Communications Consultants

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

The work of UN Women in Moldova is guided by its new Country Strategic Note 2023-2027, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Moldova (2023-2027),  UN Women Global  Strategic Plan, National Programs and Strategies and aims to contribute to the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Strategic Note focuses on four main areas: 1) Ending Violence against Women; 2) Women’s Leadership and Governance; 3) Women’s Economic empowerment and 4) Humanitarian and Peace development nexus and UN Coordination on Gender equality.

Communications is a key component of UN Women Moldova Country Office’s work and constitutes a vehicle for ensuring visibility for successful UN Women Moldova initiatives, results and programmes as well as for raising awareness about key issues of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Effective communications also contribute to mobilizing resources as donors would like to see value for money. Yearly UN Women on the Global, Regional and country levels is conducting key regular communication campaigns such as International Women’s Day and 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.

The objective of this Consultancy is to support UN Women communications team in elaboration and implementation of local communication campaigns, materials and events in strict compliance with the HQ and Regional communication and visibility guidelines and thus increase the visibility and participation of UN Women as a whole, as well as of the UN Women Moldova Country Office and its donors.

In this connection, UN Women Moldova Country Office intends to hire one or more consultants to facilitate communication initiatives and events and increase the visibility of UN Women activities.

Working under the overall supervision of the Communications Specialist, the consultants will be responsible for the following:

Deliverables and Timeframe

The consultant will be expected to complete the following deliverables within the indicative timeframe:

Duration of the Assignment

The assignment shall commence in January 2024 and shall expire in December 2024 for up to 260 working days in line with the indicative timeframe described under “Deliverables and Timeframe” section.

Inputs

UN Women will provide the Consultants with the background materials, UN Women project documents, as well as other relevant materials with regards to implementation of the tasks under this ToR.

Travel and Other Logistic Arrangements

All travel related to organizing the communication events, including visits and meetings with project partners outside Chisinau will be covered financially by UN Women. All costs related to travels within Chisinau should be foreseen in the “all-inclusive” daily fee.

Performance Evaluation

Consultant’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered. All reports must be provided in English, electronically.

Financial Arrangements

Payments will be made monthly upon satisfactory delivery of outputs/products in accordance with specified requirements and submission, review and approval of reports by the Communications Specialist and the relevant CO staff.

The time needed to complete tasks will be agreed with the Communications officer prior to being carried out. The Consultants will need to prepare a comprehensive work report with cost breakdown. The Consultants will be paid per number of days worked for each event. 

Management Arrangements

The consultant will work under the supervision of the UN Women Communications Officer and in collaboration with Communication Team. The Consultants will not be located in the premises of UN Women and will have to work remotely. However, the consultants is expected to have periodical coordination meetings with the Communication Team and participate in relevant staff meetings.

Core Values:

• Cultural Sensitivity and valuing Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Ethics and Values
• Accountability
• Self-management and emotional intelligence
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication and Information Sharing
• Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing
• Work in teams
• Leading by Example

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies.

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent command of Romanian and English, Russian will be an asset;
• Excellent writing skills in Romanian and English in preparing briefs, reports, human interest stories, news, articles and similar work for various audiences;
• Solid understanding of and hands-on experience in communications and outreach/advocacy;
• Ability to produce well-written text;
• Ability to achieve results and to work in teams;
• Ability to use Information Technology effectively as a tool and resource;
• Ability to work under pressure and within limited time frames;
• Ability to consistently approach work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Ability to work in an independent manner and organize the workflow efficiently;
• In-depth knowledge of gender equality and women’s rights issues will be an asset;

Education:

• University degree in foreign languages/literature/journalism/communication and public relations or in any other relevant domain, or/and Master’s degree in the aforementioned domains would be an asset.

Experience:

• At least 3 years of relevant experience in journalism, public relations and/or mass communications;
• At least 3 years of experience in elaboration and conducting of communication campaigns on social issues;
• Experience in web content management systems (Drupal or other) would be an asset;
• Knowledge of graphic design software would be an asset;
• Relevant experience in related areas in UN Women or UN agencies would be an asset;
• Experience on development of campaigns/materials on gender would be an asset.

Language:

• Fluency in Romanian and good command of English (written and oral);

• Fluency in Russian language would be an asset.

Evaluation of applicants:

Initially, individual consultants will be short-listed based on the following minimum qualification criteria:

• University degree in foreign languages/literature/journalism/ communication and public relations or in any other relevant domain.
• At least 3 years of relevant experience in journalism, public relations and/or mass communications.
• At least 3 years of experience in elaboration and conducting of communication campaigns on social issues.
• Fluency in Romanian, good command of English.

The short-listed individual consultants will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of qualifications and financial proposal. The contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

1. Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
2. Having received the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

The short-listed individual consultants will be further evaluated based on a cumulative analysis scheme, with a total score being obtained upon the combination of weighted technical and financial attributes. Cost under this method of analysis is rendered as an award criterion, which will be 30% out of a total score of 1000 points.

Evaluation of submitted offers will be done based on the following formula:

where: 

T              is the total technical score awarded to the evaluated proposal (only to those proposals that pass 70% - minimum 490 points obtainable under technical evaluation);

C            Is the price of the evaluated proposal; 

Clow      is the lowest of all evaluated proposal prices among responsive proposals; and 

X             is the maximum financial points obtainable (300 points)

Technical evaluation will be carried out through desk review of applications and interview of the short-listed candidates.                        

Technical Evaluation (70%)         

The technical evaluation is done based on its responsiveness of short-listed candidates qualifications to the Terms of Reference (TOR) and results from interview.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 490 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

As the next stage, the financial proposal of candidates, who have attained minimum 70% score in the technical evaluation, will be compared as indicated below.

Financial Evaluation (30%) – max. 300 points:

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion. A suggested formula is as follows:

p = 30 (µ/z)

Using the following values:

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

µ = price of the lowest priced

proposal z = price of the proposal being evaluated

WINNING CANDIDATE

The winning candidate will be the candidate who has accumulated the highest aggregated score (technical scoring + financial scoring).

Application procedure:

Interested candidates are invited to submit their online applications by 01 January 2024 with the following documents.

• Cover letter to include a brief overview in English (unedited text) about which of your previous experiences makes you the most suitable candidate for the advertised position.
• Duly filled Personal History Form PHF11/CV (downloadable from https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2022-07/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form-en.doc )
• Financial Proposal The financial proposal should contain a daily fee for the required work tasks (Please refer to annex I and annex II);
• Examples of campaigns/materials/products elaborated by the candidate or under his/her coordination;

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.  The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

The United Nations in 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.

Annex I: Price Proposal Guideline and Template

The prospective Communication Consultants should take the following explanations into account during submission of his/her price proposal.

1.Daily fee

The daily price proposal should indicate a "lump sum amount" which is "all-inclusive"; All costs (professional fees, communications, consumables during field related missions, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor needs to be factored into the proposed price.

UN Women will not withhold any amount of the payments for tax and/or social security related payments. UN Women shall have no liability for taxes, duties or other similar charges payable by the Individual Contractor in respect of any amounts paid to the Individual Contractor under this Contract, and the Contractor acknowledges that UN Women will not issue any statements of earnings to the Individual contractor in respect of any such payments.

2.Travel costs

UN Women will not cover transportation cost within Chisinau.

3.Daily Subsistence Allowance

Not applicable.

4.Currency of the price proposal

The applicants are requested to submit their price proposals in MDL. In case of proposals in other currency, these shall be converted into MDL using the official UN exchange rate for currency MDL conversion to MDL at the date of applications’ submission deadline.

Annex II: Price Proposal Submission Form

To: United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

Ref: Communication Consultant

Dear Sir / Madam,

I, the undersigned, offer to provide professional consulting services to UN Women within the scope of the referred Assignment.

Having examined, understood and agreed to the Terms of Reference and its annexes, the receipt of which are hereby duly acknowledged, I, the undersigned, offer to deliver professional services, in conformity with the Terms of Reference.

My maximum total price proposal for the assignment is given below:

I confirm that my financial proposal will remain unchanged. I also confirm that the price that I quote is gross, and is inclusive of all legal expenses, including but not limited to social security, income tax, pension, etc., which shall be required applicable laws.

I agree that my proposal shall remain binding upon me for 30 days.

I understand that you are not bound to accept any proposal you may receive.

[Signature]

Date:

Name:

Address:

Telephone/Fax:

Email: