Individual Consultant – Communications Expert

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Capacity Building Project (ZIM-ECO) is an electoral support programme developed by UNDP, which is aligned with the objectives set out in the applicable development framework agreement between Zimbabwe and the United Nations. The programme was a response to a request by the Government of Zimbabwe (GOZ) and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) for UN capacity building support to ZEC.

The project initiative supports capacity building for ZEC, strengthening of voter registration, developing of a robust voter education programme and effective ZEC engagement with election stakeholders.

The project has three outputs, which are:

• Strengthened institutional and electoral capacity of ZEC to meet its constitutional mandate to ensure sustainability;
• Sustainable voter registration system for the 2018 elections and beyond that is credible and inclusive;
• Enhanced and effective ZEC’s engagement with electoral stakeholders including the eligible voters.

The third output deals with supporting voter education and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has the legal mandate to conduct voter education as well as supervising or supporting other organizations implementing voter education[1]. The essence of carrying out voter education is to empower electorates to make informed decisions about their choices in election of leaders. Civil Society Organizations play a critical role due to their proximity to communities and in view of their non-partisan orientation in attending to their social responsibilities. In addition, at individual level youth plays a very supportive role in voter education programs mainly due to their ease of outreach and due to their stake in future investment related to electoral processes.

UNDP supported an extensive Voter Education Program implemented by ZEC during the 2018 Harmonized Elections. This included voter education for the Biometric Voter Registration, voter inspection, candidate nomination and election processes. The campaign used innovative and creative means for voter education by using targeted voter education campaign, creative messaging, print media, electronic media, SMS messages, billboards, radio advertisements and door to door education. This campaign together with mobilization efforts by political parties and CSOs resulted in a historical turnout of 85%. Following the 2018 harmonized elections a post-election review process was started that included the review of the voter education campaign. This post-election review has recommended a series of action and improvements, including the review of the voter education material and development of new material. This consultant services are required for the review and development of the voter education material as ZEC gears up for the 2023 electoral cycle and the boundary delimitation exercise.

In order to implement the recommendations, ZEC plans the review and development of voter education campaigns, which includes:

• Developing voter education campaigns for voter registration and inspection, electoral boundary delimitation, electoral operations under COVID-19 and electoral processes inclusive of women, youth and persons with disabilities;
• Empowering voter educators and stakeholders with the tools to execute the campaign, including outreach activities, media engagement and delivery of key messages for the campaign;
• Building of skills and capacities for the implementation of the identified activities through Training of Trainers (ToT);
• Monitoring and evaluation of the campaigns to determine the impact of the campaign and its individual actions.

In support of this, the ZIM-ECO project is recruiting a Communication Expert as consultant to work with the ZEC Voter Education Department.

[1] Section 239 Of the Constitution of Zimbabwe

Scope of Work

• Design the four voter education campaigns on the basis of prior experience and materials, including the overall strategy, choice of appropriate channels, mechanisms and materials and development of messages, including targeted messages for women and other specific groups and ensuring gender sensitivity throughout the campaigns;
• Facilitate a workshop for the review and development of the voter education materials for the four campaigns;
• Conduct pre-testing of campaign material developed;
• Review and develop Voter Educators Training Handbook in collaboration with ZEC and CSOs;
• Facilitate Training of Trainers for Voter Educators to implement the voter education campaign;
• Develop a monitoring methodology for the voter education campaigns and train ZEC staff on its implementation.

Deliverables

• Voter education strategy with detailed concepts, plans and messages for the four voter education campaigns;
• Voter education monitoring methodology;
• Revised voter education handbook;
• Report on pretesting of materials;
• Reports on the workshops and trainings conducted and training report.

Timeline, Reporting and Quality Control for the Assignment

The assignment is expected to take 50 business days. The Consultant will work in close collaboration with ZEC and ZIM-ECO PMU.

Milestone Payment Schedule

• 50% payment on submission of the final voter education strategy with detailed concepts, plans and messages for the four campaign as well as of the report on pretesting the materials;
• 50% payment on submission of the monitoring strategy and reports from the trainings conducted.

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards (human rights, peace, understanding between peoples and nations, tolerance, integrity, respect, results orientation (UNDP core ethics) impartiality;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Reliability and timeliness in keeping deadlines and delivering high quality products.

Education

• At least a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication or related field.

Experience

• At least 5 years’ experience in developing communication material;
• Excellent communication skills.

Language

• Proficiency in spoken and written English.

Application procedure

Applicants are requested to submit a Technical proposal, including:

• A CV highlighting the relevant experience;
• A brief technical proposal on undertaking the tasks;
• Financial Proposal.

Please group all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows you to upload one (1) document.

Incomplete applications will not be given consideration.

Please note that only applicants who are short-listed will be contacted.

Evaluation Criteria

The award of the contract shall be made to the 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 ToR.

• Technical Criteria weight: 70%;
• Financial Criteria weight: 30%.

Selection Criteria

Technical Evaluation: 70% of total evaluation (maximum 70 points):

Criteria A: Experience (maximum 30 points);

Criteria B: Technical Proposal (maximum 70 points);

Note: Only the highest ranked candidates who have obtained a minimum of 49 points (70%) on the technical evaluation will be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial Evaluation: 30% of total evaluation (maximum 30 points).

Please submit an all-inclusive lump sum daily fee. Financial proposals must be all inclusive and must be expressed in USD. The term “all inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables, insurance, etc.) that could possibly be incurred in discharging this assignment should be factored into the financial proposal.