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National Consultant to Draft the Communication Strategy for the Constitutional Court of Moldova.

Vacancy Number: Pr14/00705

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	02 Nov 2014, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	05 Nov 2014, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	10 Nov 2014
Reference to the project:	Joint UNCT for Human Rights Promotion and Protection Project
Expected Duration of Assignment:	November 2014 – June 2015 (up to 50 working days)
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted online by pressing the "Apply Now" button no later than 2 November 2014. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: natalia.voronova@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

Background

The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova (CCM) is the sole constitutional jurisdiction authority of the country. CCM guarantees the supremacy of the Constitution, ensures the check and balance principle in the State and safeguards the accountability of the State before the citizens. As the highest tribunal ensuring the supremacy of law and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, Constitutional Court is undergoing constant processes of modernization, seeking to improve its activity and strengthening its role in the society.

The Justice Sector Reform Strategy 2011-2016 and its Action Plan foresees large-scale reforms to address many legal, economic and social bottlenecks to the development of Republic of Moldova (RM) in order to ensure that the justice system is independent, efficient, incorrupt and accessible to all.

The National Human Rights Action Plan 2011-2014,revised in December 2012, was elaborated and adopted by the Parliament to ensure strengthening human rights promotion and protection in the country, including the gradual progress in joining international human rights protection treaties and mechanisms, strengthening national legal framework and mechanisms and implementation of UPR recommendations for Moldova.

The government of the Republic of Moldova needs to be supported in the implementation of reforms using and applying best international practices and experiences. Strengthening the democratic governance in the Republic of Moldova is a priority for both the Austrian Development Agency enshrined in its Country Strategy 2011-2015 and for the UNDP Moldova enshrined in the United Nations Partnership Framework 2012-2017.

The project “Strengthening Rule of Law and Human Rights Protection in Moldova” aims to strengthen rule of law and human rights protection in the Republic of Moldova in-line with international human rights standards, Justice Sector Reform Strategy (2011 – 2016) and its Action Plan, and National Human Rights Action Plan (2011-2014) and mainstreaming human rights based approach, equality, gender issues and inclusion. One of the activities of the project is capacity building of the CCM, specifically enhancing transparency, communication and visibility of the Court, to strengthen its role in the democratic society, manifest openness and support for the entire national legal community, raise the public interest towards its activity, enhance cooperation with similar institutions from abroad and with the local and international mass-media.

The development and successful implementation of the Communication Strategy of the CCM (hereinafter Strategy) and Communication Action Plan form part of the efforts to ensure that the justice system of the Republic of Moldova is independent, efficient, incorrupt and accessible to all. The elaboration of the effective Strategy and its implementation will contribute to the timely access to information by professionals, members of the public, civil society and relevant national and international stakeholders to the decisions and other information of the Constitutional Court, will increase the transparency, accountability and visibility of the CCM.

Scope of work

In order to achieve the objective it is foreseen that the Consultant will carry out the work in three stages: 1) Assessment; 2) Development of the Strategy and Action Plan, and 3) Public launch of Strategy and Action Plan and building capacities of the CCM in their implementation.

During the assessment phase the National Consultant is expected to:

• Conduct an assessment of the Court’s current outreach activities, tools and capacities;
• Hold consultations with the CCM and other relevant stakeholders;
• Carry out a review of news articles and press clippings, media environment on the CCM and public opinion of the Courts’ outreach activities;
• Ensure assessment of any other relevant issues in order to present an objective, thorough, realistic assessment of the Court’s current outreach activities and capacities;
• Present the assessment to the CCM and UNDP and incorporate feedback into the assessment report.

During the phase of Strategy and Action Plan development the National Consultant is expected to develop the Strategy, which should include but not be limited to:

• The Vision for Communication. This part of the document will outline definitions, the methodological approach for each stakeholder and will define the main blocks of the proposed internal and external communication systems and tools to be used by the CCM;
• Assessment of the Court’s current outreach activities and capacities. This part of the document will present a report on the assessment of the current communication approaches and tools of the CCM. This part can be presented as part of the document or in the annex;
• Action Plan. Based on the proposed framework and the assessment, the Action Plan will propose specific activities to address the issues and capacity gaps. Examples of proposed activities, include: training on communication for relevant stakeholders (CCM, civil society, media, etc.); further consultancy to improve the organizations settings in the CCM for better communication, etc. The Implementation part will be structured as a table, by thematic area and proposing the timeframe, budget, responsible parties, etc. for proposed activities. The Implementation Part will be detailed for the first year and will include indications for the medium term (second and third year);
• Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E). This part of the Action Plan will have clear proposals for continuous monitoring and final evaluation of the communication activities to be implemented under the Action Plan. In order to measure progress and results of suggested activities a set of indicators should be developed, with targets. A baseline survey could be considered.

During the launch of Strategy and Action Plan, the National Consultant will:

• Collaborate with CCM and UNDP in order to ensure successful preparation of the launch event;
• Take part in the launch of the Strategy and Action Plan;
• Take part in other tasks related to the public launch of the Strategy and Action Plan and building capacities of the relevant CCM staff in the implementation of these documents. 

In addition, the National Consultant will:

• Ensure human rights based approach application, gender and minorities mainstreaming throughout the process of the Strategy and Action Plan development;
• Ensure gender and minorities mainstreaming are visible throughout the Strategy and Action Plan documents;
• Engage the relevant CMM staff persons and work closely with them throughout the assignment for the purposes of their capacity building;
• Collaborate with all relevant stakeholders throughout the whole period of the assignment;
• Ensure the Strategy and Action Plan are in line with other national and international strategic and legal commitments.

For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference.

Requirements for experience

1. Academic Qualifications:

• Master’s Degree or equivalent (5-year university education) in communication, journalism, social sciences, public affairs, political science, and international relations or any other relevant field;

2. Years and sphere of experience:

• At least 5 years of experience in the elaboration of communication strategies, action plans and their implementation or in the elaboration and implementation of other documents related to public relations;

3. Competencies:

• Proven commitment to the core values of the United Nations; in particular, is respectful of differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language, age, HIV status, disability, and sexual orientation, or other status;
• Proven experience in designing and implementation of public communication strategies, action plans or other documents;
• Solid understanding of and ability to apply communications tools and techniques, including the ability to analyse and use research data;
• Strong management skills in the planning and financial management of communication work and a proven record of achieving results;
• Proven experience in drafting studies and reports;
• Extensive knowledge and experience in the political, social, and cultural issues in Moldova;
• Knowledge of the activity of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova would be an asset;
• Experience in good governance, human rights, transparency, accountability or similar work would be an advantage;
• Knowledge of Romanian and Russian languages;
• Knowledge of English would be a strong advantage;
• Knowledge of one or more additional languages relevant for Moldova, including Bulgarian, Gagauzian, Romani, Ukrainian or sign language is an asset;

4. Personal qualities: responsibility, creativity, flexibility and punctuality.

The UNDP Moldova is committed to workforce diversity. Women, persons with disabilities, Roma and other ethnic or religious minorities, persons living with HIV, as well as refugees and other non-citizens legally entitled to work in the Republic of Moldova, are particularly encouraged to apply.

Documents to be included

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information in Romanian, Russian or English to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Personal information (as a detailed CV or as a Personal History Form /P11) including records on past experience in similar projects/assignments and concrete outputs obtained, including 3 reference persons and their contacts;

2. Cover letter, which should include:

(i) A list of strategies, action plans or other task related documents the candidate has elaborated or contributed to;

(ii) Financial proposal (in USD, specifying a daily fee amount).

Financial proposal

The financial proposal will specify the daily fee, travel expenses and per diems quoted in separate line items, and payments are made to the Individual Consultant based on the number of days worked.

Payment will be made upon acceptance of deliverables by the UNDP Moldova Justice and Human Rights Programme Analyst.

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.

No travel costs are envisaged under this assignment.