International Consultant to Develop the Accreditation Process for Journalists

Contract

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

Background

Media plays a vital role in shaping a healthy democracy. The conduct of media is even more crucial in a geographically dispersed country such as Maldives where the reliance on internet and mass media as the main source of information and news to the public is significantly high. Particularly in times of key events and incidents, media plays a considerable role in shaping the views of the community thus highlighting on the great need for balanced, objective and sensitive reporting in the country.

The Maldives Media Council (MMC) was formed in 2008 under the Maldives Media Council Act to preserve, promote and maintain the freedom of press, within the legal framework of the Country and to encourage the growth of a sense of responsibility, public service, ethics and a high standard of professionalism among all those engaged in the profession of Journalism.

The Council is an independent legal entity with a separate seal, possessing power to file lawsuits, be sued against and undertake its functions by its own capacity. The Council has the right to receive, inquire and investigate complaints from a person or persons or representatives of a person regarding any publications of the media which has or may likely infringe a personal right or freedom.

In this regard, the Maldives Media Council (MMC) and UNDP aims to increase the accountability of the media sector and establish a high standard of ethics and integrity in the profession through the formulation of accreditation frameworks for media personnel and agencies as well as by guiding the development of agency specific code of ethics for all media agencies. As such, MMC and UNDP are seeking the services of a highly enthusiastic candidate with media experience and technical knowledge to support the development of these accreditation frameworks and guiding documents.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance of Maldives Media Council (MMC) and UNDP, the consultant will lead the process of the above-mentioned objective and will undertake the following tasks.

• Conduct a literature review of relevant data, including reviewing of current Code of Ethics, documents of key stakeholders and global practices and guidelines and submit an initial draft of the inception report with a work plan/framework and timeline of the tasks.
• Conduct consultations with members of Media Council and secretariat staff and other key stakeholders such as media agencies and other relevant agencies and civil society organizations including one stakeholder workshop. These consultations would focus on the review and updating of the existing Code of Ethics and the development of a guiding document that would help media agencies to formulate their own agency specific code of ethics. It will also focus on the formulation of an accreditation framework for accrediting media personnel and media agencies. Submit final inception report with findings of the stakeholder consultations and recommendations on a way forward.
• Based on the review and findings from the stakeholder consultation meetings and workshop;
• Update the existing Code of Ethics.
• Develop a handbook with guidelines for media agencies on developing their own agency specific code of ethics based on the overall Code of Ethics by MMC.
• Develop the Accreditation Framework for accrediting media personnel
• Develop the Accreditation Framework for accrediting media agencies

• Develop a handbook with guidelines on how to implement the abovementioned accreditation frameworks (for both media personnel and media agencies).

• Submit the draft documents for feedback from the MMC and UNDP and incorporate comments.

• Conduct a validation workshop with stakeholders for all the documents and frameworks developed (including the updated Code of Ethics document).

• Revise the documents based on the feedback from the stakeholders and submit the final versions to MMC and UNDP.

• Conduct capacity building trainings for MMC members, secretariat and for media agencies in the areas of:

  • Trainings on ‘leadership’ and media focused ‘developmental critical thinking’ for members of MMC
  • Trainings on ‘monitoring online media’, ‘investigative skills’ and ‘media agency culture and administrative skills’ for secretariat of MMC
  • Trainings on ‘analytical/investigative skills’, ‘work time management skills’ and ‘critical writing and information collection skills’ for media agencies

• Submit a final report including findings and recommendations of the assignment.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

The consultant will work closely with MMC and UNDP and revise all the draft reports and documents based on their comments. Once all the documents are completed MMC and UNDP will endorse the final report and other necessary documents. The consultant shall then be responsible for following deliverables;

• First draft of inception report
• Stakeholder consultation meetings and one stakeholder workshop
• Final inception report
• Submission of updated Code of Ethics
• Submission of draft handbook with guidelines on developing individual media agency specific code of ethics based on the overall Code of Ethics
• Submission of draft Accreditation Framework for accrediting media personnel
• Submission of draft Accreditation Framework for accrediting media agencies
• Submission of draft handbook with guidelines on how to implement both accreditation frameworks
• Validation workshop
• Final version of all the documents
• Trainings for MMC members, secretariat, and media agencies
• Final report

The following table shows an indication of the duration for the deliverable;

Deliverables/ Outputs

Estimated Duration to Complete

Payment Schedule

First draft of inception report

Stakeholder consultation meetings and one stakeholder workshop

Final inception report

6 days

14 days

4 days

20% upon completion of deliverable

Submission of updated Code of Ethics

Submission of draft handbook with guidelines on developing individual media agency specific code of ethics based on the overall Code of Ethics

Submission of draft Accreditation Framework for accrediting media personnel

Submission of draft Accreditation Framework for accrediting media agencies

Submission of draft handbook with guidelines on how to implement both accreditation frameworks

25 days

30% upon completion of deliverable

Validation workshop

Final version of the documents

3 days

10 days

25% upon completion of deliverable

Trainings for MMC members, secretariat, and media agencies

Final report

20 days

5 days

25% upon completion of deliverable

Institutional arrangement:

The consultant will work under the guidance of MMC and UNDP and will be accountable to the assigned Programme Officer of Governance Unit of UNDP for each deliverable as stipulated. Meetings will be held with identified Committee of or individual Member/Secretariat Staff of Maldives Media Council and UNDP Senior Management as needed.

Duration: 87 days between September 2020 – January 2021

Duty Station: Majority of the work will be done remotely, however if the opportunity presents itself the consultant is to be based in Male’, Maldives. Working station - Secretariat of Maldives Media Council.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards and acts in accordance with the Standards of Conduct for international civil servants;
• Advocates and promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

Functional Competencies

• Knowledge about the UNDP programmes would be an advantage;
• Proven strong analytical abilities;
• Ability to work under pressure with several tasks and various deadlines;
• Ability to actively generate creative, practical approaches and solutions to overcome challenging situations;
• Excellent writing, presentation/public speaking skills;
• A pro-active approach to problem-solving;
• General IT Literacy

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• A minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree in either Journalism or Media or Public Relations (Media) or Mass Communication (Media) or related field.

Experience

• A minimum of 20 years of professional experience in Media/Journalism sector as a Journalist, Public Relation of a major Media Agency or other relevant position.
• Experience in drafting similar guidelines or handbooks and frameworks.
• Experience in conducting similar, relevant trainings
• Experience in the region or similar context is an added asset.

Language requirement

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required

Application process

Interested individuals must submit the following as proposals in order to demonstrate their qualifications.?

• A letter indicating why the candidate considers himself/herself suitable for the required consultancy;
• Submission of an updated detailed Personal CV or P11 form which can be downloaded from?http://sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc
• Lump sum financial quotation, with a breakdown of daily consultancy fee, daily subsistence allowance and ticket fees as applicable – clearly indicate the breakdown of daily fee and number of days of work;?
• Previous similar works undertaken by the consultant
• At least two references from recent previous jobs or three references contact details

**Note:*****Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into one single file***