Historique

The Regional Programme on Local Democracy in the Western Balkans (ReLOaD) aims to strengthen participatory democracies and the EU integration process in the Western Balkans by empowering civil society to actively take part in decision making and by stimulating an enabling legal and financial environment for civil society. The Project builds on and scales up the experiences of the Reinforcement of Local Democracy (LOD) project implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina by UNDP and supported by the European Union (EU). As a regional initiative, the project will be implemented throughout the following countries/territories: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.  Specifically, the project objective is to strengthen partnerships between local governments and civil society in the WB by scaling-up a successful model of transparent and project-based funding of CSOs from local government budgets towards greater civic engagement in decision-making and improvement of local service delivery.  ReLOaD will focus on institutionalizing the interaction between local governments and CSOs, while strengthening capacities of all relevant stakeholders to engage more productively in such partnerships. The underlying intention is to replicate and sustain a transparent, development-oriented and project-based approach to funding of CSOs by municipal budgets that contributes to realization of legitimate local priorities in line with local development strategies, thereby expanding local governments-CSO relations and improve quality of CSO services. 

Over the three years period from February 2017 to January 2020, the project will work with 53 local governments, at least five in each participating country/territory, and enable adaptation of a funding model offered for replication from Bosnia and Herzegovina to each country’s/territories’ specifics. It is foreseen that 200 CSO projects will be funded in all partner local governments through the competitive model addressing citizens’ needs in the participating WB countries/territories.

To support the knowledge management objectives of the project, an online interactive platform will be established to facilitate sharing of knowledge, tools, information, and practices on local governance models and approaches, focusing on transparency and innovative public service delivery mechanisms. The platform will be open to internal UNDP and external practitioners (public sector, CSOs, academics, experts) working on local development, local governance and service delivery issues, and will foster networking among these experts and practitioners. It will also link with and promote relevant work of project partners. In addition to serving as interactive repository of information, the platform will also feature interactive discussions on specific topics of interest to the members (series of thematic discussions to be agreed among the members), as well as blogs and stories providing case studies and hands-on experiences from members in addressing these issues.  It is expected that the online platform will be transferred for the use of national stakeholders at the end of project.

The intent is to ensure that the knowledge platform is easy to navigate, accessible and user friendly as well as attractive and modern, and able to provide facilitated exchange of information and knowledge sharing, as well as enhance the existing online Library of different types of resources for along local governance, public service delivery, and the role of civil society in delivering such services. 

* All references to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of UNSCR 1244 (1999)

Devoirs et responsabilités

The consultant will be responsible for the following: i) design, develop and provide technical support to ensure attractive and functional platform/website, according to UNDP IRH/ReLOaD teams specifications (see below); ii) provide web hosting recommendations/options; and iii) ensure consultative, inclusive processes in designing the platform and training relevant UNDP staff on its use.  The site will have two main components: a website open to general public and the intranet which will be used internally. Each page should be instantly recognizable as part of the ReLOaD knowledge platform from its immediate appearance.  The platform should be designed in such a way that it is functional in different displays: tablet, smart phone, full screen.

The knowledge platform design needs to be clear, professional and intuitive for its users and visitors. Consultant should work with UNDP IRH and the ReLOaD teams to develop the design and homepage concepts. At least two design options should be provided for the UNDP IRH/ReLOaD’s final selection. The concepts will then be revised down to one, final design for the platform. The usability and navigation of the platform will be of utmost importance in the organizational architecture. A thorough review of existing and newly planned content will also be taken into consideration.

Technical specifications for required services: 

The service provider should cover the following: 

• Design appropriate security architecture for the knowledge platform and implement this security mechanism for the interactive method through the platform.
• Maintenance and up-date on the knowledge platform technology. 
• Provide adequate training to staff to enable them to effectively operate, update and maintain the knowledge platform.

The knowledge exchange platform functionalities and content will be further reviewed and finalized according to project needs upon signing of the contract, and should at least include the following: 

•  Flexible and easy-to-use Content Management System (CMS).
• The platform should be provided with an easy-to-use, robust content management system, or CMS. The CMS will allow members of the ReLOaD/UNDP IRH team to allow ‘non-programmatic’ control over the content of the website, allowing the team to make changes to the site without the support of a dedicated web developer with coding knowledge. 
• Content of the platform will include the following: project and project team information; documents and publications with download boxes/links, with support to printing and exporting articles to PDF; news and public announcements; videos and photo gallery; blogs, stories and infographics; interactive map showing project locations and activities; among others.
• A user registration function to allow the platform to understand better its audience through the use of analytics, and to have an automated management system for mailing lists (see below).
• Mail chimp integration feature.  The CMS will integrate a custom mailing list to allow users (registered users) to be added to an e-mail distribution list maintained by ReLOaD in an automated manner.
• Multi-language support feature (i.e., English, Albanian, Serbian, Montenegrin) for the landing page, and options for Albanian, Bosnian/Croatian/ Montenegrin/ Serbian and Macedonian languages for the subpages that will feature content/stories from WB countries/territories.
• A discussion feature (dialogue spaces) where experts and practitioners can engage in moderated discussions with each other.  The moderators will be from among members of the ReLOaD team, and will use a moderation system to approve and/or delete comments as appropriate.  This feature will be embedded into the CMS where all discussions and comments will be saved into a database.
• “ShareThis” social media button. The ShareThis social media app will allow any documents to be shared on social media platforms, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Yammer, Youtube, and more;
• A “Search” facility capable of searching within the site architecture and searching externally on the web;
• The consultant will provide a user guide to assist the ReLOaD team to operate the site (maintain, upload information, add features as necessary);
• The consultant will identify and organize a web hosting service with an ISP to be identified by the service provider; The Consultant will provide training and support to the ReLOaD team after completion of the project to support its evolution.

Secure Area should include the following: 

• List of members from regional and country teams
• Profiles for members, including short biographies and a profile photo
• Allow members and experts to upload documents; UNDP IRH/ReLOaD to vet/approve before they become visible. 
• Newsfeed/Timeline to allow users to see what other members of their group have been sharing/doing 
• Ability to hold an internal forum discussion (forum thread, with ability to upload different types of files) 
• Notifications available to users on new members and new documents, with a possibility to switch off the notifications 
• Integrate google translate, as it is in Chrome or similar. 

Requirements: 
System performance
The system must be able to serve multiple concurrent visitors (up to 100) without noticeable degradation of performance or responsiveness. The system should not imply any artificial limits such as to maximum number of articles, sections, registered users, attachments etc. except objective limits imposed by hosting constraints.

Backup procedures
Consultant must implement both automatic and manual backup mechanisms, daily, weekly, monthly and full back up of entire website content, including archive. 

Availability
The knowledge platform must be available 99.5% of time, with the exception of properly announced down-times for maintenance, backup or system upgrades. 

Compatibility with most popular web browsers
The knowledge platform must look and feel the same in all modern web browsers (Mozilla, IE, Safari, Chrome….). The knowledge platform should also have version optimized for mobile devices and be mobile friendly, work on the IOS, Andriod and Windows phone mobile devices. 
No browser plug-ins requirements on client side
The knowledge platform must not require plug-ins on the client side (e.g., Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight) in order to properly display content. Only content types which naturally require client-side plug-ins and CODECs (video streaming, interactive process animations, etc.) may be an exception to this rule.

Modularity and flexibility
The system must be designed in such manner that additional changes, extensions or removals of functionality affect other components as little as possible. The system architecture should be designed to minimize the number of places requiring changes when new functionality has to be added or existing functionality has to be changed. CMS should be also enabled with an approval-routing feature for maximum security and content verification. System should support different types of users, who have different roles in adding and approving content.  
Alignment with the rules and regulations of the United Nations Development Programme

The system must be fully aligned with the legal requirements of the United Nations Development Programme.  All tools/systems to be developed under this consultancy will be the property of UNDP, is not subject to any copyright, and will be transferred and managed by UNDP at the conclusion of the contract.

Payments

• 10% of the lump sum, upon submission of a workplan providing detailed set of actions and timelines for delivering on the TOR (by  June 10, 2018);
• 40% of the lump sum, upon submission of the beta version of the knowledge platform with all functionalities (by  July 15, 2018); 
• 20% of the lump sum, upon completion of full public version of the knowledge platform, incorporating comments and feedback from project team (by August 1, 2018).
• 15% of the lump sum, upon website  maintenance services, update or adding new features for the knowledge platform and ensure impeccable performance (by December 2018) 

Compétences

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness, by modelling the UN/UNDP’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of the UN and UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent interpersonal and networking skills;
• Client Orientation;
• Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors;
• Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to critical feedback;
• Planning and organizing;
• Sound time management and organizational skills with the ability to handle multiple tasks;
• Capacity to work under tight deadlines, manage stress and adapt to rapidly evolving situations;
• Website design skills and high level proficiency with web design platforms (Wordpress, Drupal, Node);
• High level of technical proficiency in code for website development (HTML, Java, CSS);
• Ability to provide basic training for people that will manage content and maintain the website.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Web Design or a field related to the area of this assignment is Required. Master’s Degree in listed fields is  an asset. 

Experience:

• Minimum five years’ experience in a web design environment is required;
• Experience on web-based programming languages, including HTML, Java, CSS is required;
• Experience in designing websites, including graphic design, with open source applications (Wordpress, Drupal, Node) is required;
• Track record in delivering on-line, inclusive, and timely solutions to companies (public, private sector or non-profit) is required;
• Experience is setting up Content Management Systems, Custom Mailing Lists, Taxonomy and Meta-Tagging Processes, and Discussion Forums (Community of Practice) is required;
• Strong experience in working with multi-disciplinary teams to ensure relevance and appropriateness of the design to project/organizational needs; 
• Experience with developing and designing intranet systems as well as on website security and website hosting services;

Language skills: 

•  Fluency in written and spoken English is required for this post.

Evaluation of Applicants

Applicants will be screened against qualifications and the competencies specified above.  Those selected for the next stage of the selection process will participate in an assessment.  Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.

Only those candidates who will obtain min. 70% of points will be invited for the next stage of the technical evaluation and financial proposal evaluation.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation - max. 70 points:
P11 Desk Review - max- 35 points

• Knowledge and experience in web-based programming languages including graphic design – max points: 10
• Experience in designing and setting up dynamic websites, intranets, dashboards, and/or interactive online platforms including using open source applications – max points: 15
• Education: 5 points
• Language skills - max points: 5

Examples/existing portfolio of online products/designs - list of similar platforms developed by the Service Provider in the last two years which demonstrate experience in online programming, development, design and architecture of modern web publishing platforms/technologies, max points:20 

Interview -  max points: 15

• Experience on designing multi-language interactive platforms that contain both website and intranet - max points: 5; 
• Experience in working with/dealing with multi-disciplinary teams, including conducting training support to clients - max points: 5;
• Ability to meet tight deadlines - - max points: 5;

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max. 30 points.

Application procedures:

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website. The application should contain:

• Cover letter, including applicant's qualifications for the advertised position, and weblinks to examples of previous work/products. The letter should be pasted into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
• Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees (blank form can be downloaded from http://www.eurasia.undp.org/content/dam/rbec/docs/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc); please upload the P11 instead of your CV;
• Financial Proposal –specifying total lump sum amount in USD for the tasks specified in this announcement.
• Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials

Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply.

Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.

Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org.

General Terms and conditions as well as other related documents can be found under: http://on.undp.org/t7fJs.