Republic of Moldova

National Communication Consultant on Strategic Communication for the Central Electoral Commission

Vacancy Number: Pr17/01570

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	11 Jul 2017, 10:00 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	25 Jul 2017, 10:00 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	01 Sep 2017
Reference to the project:	Enhancing Democracy in Moldova through Inclusive and Transparent Elections
Expected Duration of Assignment:	up to 240 working days during September 2017 – June 2019
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted online by pressing the "Apply Now" button no later than 11 July 2017, at 10:00 local time (Moldova time) Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: eva.bounegru@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

Contacts:

Ms. Eva Bounegru.

eva.bounegru@undp.org

Background

The long-standing partnership between the Central Electoral Commission and UNDP resulted in the establishment of a strong professional institution, able to provide transparent and inclusive democratic elections. The Central Electoral Commission with UNDP support, managed to move the electoral process in the Republic of Moldova to an advanced level through the development and use of the modern and innovative State Automated Information System “Elections” (SAISE).

During 2012 – 2017, UNDP offered support to the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) in the areas of gender equality and human rights, institutional capacity development, strategic development of the Center for Continuous Electoral Training (CCET) to deliver professional training to electoral officials, political party finance legislation implementation and transparent electoral reform processes. Moreover, substantial steps were taken in addressing challenges to the electoral process related to the data quality and data exchange possibilities among key registers owned by different government institutions.

Based on the solid results achieved, UNDP continues to support the CEC and CCET to ensure the finality and sustainability of the previous UNDP interventions through the new Project “Enhancing democracy in Moldova through inclusive and transparent elections” (further referred to as the “Project”).

The Project will be implemented between 2017 – 2019 contributing to:

• achieving a more accurate State Register of Voters (SRV), by: (a) improving the quality and accessibility data by reengineering the Civil Status Service (CSS) systems, (b) fully developing the State Address Register and (c) facilitating data exchange and interoperability between different government agencies via M-Connect Platform;
• enhancing the inclusiveness of the electoral process through developing a remote voting tool and adjusting the SAISE system to keep up with the technical and political developments;
• supporting the legal reform in the area of elections to erase ambiguities and respond to the technical developments;
• enhancing political participation of citizens by setting up and implementing voters’ information and civic education programmes, specifically targeting vulnerable groups including women, youth, persons with different types of disabilities and linguistic minorities and the Diaspora.

According to the Moldovan Electoral Code, the CEC and the CCET are responsible to provide the media with information on the elections and the general election administration practices; communicate election related issues to the press and the public at large, implement civic education and voters’ information programmes and involve key stakeholders, such as political parties and civil society in all phases of the electoral process.

Thus, one of the objectives of the Project is to provide technical assistance to CEC and CCET to develop and implement voter information and civic educations campaigns throughout 2017 – 2019 years. The goal of these campaigns is to inform the general public, including different target and vulnerable groups (women, youth, people with disabilities, linguistic minorities groups and the Diaspora) about the electoral processes and Moldovan electoral system, as well as to improve the communication between the electoral management body with the citizens and stakeholders.

Scope of work

The Project intends to contract a national communication consultant (further referred to as “consultant”) to provide the necessary strategic advice and support to the CEC senior management, Communications Department, as well as to the Project. The consultant will help by advising on implementing communications activities, coaching and training the CEC staffers on communications techniques and tools. Moreover, the consultant will also coach the CEC staff on how to communicate more effectively with citizens (including different targeted and vulnerable groups, such as women, youth, persons with different disabilities and linguistic minorities), mass-media and stakeholders. Additionally, the consultant is expected to significantly contribute with innovative communication approaches via social media platforms.

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

Requirements for experience

Academic Qualifications:

• University degree in Public Relations, Communication, Journalism or other relevant field.

Experience and knowledge:

• At least 5 years of experience in media and online communications, active use of social media, publication and report writing, including research or data collection (proven by a portfolio of promotional and visibility materials/content prepared by the consultant – please submit links in the Proposal section);
• At least 2 years of work experience in developing and implementing media/communications, awareness raising campaigns, drafting communication and awareness raising materials, writing articles, press releases, interviews and other communication products;
• Previous facilitation of trainings/workshops on communication techniques, speeches and talking points writing, public relation interventions, crisis communication and civic education and social event planning, gender and human rights dimensions, or other relevant communication topics is a strong asset;
• Experience in writing materials in electoral domain (elections, voting procedures, electoral management), gender and human rights is a strong asset;
• Experience of similar assignments within an UNDP Project or and/or EU-funded Project other international organisation is an advantage;

Competencies:

• High level of familiarity with CEC and CCET roles and responsibilities, government institutions, NGOs and donors working in the electoral area, mass-media outlets and PR agencies;
• Excellent written communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to identify relevant findings and prepare analytical documents;
• Capacity to build strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and to respond positively to feedback;
• Fluency in Romanian, Russian and English languages;
• Proven commitment to the core values of the United Nations respecting differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language, age, HIV status, disability, and sexual orientation, or other status.

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 to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Proposal: a) explaining why they are the most suitable for the work including past experience in similar assignments (including a portfolio of promotional and visibility materials/content prepared by the consultant – list of links); b)providing a brief information on each of the above qualifications, item by item and a brief methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work (if applicable);
2. Financial proposal (in USD), specifying a fee per day and total requested amount including all related costs, e.g. fees, per diems, travel costs, phone calls etc.
3. Duly filled in and signed Personal History Form (P11) and at least 3 names for a reference check.

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. 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.

 

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