Service Center Page, Jobs

Communications consultant to provide support during electoral period.

Vacancy Number: Pr14/00690

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	30 Oct 2014, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	11 Nov 2014, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	03 Nov 2014
Reference to the project:	Programme for Improving the Quality of Moldovan Democracy through Electoral Support
Expected Duration of Assignment:	November - December, 2014 - 15 working days
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted online by pressing the "Apply Now" button no later than 30 October, 2014. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: beatricia.revenco@undp.org. UNDP will respond 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 applicants.
Supporting Documents: Terms of Reference Individual Consultant Procurement Notice Personal History Form (P11) UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Ms. Beatricia Revenco.

Background

UNDP Moldova “Programme for improving the quality of Moldovan Democracy through Parliamentary and electoral support” is a multi-year institutional development programme that aims to support the institutional consolidation and modernization of both Moldovan Parliament and Moldovan Central Electoral Commission (CEC).

Electoral component of the Programme (further referred as Programme) provides continuous assistance to the Central Electoral Commission towards:

• Improving the capacity of the CEC to meet European gender and human rights standards;
• Improving the institutional environment for electoral management bodies that can deliver inclusive and modern electoral processes;
• Improving the electoral and population registration process of the Republic of Moldova.

The Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Moldova is a permanent and independent state body, managing the electoral process in Moldova, consisting of nine members. The CEC is assisted and supported by an Apparatus (secretariat) consisting of 37 persons, including 5 staff in communications department.

Among the strategic objectives of the CEC communication strategy approved in April 2014, is improvement of the communication between the electoral administration and Moldovan citizens. In the framework of the strategy CEC conducted, with the Programme support, a sociological opinion poll survey to assess citizens perceptions about CEC and the overall electoral processes and, more recently, launched the organization and implementation of an extended voter information and education campaign to inform Moldovan voters on upcoming electoral events related issues.

Further, the Programme intends to support CEC communications department in implementation of a variety of communications activities planned for upcoming electoral and post electoral period. 

Scope of work

The Programme intends to contract a national communications consultant (further referred as “consultant”) to provide the CEC Communication department necessary advice and support in planning and organization of elections related communication activities, and provide the Programme  with support in implementation of  visibility  events and promotion of the Programme results.

For the performance of the works the consultant is expected to carry out a general situation analysis and discuss with CEC and Programme staff. Based on obtained findings, the consultant shall develop a detailed work plan to be applied for the assignment.

The Consultant will be mainly responsible for implementation of the following tasks:

1. Providing support in organization of visibility events during the electoral period -5 days;

2. Provide assistance with drafting of high quality press and media releases and other media products – 10 days

Requirements for experience

Academic Qualification

• Master’s degree or equivalent in communications, journalism, media studies, international affairs or other relevant field. Bachelor and 5 (five) years of experience in communication will be also acceptable

Experience

• At least 3 years of relevant professional experience in communications, including inter alia, spokesperson, public relations specialist.

• Experience in working with UN agencies will be an asset;

Competencies

• Ability to analyse, plan, communicate effectively orally and in writing, draft report, manage communication projects/events, organize and meet expected results, adapt to different environments (cultural, economic, political and social);
• Outstanding drafting and communication skills

Language requirements

• Full professional knowledge of English and Romanian. Knowledge of Russian would be an advantage. 

Documents to be included

Interested individual experts must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• Proposal: explaining why they are the most suitable for the work including past experience in similar Projects (please provide brief information on each of the above qualifications, item by item);
• Financial proposal (in USD, specifying a total requested amount per day, including all related costs, e.g. fees, per diems, travel costs, phone calls etc. );
• Dully completed and signed P11 Form, personal CV and at least 3 references.

Financial proposal

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 shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including fee, taxes, 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 IC 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.