Antecedentes

Across Southeast Asia, violent extremism poses a direct threat to peace and security and inclusive development by fueling intolerance, forcibly displacing communities, exacerbating cycles of insecurity and armed conflict, exploiting existing inequalities, obstructing human rights, and challenging the rule of law.

The access that social media provides to individuals and groups to express opinions, share ideas, and news online has led to new social pressures. Across the world, evidence points towards a link between violent extremism and the online world. Radical groups such as IS and Al-Qaeda are known to leverage online spaces and networks to promote their violent worldviews and recruit people across borders. Factors that contribute towards conditions that lead to radicalization include a lack of knowledge and understanding between communities of different socio-economic and cultural background, as well as a lack of tools to build the resilience of communities to violent extremism, especially youth.

The concept of creating counter-narratives in order to push back against extremist messages and propaganda has become well established in recent years. According to the London-based Institute of Strategic Dialogue, “A small amount of funding and guidance for counter-narrative campaigners, in terms of deploying social media advertising tools to reach ‘target audiences’ could dramatically improve the awareness, engagement, and impact of counter-narratives and NGOs working in this space.” The Asia Pacific region is estimated to have 1.7 billion active Facebook users which makes Facebook (including Instagram and WhatsApp which were both acquired by Facebook in recent years) one of the most important private sector partners when it comes to tackling harmful online cultures and messages.

The proliferation of digital technologies and platforms globally as well as in Asia offers a unique opportunity to engage directly with the region’s youth on issues such as violent extremism, on platforms that have reach within their lives and circles at an unprecedented scale. In developing any intervention in order to prevent violent extremism in Asia, it is clear that operating in the world of social media is a key tactic that can be used to promote peace and tolerance, and that the power of youth can and should be harnessed in order to achieve this.

Since August 2017, UNDP and the European Union together with the support of Facebook have established a partnership culminating in the launch of ExtremeLives. ExtremeLives is a project that focuses on digital storytelling, uncovering the personal insights and stories of people who have been affected by violent extremism, violent conflict, and related issues. The project uses creative means – predominantly video - to disseminate positive narratives on social media and provide youth and local-level communities in Asia with knowledge and relatable information on violent extremism. The project’s signature products are video documentaries of around 5-10 minutes in length. To accompany these videos, the project provides guidance for local CSOs, NGOs, and youth groups in the form of toolkits that hope to encourage constructive conversations and promote understanding. Finally, the project also collaborates with online influencers to develop creative content for their YouTube channels. The project is currently based in the Asia region, but has potential to be scaled up in other regions across the world.

The UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub is looking for the support of an International Consultant to formalize the initiative’s visual identity and produce a comprehensive brand manual to support the roll out of this project across other regions.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Scope of work:

The branding consultant will work with UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub’s Preventing Violent Extremism team to produce a comprehensive manual that contains guidelines for ExtremeLives’ brand, provide the team with an updated logo and visual identity, work closely with a PVE Communications Consultant, UNDP BRH to ensure the brand and visual identity designed correlates with an online presence, and provide the PVE team with a graphic toolkit that contains graphic elements that can be used to create future visual products under the ExtremeLives brand with ease. The consultant must already have access to all their own equipment and software to complete the assignment.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

The branding consultant will work closely with PVE Communications Consultant at the Bangkok Regional Hub. The consultant will be responsible for the following:

1. To produce a creative concept and visual identity that strengthens ExtremeLives’ brand, including an updated logo and other graphic design elements
2. To design a graphic toolkit that can be used to create visual products under the ExtremeLives brand;
3. To produce a comprehensive branding manual that provide clear guidelines around the ExtremeLives brand and visual identity.

Due date as shown in table below

The person will use his/her own equipment and software.

Intellectual Property

All information and production of video pertaining to the assignments as well as outputs produced under this contract shall remain the property of the UNDP who shall have exclusive rights over their use. The products shall not be disclosed to the public nor used in whatever format without written permission of UNDP in line with the national and International Copyright Laws applicable.

Institutional Arrangement:

Under the overall guidance of the PVE Communications Consultant, the Branding Consultant will work closely with the UNDP Regional Communications Team and PVE team to ensure timely delivery of expected outputs.

The successful candidate will ensure that all deliverables follow UNDP relevant communications guidelines, provide the best possible functionality and usability to UNDP. UNDP must be consulted for final approvals of all content created under this contract.

Duration of the Work

This assignment is expected to be 15 May to 30 June 2020, for a maximum of 15 working days.

Duty Station: Home-based, no travel expected.

Competencias

Competencies:

Corporate:

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness, by modeling the UN/UNDP’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.

Functional/Technical:

• Knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite or other graphic software
• Knowledge, skills and experience in producing strong brand visual identity
• Knowledge, skills and experience in working with UN Agencies, NGOs/CSOs or other organizations in the development sector;
• Demonstrable creative flair and lateral problem-solving skills
• Excellent communication skills in English
• Knowledge of creative content for social media with a youth target audience
• Ability to upload files to online sites;
• Ability to work remotely in a team and consolidate discussions into action

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Educational Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in graphic design, Visual Arts, Communications and/or Media, Web Design or another closely related field. Other certificates or courses in relevant fields considered.

Experience:

• At least 8 years of professional experience in graphic design for visual identity and website development proven through the provision of a comprehensive portfolio;
• The designer should has at least 5 years of experiences in in branding and building visual concepts and storytelling, and working with creative content-driven projects
• Knowledge, skills and experience in working with UN Agencies, NGOs/CSOs or other organizations in the development sector will be an advantage.
• Experience in making creative sketches and illustrations for digital platforms;
• Proven track record of meeting deadlines

Language requirements

• Fluency in English language is required

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

The method of payment is output-based lump-sum scheme. The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive lump sum and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, travel costs, living allowance (if any work is to be done outside the IC´s duty station) and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment. The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration.

The payments shall be released upon submitting the required deliverables/outputs with to the satisfaction of the PVE Communications Consultant as per agreement for each report in accordance with a set time schedule to be agreed in the contract.

In the event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed but not exceeding the quotation from UNDP approved travel agent.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer:

Evaluation Method and Criteria- Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as a) responsive/compliant/acceptable; and b) having received the highest score out of set of weighted technical criteria (70%). and financial criteria (30%). Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment.

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points)

• Criteria 1: Relevance of Education (max 10 points)
• Criteria 2: At least 8 years of knowledge and experience in producing visual identity/brand design from concept to execution, based on the strength of the submitted design portfolio (max 30 points)
• Criteria 3: At least 5 years of experience in branding and building visual concepts and storytelling, and working with creative content-driven projects (max. 20 points)
• Criteria 4: Experience with the United Nations, non-profits or other related development organizations on work of a similar nature (max. 10 points)

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) during the desk review/interview are acceptable would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Documentation required

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document:

• Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP in Annex III;
• Production portfolio, including at least three comprehensive examples of branding/visual identity produced from concept to execution for organisations of a similar nature
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
• Financial proposal that indicates the lump sum rate/fee of the candidate in USD  In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal must additional include a breakdown of this daily fee (including number of anticipated working days and all foreseeable expenses to carry out the assignment);

Incomplete proposals may not be considered. The short-listed candidates may be contacted for interview and the successful candidate will be notified.

ANNEXES:

Annex I - TOR - Branding Consultant ExtremeLives
Annex II General_Terms_and_Conditions_for_Contracts_Individual_Consultants
Annex III - Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability and financial proposal
Annex_IV_P11 Form_for_ICs_optional
Annex V - Procurement Notice

All documents can be downloaded at: https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=65320

For any clarification regarding this assignment please write to procurement.th@undp.org under subject: JobAds 91416- Branding Consultant.