Consultancy Title: Consultant for Communications, Partnership and Donor Liaison

Project Name: Governance for Resilient Development in the Pacific

Duty Station: Suva, Fiji

Duration of the Contract:

• Contract period: One (1) year
• Number of working days: 240 working days @ duty station  
• Commencement and ends dates of assignment: 12 October to 11 October, 2021

Consultancy Proposal (CV & Financial proposal Template) should be uploaded on UNDP e-tendering Portal (https://etendering.partneragencies.org) ID Ref: 0000007231 no later than, 7th October 2020 (New York Time). Any proposals received after the due date/time will not be accepted. Any request for clarification must be sent in writing, or by standard electronic communication to procurement.fj@undp.org. UNDP will respond in writing or by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all consultants. Incomplete, late and joint proposals will not be considered and only offers for which there is further interest will be contacted. Failure to submit your application as stated as per the application submission guide (Procurement Notice) on the above link will be considered incomplete and therefore application will not be considered.

NOTE:

Proposals must be sent/uploaded through UNDP e-tendering Portal. Candidates need to upload their CV and financial proposal -using UNDP template

1. Daily rate to be inclusive of Medical insurance cost for the duration of the contract

1. Selected Candidate will be required to submit a proof of medical insurance prior to issuance of contract

1. If the selected/successful Candidate is over 65 years of age and required to travel outside his home country; He/She will be required provide a full medical report at their expense prior to issuance to contract. Contract will only be issued when Proposed candidate is deemed medically fit to undertake the assignment.

Objectives

The Communications, Partnership and Donor Liaison Consultant will be responsible for supporting the project to:

• Setting up mechanisms to establish and track donor relationships, including leading donor specific reporting in parallel to broader project reporting requirements; and

• Finalising and delivering the initial objectives of the Gov4Res Communications Strategy, which includes profiling and branding of the project, knowledge building and communications support at project events.

Background

The Pacific region is facing considerable economic and social development challenges due to the increasing impact of climate change and geo-hazards. At the same time, development in these countries is potentially increasing this vulnerability to climate change and disasters. The Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific (FRDP), endorsed in 2016 by Pacific leaders, demonstrates a clear recognition that managing climate change and disaster related risk must be undertaken in the context of economic development and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Governance for Resilience Project (Gov4Res) works with Pacific governments to ensure that countries adapt their decision making and governance systems towards more resilient development. The projects theory of change rests on a core assumption that Pacific Island people will be more resilient to the impacts of climate change and disasters if countries manage all development through a risk informed approach. This is consistent with the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific which calls for the ‘mainstreaming’ of climate and disaster risk treating risk management as fundamental to all development decisions.

The Gov4Res Project three outcomes areas to work with countries across the region to address these risks by development: 1) government planning and financing systems enable gender and socially inclusive risk-informed development; 2) country oversight and accountability systems require gender and socially inclusive risk-informed development; and 3) regional organisations, policies and practices are actively supporting gender and socially inclusive risk-informed development.

UNDP is partnering with a range of partners to deliver this project across the Pacific including Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

Given the significant investment from Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the need to effectively communicate the impact of Gov4Res Project, a Partnership and Donor Liaison Specialist has been created. Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Gov4Res Deputy Project Manager based in UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji, the Partnership and Donor Liaison Specialist directly supports the effective partnership and liaison role for KOICA office as well as broader support to the Gov4Res Project. This entails responsibility for ensuring a streamlined donor relations process, including timely and high-quality donor reporting.

Scope of work/Expected Output

The consultant (working closely with the Gov4Res team) will be required to:

1. Support the finalisation communications strategy and knowledge products
2. Enhance profile of Gov4Res through communications, knowledge building and events
3. Set up mechanisms to establish and track relationships with donors
4. Undertake mapping and monitoring of opportunities for joint programming and resource mobilisation through donor pipeline
5. Develop system to harmonise donor reporting process with broader Gov4Res monitoring and reporting, and develop initial donor reports

1. Support the finalisation of communications strategy and knowledge products

• Support finalisation of Gov4Res communications strategy
• Contribute to the production and implementation of multi-media initiatives that integrate the latest evidence.
• Support research, development, pre-testing and production of culturally relevant communications materials and knowledge products to ensure engagement and participation of key audiences
• Develop/select materials and other communications tools for project events

1. Enhance profile of Gov4Res through communications and events and facilitate knowledge building

• Assist the project in strengthening communications and visibility, including development of project communication materials;
• Support the timely production and management of communications, advocacy and knowledge management products;
• Identification and synthesis of best practices and lessons learned directly linked to resource mobilisation and partnership-building activities;
• Create content, and coordinate content generation for the project communications platforms
• Monitor and analyse current events and trends, and liaise with media representatives to generate timely and positive news coverage
• Undertakes activities to promote media coverage on priority issues and major events
• Support the project with dissemination of information to external and internal stakeholders

1. Set up mechanisms to establish and track relationships with donors

• Set up a system to track donor relationships and opportunities
• Support the Gov4Res team in the preparation of meetings and other consultations with donors, including the preparation of notes, briefs and other materials as required;
• Provide regular updates on donor profile, databases (e.g. contacts management) and donor intelligence;
• Identifies opportunities to secure additional non-core resources and, where appropriate, liaises with relevant officers for action, including recommendation on positioning with donor; timely follow-up and support;
• Support the drafting and review of partner-specific Framework Arrangements and Cost Sharing Agreements;

1. Undertake mapping and monitoring of opportunities for joint programming and resource mobilisation through donor pipeline

• Track upcoming opportunities for Gov4Res to jointly deliver risk informed demonstration projects with donor bilateral offices
• Undertake ongoing mapping of opportunities for the project through donor pipelines
• Support mobilisation and delivery of joint projects with donor partners
• Coordinate and share donor resource mobilisation opportunities with wider UNDP Pacific Office

1. Develop system to harmonise donor reporting process with broader Gov4Res monitoring and reporting, and develop initial donor reports

• Provide support to Gov4Res Management for the preparation of high quality and timely donor reports. This includes the monitoring, consolidation, editing and revision of all required reports on contributions to ensure the quality and relevance of all products aimed for external audiences, in close cooperation with relevant stakeholders
• Coordinate with the Monitoring, Reporting and Learning Officer for the collection of information and preparation of results-based reports as required by donor
• Propose solutions for the harmonisation and standardisation of reporting and monitoring mechanisms in order to limit parallel reporting and enhance the quality of data collection
• Maintain a calendar of donor reporting timelines
• Support quality assurance of other internal reports including quarterly and annual reports for the project

Resources Provided

The consultant is expected to provide their own laptop and communications equipment. UNDP will provide desk space in Suva and will make arrangements for travel to Suva and other countries as required.

Supervision/Reporting

The consultant will report directly to the Project Manager for the UNDP Governance for Resilience Project under the overall guidance of the Resilience and Sustainable Development Team Leader and will work in collaboration with other members of the Resilience and Sustainable Development team including Gov4Res team and key partners.

Requirement for Qualifications & Experience

• Minimum level Masters (Social Sciences)  
• At least 6 years of progressive working experience in partnership liaison and communications or related field;
• Experience in an international setting with the UN or with international organisations
• Proficiency in applications and software packages relevant for development of communications products  as well as experience in handling of web-based management systems;
• Knowledge and experience of donor liaison, management and donor reporting is desirable;
• Knowledge of the Pacific region; and
• Fluency in English (written and oral) and Korean (written and oral) is essential.

Functional Competencies

• Excellent communication, networking and advocacy skills;
• Proven ability to conceptualise, develop, plan and manage communications interventions as well as transfer knowledge and skills;
• Experienced in organisation and delivering training and other needed capacity/ institutional building support to a wide range of stakeholders and impact evaluation of communications intervention
• Ability to coach, mentor, motivate and develop staff and encourage good performance;
• Promotes sharing of knowledge and experience, and actively works towards continued learning and development;
• Good interpersonal skills with experience of networking with partners at all levels;
• Good understanding of national and international human rights mechanisms, and excellent inter-personal skills;
• Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines;
• Ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and monitor work of others, ability to make timely decisions; and
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, and age sensitivity and adaptability and capacity to work effectively in a multicultural environment.

Location

• The consultant is preferably situated in Fiji

Payment Schedule (if required):

Fees to be paid based on monthly invoice submitted by consultant with progress report of outputs certified by UNDP.

Submission of above outputs will be in printed and soft versions; MS Word (.doc) format including power point presentation. Final evaluation report to be submitted in English

Evaluation

Cumulative analysis

The proposals will be evaluated using the cumulative analysis method with a split 70% technical and 30% financial scoring. The proposal with the highest cumulative scoring will be awarded the contract. Applications will be evaluated technically and points are attributed based on how well the proposal meets the requirements of the Terms of Reference using the guidelines detailed in the table below:

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract may 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 a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation where technical criteria weighs 70% and financial criteria/ proposal weighs 30%

• Technical criteria weighting: 70%
• Financial criteria weighting: 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the Technical Evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation. Interviews may be conducted as part of technical assessment.

Proposal Submission

Offerors must send the following documents:
 

• CV including names/contacts of at least 3 referees;
• A cover letter indicating why the candidate considers himself/herself suitable for the required consultancy;
• Completed template for confirmation of Interest and Submission of Financial Proposal.

Note: Successful individual will be required to provide proof of medical insurance coverage before commencement of contract for the duration of the assignment.

Incomplete and joint proposals may not be considered. Consultants with whom there is further interest will be contacted.

Individuals applying for this consultancy will be reviewed based on their own individual capacity. The successful individual may sign an Individual Contract with UNDP or request his/her employer to sign a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) on their behalf by indicating this in the Offerors letter to Confirming Interest and Availability.

Consultant must send a financial proposal based on a Lump Sum Amount. The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee(Daily fees to include IC’s medical insurance costs, 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. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs.

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.

Bid Submission Address

https://etendering.partneragencies.org

BU Code: FJI10

Event ID: 0000007231

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Please use the bidder’s guide for submission of proposal

For any clarification regarding this assignment please write to procurement.fj@undp.org.

Women candidates are encouraged to apply.

The Fiji Office covers Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu