Cultural Heritage Consultant

Background

The Agreement of 21 March 2008 reached between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots under the auspices of the United Nations (UN), paved the way for the establishment of the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage (TCCH), dedicated to the identification, promotion and protection of the rich and diverse cultural heritage of Cyprus. The TCCH is composed of an equal number of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot experts. The TCCH works to provide a mutually acceptable mechanism for the implementation of practical measures for the proper preservation, physical protection and restoration (including research, study and survey) of the immovable cultural heritage of Cyprus. The TCCH is operating under the UN auspices and its work is an important tool for building confidence between the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots.

The TCCH is supported in its work by an Advisory Board (AB), which was established in 2009 and is composed of archaeologists, architects, art historians and town planners from both communities.

This position is funded by the main donor for the TCCH projects which is the European Union (EU).

Duties and Responsibilities

The Agreement of 21 March 2008 reached between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots under the auspices of the United Nations (UN), paved the way for the establishment of the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage (TCCH), dedicated to the identification, promotion and protection of the rich and diverse cultural heritage of Cyprus. The TCCH is composed of an equal number of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot experts. The TCCH works to provide a mutually acceptable mechanism for the implementation of practical measures for the proper preservation, physical protection and restoration (including research, study and survey) of the immovable cultural heritage of Cyprus. The TCCH is operating under the UN auspices and its work is an important tool for building confidence between the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots.

The TCCH is supported in its work by an Advisory Board (AB), which was established in 2009 and is composed of archaeologists, architects, art historians and town planners from both communities.

This position is funded by the main donor for the TCCH projects which is the European Union (EU).

The Cultural Heritage Consultant will be working under the guidance of UNDP, under the overall supervision of the UNDP Senior Programme Manager and the direct supervision of the UNDP Project Manager. The Cultural Heritage Consultant’s main duties can be organized under three distinct categories:

1. Preliminary Assessments of cultural heritage sites:

• Carrying out site visits to the identified sites
• Conducting preliminary assessments for cultural heritage sites which include:
  • Visually inspecting the sites
  • Identifying basic cadastral information and other related for the sites
  • Photographic documentation of the current state of the sites
  • Undertaking desk review of the brief history of the sites and identifying historical documentation whenever possible
  • Assessing the state of the building, describing and documenting the pathology and proposing priority conservation measures (with estimated budget)
• Collating the assessment into a report format to be submitted to UNDP
• Making presentations to the UNDP and TCCH and stakeholders
• Obtaining, archiving and sharing feedbacks if needed from the presentations and collating these feedbacks for the archive
• Updating the preliminary assessments accordingly
• Finalising each preliminary assessment report and submitting for approval

2. Conservation Designs Review:

• Monitoring the designs that are undertaken by contracted designers for selected cultural heritage sites. This includes monitoring the timelines of the submissions of outputs for each design. Information regarding the requirements of each output and the overall process of the designs will be shared with the assigned Cultural Heritage Consultant.
• Reviewing each submitted output and making recommendations to UNDP. The Cultural Heritage Consultant will review each submitted output and will ensure that the designers’ recommendations are well described, efficiently and scientifically supported, objectively corroborated, that the conservation principles are followed, and references of up-to-date standards/norms are included, etc.
• Organising presentations in consultation with the UNDP – TCCH focal person for the Advisory Board of the TCCH
• Obtaining collated inputs from the AB for each submitted output and recording these and communicating to the designers.
• The Cultural Heritage Consultant has the responsibility to ensure that all outputs are finalized by the designers according to the feedback provided to the designers by the TCCH, AB and UNDP during all the previous stages. 
• In addition, the consultant is responsible to comment on the quality of the conservation studies (designs) and the compatibility with the available budget and to check the overall consistency between all submitted documents.
• At the end of each design of a site to collate a brief report to UNDP.

3. Other tasks:

• UNDP may assign other ad-hoc tasks relevant to the expertise and experience of the Cultural Heritage Consultant.

The Cultural Heritage Consultant will be working at the UNDP Office most of the time and will follow the core hours of the Office. Use of the office technical equipment will be possible, however, the consultant shall ensure her/his own technical equipment in any case.

Deliverables

Outputs pertaining to the tasks under each assignment are defined and will be submitted at the times of completion to UNDP for records.  Deliverables can be listed as follows:

Preliminary Assessments:

• Preliminary assessment reports to be submitted to UNDP and the TCCH
• Presentations to the TCCH and UNDP
• Finalised and approved preliminary assessment reports (taking into account presentation comments)

Conservation Designs Review:

• Review of each output and report with recommendations to UNDP
• Certification that outputs of designers have met the requirements
• At the end of each design of a site a brief report to be submitted to UNDP

Other tasks:

• Deliverables related to ad-hoc tasks of related nature

Competencies

Other than the specific and technical competencies required in order to perform the duties described above, the following personal and general competencies will be needed:

• Overall Professionalism, Integrity, Enthusiasm & Commitment;
• Good problem-solving skills; ability to apply good judgment in the context of assignments given;
• Ability to plan own work and meet tight deadlines;
• Attention to details;
• Able to work efficiently with minimal direction;
• Self-disciplined with strong work ethic;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive attitude;
• Remains calm, in control and good humoured even under pressure;
• Demonstrates integrity by behaving according to the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Maintains effective partnerships and working relations with sensitivity and respect for diversity;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Partner in a team effectively and work as team;
• Good problem-solving skills; ability to apply good judgment in the context of assignments given; ability to plan own work and meet tight deadlines; attention to detail;
• Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Architecture Degree from an accredited University or any other relevant discipline from an accredited University
• Postgraduate degree/diploma in heritage related subject is considered an asset

Experience:

• 8 years of professional experience after graduation
• Proven relevant experience of 3 years in the designs of conservation projects
• At least 2 designs of monuments and/or listed buildings
• Previous project experience in supervisory/ management role in projects related to monuments and/or listed buildings is considered a strong asset
• Previous experience with UN or any other International Organisation is considered an asset

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in spoken and written English and Greek and/or Turkish

Other Requirements:

• Valid registration with the relevant professional association/chamber
• Valid driving license

ApplicationInterested individuals must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• CV  
• References: Contact details of 3 references.

• Financial Proposal: Applicants are requested to submit a daily fee for up to 120 working days.  A working day will be calculated as 8 hours including a half an hour break and could be pro-rated to the hours worked.
• The daily fee shall be an all-inclusive fee containing health insurance, vaccination, local travel (place of residence to office and office to place of residence and to the relevant sites) and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services. Leave benefits (annual, sick, paternity, maternity) are not applicable to Individual Contractor and absent days including weekends and office holidays are not payable.
• Authorised travel to and from the assigned project sites will be reimbursed according to the UN rate of reimbursement of fuel consumption in case the consultant uses her/his own vehicle to carry out the assignments given.

Evaluation / Selection Process:

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

Technical Criteria (CV review, written test and interview) – 70 % of total evaluation– max. 70 points:

CV review: 20 points

• Educational qualifications as defined in the ToR (10 points)
• Experience as defined in the ToR (10 points)

Only candidates who obtained at least 14 points from the CV  review will be eligible to be invited for a written test and interview.

Written test: 20 points

The test will focus on subjects related to this term of reference. Written test duration will be maximum one and half hour.

Interview: 30 points

• Relevant professional experience in heritage projects (20 points)
• Knowledge of the Cypriot cultural heritage (5 points)
• Communications and interpersonal skills (5 points)

Only those individual consultants who obtained at least 70% of points from the written test and interview (35 out of 50) 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:

Monthly payment is based on  the submission of; the monthly progress report of the deliverables, monthly certification of payment form and time-sheet, upon the certification of UNDP