Background

The Arab Human Development Reports (AHDR), published by UNDP since 2003, have contributed substantially to inform the regional and global debate showing that Arab countries can achieve a significant leap forward in development, reinforce stability and secure gains in a sustainable manner, if they prioritize adopting policies that ensure the well-being, productivity, self-determination and good citizenship of their population.

The 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals have, based on their integrated and multi-dimensional nature, the potential to help governments and other stakeholders in the region to identify policy bottlenecks and innovative solutions to overcome previous grievances and build a more sustainable future. Nevertheless, gaps in data availability and reliability necessitate concentrated efforts and partnerships to make Agenda 2030 a useful tool for advocacy and policymaking. Beyond official statistics and internationally agreed targets, there is a need to look at the specific challenges of the region, understand how people cope with unequal access to resources and in prolonged crisis, and how they devise solutions which are context-specific and can address the needs of those left behind.

The Arab Human Development Report and other related research, publications and analytical materials are aimed at informing the regional and international as well as national debate on development challenges and sustainable solutions in the Arab region. The proposed analysis and research will do so through innovative approaches linking the concept of citizenship as it emerges from world-wide relevant literature to the implementation of the 2030 agenda.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the general guidance of the Senior Strategic Advisor and Policy Specialist of the Regional Bureau for Arab States, the data visualization consultant will be responsible for developing up to 15 infographics for the aforementioned report and related materials. Additional ouputs may include smaller scale data visualizations to complement the infographics, design guidance on how to improve charts and tables, and adaptation of some of the infographics to PowerPoint presentations and other formats.

The consultant will be provided with the underlying data, readily compiled and analyzed, including survey data collected through mobile signal in 12 countries in the Arab region. He or she will be expected to propose innovative and creative ideas to present statistics on topics ranging from governance to migration trends. The key pre-requisite of the infographics will be to convey the messages emerging from the analysis in clear and effective ways to reach a non-specialist public. Thus, she/he will also play a proactive role in shaping the storylines that numbers will tell in support of our qualitative analysis. The data visualization consultant will accompany the development of the report, proposing infographics on different topics and data as the analysis proceeds, rather than once it is finalized.

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,  nationality, and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Knowledge of Arab region is desirable.

Functional

• Background knowledge about the SDGs and the United Nations;
• Strong analytical and synthesis skills;
• Ability to work independently and achieve quality results with limited supervision and within tight schedules;
• Strong statistical data visualization skills;
• Good teamwork and interpersonal skills;
• Flexibility and ability to handle multiple tasks and work under pressure;
• Excellent computer skills especially Power Point and data visualization softwarare.

Leadership

• Demonstrated ability to think strategically;
• Ability to visually conceptualize and convey strategic visions from the spectrum of development experience.

Managing Complexity

• Ability to address global development issues;

Knowledge Management and Learning

• Ability to develop knowledge products;
• Seeks and applies knowledge, information and good practices;
• Provides constructive feedback;
• Demonstrates a strong capacity for innovation and creativity in performing her/his tasks.

Judgment/Decision-Making

• Mature judgment and initiative. 

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications 

• Secondary degree is required;
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in graphic design or related fields are considered an asset.

Years of Experience:

• A minimum of 8 years of relevant work experience in statistical data visualization and infographic design if the applicant is in possession of a Secondary degree, 5 relevant work experience if the applicant is in possession of a Bachelor’s degree, and 3 years of relevant work experience if the applicant is in possession of a Master’s degree.

Technical experience:

• Experience in adapting data visualization to various formats and media;
• Previous experience working for international companies or organizations is desirable.

Language Requirements

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required. 

INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT

• The individual is required to exhibit his/her commitment to this assignment with UNDP-RBAS;
• S/He shall perform tasks under the general guidance of the Senior Strategic Advisor and the direct supervision of the Policy Specialist. The supervision will include approvals/acceptance of the outputs as identified in previous sections;
• The individual is expected to liaise and collaborate in the course of performing the work with other consultants, stakeholders, suppliers and UN colleagues involved in the preparation of the AHDR;
• The individual is required to maintain close communication with the UNDP-RBAS on regular and needed basis at any period throughout the assignment in order to monitor progress. In the event of any delay, s/he will inform UNDP promptly so that decisions and remedial action may be taken accordingly. Delays that would affect the flow of the collaborative work and the delivery of outputs on schedule will lead to termination of contract; and
• Should UNDP deem it necessary, it reserves the right to commission additional inputs, reviews or revisions, as needed to ensure the quality and relevance of the work.
• UNDP will retain final editorial rights on the commissioned analysis. This include the use of the analysis in the AHDR, and professional copyediting and translation into Arabic in case of separate publication of analytical pieces.

DURATION OF THE WORK

The duration of this assignment is expected be 120 working days extending over a period of 6 months.

DUTY STATION

The duty station for this assignment is New York USA with visits to UN HQ for consultations.

If unforeseen travel outside the consultant duty station is requested by UNDP and not required by the Terms of References (ToR), such travel shall be covered by UNDP line with applicable rules and regulations and upon prior written agreement. In such cases, the consultant shall receive living allowances not exceeding the United Nations (UN) Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) rate for such other location(s).

SCOPE OF PRICE PROPOSAL AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS

All proposals must be expressed in a lump sum amount. This amount must be “all-inclusive”. Please note that the terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal.

The contractor will be paid an all-inclusive Deliverables/Outputs based lump sum amounts over the assignment period, subject to the submission of Certification of Payment (CoP) duly certified and confirmation of satisfactory performance of achieved work (deliverables/outputs) in line with the schedule of payments table mentioned in Procurement Notice. 

RECOMMENDED PRESENTATION OF OFFER

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Candidates that fail to submit the required information will not be considered.

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
2. 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;
3. Sample of previous work prepared by the applicant, demonstrating graphic design skills specifically related to adapting data visualization.
4. Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, including references to how she/he will approach and complete the assignment. The candidates must include hyperlinks to a few of their previous infographic works to demonstrate their experience with similar assignments.

Interested candidates shall submit above documents to the Job Advertisement Website: https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm  as one document not later than 20 April 2019

Interested candidates can find Procurement notice, letter of confirmation of interest and availability and P11 http://procurement-notices.undp.org/

Please do not submit financial proposal in this stage.  Financial proposal shall be requested from Candidates who are considered technically responsive. 

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Step I: Screening and desk review:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.
Applications will be first screened and only candidates meeting the following minimum requirements will progress to the pool for shortlisting:

• Secondary Degree is required;
• Relevant work experience in statistical data visualization and infographic design Shortlisted Candidates will be then assessed and scored against the following evaluation criteria.

Technical evaluation Criteria max 100 points (Weighted 70):

• A minimum of 8 years of relevant work experience in statistical data visualization and infographic design if the applicant is in possession of a Secondary degree, 5 relevant work experience if the applicant is in possession of a Bachelor’s degree, and 3 years of relevant work experience if the applicant is in possession of a Master’s degree. (35 points);
• Sample of previous work provided by the applicant demonstrates professional and skillful data visualization and versatility to adapt to various formats. (30 points).
• Previous experience working for international companies or organizations (20 points).
• Language proficiency in both written and oral English (15 points).

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation

For those offers considered in the financial evaluation, the lowest price offer will receive 30 points.                 
 The other offers will receive points in relation to the lowest offer, based on the following formula:

(PI / Pn)* 30 where Pn is the financial offer being evaluated and Pl is the lowest financial offer received.

Step II: Final evaluation

The final evaluation will combine the scores of the desk review and the financial proposal with the following weights assigned to each:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis methodology (weighted scoring method), where 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 technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical Criteria weight: [70%]
Financial Criteria weight: [30%]

Only Individual Consultants obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70%) on the Technical evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.