Background

Rapid and continued economic dynamism has translated into growth and reduced poverty levels in several countries in Asia and the Pacific. Greater foreign direct investments and capital movements, accentuated by higher regional mobility, are reasons for further optimism for future regional growth. This progress has often come at the expense of the human rights of minorities, marginalized and disadvantaged and at risk groups in the interest of investments and financial gains.

At the global level a momentum is starting to pick up with more and more governments and companies acting on business and Human Rights. The endorsement in 2011 by the Human Rights Council of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights provided a long awaited and needed framework of standards accepted at the international level as the main reference framework. The Guiding Principles consist of three pillars: a) The State duty to protect Human Rights; b) the corporate responsibility to respect Human Rights; c) the need for greater access to remedy for victims of business related abuses. The Human Rights Council recommended all states to adopt a National Action Plan on the implementation of the Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework.

Though Asia Pacific lags behind other regions in following up on the implementation of the Guiding principles, there are encouraging signs of companies and governments committed to embrace the new set of standards.

To support the implementation of the Guiding Principles in Asia-Pacific, UNDP Regional Hub has launched the initiative “Supporting Regional and National Partnerships for the implementation of the UN guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in Asia Pacific”

The goal of this regional initiative is to build on Regional and National Institutions capacity to increase the level of compliance of states and businesses with international human rights standards. It will achieve this by strengthening the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

During the inception phase of the Regional program to which this consultancy refers, UNDP will work with concerned partners at Regional and National Level to support the implementation of the Guiding Principles and operationalize it. It will also work in two to three countries in the Region that have already showed evidence of progress in developing their National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights In recent years, the world has witnessed a resurgence of violent extremism that has threatened the security and stability of societies beyond national and regional theatres of conflict.

Since 2000, there have been over 73,000 terrorist attacks globally, killing more than 170,000 people. In 2015, the overall impact of terrorism and violent extremism grew with more countries recording the highest numbers of deaths on record.[1] The economic impact of violence on the global economy in 2015 was estimated to be $13.6 trillion, equivalent to 13.3 per cent of the world GDP.[2]

Violent extremism is not a new phenomenon in Asia. But there is increasing concern that the international influence of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and their methods are bringing new insecurity to the region.

Approaches to preventing violent extremism must now look beyond traditional short-term, security-oriented strategies. They must also incorporate long-term changes at the structural level. This includes (but is not limited to): strengthening respect for human rights and the rule of law, increasing the participation of women, youth and excluded groups in decision-making and prevention strategies, eliminating discrimination and inequality, providing socioeconomic opportunities and well-being for all, and engaging those at the mid- and grassroots levels to address extremism and societal divisions.

Furthermore, efforts to counter violent extremism increasingly suggest that young people should be specifically targeted in awareness and advocacy campaigns. Indeed, the UN Secretary-General’s Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism, adopted in December 2015, acknowledges that “we will not be successful unless we can harness the idealism, creativity and energy of young people and others who feel disenfranchised”.

Targeting Youth through Counter-Narratives Strategies

The concept of creating counter-narratives in order to push back against extremist recruitment and propaganda has become well established in recent years,” notes the London-based Institute of Strategic Dialogue in its year-long cross-platform pilot study published in 2016.

“Our hypothesis was that 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 report notes.

The Asia-Pacific region is estimated to have 1.7 billion active users on Facebook, and men between the ages of 18-34 constitute the largest single demographic of users across large swathes of the region.

The proliferation of digital technologies and platforms globally – and in Asia – offers a unique opportunity to engage directly with the region’s youth on issues such as violent extremism, on platforms that have a reach within their lives and circles at an unprecedented scale. Evidence suggests that radical groups such as the IS and Al-Qaeda have leveraged online spaces and networks to promote their violent worldviews and to recruit young people across the world.

#extremelives

In August 2017 UNDP and Facebook established a partnership and launched #extremelives. #Extremelives is a facebook live series that promotes stories from the local level of people who have been affected by violent extremism. The first series interviewed a former terrorist, an advisor on reintergrating ex-ISIS supporters back into society, a women working on localized prevention strategies in at-risk communities and a campaigner fighting ISIS online. After the first three espiodes the series had reached over three million people, with the top viewing countries being: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Afghanistan.

In 2018 UNDP and Facebook aim to extend this series to bring more inspiring stories from the ground to a regional and global audience. UNDP requires a consultant to assist in developing a communications strategy, editing the videos and promotional material and updating the website

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work

Under the overall guidance of the Governance and Peace Building Advisor and the Programme Officer at the UNDP Asia Pacific Bangkok Regional Hub, the Consultant is expected to:

1. Knowledge production and management

• Collect and manage #ExtremeLives contents (video, photo and written)
• Manage and update #ExtremeLives webpage
• Design specialised infographics and #ExtremeLives online fact sheets
• Create and manage #ExtremeLives Instagram account

2. Edit video and photo content for #ExtremeLives

• Edit videos and photos to be disemminated on social media sites

Performance of the consultant is monitored closely, and regular feedback will be provided by Regional Advisor

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

The expert is expected to work towards the following work plan, and timelines to achieve the stated outputs.

Any written outputs will be professionally edited separately according to UNDP formats and guidelines.

Institutional Arrangement

The Consultant will work under the overall guidance of the Asia-Pacific Governance and Peace Building Advisor.

Duration of the Assignment

The period of the assignment is estimated to be for 40 days between 9 July and 31 December 2018.

Duty Station

This assignment will be on a part-time basis and Bangkok-based with no travel will be required.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• 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 favouritism.

Technical Competencies:

• Analytic capacity and demonstrated ability to process, analyse and synthesise complex, technical information;
• Proven ability to support the development of high quality knowledge and training materials, and to train technical teams;
• Proven experience in the developing country context and working in different cultural settings.

Communication:

• Communicate effectively in writing to a varied and broad audience in a simple and concise manner.

Professionalism:

• Capable of working in a high pressure environment with sharp and frequent deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously;
• Excellent analytical and organizational skills.

Teamwork:

• Projects a positive image and is ready to take on a wide range of tasks;
• Focuses on results for the client;
• Welcomes constructive feedback.

Required Skills and Experience

The Consultant should possess the following expertise and qualifications:

Essential

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in relevant areas such as Communications, Journalism, or in political science.
• Minimum 3 years of relevant experience in communications and outreach using traditional and social media tools.
• Excellent video and photo editing skills.
• Excellent creative design skills (infographics)

Desirable

• Previous relevant experience in the field of preventing violent extremism, conflict, and in peacebuilding (particularly with the UN)

Competencies

• Strong command of English.
• Ability to perform tasks in timely manner and under pressure, to tight deadlines.
• Ability to communicate verbally and in writing with a wide range of partners persuasively and collaboratively.
• Able to work independently and as part of a team seamlessly using a range of modern means of communication as required.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payment :

The method of payment is output-based lump-sum scheme. Each of the interviews will be paid upon submitting the required deliverables with satisfactory by the Asia-Pacific Governance and Peace Building Advisor as per agreement for each report in accordance with a set time schedule to be agreed in the contract.

Payment methods

In general, UNDP shall 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

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.

Travel costs shall be reimbursed at actual but not exceeding the quotation from UNDP approved travel agent.  The provided living allowance will not be exceeding UNDP DSA rates. Repatriation travel cost from home to duty station in Bangkok and return shall not be covered by UNDP.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

The criteria which shall serve as basis for evaluating offers as follows;

Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted a maximum of 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a maximum of 30%

• Criteria 1 Relevance of Education – Max 15 points
• Criteria 2 Strong command of English - Max 20 Points
• Criteria 3 Relevant experience in communications and outreach using traditional and social media tools - Max 20 points
• Criteria 5 Excellent video and photo editing skills – Max 30 Points
• Availability – Max 15

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% of the total technical points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Decuments to be Included When Submitting the Proposals:

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:

• 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;
• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability and financial proposal that indicates the daily rate/fee of the candidate, in US dollars.

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

Annexes:

Annex I - TOR_ Preventing Violent Extremism Video Editor and Knowledge Management Specialist

Annex II- General Condition of Contract

Annex III - Offeror’s Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability for the Individual IC, including Financial Proposal Template

All documents can be downloaded at:http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=47214