Job opportunity: Events Assistant Consultant

Global Campaign Center of the UN SDG Action Campaign in Bonn (Germany)

Project Description 

The United Nations Millennium Campaign (UNMC) was established in 2002 by former Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to support people’s participation in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015) and assist people in holding their governments accountable to their commitments.

As part of the United Nations Development Group (UNDG), prior to the adoption of the Agenda 2030, the UNMC was mandated to lead part of the global consultation on the Post 2015 agenda to make the most inclusive and transparent process. As a result, 10 million people participated in this open consultation, and told the United Nations what would make their lives better through the MY World 2015 survey, and the World We Want 2015 platform. This set a new precedent at the United Nations and with policy makers around the world – opening the door to more people-centered policy making.

As a natural continuation after the adoption of Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015, the mandate of the UNMC was extended as a special initiative of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to support peoples’ participation in SDG implementation.

The now called UN SDG Action Campaign works to build new multi-stakeholder partnerships to ensure a transparent dialogue between decision makers and their constituencies, especially the most marginalized and vulnerable populations. It will continue to leverage cutting-edge communication technologies, to show the human story behind development challenges and create deeper empathy and understanding between decision-makers and their people. Finally it will use data, technology and innovation to empower people with the knowledge and tools to become actively involved in supporting their governments with SDG implementation and to continue to involve as many people as possible in the decision making process.

In order to ensure the Campaign is fit for purpose to deliver on this mandate, a Global Campaign Center has been established in Bonn (Germany) to act as a hub to inspire people’s action on the Sustainable Development Goals, connect and amplify stakeholder efforts, open up measures of accountability, aggregate citizen-generated data, showcase impact, share best practices, and incubate and test out innovative efforts around SDG implementation.

The Global Festival of Action for Sustainable Development is a ground-breaking annual event powered by the UN SDG Action Campaign with the support of the German Federal Government. The Festival will be held in Bonn on 21-23 March 2018 and bring together the global community taking action to make the Agenda 2030 become reality. It will recognize and celebrate the innovators, conveners and breakthrough actors who are transforming lives, tackling trade-offs and generating practical solutions to some of the world’s most intractable development problems.

The UN SDG Action Campaign is therefore seeking to recruit an Events Assistant to provide support with the organization of the Global Festival of Action for Sustainable Development. The need for this role will be full time for 3 months.

Event Management support

• Support with the drafting of event documents;
• Facilitate the organization of teleconference with relevant partners and provide notetaking support;
• Other administrative and logistical planning support as required

 Flights, accommodation and speaker liaison

• Facilitate travel and accommodation arrangements for selected speakers and participants.

Onsite operations, registrations and sustainability practices

• Liaise with the management of the Festival venue and source and manage a pool of volunteers to provide onsite support at the event;
• Source event materials and an onsite registration system;
• Ensure the observance of the applicable sustainability principles across the running of the Festival.

Participant registrations and communicating logistics/security requirements to all

• Produce a logistics note for the Festival and support the monitoring and management of participant registrations.

Expected outputs and deliverables

Event Management support

Support the Events Manager on updating agenda schedules for the Festival across various tracks, side events and social events with logistical updates including room set-up requirements and technical set-up demands (No. of mics, projectors, screens required etc.)

Support the Events Manager in updating tracking documents for progress made on speaker outreach and liaison and side event outreach and liaison

Support the Project Manager in partnership calls, noting minutes and action points to be circulated to the team and scheduling meetings where required

Flights, accommodation and speaker liaison

Scout accommodation options to include in a logistics note to all speakers and participants

Reserve block bookings at multiple hotels across Bonn and agree a point of contact at each hotel for self-funded participants to contact to book one of the reserved rooms (as required)

Reserve a special block booking for funded participants and speakers and as they confirm, liaise with the hotel to allocate a room to each confirmed participant, and confirm the booking with each participant/speaker

Scout travel options for participants travelling from each of the recommended hotels to the conference venue and clearly outline these on the logistics note

Once self-funded speakers/participants confirm, liaise with each to find out flight preferences (i.e. departure/return city and dates), accommodation needs and follow up with all speaker briefings as directed by the Events Manager

Liaise with a travel agent to source most economical and direct flight options per funded participant/ speaker; relay flight options to participants/speaker and confirm booking with operator/speaker; log confirmed room allocation and flight bookings in logistics tracker (including costs)

Onsite operations, registrations and sustainability practices

Be the direct liaison point with the Festival venue to agree all operation, logistical and technical requirements under supervision of the Events Manager

Source appropriate number of volunteers to help run the event onsite, be the main liaison point for all, providing briefing information and supporting the Events Manager with the development of an onsite operational plan

Source appropriate onsite registration system and associated materials (ie. Badges, lanyards, merchandise) and be the lead point of contact for registration team

Review UNFCCC’s sustainable event guidelines and associated materials and plan the rollout of sustainable principle across the running of the Festival

Participant registrations and communicating logistics/security requirements to all

Finalize a logistics note for the Festival and ensure that all registered participants, speakers and partners receive this in advance of the event, fielding any logistics questions

Support the Event Manager in mapping participant registrations and communicating confirmed places in a timely fashion

All the above mentioned deliverables are targeted over the three months period.

The review and approval of the Head of Office is required.

Institutional Arrangement

The UN SDG Action Campaign is seeking an Events Assistant based in Bonn (Germany) to provide support with the organization of the Global Festival of Action for Sustainable Development. The Events Assistant will report to the Head of Office of the Global Campaign Center (or Officer in Charge) and take part in weekly team meetings/teleconference with the rest of the Campaign team.

Duration of the Work

The duration of the assignment is 3 months.

Duty Station

The duty station for this contract will be the Global Campaign Center of the UN SDG Action Campaign in Bonn.

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Demonstrated ability to interact with individuals of different national and cultural backgrounds and beliefs, which includes the willingness to understand different views and opinions;

Functional Competences:

• Demonstrates a rigorous analytical approach, systemic thinking and good judgement in reviewing secondary sources;
• Displays self-management, including capacity to plan and adhere to deadlines;
• Displays emotional intelligence;
• Self-motivated, proactive and reliable with good communication skills.

• BA in Business and Administration or related field.
• Qualifications with supplemental training in procurement and logistics would be an asset;

Experience:

• 3 years of relevant experience in events support.
• Experience in administration and operations.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and experience in handling of web-based management systems.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English. Knowledge of German an advantage.

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via the UNDP website. Interested candidates are advised to carefully review this ToR and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications described above. The application should contain the below documents that should be scanned and attached in one pdf format document.

Motivation/Cover Letter: Explaining why they are the most suitable candidate for the work

Personal History (P11): Applicants are required to fill out and sign a P11 Form and submit it together with the online application; the P11 should include contact details of 3 references; (the P11 form can be downloaded at www.sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc ) Please also include your CV.

A Financial Proposal: The applicants are instructed to submit their financial proposals in US Dollars for this consultancy, using the Offeror’s letter to UNDP confirming Interest and Availability. The form can be downloaded at: https://popp.undp.org/_layouts/15/WopiFrame.aspx?sourcedoc=/UNDP_POPP_DOCUMENT_LIBRARY/Public/PSU_%20Individual%20Contract_Letter%20to%20UNDP%20Confirming%20Interest%20and%20Availability.docx&action=default&DefaultItemOpen=1. The applicant should submit a daily fee, all inclusive. The term ‘all-inclusive” implies that all costs (daily rate of professional fees, communications, utilities, consumables, insurance, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the financial proposal.

This consultancy is for local procurement only. It is open to citizens of the European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA) member states or holders of residence and unlimited work permits in EU/EEA member states. All travel, interview and relocation costs, if any, incurred to take up an assignment at the duty station in Bonn are at the expense of the applicant.

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you provide all requested documents. Any queries should be sent in a separate e-mail and addressed to: procurement@unv.org clearly referencing Consultancy for 85377_Events Assistant Consultant in the subject line.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

All applicants will be screened against the qualifications and the competencies set above. Candidates fully meeting the requirements will be further evaluated based on the criteria below.

Technical Criteria – 70 % of total evaluation– max. 70 points:

CV review: 70 points;

• Educational qualifications as defined in the ToR (10 points);
• Experience in events support (20 points);
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and experience in handling of web-based management systems (15 points);
• Experience in administration and operations (15 points);
• Knowledge of English (10 points).

Only those individual consultants who obtain at least 70% of points from the CV review will be considered for the financial proposal evaluation.

Financial Criteria – 30 % of total evaluation – max. 30 points.

• Financial scores will be calculated using the formula [lowest offer / financial offer of the candidate x 30].
• UNDP applies the “Best value for money approach” – the final selection will be based on the combination of the applicants’ qualification and financial proposal.

Payment Term:

• The payments will be processed monthly upon submission of the monthly time-sheet, the monthly report and approval of the Head of Office (or Officer-in-Charge).