National Communications Specialist

The UNDP Country Office?(CO)?in?Guinea-Bissau, as key government’s?partner in the area of governance, has been developing and implementing various?projects?in a variety of governance related domains,?including?conflict prevention and peacebuilding, rule of law and justice,?combat to drug trafficking and transnational organized crime, anti-corruption and accountability, decentralization and local governance, electoral and parliamentary support as well as civic engagement, many with Peacebuilding Fund (PBF)subsidy.  

Following the adoption of Security Council Resolution 2458 (2019) that endorsed the Secretary-General’s recommendations and renewed the mandate of UNIOGBIS for one year, on 28 February the Security Council adopted resolution 2512 (2020) that foresaw the closure of the UNIOGBIS on 31 December 2020. At the end of 2020 UNIOGBIS closed, after being present in Guinea-Bissau for almost two decades, along with its predecessor mission (the UN Peacebuilding Support Office in Guinea-Bissau) since 1999. In this context, UNDP has been adapting to the new environment by assuming further responsibility in the governance, sustaining peace and rule of law areas.???? 

UNDP Guinea-Bissau is a major recipient and implementer of PBF funds. Considering the drawdown of UNIOGBIS at the end of 2020, PBF approved two projects, under the transition funding window:

A – The Political Stabilization and Reform through Confidence Building and Inclusive Dialogue project implemented by UNDP (lead agency), WFP and UNFPA: This project aims to promote dialogue and trust at the highest level (presidency, government and between political parties) and to facilitate dialogue between this level and the civic space, by increasing access of civil society to decision-making power, by better preparing them – via the Leadership Academy – to be active citizens and agents of change,  and improving their capacity to influence decisions and have a voice, namely on the systematic reforms (as stipulated in the ECOWAS Roadmap and the Conakry Agreement – constitutional review, electoral and political parties’ laws and in line with Security Council resolution 2512 (2020)).

The UN Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) is the organization’s financial instrument of first resort to sustain peace in countries or situations at risk or affected by violent conflict. The PBF may invest with UN entities, governments, regional organizations, multilateral banks, national multi-donor trust funds or civil society organizations. The Fund works across pillars and supports integrated UN responses to fill critical gaps; respond quickly and with flexibility to peacebuilding opportunities; and catalyze processes and resources in a risk-tolerant fashion. For more information, access: https://www.un.org/peacebuilding/fund.

B- The Strengthening the justice and security sector response to drug trafficking and transnational organized crime to reduce insecurity in Guinea Bissau project implemented by UNDP (lead agency), UNDOC and IOM: The overall goal  of this inter-agency project is to reduce Guinea-Bissau’s vulnerability to drug and human trafficking and organized crime and to diminish the negative impact of such crimes on the fragility and dependence of the country’s security institutions, rule of law and local communities, hence reducing a major source of the country’s cycle of instability by supporting the National security agencies and justice sector actors to improve their strategic and operational coordination capacity to prevent, investigate and prosecute drug and human trafficking and transnational organized crime.

In this regard, UNDP Guinea-Bissau is looking for a national consultant specialist on Communications to support peacebuilding projects in terms of communication, social media management and outreach and content dissemination at national, regional and international level to ensure key messages and PBF projects activities and results are disseminated to different audiences.

Objective of the assignment

The purpose of this consultancy is to provide technical assistance and expertise in support to the Project Managers for the development of communication products for PBF projects in Guinea-Bissau.

Under the overall supervision of the Project Managers for PBF projects, , the consultant will support to:

• Raise awareness of the role of UNDP in implementing PBF projects and its processes; 
• Engage national and international diversified media (TV, radio, newspaper, social media, etc);
• Engage all relevant stakeholders for the projects to encourage their involvement and knowledge of the projects and their results;
• Collect information and prepare contents for media advisories, posts on the corporate website and other communication channels in these areas;
• Develop, plan and implement digital, social media and communications campaigns for UNDP´s peacebuilding engagements;
• Support PBF projects staff on media and coverage of events and meetings;
• Create engaging content, including, blog pieces, articles, newsletters, and videos;
• Works closely with staff responsible for communication and UNDP website in the office;
• Monitor, track and report on feedback and online reviews.
• Ensure UNDP branding standards are applied consistently across all communication supports and platforms.

 Deliverables

Deliverable 1:

• Develop a work plan of activities and a methodological note;
• Produce a set of formats and templates that allow for communications to plan ahead for cohesive communications per week;
• Elaborate at least two (2) news articles;
• Elaborate at least (10) social media campaigns;
• Elaborate at least five (5) audiovisual materials;
• Elaborate two (2) spots as a sensitization campaign on peacebuilding and sustaining peace in the country;
• Participate and conduct communications coverage in events, workshops, meetings and trainings, as deemed necessary;
• Produce at least six (6) visual cards or infographics on PBF projects activities.

After 2-3 weeks and throughout the entire assignment.

Deliverable 2:

• Produce four (4) visual cards or infographics on sustaining peace and PBF projects;
• Produce and implement media engagement and national and international media network expansion strategy, outreaching key actors and beneficiaries;
• Mobilize national and international media through at least four (4) comms campaigns on PBF projects activities;
• Elaborate at least (10) social media campaigns.

After 4-6 weeks and throughout the entire assignment

Deliverable 3:

• Produce at least four (4) micro videos/stories based on beneficiaries’ experiences related to PBF projects activities;
• Elaborate at least (10) social media campaigns;
• Elaborate at least five (5) audiovisual materials.

Upon the completion of the assignment and throughout the entire assignment.

Duration of the assignment

The assignment must be conducted within 60 working days, from the day the contract is signed.

Functional

•  Professional experience;
• Able to manage conflicting deadlines and priorities;
• Able to coordinate activities such as missions, special events, etc.
• Able to assume full responsibility for activities, ensuring that mission objectives are met in a transparent and inclusive manner;
• Set clear goals and performance standards; perform responsibilities as it should be;
• Self-analysis of performance problems; seeking appropriate guidance and support.
• Resource management
• Strong organizational skills;
• Ability to work independently, produce high quality outputs;
• Solid opinion, strategic thinking and ability to manage competing priorities;
•  Able to find creative solutions to daily problems, working in an ever-changing work environment.

Communication and advocacy

• Strong ability to write clearly and convincingly, adapting style and content to different audiences and speaking clearly and convincingly;
• Ability to produce high quality professional documents and products under pressure and to defend and negotiate difficult issues and positions for senior and official employees;
• Strong ability to present at meetings with the ability to adapt to different audiences;
•  Strong analytical, research and writing skills with demonstrated ability to think strategically;
• Strong clear and fast communication skills;
• Strong interpersonal skills in negotiation and liaison.

Education:

 Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in communications, public relations, journalism, audiovisual sciences, international relations or related field.

Experience:

• Professional experience of at least three (3) years at the national or international level in public relations, communications and/or social media management;
• Demonstrated experience in developing content that clearly communicates ideas for media, social media, print production, and audio-visual productions;
• Proficiency in Portuguese and English languages, speaking and writing. The working knowledge of French is an advantage;
• Experience in conceptualizing and managing the production of printed materials is an advantage;
• Experience in developing video and photographic materials in-house and in commissioning films is an advantage;
• Demonstrated experience in designing and implementing communication and/or media outreach plans in support of overall corporate goals is desirable.

Language:

Fluency in Portuguese and English is necessary;

Working knowledge of French is desirable.

GUIDELINES FOR APPLICATION:

Required documents:

• A cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for this assignment;
• A brief technical proposal on how you will approach and conduct the tasks;
• A financial proposal;

A personal CV including past experiences in similar projects and at least 3 professional references.

Lump sum contracts: The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR.  In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).

Travel: All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.  In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the Individual Consultant wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Evaluation: Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Cumulative analysis

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should 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 weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation;
• Technical Criteria weight – 70 points;
• Financial Criteria weight – 30 points.

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

Evaluation criteria:

• Education background – 10 points;
• Experience as defined in the ToR – 15 points;
• Competences as defined in the ToR – 10 points;
• Understating of the ToR – 15 points;
• Methodology and overall approach – 30 points;
• Overall quality of the proposal (comprehensiveness, structure, language and clarity) – 20 points.