DUTY STATION

Geneva, Switzerland

COMMENCEMENT OF DUTY

To be determinedNATURE OF APPOINTMENT

Project post
11 weeks

Organizational Unit

The Linguistic Services and Publishing (LSP) section
Governance Services Department

WMO is committed to achieving diversity and a balanced workforce. Applications are welcome from qualified women and men, including those with disabilities. The statutory retirement age after 1 January 2014 is 65. For external applicants, only those who are expected to complete the term of appointment will normally be considered.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Terms of reference for an external evaluation of the Linguistic Services and Publishing section

Background:

This assessment is a part of a series of reviews being conducted of various sections of the Governance Services (GS) Department, following its creation in 2020.

The Linguistic Services and Publishing (LSP) section provides translation, editing and publishing services to the Organization in its six official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. The whole Section consists of 25 staff, and there is usually one intern in every target language throughout the year.

In general, much of the translation work is outsourced to a variety of external providers of services, such as freelance translators and editors, companies or agencies that provide publishing services and similar. The in-house core team translates, edits and proofreads the materials that are not to be outsourced and prepares the layout accordingly; manages the workflow with the internal clients, i.e. other departments of the WMO Secretariat; sets guidelines for the preparation of documentation, publications, develops templates, formatting and style guidelines, manages the terminological database and e-Library of the Organization; keeps abreast of modern technologies and provides linguistic services support in the form of relevant tools and resources; and most importantly, acts as quality control mechanism.

Evaluation purpose and objectives

The purpose of the evaluation is to:

Identify actions that would enhance the LSP operational efficiency and optimize resource utilization;

Ascertain the best way to remain dynamic, forward-thinking, responsive to the ever-growing demand and leverage innovative market solutions; provide recommendations for optimizing workflows;

Identify outdated working methods and propose ways to avoid bottlenecks, delays and duplication of work;

Provide recommendations for optimal administration of contracts.

The following criteria should be the focus of the evaluation (scope of work):

Alignment of functions, staffing and services provided by LSP, including those covered by the central service platform;

Current workflows, quality control, fit-for-purpose alignment with clients’ needs, perceptions and expectations;

User-friendliness of tools used by staff and external users;

Ways to improve overall efficiency.

Approach

The following components should appear in the evaluation:

Assessment of the existing workflows from submission to publishing, and tools used for multilingual publishing (translation, editing and desktop publishing);

Investigation of the efficiency of LSP tools and platforms and Identification of areas where innovation could be improved;

Analysis of internal staffing ratios;

Evaluation of the staff profiles and training needs to enhance innovation and efficiency;

Evaluation of the assessment methods used for outsourced work and communication between external consultants and their in-house counterparts;

Comparison of best practices with other international agencies or external publishers.

Key Deliverables

The following deliverables are expected of this evaluation:

A draft inception report which interprets the TORs and describes the approach and methodology of the evaluation. The draft inception report should set out any changes proposed to the methodology or any other issues of importance in the further conduct of the evaluation. It will:

– Describe the conceptual framework that will be used to undertake the evaluation;

– Present an evaluation matrix which sets out in some detail the approach for data collection, the evaluation methodology, i.e. how evaluation questions will be answered by way of data collection methods, data sources, sampling and selection criteria, and indicators;

– Provide a detailed workplan for the evaluation, which indicates the phases in the evaluation and key deliverables;

– Set out a plan for data collection, interviews or discussions;

– Set out the list of key stakeholders to be interviewed.

An inception report finalized upon consultation with LSP and GS Management.

A draft evaluation report, including an Executive Summary of key findings, conclusions, and recommendations for each of the key areas mentioned below.

Workflow optimization plan, including responsible staff, specific action steps and timelines.

Assess the utilization of in-house staff skills sets, workload distribution, and effectiveness. Provide strategies for optimizing resources

Workflow analysis: evaluate the current publishing and documentation workflows, from content creation to the publishing stage, identifying areas for improvement. Analyze the allocation of tasks among in-house staff both in LSP and the central service platform, propose an optimized distribution of responsibilities and workflow.

What are the perceived benefits and shortcomings of the current provision of services?

Identify opportunities to streamline processes through technology and competency enhancements.

Contract administration: examine the current contract administration processes and suggest improvements to streamline them.

A final evaluation report, with background information in annexes, providing an overview of the findings in accordance with the scope of work. It should incorporate feedback from LSP and should include a list of clear and actionable actions to improve innovation within the LSP section.

A verbal briefing (virtual) when delivering the draft inception report, as well as a presentation (in person or virtual) of the draft and final reports.

The Secretary-General may appoint a candidate at a grade below the advertised grade of the post, with the possibility of promotion to that grade within three years of appointment, subject to satisfactory appraisal of performance.
Additional Information:
The candidate should send the CV and financial proposal to [email protected] of issue of vacancy notice: 17 October 2023