target audience, have the highest level of recognition among the target audience, and at least one of them has no less than 1,000,000 followers. Exact names of possible partnerships, which are foreseen by an applicant to be established, should be mentioned, c) materials to be developed by social media influencers (at least 2 materials – a post/reels and stories – per one influencer).

9. Evaluation Criteria

Educational background – 8 pts max

• 8 pts – Master’s in journalism, communication, PR, marketing, political science, social sciences, philology, or other related fields;
• 7 pts – Bachelor’s in journalism, communication, PR, marketing, political science, social sciences, philology, or other related fields.

Relevant professional experience in journalism, public relations, marketing, or communication – 15 pts max

• 15 pts – 7+ years of experience;
• 12 pts – between 5 and 6 years of experience;
• 10 pts – at least 4 years of experience.

Experience in the development of a communication and/or PR strategy for the cooperation with social media influencers – 20 pts max

• 20 pts – 5 and more strategies were developed and implemented;
• 17 pts – 2-4 strategies were developed and implemented;
• 14 pts – at least 1 strategy was developed and implemented.

Proven practical experience in producing communication materials (social media posts, stories, videos, etc.) – 16 points max

• 16 pts – 9 and more communication materials were produced;
• 14 pts – 6-8 communication materials were produced;
• 12 pts – at least 5 communication materials were produced.

Previous work experience with UNDP or other UN agencies – 4 pts max

• 4 pts – the applicant has relevant experience (at least one PR/communications project implemented in cooperation with UNDP or another UN agency);
• 0 pts – the applicant does not have relevant experience.

Language Skills – 7 pts max

• 7 pts – Native / fluent Ukrainian. Fluent English;
• 6 pts – Fluent Ukrainian. Working knowledge of English

Maximum available technical score – 70 points

EVALUATION METHOD:

Cumulative analysis

Contract award shall be made to the incumbent whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) having received the cumulative highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

* Technical Criteria weight: 70%

* Financial Criteria weight: 30%

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

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal and will equal to 30. All other price proposals will be evaluated and assigned points, as per below formula:

30 points [max points available for financial part] x [lowest of all evaluated offered prices among responsive offers] / [evaluated price].

The proposal obtaining the overall cumulatively highest score after adding the score of the technical proposal and the financial proposal will be considered as the most compliant offer and will be awarded a contract.

10. Financial Proposal

Lump sum contract

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (please, refer to Section 4 Measurable outputs of the work assignment/deliverables). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of Cost by Components.