Individual Consultant-Editor for the Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund, Harare 147 views0 applications

Background

Zimbabwe, like most parts of sub-Saharan Africa is affected by one or several hazards and these tend to affect agricultural production. El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle events (El Niño, La Niña and Neutral) have been influencing extreme weather leading to either droughts, mid-season dry spells or flooding. Evidence show that these events have been affecting agricultural production and water levels. In the face of these conditions, the Government of Zimbabwe together with development partners, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the European Union (EU), Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and UK Department for International Development (DfID), setup the Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund (ZRBF) in May 2015. The current duration of the Fund is 5 years (2015-2020) but it is subject to extension if more funds are availed. The fund uses the following resilience definition,

‘The ability of at risk individuals, households, communities and systems to anticipate, cushion, adapt, bounce back better and move on from the effects of shocks and hazards in a manner that protects livelihoods and recovery gains, and supports sustainable transformation.’

The overall objective of ZRBF is to contribute to increased absorptive, adaptive and transformative capacities of at-risk communities to protect development gains and achieve improved well-being outcomes. The plan is to achieve this through a set of interventions addressing the following components:

• Creating and utilizing of an evidence base and capacity building,
• Increasing adaptive, absorptive and transformative capacities, and
• Setting up a crisis modifier that respond to humanitarian shocks.

The fir0st component of focuses on capacity building in the creation and generation of evidence at national level in all resilience-related fields. It also encompasses the development of knowledge products on resilience-building in Zimbabwe. Under second component, ZRBF is working with 7 Consortia in implementing resilience-building projects in 18 districts. The districts of operations are Beitbridge, Bubi, Binga, Chiredzi, Insiza, Kariba, Lupane, Matobo, Mberengwa, Mbire, Mutoko, Mudzi, Mwenezi, Nkayi, Nyanga, Umguza, Umzingwane and Zvishavane. The third component is for the risk financing mechanism that activated in times of disasters to cushion communities in benefitting districts from negative impacts of these events. This consultant will focus on editing the knowledge products and programme documents for the FUD.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the Head of the ZRBF Programme Management Unit, the Consulting Editor will edit ZRBF documents within the stipulated time frames. The consultant will work as follows:

• Initially screen the draft report to agree on estimated number of days needed for editing;
• Edit the language, grammar, and spelling and make style consistent and clear to clearly convey the messages in the report;
• Ensure that the meaning of the language and all other material (tables, figures etc,) is clear and concise as appropriate;
• Liaise with the ZRBF M&E specialist and UNDP’s Communications Specialist for better understanding and coordination;
• Incorporate any feedback from the PMU as appropriate;
• Finalize the MS Word version in coordination with the ZRBF Management Unit and Visibility and Communications contractor who will undertake the final layout and design of the publication’
• Submit the final version to the unit which will then move forward for further clearance from the senior management;
• Incorporate final edits/amendments from the management and present the edited copy for publishing.

Having conducted the above tasks, the Consultant is expected to produce the following:

• Edited two existing knowledge documents by end of March 2018;
• Edited two new ZRBF knowledge documents by end of April 2018;
• Edited Resilience technical note #1 by end of May 2018;
• Edited technical note #2 by end of June 2018;
• Edited concept and briefing notes by end of June 2018;
• Edited updated hazard mapping document by end of June 2018.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards.
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of the UN.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies

Communication

• Excellent communication and training (spoken and written) skills including the ability to convey complex information management concepts and recommendations to staff at all levels, both orally and in writing, in a clear, concise style that can be readily understood by non-information management practitioners.

Teamwork

• Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; places team agenda before personal agenda; supports and acts in accordance with final group decision.

Planning and Organization

• Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required; foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; uses time efficiently.

Accountability

• Takes ownership of all responsibilities and honours commitments; operates in compliance with organizational regulations and rules; supports subordinates and peers, provides oversight and takes responsibility for delegated assignments; takes personal responsibility for his/her own shortcomings and those of the work unit, where applicable.

Judgment/Decision-making

• Identifies the key issues in a complex situation, gathers relevant information before making a decision; considers positive and negative impacts of decisions prior to making them; proposes a course of action or makes a recommendation based on all available information; checks assumptions against facts; determines that the actions proposed will satisfy the expressed and underlying needs for the decision.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Post graduate qualification, preferably MA or MSC in communications, commedia studies, journalism or related field;

Experience

• Proven track record over a period of 5 years in writing and editing in a senior capacity in the media, publishing, academic or research institution;
• Familiarity and previous working experience with international development organizations;
• Content/substantive editing skills including being able to understand issues related to the development sector in Zimbabwe

Language Requirements

• Excellent command of written and spoken English.

Application procedure

Applicants are requested to upload a copies of:

• Latest CV highlighting the relevant experience;
• Updated P11 Form template of which can be downloaded from this website – http://www.sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc.
• A detailed technical proposal on undertaking the tasks and evidence of previous work;

Please group all your documents (CV, P11, Technical Proposal and certificates) into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document. Incomplete applications will not be given consideration.

• Applicants must reply to the mandatory questions asked by the system when submitting the application

Please note that only applicants who are short-listed will be contacted.

Evaluation criteria

The Consultant will be evaluated based on qualifications and the years of experience, as outlined in the qualifications/requirements section of the ToR. In addition, the Consultant will also be evaluated on the following methodology: Technical Criteria weight: 70%;

Financial Criteria weight: 30%;

The award of the contract shall be made to the 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 Terms of Reference

‘UNDP is committed to gender equality in its mandate and its staff, and equal opportunities for people living with disabilities. Well qualified candidates, particularly women and people living with disabilities are especially encouraged to apply’.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.