Senior Expert – Information Integrity

COVID-19 has dominated the world’s attention in 2020. The United Nations and its Member States have never had to face a phenomenon like it. Beyond the immediate illness and loss of life is a deep sense of uncertainty as to what the fallout might be in terms of social and economic security. Much depends on government responses and the degree of trust in a society: a crisis can also bring people together to demand change in underfunded public health systems, poor policing and the failure of states to protect their people.

Accelerating confusion and mistrust in response to COVID-19 has been the alarming quantity and speed of dissemination of false and misleading information on global and national pandemic responses. The current tsunami of misinformation is reaching a wider audience than ever before, further eroding public trust in state institutions and news media, widening social divides and destabilizing already fragile contexts. It is causing real physical and societal harm. It is a threat not only to short term public health outcomes, but also to long-term prospects for advancing democracy, human rights, and social cohesion. UNDP administrator Achim Steiner has called disinformation “one of the most concerning governance challenges of our time”.

UNDP’s initial response to this challenge was to provide direct and immediate support to country offices to rapidly adapt programming or develop new initiatives to address COVID-19 disinformation. This included the production of a guidance note, a series of webinars and direct technical support to country teams on project design and implementation.

Since March 2020, UNDP has been supporting over 40 countries around the world to combat disinformation. Innovative efforts are underway by UNDP Country Offices to adapt existing programming and develop new initiatives to address the issue. In July, the Oslo Governance Centre announced the allocation of grants of up to $40,000 to support UNDP country initiatives to counter information pollution. This funding is intended to improve understanding of national information landscapes and to encourage collective learning and best practice.

Given the clear implications of information pollution on governance, democracy, and social cohesion, there is now a need to articulate UNDP’s global strategic response going forward, linking this to broader corporate discussions on reimagining governance  and new approaches to informed and engaged societies in a digital era.  This will seek to:

1) Develop UNDPs Global Strategic Approach to addressing the impact of information pollution through partnership building and consultation.

2) Engage and coordinate with other actors, particularly UN agencies and the private sector, and increase UNDP’s visibility and resource base on the issue.

3) Ensure coherent advisory support to UNDP country offices and regional hubs.

4) Ensure integration and coherence with related offers and strategic discussions across different business units and teams.

The consultant will be paid for days worked on a monthly basis.  The consultant must submit a payment certification form to be approved by UNDP OGC.

Travel

No travel is foreseen for this consultancy.

Application process
The application is a two-step process. Failing to comply with the submission process may result in disqualifying the applications.

Step 1: Interested individual consultants must include the following documents when submitting the applications in UNDP job shop. Please note that only 1 (one) file can be uploaded, therefore, please include all documents in one file:

• Personal History Form (P11), indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate and at least three (3) professional references, www.sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc).
• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment. Please indicate available start date.

Step 2: Financial Proposal.

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

The financial proposal should state the all-inclusive, daily rate in USD, supported by a breakdown of costs (Table A1). The term ‘all inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, utilities, consumables, insurance, travel as per ToR etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal. The form can be found here: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=45780

The financial proposal should be sent separately to this email address: oslo.governance.centre@undp.org, with subject line: “Financial proposal Senior Expert – Information Integrity”.

If an offeror is employed by an organization/company/-institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the offeror must indicate this at in the Financial Proposal, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.   The consultant will be paid only after approving authority confirms the successful completion of each deliverable as stipulated under chapter 3.

In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses will be agreed upon, between UNDP and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. In general, UNDP will 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.

Criteria for selection of individual consultant for award of contract:

Only those candidates who meet the minimum level of education and relevant years of experience requirements will be considered for the technical evaluation. The technical evaluation will include a desk review and interviews with shortlisted candidates. With weight of 50% desk review and 50% interview of the total technical score.

The combine scoring method will be used to evaluate proposals:

Combined scoring method – the qualifications will be weighted a maximum of 70% and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a maximum of 30%.

Technical criteria weight: 70 (70% of total obtainable scores). Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 (70%) points on technical part will be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial criteria weight: 30 (30% of total obtainable scores)

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• responsive / compliant / acceptable; and
• having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical Evaluation (70 Points) 70% weight

Technical evaluations will be conducted based on the following criteria:

• Experience working on programmatic responses to challenges in traditional and new media (20 points);
• Proven knowledge of UNDPs global, regional and country level misinformation response (20 points);
• Experience in design, implementation and management of innovative communications for social change programmes (10 points);
• Experience in design, implementation and management of innovative communications for social change programmes (10 points);
• Ability to identify and develop strategic partnerships (10 points);

Only Individual Consultants obtaining a minimum of 49 of the obtainable points of 70 points (70%) in technical evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Financial Evaluation. The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

p = y (µ/z), where

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated;

y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal;
µ = price of the lowest priced proposal;
z = price of the proposal being evaluated

1. Finalize its strategic offer including development of knowledge products that examine how governance can respond to the challenges of disinformation.
2. Development of partnerships that increase awareness and promote advocacy on information pollution, including the launch of virtual outreach.
3. Ensure evidence-based programmatic and policy responses including support to country offices.

1) Strategic Development and Knowledge Creation

• Monitor the field of Information Pollution to ensure UNDP’s responses remain relevant and informed by research and best practice;
• Develop an information pollution strategy paper outlining UNDP’s position, theory of change, objectives, partnerships, policy and programme options and recommendations, nested within UNDP’s approach to governance as it is articulated within corporate frameworks;

1.1) Deliverables:

• UNDP strategic offer drafted and shared internally;
• Think pieces / brief knowledge products produced;
• Strategic partnerships established;
• UN Country Team Guidance Note developed in collaboration with relevant UN agencies.

2) Engagement, Coordination and Advocacy

• Participate in interagency working groups and external forums to ensure coordination, identify opportunities for collaboration and promote UNDPs approach;
• Organise internal and external webinars to promote best practice, lessons and improve UNDP visibility in the field;
• Contribute to communications materials and events as required.

2.1) Deliverables:

• 3 external webinars organised;
• Participation in at least 3 external forums;
• Virtual communication outreach produced.

3) Evidence-based programmatic and policy responses

• Develop conceptual framework for UNDP whole of support to Country Offices programme, as integral to accountable, effective, and inclusive governance,  including analysis, design, implementation and monitoring and evaluation;
• Provide direct technical support on the issue to UNDP Country Offices and regional bureaus;
• Contribute to resource mobilisation efforts as required.

3.1) Deliverables:

• 1 conceptual framework for country support developed;
• Eight countries supported with technical advice on information pollution
• At least two regional hubs supported on regional research and policy development;
• Resource mobilization concept and proposals produced.

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP, and partner organizations:
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;

Functional Competencies

• Excellent communication skills in English;
• Demonstrated ability to organise and structure information and prepare guidance within the UN;
• Ability to identify and develop strategic partnerships;
• Strong understanding of democratic governance and sustainable development.

• Master’s degree or equivalent in International development, communications, political science, health a related field;
• At least 15 years of experience working on creating and managing social change programmes in development;
• Experience at developing and leading the creation and management of programmes on emerging issues such as disinformation;
• Proven results at donor outreach, coordination and fundraising;
• Knowledge of UNDPs global, regional and country level misinformation response.

Location: New York

Deadline: 10/1/2021 (DD/MM/YY)

Application link: https://jobs.undp.org/cj_apply.cfm?cur_job_id=96095