Historique

The United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) aims to be a robust knowledge hub providing advisory and consulting services to member states, UN entities, IGOs, NGOs and other stakeholders on South-South and triangular cooperation (SSTC). It enables developing countries to effectively face their development challenges and harness opportunities to address them, while monitoring progress on the implementation of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, New Directions Strategy and the Nairobi Outcome Document.

UNOSSC engages with Member States globally, regionally, as well as within the UN system to facilitate practical expressions of Southern solidarity towards the achievement of internationally agreed development goals. UNOSSC ensures that our southern constituencies have timely access to high quality analytical planning, mapping, programming, and reporting on data, trends and opportunities that will propel South-South and triangular cooperation in ways that ensure success.

In light of the growth of South-South cooperation and increasing importance of UNOSSC’s mandate, it is critical for UNOSSC to strengthen its efforts to communicate the importance and successes of its own services in support of South-South cooperation – among its constituents, the development community and the world at large. Its communication, both with the internal UN community and its external constituencies, is critical to the fulfillment of its global mandate. This consultancy will focus on the strategic design and implementation of a Communication and Internet Strategy for UNOSSC, including an extensive use of e-tools and social media.

Devoirs et responsabilités

Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Deputy Director for Policy and Strategic Partnership, the qualified individual will be tasked to accomplish the following specific tasks:

• Supports the implementation of the comprehensive Communications Strategy for the Office, with focus on the application of Internet, social media and e-tools in order to achieve extensive dissemination, information circulation and communicational engagement among UNOSSC constituents and partners (internal and external).

• Supports the dissemination of news and materials in different UNOSSC web-spaces.

• Advises, supports and executes activities related to the technical implementation of the UNOSSC website in the six UN official languages.

• Designs and implements the new BAPA+40 website, including the creation of informative pages, the upload of materials, the management of forms, as well as links to documents and publications.

• Designs, tests and implements continuous website and social media upgrades and innovations (both technological and procedural) in order to project a living, evolving and modern virtual environment for the promotion of South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation and the engagement of United Nations and national focal points, practitioners, policy makers and researchers in a global community of practice.

• Supports monitoring and impact evaluation of UNOSSC’s internet communication and social media activities.

• Supports building UNOSSC’s electronic solution databases, and harmonization with those databases of partners.

• Provides technical support the office in managing the UNOSSC portals (https://www.unsouthsouth.org) and its sub-domains (including the GSSD Expo website), in line with UN standards and guidelines, keeping the websites safe, updated, integrated, coherent and attractive.

The multilingual website:

• serves as the source for updated information on the Office and its activities;

• harmonizes under the same design and branding all relevant contents, initiatives and projects carried out by the Office;

• serves as a knowledge platform for UNOSSC’s stakeholders, where knowledge products developed by the Office, solutions documented, and lessons learned are made available with open access;

• links to other webpages managed by key external partners;

• is guided by the following aspects: attractiveness, simplicity, updatability, dynamism, responsiveness and interactive capacity;

• demonstrates a unified visual identity of all printed and multimedia materials produced by the Office.

The scope of work will vary depending on the individual assignments but would include one or various of the above.

Key Deliverables include:

• UNOSSC website maintained and updated;

• Outreach and interactivity advice provided;

• Express updates, upload of materials, creation of pages and general publishing;

• Promotion of UNOSSC materials through social media and mailing lists;

• Production and distribution of a South-South Cooperation Social Media Guide;

• Creation of open discussion forums for partners to interact and exchange information and materials with regard to South-South and triangular cooperation;

• Internet coverage of activities, including the Second High-level Conference on South-South Cooperation and the Global South-South Development Expo among others;

• Real-time dissemination of pictures, videos, white papers, publications, articles and general materials through UNOSSC web pages and social media;

• Recording of videos and interviews for use on the UNOSSC website and social media channels;

• Distribution of newsletters;

• Processing and uploading of general materials and multimedia recorded during various events.

• Key performance indicators:

  Efficient website administration and design:

• >90% Completed: Excellent (1); 80-90% completed: Satisfactory (2): less than 80% completed – Poor (3)

Timely and cost-effective knowledge management:

• >90% Completed: Excellent (1); 80-90% completed: Satisfactory (2): less than 80% completed – Poor (3)

Proven client interactivity, continuous dissemination of news and materials:

• >90% Completed: Excellent (1); 80-90% completed: Satisfactory (2): less than 80% completed – Poor (3)

Duration of Work / Contracting Arrangements:

• The overall objective of this agreement is to facilitate and expedite the process by which UNOSSC can engage the services of a Communications Consultant – Website Manager;

• Estimated level of effort including travel days: 150 days/year over 3 years;

• The consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment;

• The consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own working station (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, etc.) and must have access to reliable internet connection;

• Given the global consultations to be undertaken during this assignment, the consultant is expected to be reasonably flexible with his/her availability for such consultations taking into consideration different time zones where applicable;

• The consultant will engage with the Supervisor by email and Skype regularly;

• Payments will be made upon submission of a detailed time sheet and certification of payment form, and acceptance and confirmation by the Supervisor on days worked (with a “day” calculated as 8 hours of work) and outputs delivered.

• Each assignment will vary in duration. The expected duration will be specified in each respective Terms of Reference for each individual assignment, within the maximum three-year period of the Long-Term Agreement.

• One (1) successful individual can be selected and placed on the technical expert ICFA for the period of up to 3 years. It is to be noted that inclusion in the ICFA does not guarantee a contract during the period of 3 years.

• ICFA/LTA Holders will be contacted when specific service requests arise and will be asked to indicate availability and interest against a specific Terms of Reference (TOR) outlining the outputs of the assignment.

Travel:

• Mission travel may be required to attend relevant meetings and/or trainings, which will likely not exceed 4 missions a year;

• Any necessary mission travel must be approved in advance and in writing by the Deputy Director for Policy and Strategic Partnership;

• The BSAFE course must be successfully completed prior to commencement of travel;

• Individual Consultant is responsible for ensuring he/she has vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director;

• Consultant is responsible for obtaining any visas and security clearances needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP;

• Consultant is also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under ; https://dss.un.org/dssweb/;

• The consultant will be responsible for making his/her own mission travel arrangements in line with UNDP travel policies;

• All related travel expenses will be supported by the unit’s travel fund and will be reimbursed as per UNDP rules and regulations for consultants. Costs for airfares, terminal expenses, and living allowances should not be included in the financial proposal.

Compétences

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling 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;

• Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Functional Competencies:

Communication:

• Inter-personal skills;

• Exceptional analytical skills, solution-oriented program design skills;

• Good spoken and written communication skills, including the ability to liaise with technical staff and present information in a clear and concise style;

• Excellent social and communication skills;

• Research and evaluation skills including ability to synthesize information;

• Ability to work in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural settings.

Technical:

• Solid understanding of the concepts of user experience, user interface design principles and conceptual design;

• Researches potential solutions to internal and external client needs and reports back in a timely manner;

• Anticipates client needs and addresses them promptly;

• Generates new ideas and approaches;

• Demonstrate ability of timely completion of assignments and ability to meet deadlines;

• Excellent computer skills required;

• Expert knowledge in the field of web design/development and user experience.

• Creativity and innovation abilities to deliver quality results based on the agreed deadlines.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Academic qualifications:

• At least advanced university degree (Masters or equivalent) in International Development, Computer Science, Information Systems, or another relevant field.

• Technical knowledge on emerging internet technologies, building interactive social networks, and strategic audience engagement.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of experience in implementing communications strategies and tools in the international development arena, preferably using multimedia materials and open source technologies is required.

• Experience and advanced knowledge in open source CMS (Content Management System) installation and management is required.

• Demonstrate experience in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, web security and other relevant technologies is required.

• Experience in handling integration with Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube an asset.

• Proficiency in creative web design and creating online user interfaces is required.

• Experience and familiarity with integrating disparate platforms and ability to work with external development teams and non-technical users an asset.

• Working experience and knowledge of United Nations system, UN Communication systems management an asset.

• Experience and understanding of South-South and triangular cooperation and networking with different partner profiles an asset.

• Experience in project monitoring and impact evaluation an asset.

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required;

• Working knowledge of another UN language would be an asset

Application Procedure

Application is a two-step process:

STEP 1

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website. The application should contain the TWO following documents, ALL IN ONE FILE:

• DOCUMENT 1: Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experiences from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.
• DOCUMENT 2: Brief description of why the individual considers her/himself suitable for the assignment. Please submit this information in the same file as Document 1.
• All the information requested above must be submitted in the same file. Candidates who fail to submit all the information requested above will be disqualified.
• Do not include your financial proposal at this stage. Only shortlisted candidates (technically qualified) will be invited to submit a financial proposal.

STEP 2

Financial Proposal:

After review of applications, candidates will be contacted by UNDP separately and requested to submit a Financial Proposal.

• The financial proposal should specify an all-inclusive daily fee.

• 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 with possible visits to the UNOSSC office in New York.There is no envisaged travel cost to join duty station.

• 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 the contractor, 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.

• Shortlisted candidates will be asked to submit a financial proposal. UNDP will provide candidates with the financial proposal template.

• 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 responsive and qualified candidates.

• Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

• Financial proposals must be all inclusive and must be expressed on the basis of “a daily fee” in USD.
• Payment will be made upon submission of a certificate of payment request, at a schedule agreed based on deliverables, indicating outputs achieved and days worked to be verified and cleared for payment by the supervisor.
• Any official mission travel expenses will be duly paid for directly by UNDP and should not be included in the price proposal.
• Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials

Qualified women are strongly encouraged to apply for this assignment.

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

Evaluation process

The selection of the best offer from the shortlisted candidates will be based on a combined scoring method – where the qualifications and experience will be weighted a maximum of 700 points and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a max of 300 points out of 1000 points.

Method: Cumulative analysis method will be used to evaluate proposals.

• 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 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.

• Technical Criteria weight: 70%

  Financial Criteria weight: 30%

  Technical evaluation - Total 70% (700 points):

• Relevance of work experience in implementing communications strategies and tools in the international development arena, preferably using multimedia materials and open source technologies. (150 points)

• Relevance of technical knowledge on emerging internet technologies, building interactive social networks, and strategic audience engagement. (50 points)

• Advanced knowledge and experience in open source CMS (Content Management System) installation and management. (55 points)

• Experience and understanding of South-South and triangular cooperation and networking with different partner profiles. (55 points)

• Experience in project monitoring and impact evaluation. (20 points)

• Proficiency in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, web security and other relevant technologies. (50 points)

• Relevance of experience in providing technical support for non-technical users. (10 points)

• Familiarity with handling integration with Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube. (10 points)

The maximum points that can be achieved in the desk review is 400 points.

Only those applicants obtaining a minimum of 280 points (70% of points obtainable in the desk review) will be considered for an interview.

Interview (300 points)

The total obtainable score on the interview is 300 points bringing the total points for the technical evaluation to a maximum of 700 points. Candidates obtaining less than 210 points during the interview (70% of points obtainable during the interview) will be disqualified.

Only those candidates who obtain a total technical score of 490 points and above on the technical evaluation will be considered for financial evaluation and will be asked to submit a financial proposal.

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 fame 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 in 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.

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 delivery of services by the UNOSSC  Project Manager.

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

Annex 1 - IC Contract Template

Annex 2 – IC General Terms and Conditions (for Individuals/Free Lancers who will sign the UNDP contract on behalf of themselves).

Annex 3 – RLA Template. For Individuals who will be represented on behalf of a company, a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) will be signed between UNDP and the company. To view the RLA's terms & conditions, please see http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=22292 Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA): A legal instrument between UNDP and a Company/institution, according to which, the latter makes available the services of an individual delivering time-bound and quantifiable outputs that are directly linked to payments.

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.