Antecedentes

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women's rights at the centre of all its efforts, the UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action globally. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors. 

The UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (ECA RO) was established in Istanbul, Turkey, at the beginning of 2014 as a part of the UN Women’s new regional architecture. The UN Women ECA RO leads and supports the field offices in presenting and positioning themselves as thought and action leaders on gender equality and women’s empowerment. 

Communications initiatives that provide and use information with a clearly defined objective, are pivotal in this regard. In order to communicate convincingly, UN Women field offices, with support from ECA RO, aim to show the results and impact of their work on communities and women’s lives. This is particularly important when communications efforts are geared toward resource mobilization, and donor countries are increasingly insisting on documented results to demonstrate value for money. In the current funding environment, a priority concern of the communications efforts must therefore be to capture the change that UN Women’s interventions have made on women’s lives in the region.

Objective
Consultants play an important role in contributing to implementation of activities of the UN Women and they form significant part of capacities of the organization. In order to increase effectiveness of contracting process and enable instant contracting in emergency and urgent situations, ECA RO launched a competitive process to create a pool of qualified consultants and experts in following Communications areas: 

• Photography
• Web and Print Graphic Design, Web Interactive, Information Design and Motion Graphic Design
• Videography and Video Editing
• Photojournalism
• Editing and Proof-Reading 
• Public Relations

Deberes y responsabilidades

Roster members selected for the consultancy assignment will work with ECA RO and COs in the region. 

Photography

• Ensure strategic, innovative as well as regular media coverage (content and photographs) of office and programme activities in the respected areas of work; Provide creative input to the whole photo shooting in line with audio-visual identity;
• Document project activities, mostly campaigns and awareness raising activities, as well as specifically arranged shootings with UN Women staff, if needed; produce photo documentation for all important events and activities and make use of them in relevant information or knowledge products; 
• Photo collection of beneficiaries or women conveying important messages;
• Ensure the high quality of the photo materials suitable for printing, publishing and web / design purposes;
• Abide with the UN Women copyright rules and regulations. Refrain from providing any photo materials taking under the UN Women assignment to any media outlet, publishing agency, organization or personality;
• Systematically update UN Women Regional Facebook page in coordination with Macedonian office staff by drafting catching texts and producing pictures to increase interaction and engagement of social media audience;
• Maintenance of photo library and information/communications data base;

Web and Print Graphic Design, Web Interactive, Information Design and Motion Graphic Design

• Supports the development of high quality publications and communication products following UN Women standard publication and branding guidelines;
• Conceptualize, design and layout of high-quality innovative, creative and attention-grabbing materials (print and online), for print and web-based communications as Infographic, UN Women’s in-house factographic, illustrations, print and web-based campaign and advocacy, promotion and training purposes 
• Follow UN Women Branding Guidelines and Identity Standards; 
• Liaise with the printing/ production facilities and provide them with all relevant production-related information;
• Conduct quality control to ensure accurate and high-quality work;
• Modify, revise and edit materials as required
• Design of visual identity/branding for special events. This task also includes application of the design to various formats that will be indicated by UN Women
• Graphic design and layout of flagship and highest quality publications. These tasks require highest level of creativity and expertise from the designer.
• Graphic design and layout of print materials (publications, leaflets, booklets, roll-up banners, newsletters, factsheets, infographics, etc.)
• Design of web based promotional products (HTML newsletters, web banners in various formats, e-bulletins, infographics, animated gifs, short Flash animations, picture processing, etc.) for posting on UN Women’s web page(s) and via social networks
• Provide professional design work services for UN Women Tanzania Communications products, including but not limited to, books, brochures, newsletters, reports, posters, leaflets, banners, tool kits, online publishing and other promotional merchandize, for the implementation of UN Women projects and campaigns.

Videography and Video Editing

• Film interviews of various UN system events 
• Produce videos of UN Women projects;
• Film footage for UN Women, its partners and media;
• Film and editing videos about UN Women work;
• Ensure follow up in the post processing phase and adjust the selected videos to the needed format for media, websites, etc. in accordance to previous agreement with supervisor from UN Women

Photojournalism

• Generate compelling photography to illustrate specific stories
• Develop a distinct aesthetic using photographic images to enhance UN Women brand identity
• Identify and provide evidencebased, photographic and written documentation of results and successes UN Women
• Provide photographs to be shared on Flickr, Exposure, TW, FB and the website.

Editing and Proof-Reading 

• Undertake a substantive editing and proof-reading of the content that is provided ensuring internal consistency, both intellectual and stylistic; general readability and accessibility to a broad readership worldwide. 

Public Relations

• Development of key advocacy messages based on UN Women Strategic Plan programme areas;
• Work with dissemination networks for the office publications and information, including UN Women and UN partners, donors, NGOs, academic institutions, private sector partners, and other constituents;
• Support liaison with Media and different journalists to increase office visibility;
• Facilitate information distribution on UN Women programs to relevant partners and stakeholders;
• Provide consultations in designing campaign content
• Assist in organization of events, press conferences and media relations, providing advice and support to special events and campaigns 
• Assist in collecting media contacts
• Create media and communications plan, assist in developing and implementing communication plans and strategies
• Support the regional online outreach and production of information and communications materials for public outreach.

Competencias

Cooperate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN values and ethical standards.
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UN Women.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
• Treats people fairly and without favoritism.

Functional Competencies:

• Strong interpersonal, teamwork and communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and proactively solve problem;
• Capacity to plan, priorities and deliver tasks on times;
• Capacity to engage with national and international staffs, to provide clear feedback and maintain effective rapport with different kinds of people;
• Actively works towards continuing learning and share with other to support local capacity development;
• Ability to research, analyze and present complex information.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

• Bachelors Degree in Communications, Journalism, International Relations, Visual Arts, Social Science, International Development, Gender Studies, Human Rights or a related field
• Training or higher degrees in related areas would be considered an asset.

Experience:

• At least 5 years’ experience in communications related area of application, such as Photography, Graphic Design, Videography, Photojournalism, Editing and Proof-Reading, Public Relations, Experience with social media management and monitoring
• Demonstrated experience in developing campaign content;
• Experience in work with gender sensitive topics
• Previous experience working/consulting for international projects/programmes
• Excellent knowledge of graphic design software, video production software, social media management, photo and video editing software
• Previous professional experience with the United Nations or similar organisations in this or a related field would be considered an asset
• Experience in conducting trainings is an asset

Language:

• Fluency in English is required;
• Knowledge of the other UN working language is an asset.

Contracting arrangements
Successful candidates will be included in the Vetted Roster of Experts for the maximum period of 3 years. Membership beyond the 3-year period must be renewed through a new application process.  Entry into the expert roster system does not necessarily mean that contract with UN Women is guaranteed. 

Where a request for services arises, the UN Women office shall directly contact the consultants with the most appropriate experience from the roster without the need for further selection process, although additional selection procedures might be applied (i.e. verification interview or a request for lump sum price quotation). 

A specific Terms of Reference outlining outputs for each assignment shall be provided and a Special Service Agreement (SSA) will be issued to the consultant. Conditions of a particular assignment may be negotiable.

Application procedure:
The following documents should be submitted as part of the application:

• P11 with past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment, a signed copy should be submitted.
• Financial Proposal* – maximum all-inclusive daily fee in USD. 
• Examples of previous work related to Communications area.

*Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee, health insurance, and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services). Financial proposal provided by the consultant is bound to the validity period max. 3 years, unless the consultant applies to the roster during its re-opening. Consultants will be requested to provide a price offer for every assignment, amount can be reduced to make the offer more competitive, but it cannot exceed maximum daily fee approved for the roster.

Evaluation of applicants:
Consultants will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of qualifications and financial proposal. Contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: 

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and 
• Having received the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria. 

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

Technical evaluation (70%) - max. 70 points:

Education    

• Bachelor Degree in Communications, Journalism, International Relations, Visual Arts, Social Science, International Development, Gender Studies or a related field - max. points: 5;
• Trainings or higher degrees in related areas would be considered an asset - max. points: 5.

Experience   

• At least 5 years’ experience in communications related to area of application, such as Photography, Graphic Design, Videography, Photojournalism, Editing and Proof-Reading, Public Relations, Experience with social media management and monitoring - max. points: 15;
• Demonstrated experience in developing campaign content - max. points: 6;
• Experience in work with gender sensitive topics - max. points: 5;
• Previous experience working/consulting for international projects/programmes - max. points: 5;
• Excellent knowledge of graphic design software, video production software, social media management, photo and video editing software - max. points: 10;
• Previous professional experience with the United Nations or similar organisations in this or a related field - max. points: 5;
• Experience in conducting trainings - max. points: 4.

Language skills    

• Fluency in English - max. points: 5;
• Knowledge of the other UN working language - max. points: 5.

Financial Evaluation (30%) – max. 30 points:
The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion. A suggested formula is as follows: 
p = 30 (µ/z)
Using the following values:
p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
µ = price of the lowest priced proposal
z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Duration and Remuneration:
Membership in the roster is valid for a maximum period of 3 years. 
Duration of contracts can vary from one day (1) to a maximum of three (3) years. Payments will be made as specified in the actual contract upon confirmation of UN Women on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner.

Consultant’s profile:
Profiles of consultants who are included in the roster will be published on internal UN Women roster pages and they will be accessible for UN Women ECA RO and COs.