Historique

In September 2009, the UN Secretary-General designated H.M. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands as his Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA).  As UNSGSA and Honorary Patron of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), Queen Máxima raises awareness and advocates specific policies, investments and actions with governments, regulators, private companies, international institutions and diverse additional stakeholders, all with view of how inclusive financial systems can help to reduce poverty, equalize opportunity and accelerate progress toward numerous development goals.   She does so through country visits, speeches, meetings, convening of stakeholders and other outreach.  This requires careful, comprehensive and rigorous analysis of local conditions, policies, available services and public priorities, as well as the needs of households, enterprises and communities.

The UNSGSA’s work is done in partnership and with wide consultation among the many stakeholders working to advance financial inclusion—and those affected by it. She collaborates closely with an advisory Reference Group of leading international organizations in financial inclusion to share expertise and suggest strategic opportunities that she can advance through advocacy and partnerships. Reference Group members include: Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Better Than Cash Alliance, Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), The World Bank Group (including the International Finance Corporation), the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Omidyar Network.

Members of the Reference Group and many other in-country and global partners play an important role in converting advocacy into action. The UNSGSA also consults widely with UN country teams, financial standard setting bodies (SSBs), the G20/Global Partnership for Inclusive Finance (GPFI), foundations, private companies, bilateral donors, and civil society organizations.

A small staff works closely with Queen Máxima and her secretariat in The Hague to coordinate and advance her UN, G20 and other activities. The office of the UNSGSA is housed at UNDP’s Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy in New York and receives generous financial support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Senior Policy Consultant will report to the Director of the office.

For more information on the activities and priorities of the UNSGSA, please visit: www.UNSGSA.org

Under the supervision of the Communications Specialist and staff of the office of the UNSGSA, the English Editor/Writer/Proofreader Consultant will enhance the communications, advocacy and outreach efforts undertaken by the UNSGSA to further financial inclusion for development. Specifically, the consultant will be responsible for drafting a broad range of original content and editing the work of UNSGSA staff for the website, events and meetings, and other contexts. She or he will create and oversee the production of the annual report. The consultancy assignment will last for up to 240 days (on-call) with anticipated start date of 15 Oct. 2018 and will conclude on 15 Oct. 2021.  Payments will be made upon certification by UNDP that the services related to the TORs have been satisfactorily performed and deliverables have been achieved. 

Devoirs et responsabilités

SCOPE OF WORK, RESPONSIBILITIES AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ANALYTICAL WORK

Editing, Writing, Proofing

• Draft, copyedit and proofread all text for the Annual Report.

• Assist the Office with writing and editing, possibly including writing short features, impact stories, newsletter.

• Contribute to preparation of remarks, speeches, and public statements, and review other materials for language and consistency of messages.

• Assist with other communications-related tasks as needed.

Producing the Annual Report

• Provide photo research assistance for designer.

• Provide support and coordination for designer

• Proofread each design stage of the Annual Report and work with designer/Office to resolve editorial and design changes.

• Support office on marketing outreach, possibly including drafting outreach letter, email communications and social media messages.

Other

• Post content on the UNSGSA website including stories and pictures.

• Make recommendations for coverage on homepage.

The consultant will be responsible for producing the following deliverables:

• Complete text and captions for UNSGSA Annual Report Annex/Activities, edited, fact-checked, proofed

• Photos and captions prepared for designer.

• Copyediting and proofreading of complete final text.

• Proofreading of final page layouts.

• Other marketing and writing outputs as needed.

• Editing variety of outputs including speeches, news stories, newsletter, etc.

• Updating UNSGSA website.             

Proofreading: A proofreader provides a final check of text for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and spacing.

Copy editing (light to medium editing):  The copy editor will correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and problems with syntax; will ensure that singular pronouns represent singular nouns and plural pronouns, plural nouns; will standardize notes, bibliographies, and reference lists; and will make style decisions based on the UNDP Editorial Style Manual (regarding punctuation, source citations, whether to spell out numbers or leave them as numerals, capitalization, Latin abbreviations, foreign words, quotations, how to use academic and military titles, when to italicize words or use quotation marks, etc.).

Line editing (heavier editing): In addition to performing the tasks of copy editing, the editor takes an active role in initiating changes. Sentences will be polished and reworded to improve clarity and flow and to get rid of repetition, clumsy wording, and convoluted sentence structure. Facts are checked and corrected, sections may be rearranged if necessary, and subheads and chapter titles might be reworked. The editor may make suggestions to remedy issues the author might have overlooked in order to clarify messaging, ensure the text conveys facts, not personal theories; remove jargon, etc.

Compétences

Corporate

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;

• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;

• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;

• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

 Functional

• Excellent writing, editing, research, and proofreading skills;
• Previous knowledge of print design requirements and processes;
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to multi-task;
• Attention to detail is crucial;
• Responsible, responsive, and enthusiastic;
• Must be able to work in a multi-cultural environment and be aware of political sensitivities.
• Interest in global issues and the United Nations

Client Orientation and Communication

• Good interpersonal and networking skills, ability to establish and maintain effective working relations, supports and encourages open communication in the team, and facilitates team work;

• Ability to work under minimum supervision.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Academic qualifications:

• BA in writing, communications, journalism, international relations, or related fields.

Years of experience:

• Minimum of five years of relevant experience in editing, writing, proofreading, including significant experience with print publications (Required);

• Previous experience with issues surrounding financial inclusion preferred;

• Outstanding writing and editing skills in English; (Required)

• Experience editing and organizing photography and writing captions;

• Extensive experience working closely with designers to execute layouts (required);

• Knowledge and experience overseeing the creation of information graphics/data visualizations.

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken Englishis required;

Application Procedure

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

• Online application with brief description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment; and

• 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.

• writing and editing and editing samples (Provide only URL links of published documents)

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 must be all-inclusive and take into account various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; cost of travel from the home base to the duty station and vice versa, where required; living allowances at the duty station; communications, utilities and consumables; life, health and any other insurance; risks and inconveniences related to work under hardship and hazardous conditions (e.g., personal security needs, etc.), when applicable; and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services under the contract.
• This consultancy is a home-based assignment, therefore, there is no envisaged travel cost to join duty station/repatriation travel.  
• In the case of unforeseeable travel requested by UNDP, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNDP and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.
• If the Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.                                     

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.  Demonstrable experience with writing, editing, and handling web and print production  Maximum Points: 200 points;
• Criteria 2. Prior experience with nonprofit annual reports and related research/production.  Maximum Points: 200 points;

• Criteria 3. Quality of writing and editing samples. Maximum points (200 Points).

• Criteria 4 Demonstrable experience editing and organizing photography and writing captions Maximum Points: 50 points; and

• Criteria 5 Experience with a wide range of content creation, particularly including well-written reports, feature stories, profiles. Maximum points: (50 Points)

Having reviewed applications received, UNDP will conduct a desk review of the top three shortlisted candidates.

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (490 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (700 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial evaluation - Total 30% (300 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

Framework Agreement

UNDP plans to enter into the Long-Term Agreement (LTA) with the TOP ranked successful Individual Contractors to assure resources availability at the required time frame and/or increased demand for services requested. The service of who will be used on an intermittent and repetitive basis when needed and based on the fixed unit price.  Other prospective applicants that are not contracted, at the UNDP’s discretion, may be placed on the roster of consultants to be used based on an on-call basis for similar services.

Please note that the LTA does not form a financial obligation or commitment from UNDP at the time the LTA contract is signed and that such an agreement is non-exclusive. When a specific need arises, the successful Individual Contractor/s will be approached and be provided with a specific TOR and deliverables (and time frame) but still within the scope of the responsibilities stated in the LTA. The successful Individual Contractor(s) is expected to provide Confirmation of Interest on the specific services required at the agreed LTA Daily Rate Consultancy Fee. Financial commitments will only be established each time a Purchase Order for the specific services/TOR for Individual Contractor is committed.

This LTA has a cumulative ceiling amount that may accrue to the individual contractor during the life of the LTA, but said amount shall remain as an upper limit, and must not and cannot be interpreted nor understood as neither a financial commitment nor guarantee of business volume.

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 Director, Office of the UNSGSA 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.

Annexes (click on the hyperlink to access the documents):

Annex 1 - UNDP P-11 Form for ICs

Annex 2 - IC Contract Template

Annex 3 – IC General Terms and Conditions

Annex 4 – RLA Template

Any request for clarification must be sent by email to cpu.bids@undp.org 

The UNDP Central Procurement Unit will respond by email and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.