Creative Industries Advisor

Consultant

Overview

Advise on developing strategies for Uganda's creative industry

You have:

• Advanced university degree (Master's degree) in social sciences, arts, or sciences.
• At least 5 years of progressively responsible relevant work experience and demonstrated track record in development programmes, particularly in creative industries.
• Fluency in the English language.
• Experience working in the sub-Saharan African context.
• Experience in working with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), UN Agencies, and Governmental organizations.
• Substantive experience and record of accomplishment in the area of creative industries.

Contract

This is a National Consultant contract. More about National Consultant contracts.

Background

Culture and the creative industries, which include arts and crafts, advertising, design, entertainment, architecture, books, media, and software, among others, are a vital force in accelerating human development. If well-nurtured, the creative economy can trigger sustainable human development and socio-economic transformation and growth. The creative economy is an essential source of commercial and cultural value. Creative arts industries are vibrant sectors of the global economy. They account for 7% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), growing at an annual rate of 8.7%. The global market for traded creative goods and services totalled a record USD 547 billion in 2012 with exports from developing countries totalling about USD 272 billion. According to UNESCO, creative industries account for more than 30 million jobs globally, employing more young people aged 15-29 worldwide than any other sector. In many countries in Africa, for example, we are seeing the creative industry contribute significantly to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with Nigeria as a notable case which rebased its economy on the significant contribution of the creative industry such as ‘Nollywood’. In Nigeria, creative industries contributed approximately US $18 billion to GDP (World Bank 2020).

Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) are creating a new realm of opportunity in Africa. Available analytics point out that the sector is on the verge of becoming one of the major drivers of sustainable development and economic growth in the continent. The sector is estimated to employ about 2,4 million people albeit mostly through the informal economy and generates $ US 58 billion in revenue on the continent, which represents 1.1% of the continent´s GDP. Evidence shows that CCIs employ a much larger share of young people than other sectors. The Creative Industries provide youth -and especially women- with the chance to become entrepreneurs. Even if these figures are impressive, these statistics hardly reflect the enormous creative potential available at the continent. In the Latin America and Caribbean region, Creative and Cultural Industries (CCI) amount to 2.2% of GDP or double the GDP contribution of CCI in Africa

The potential for the industry notwithstanding, it faces numerous challenges both at a micro and macro level. It is incontestable, for instance, that Uganda has very creative youth. The challenge, however, has been turning these creative ideas into functioning and sustainable legal entities or formal businesses capable of employing Uganda’s very young population. Most creatives, for instance, tend to neglect the financial aspects of their businesses which creates challenges when it comes to applying for grants, bids or even keeping track of profit margins, which furthers inhibits the financial viability and sustainability of their businesses. Furthermore, unlike abroad where intellectual property is recognized and paid for; Ugandan creatives face a challenge of proving the feasibility of the art (as business) not only by government, but also partners and financial institutions such as banks. This is due to lack of copyrighting and trademarking sensitization among the creatives and the high costs of legal services. Lastly, there still exists a very huge gap between the creatives and a market willing to pay for what they produce at an amount to help them live off their creativity. So, challenges remain regarding what to commercialise, where to sell it, who to sell to and how to sell their content and work - basics of enterprise and entrepreneurship.

The 74th session of the UN General Assembly which, in November 2019, declared this year – 2021 - the International Year of creative economy for Sustainable Development. UNDP is well placed to support the culture and creatives industry and is already developing several initiatives in line with this.

Country Context:

Uganda has great potential in the creative industry and can be a pillar for the country’s socio-economic development. The Creative Arts industry in Uganda has existed for generations and provided avenues for jobs and revenue to the country. The Creative Arts are estimated to generate approximately UGX 3.18 trillion (approximately USD 850m) to the economy in total business income based on analytical estimates. This income was approximately 3 per cent of Uganda’s total GDP of USD 27.6 billion in 2017.

Despite the great opportunities of the sector, the traditional financing market is not equipped to respond to the specific challenges and needs of the sector. These challenges tend to discourage investment in Creative industry leaving behind very interesting investment opportunities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has only highlighted the opportunities within the sector and the need for creative thinking, innovation and problem solving for the community’s’ most pressing challenges. The digital revolution had already profoundly impacted the structure and market dynamics of all Creatives value chains even before the arrival of the COVID pandemic.

Digitization has generated unprecedented changes in the creation, production, distribution, dissemination and consumption of cultural goods and services, as well as in the remuneration of creators. It also brought new players, especially at the distribution stage (for example, Netflix, Google, Apple) that provide broader and more global access to catalogues of cultural works for consumption.

The COVID crisis revealed the uneven distribution of digitization across CCI value chains. The crisis seriously affected the most lagging sectors (artistic crafts, performing and visual arts, cultural heritage) while at the same time significantly accelerated the growth of those that were already highly digitized (music, video games, animation and multimedia), or that were quickly catch up (film, TV / radio, fashion, books).

UNDP Uganda is actively getting into this space to partner with Government and other stakeholders to grow the creative industry. The UNDP Country Programme for 2021-2025, for instance, has prioritized inclusive and sustainable growth with a major focus on the youth. The UNDP is already implementing i). the Youth for Business Facility on Innovation and Entrepreneurship; ii) SMEs4Trade with a focus on harnessing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), (iii) the PEARL Innovation Challenge in Tourism, (iv) a Rapid Project to Harness Nature and Technology to recover and build back a resilient tourism sector. (v) The UNDP has also developed a project proposal on Youth Re-Skilling and Entrepreneurship Training to tackle critical skills gaps. All these have dimensions seeking to promote and support the creative industry.

UNDP seeks to support the creative sector through a special purpose vehicle / a dedicated creatives arts facility that will provide a more structured approach to creatives, including catalytic financing, and business/technical advisory services, promoting south-to-south co-operation, amongst others. This will be anchored in our programmatic offers to Uganda, that is, the Inclusive and Sustainable Growth, the Digitalization, Innovation and Smart Cities, Nature, Climate and Energy, and the Governance and Peace Programmes over the 2021-2025 cycle with a strategic focus on the youth. The facility would support establishing strategic and inclusive platforms for engagement, structuring blended financing instruments, sharing best practices and experiences, skilling, and human resource capacity development, building an enabling regulatory environment, and tackling other challenges of creative economy.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance and direct supervision of the Resident Representative, the Creative Industries Advisor will advise Senior Management on the design of UNDP’s Offer to Uganda in the development of local creative industry. This will include advice and programmatic support on the following core elements for the creative industry:

1. Developing and establishing development strategies, funding facilities, ecosystem networks/platforms and innovation hubs
2. strengthening organizational capacity for the creatives industry
3. support for incubators and accelerators
4. support for internationalization of local products from the creative industry

The Advisor will also be required to develop and support the operationalisation of a creatives facility under the flagship youth for business innovation and entrepreneurship facility; act as a programme policy advisor in planning and monitoring of programme activities; provides support in overall coordination of the UNDP Creative Industries Programming in line with the UNDP Country Programme Document and lead resource mobilisation efforts.

Specific responsibilities will include the following:

1. Providing technical advice and support to UNDP and its government, private sector and civil society partners to establish and operationalise a creative industries strategy and programme including the following critical elements:

• A Creatives Innovation and Entrepreneurship facility to access innovative financing grants and entrepreneurship support to promote the creative and cultural arts industries;
• An Integrated business services platform to support creatives access guidance and professional advice to help them with services to not only legalize their businesses but also promote them. The services would include, but not limited to: - Business planning and proposal writing. - Legal services where linkages with special-purpose law firms are established to support creatives with registration, copyrighting, trademarking, and contracts. - Branding and marketing (going beyond the local market to orienting Ugandans for regional and global markets including support for creatives on better marketing to penetrate regional and global markets. - Accounting and Taxation where special linkages with financial bureaus are established to support on accounting and taxation setup for the creatives;
• A connection to government projects by promoting the mainstreaming and integration of the creatives industry with various government programmes/projects;
• South-to-South co-operation with strong linkages through missions and exchanges with countries to benchmark on how countries in the region are supporting the culture and the creatives industry;
• A national strategy to promote the creative and cultural industries; 2. Maintaining regular communication with stakeholders and build networks:
• Maintain good cooperation and coordination between national counterparts, project partners and other relevant stakeholders;
• Assist Uganda to build new networks to promote the creative industry;

• Actively participate in and coordinate meetings, training sessions, conferences and public promotion of creative industry initiatives and projects.

  3. Knowledge management:

• Identify, collect and analyze policy-related, relevant information and data;

• Codify and provide best practices and lessons learnt, particularly linked to the areas of capacity development and national (economic, social and human) development;
• Support activities related to assessing capacities and needs of government organizations and partners, in close collaboration with national counterparts at both central and local level;
• Facilitate team’s learning and knowledge sharing;

The Creative Industries Advisor is expected to maintain a network with colleagues from UNDP, UN Agencies, Government officials, multi-lateral and bi-lateral donors and civil society.

Deliverables:

1. Inception Report and Detailed Work Plan: This will be prepared, indicating priority activities, expected results, indicators and timeframe for the specific roles listed above. (within first two weeks of assignment)
2. Cumulative Monthly Report: The work plan will be reviewed monthly and adjusted as necessary in consultation with the Deputy Resident Representative and Resident Representative (Monthly reports on agreed workplan submitted and discussed with SMT); (Monthly);
3. Final report outlining the main results of the consultant showing lessons learnt and making recommendations on sustainability mechanisms (Cumulative report, End of Sixth Month of assignment)

Competencies

• Solid analytical skills with proven experience of producing analytic reports and knowledge products;

• Knowledge of methodologies and best practices for promoting creative industries in general and in the Sub Saharan region in particular;

• Knowledge of the global Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 is a strong asset;
• Knowledge of UNDP Country-level programme management is an asset;
• Ability to lead strategic planning, programme development and implementation, results-based management and reporting;
• Ability to develop and maintain strong partnerships and mobilize resources;
• Compelling communication (verbal and written) skills, including the ability to prepare reports, formulate and defend sound recommendations and articulate options concisely conveying the maximum necessary information.
• Excellent interpersonal skills; capacity to recognize and respond appropriately to the ideas, interests and concerns of others.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree) in social sciences, arts, or sciences.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible relevant work experience and demonstrated track record that combines intellectual, strategic and managerial leadership in development programmes, the majority of which should include having undertaken and led substantive programming work in the creative industries;
• Experience working in the sub-Saharan African context;
• Experience in working with CSOs, UN Agencies, and Governmental organizations;
• Substantive experience and record of accomplishment in the area of creative industries;
• Proven experience of policy-level work and programming;
• Solid analytical skills with proven experience of producing analytic reports and knowledge products;
• Experience in building and maintaining relationships with government institutions and other partners;
• Strong public speaking skills and representational experience;
• Experience at the international level, preferably in developing countries within the UN system an asset;
• Substantive experience and record of accomplishment in the area of creative industries;
• Proven experience of policy level work and programming;

Language:

Fluency in the English language

Evaluation Criteria

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology: Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for the financial evaluation.

Criteria Weight Technical: 70% (70 points)

• Criteria 1: Education (10 points)
• Criteria 2: At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience at the national or international level, in creative industries and development (30 points)
• Criteria 3: Professional background and experience in creative industries is an asset. (20 points)
• Criteria 4: Languages (10 points)

Financial: Lowest Financial Proposal: 30% (30 points)

The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula:

The contract will be awarded to the technically qualified consultant who obtains the highest combined score (financial and technical);

The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula: (Lowest Bid Offered*)/ (Bid of the Consultant) x 30; 'Lowest Bid Offered' refers to the lowest price offered by Offerors scoring at least 49 points in the technical evaluation.

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Potential interview questions

Added 5 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: jobs.undp.org