Local Consultant for the Management of Stakeholders and Development of the Content of Western Balkans Digital Summit (WBDS) 2021

Background

The WB Digital Summit is part of the Multi-Annual Action Plan on a Regional Economic Area (MAP REA), an agenda endorsed by the region’s leaders in Trieste 2017. The first ever Western Balkans Digital Summit was held in Skopje in April 2018. The Summit builds on the experience of the high-level regional dialogue on digital transformation, in the framework of the Berlin Process. The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), together with the EU, governments from the region, and partners is currently working on the preparation of WB Digital Summit 2021.

After Skopje, Belgrade and Tirana, 4th Western Balkans Digitals Summit will take place in the second part of 2021 in Montenegro under the auspices of the Prime Minister of Montenegro. The Ministry of Public Administration, Digital Society, and Media will be leading the process of organizing the 4th WB6 Digital Summit in collaboration with all other institutions related to digital agenda implementation in Montenegro.

The Government of Montenegro highlighted digitalisation as one of the strategic priorities, especially considering the consequences that the COVID-19 crisis leaves behind. For this reason, Digital Summit is an opportunity for Montenegro to show the region clear intentions and goals of economic recovery, but also to present achievements, examples of good practice and plans. Regional cooperation is extremely important for the EU accession process, and therefore the organization of the Digital Summit is important for the exchange of experiences, establishing cooperation and creating new regional initiatives, taking into account very similar priorities and capacities of the Western Balkans countries.

As the organization process is extremely complex and responsible, and UNDP is recognized as one of the key partners of the Ministry of Public Administration, Digital Society and Media in the digital transformation process, the ‘Digital Governance Acceleration’ project will support the organization of the event. The project aims to improve the legal and institutional framework for digital governance, strengthen the collaboration of the private sector and public administration in the development of e-services for citizens and businesses and strengthen the public administration in terms of human capacities and infrastructure. These are all topics that the Digital Summit will cover and it is an opportunity for UNDP to be even better positioned in the field of digitalization and to identify practices from the region that would contribute to the improvement of the digital transformation in Montenegro.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the assignment:

The objective of the assignment is to support organization of Western Balkans Digital Summit (WBDS) 2021. Local consultant will be responsible to coordinate overall conference organization, especially management of stakeholders and development of conference content, together with Operational team of the Ministry of Public Administration, Digital Society and Media, Local Consultant for coordination of technical and logistical aspects of the organization and regional partners. The management of stakeholders and development of conference content should enable the efficient fulfillment of all tasks for the needs of organization of the conference, so that the event meets all the standards and requirements of the regional partners and the RCC.

Job content:

Under direct supervision of UNDP Project Manager and Host of the WB Digital Summit 2021, and according to the procedures and guidelines established by the WB Digital Summit 2021 Steering Committee, the consultant will perform the following tasks:

• Develop an Action Plan for conference preparation
• Revise the proposed Agenda format and content – on-site/virtual event
• Propose the content of the event, including panels, lightening talks, inspiring cases, and virtual boots following the Agenda
• Design the concept and content of side events
• Identify important topics from the political point of view on regional level and assist in identifying topics strategically important for Montenegro 
• Propose the format and content of G2B and B2B sessions following the Agenda
• Provide a detailed scenario for the WB Digital Summit 2021
• Develop the goals and content of each of 4 main pillars of the Agenda
• Set the framework in which economies should prepare inputs
• Coordinate overall process so that the strategic interests are digital transformation topics of all economies are equally presented
• Coordinate collection of inputs on regional level, prioritize the collected inputs and organizing collected inputs according to the Agenda format
• Keep track of collected inputs and preparing explanation to the economies: of the rationale according to which topics are included/not included in the Agenda and of the rationale on which the topics are designated into certain section of the Agenda
• Exchange with the WB economies the “work in progress” Agenda until consensus is reached
• Support the economies to provide inputs in adequate format for each of sections
• Mediate the process of assignment of the speakers to the themes
• Ensure the communication regarding selection/non selection of speakers is shared with all relevant parties
• Coordinate with the economies - invitations to the speakers/panellists/moderators and confirmations of their participation
• Ensure equality among economies in selection of panels and other sections moderators
• Develop guideline for speakers, G2B and B2B platform guidelines
• Ensure speaker support in developing presentations and assuring adherence to goals and standards set for the program i.e. for all platforms of the WB DS 2021
• Support to economies in production of other materials relevant for lightening talks, inspirational cases, virtual boots and assuring adherence to goals and standards set for the program i.e. for all pillars of the WB DS 2021
• Guide the collection of all presentations and other content materials according to event Agenda (with support from the Operating coordinator)
• Guide and steer the planning and organization of all panels including high official (prime-ministerial/ministerial) panel
• Assist in development of the budget of the event
• Prepare and take part in Steering committee meetings
• Cooperate with regional partners and governments
• Prepare and take part in series of discussions on the level of Consultative committee within the Government of Montenegro and consultations with other stakeholders
• Perform other relevant tasks related to the management of stakeholders and development of the content upon request of the UNDP Project Manager and Host of the WB Digital Summit 2021
• Work as a member of Operational team designated by Ministry - managing together with the Operational team the smooth operation of the all segments of the conference, live and on-line
• Coordinate collection and consolidate the inputs from different parties into the final conference report (in the context of the key conference sessions and themes) - the report should focus on key analysis, lessons learned and recommendations rather than a summary of events
• Prepare Final report on all activities undertaken under this assignment provided, highlighting main results achieved to the UNDP Project Manager.

Deliverables:

It is expected from the consultant to coordinate and implement above mentioned tasks, in order to deliver:

• Conference preparation Action Plan
• Defined concept and content of the event and side-events with all components following Agenda
• Defined detailed scenario for the WB Digital Summit 2021 with guidelines for all participants
• Defined framework in which economies should prepare inputs
• Ensured inputs on regional level, prioritized and organized following the Agenda and the principle of equality
• Defined list and invitations to the speakers/panellists/moderators and confirmations of their participation
• Ensured presentations and other materials for the event and side-events adherence to goals and standards set for the program
• Monitoring reports following tasks form the job content
• Final conference report
• Final report on all activities undertaken under this assignment provided, highlighting main results achieved to the UNDP Project Manager.

It is expected from the consultant to coordinate and deliver above mentioned tasks, in order to support organization of Western Balkans Digital Summit (WBDS) 2021.

Timing and reporting:

The consultant will work under direct supervision of the UNDP Project Manager and Host of the WB Digital Summit 2021, and according to the procedures and guidelines established by the WB Digital Summit 2021 Steering Committee. The consultant will be responsible to prepare the monitoring reports following tasks form the job content to the Host of the WB Digital Summit 2021 and final report to the UNDP Project Manager, and it should contain sufficient detail and information that would allow for the appraisal of the effectiveness to date of the assignment’s activities.   

Time duration and travel:

The local consultant will be engaged in the period June 24, 2021 – November 30, 2021. The consultant will work online and as needed in Podgorica, in close cooperation with the Host of the WB Digital Summit and Operational team. The travel costs and Daily Living Subsistence Allowance costs should be included in the lump sum figure.

Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UN/UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting;
• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Excellent communication skills, facility in working with teams and capacity to compose clear and readable narrative reports;
• Demonstrates ability to manage complexities and work under pressure, as well as conflict resolution skills;
• Excellent organizational and time management skills;
• Knowledge Management and Learning;
• Shares knowledge and experience;
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills;
• Ability to perform a variety of standard tasks related to Results Management, including collecting of documentation, data entering, preparation of revisions, filling, provision of information;
• Ability to provide input to business processes re-engineering, implementation of new systems;
• Excellent inter-personal and communication skills;
• Ability to work independently and in a team.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• University degree in Social Science – Economics, MA and PhD degree will be considered as an asset

Experience:

• Minimum seven years of working experience in the relevant field
• Experience in organizing conferences in Montenegro and region of size 500+ participants, with at least 5 annual editions, focusing on digitalization
• Experience in organizing of on-line conferences
• Extensive knowledge regarding trends in digital transformation topics related to all sectors: Government, business, NGO, Academia
• Understanding of public administration protocols especially for high level government conferences will be considered an advantage

Language:

• Fluency in Montenegrin language;
• Excellent command of spoken and written English language.

Criteria for selection:

Combined Scoring method will be used. When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: (i) responsive, compliant, acceptable, and (ii) 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% (Background and education 10%; Relevant previous experience 20%; Substantial knowledge/Required competencies 30%; Required language 10%);
• Financial criteria weight - 30%.

Only offerors obtaining a minimum 490 points for technical criteria will be considered for the financial evaluation. For more information on procurement methodology for Individual Contractors, please refer to Procurement Notice.

Application procedure:

Interested applicants are requested to submit their applications by June 16, 2021 by using the Apply now button. The application should contain CV or P11 that can be downloaded at https://www.me.undp.org/content/montenegro/en/home/jobs.html. Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file.

Only the short-listed applicants will be contacted and requested to submit a letter of interest including a price quotation indicating the lump sum (in EUR) requested for the work envisaged in the section "Description of Responsibilities".