United Nations Development Programme Tunisia Electoral Assistance Project (TEAP) Terms of References (ToR) Expert on Online Communication May 2016
Information on Individual Consultant (IC) post Title: Expert on Online Communication Contract: International Individual Consultant (IC) Reporting to: Chief Technical Advisor Location: Tunis Duration: 15 Days Languages required: Arabic and French Starting date: July 2016 Expected end date of contract: August 2016 Context Following the popular uprising and the departure of former president Ben Ali in 2011, Tunisia entered into a transition towards democracy involving a complete overhaul of its political system and a long-awaited change in core governance institutions. UNDP s Tunisia Electoral Assistance Project (TEAP) builds on the experience and work of UNDP s previous project Support to the Electoral Process in Tunisia (SEPT) established in 2011, at the request of the Tunisian interim government. While SEPT focused on electoral events, and in fact it provided technical and operational assistance to the relevant national authorities for managing the electoral processes in 2011 and 2014, TEAP seeks to capitalize on the good conduct of the legislative and presidential elections in 2014 in order to reinforce the relevant electoral authorities, in particular the electoral management body (EMB) named High Independent Authority for Elections (in French Instance Supérieure Indépendante pour les Élections [ISIE]) and the High Independent Authority of the Audiovisual Communication (in French Haute Autorité Indépendante de la Communication Audiovisuelle [HAICA]) through a long-term capacity building programme in line with the electoral cycle approach. Aligned with UNDP s Strategic Plan and the Tunisian UN Development Action Framework (UNDAF), the UNDP Country Programme Document (CPD) and Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP) objectives, TEAP seeks to reinforce democratic principles that contribute to building Tunisian national unity by increasing political participation in inclusive and transparent electoral processes. Accordingly, the TEAP project document was formulated in line with the electoral cycle approach for the period of 2015-2019, with the aim of achieving the following key results: 1- Long-term institutional capacity building for electoral authorities 2- Strengthen the electoral administration to conduct inclusive and credible electoral events 2. Functions TEAP is seeking an Expert on Online Communication who, under the supervision of its Chief Technical Advisor, will be responsible for the following: Assess Tunisian electoral authorities needs in terms of online communication (with particular reference to communication via social media platforms); Study relevant documents (including the Tunisian electoral legal framework) and the particular context of the work of HAICA and ISIE; 2
Develop training materials (agenda for the training, background materials, exercises and evaluation forms) that will be discussed and amended in light of the HAICA and ISIE s needs and comments; Advise and select the background materials that will be distributed during the training; Deliver 10 days of training to a group of 5 to 10 persons from the HAICA and ISIE staff in charge of online communication; Provide participants with methods, tools and approaches for online communication and communication on social media in particular; Help the participants to identify the strong points, weaknesses and perspectives for HAICA s and ISIE s communication through social media; Assist the participants to draft guidelines for online communication for their institutions; Elaborate and submit the final report that would include: (1) concise presentation of the content of the training sessions and of the applied methods, including the feedbacks from the participants on the discussed subjects; (2) conclusions and recommendations based on lessons learned; (3) training agenda, evaluation forms filled in by participants and other relevant materials produced or distributed during training (e.g. the draft guidelines); Performs other tasks, duties and responsibilities required for the successful implementation of the training. 3. Expected outputs/deliverables The expected deliverables to be achieved are: (1) The design, the organization and the facilitation of a training course of 10 days made of 2 sessions of 5 days each session for the electoral authorities (HAICA and ISIE) s community manager/communication staff. The training course would focus on: A. Development of strategies for social media and online communication; B. Social media advocacy strategies to communicate key messages to defined target audiences; C. How to develop, edit and publish through social media platforms in a strategic manner; D. Development of adequate content for website and social media platforms, including content creation and methods for managing websites and other social media platforms for interacting with stakeholders (general public and the media); E. Effective monitoring and evaluation of the various communication tools in order to measure the impact. (2) The draft of brief guidelines on Online Communication for the Tunisian electoral authorities (HAICA and ISIE). The project will provide the individual consultant (IC) with the necessary available information for the fulfilment of the requested tasks and will facilitate the necessary meetings with HAICA and ISIE. 4. Schedule of payments DELIVERABLES DEADLINE PAYMENT RATE Programme and background materials developed (TO BE DEVELOPPED IN TUNIS) Training sessions successfully delivered (TO BE CONDUCTED IN TUNIS) Draft of online communication guidelines for the electoral authorities (TO BE CONDUCTED IN TUNIS) 3 days 10 days 50% 3
Submission of final mission report. (TO BE DEVELOPPED FROM HOME) 2 days 50% 5. Timeline The IC must complete her/his assignment in 15 effective working days between the date of the recruitment and the end of August: 13 days at the duty station (Tunis) + 2 days home based. The financial proposal will include a breakdown of the lump sum amount (including travel, per diems [or Daily Subsistence Allowance - DSA] and number of working days). 6. Profile of the Individual Consultant (IC) Masters Degree with 5 years (or Bachelor Degree with 7 years) of professional experience in communication, community and social media management, journalism, public relations or other related field, Experience of technical assistance to national institutions (writing communication strategies with a monitoring and evaluation framework, web platform development/management for public entities/authorities) Professional experience in designing and delivering training courses on online communication/community management etc. Excellent Arabic and/or French language skills. The knowledge of English will be an asset; Experience of working with UN administration and familiarity with UN policies of electoral assistance and understanding of UN/UNDP programming arrangements would be an asset; Prior experience of working in transitional and emerging democracies and/or of working in the MENA region would be an asset, Excellent communications skills. 4
7. Submission documents Interested IC must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate her/his qualifications: Proposal explaining why s/he is the most suitable for the work; Provide a brief methodology on how s/he will approach and conduct the work (limit to under 1500 words); Financial proposal indicating a lump sum consultancy fee for the deliverables. The proposal must separate clearly the fees and the other costs; Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references. 8. Evaluation of submissions Cumulative analysis The award of the contract should be made to the IC 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: * Technical Criteria weight: 70% * Financial Criteria weight: 30% Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 point would be considered for the Financial Evaluation. Criteria Weight Max. Point Technical Criterion A: Master s degree preferably in communication, community and social media management, journalism, public relations or other related field. Bachelor degree in combination with qualifying experience (7 years) may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree. - Bachelor 3 pts - Master.5 pts Criterion B: A minimum of five years of professional experience in communication, community and social media management, journalism, public relations or other related field are required; 5 (or Bachelor + 7) years. 5 points 6-10 (or Bachelor+8) years...7 points More than 10 years...10 points 70 pts 5% 5 10% 10 Criterion C: Methodology to conduct the work. The criterion C is qualitative: the evaluation panel will assess the quality of the methodology, taking into account the presentation of the methodology, the proposed approach and strategy, and the feasibility. - Presentation..4 pts - Proposed approach and strategy.8 pts 20% 20 5
- Feasibility and responsiveness to exigency of the ToR... 8 pts Criterion D: Experience of technical assistance to national institutions Experiences in two projects 1 point Experiences in three projects..2 points Experiences in four projects...3 points Experiences in five projects... 4 points Experiences in six or more projects... 5 points Criterion E: Professional experience in designing and delivering training courses on online communication/community management. Designed and conducted 2 trainings.5 points Designed and conducted 3 to 4 trainings.10 points Designed and conducted 5 to 6 trainings.15 points Designed and conducted 7 to 8 trainings. 20 points Designed and conducted 9 or more trainings.25 points Criterion F: Excellent Arabic and/or French language skills Arabic or French only.1 point Arabic and French.2 points Criterion G: Experience with UN administration and familiarity with UN policies of electoral assistance and understanding of UN/UNDP programming arrangements No previous experience with UN/UNDP administration.0 point Previous experience with UN/UNDP administration...1 point Criterion H: Prior experience of working in transitional and emerging democracies and/or of working in the MENA region Working experience in transitional and emerging democracies...1point Working experience in the MENA region...1 point 5% 5 25% 25 2% 2 1% 1 2% 2 Financial Combined criteria (70% technical 30% financial) 30% 30 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 the IC prior to travel. 6