The International Knowledge Network of Women in Politics (iKNOW Politics www.iknowpolitics.org) is a joint Project between UNDP, UNWOMEN, International IDEA, IPU and NDI. The International Knowledge Network of Women in Politics, iKNOW Politics, is designed to increase the number and effectiveness of women in political life by utilizing a technology enabled forum to provide access to resources, expertise, dialogue, and knowledge creation on women’s political participation.
Despite some encouraging data and statistics on women’s participation in politics, women still lack access to political leadership opportunities and resources at local, national and regional levels. In order to provide a mechanism to share best practices on women’s political participation and leadership, UNDP, UNWOMEN, NDI, IPU, and International IDEA established a global knowledge network for women in politics (iKNOW Politics). iKNOW Politics brings together women involved in politics around the world in order to gain access to valuable resources and advisory services, share interests and experiences, participate in training and development, network and collaborate on issues of interest. Network members have access to a cadre of experts and practitioners that can advise candidates and elected officials on how to develop and implement successful campaign and lobbying strategies with the goal of getting more women involved in politics. The network also facilitates direct contact between women leaders to share relevant experiences, challenges and successes with one another. Additionally, the network provides an opportunity to the users to stay abreast of global events and news related to women’s political participation globally and regionally.
Since its launch in 2007, iKNOW Politics- available in French, Spanish, English ane Arabic- has received more than 746,430 visitors. More than 8000 of users have signed up to become iKNOW Politics members. iKNOW Politics is looking for a (home based) consultant to further develop the portal to respond to the needs of the women in politics, and to ensure the continued relevance of the portal by introducing state-of-the art social media strategies.
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Summary of Key Functions:
- Ensure follow-up maintenance both on graphic features and on operatively of core features;
- Ensure immediate day-by-day availability to support iKNOW Politics management team in case of need;
- Ensure interconnectivity of the Portal;
- Connect with social networks on all levels of the platform;
- Redesign and implementation of social media and its interactive functions into the design of the IKNOW Politics Portal;
- Follow the instructions of the iKNOW Politics management team in the day-to-day development of the Portal.
Tasks:
Site hosting, mail hosting and administration
- Reliable hosting environment;
- Backups – data backups weekly, code backups as needed;
- Security – manage all aspects of website security to protect confidential member information, and prevent hacks, defacing, DOS, etc;
- Site statistics – Google Analytics and/or industry standard
- Guaranteed site performance (page load times specified in SLA);
- High volume email service for automated site communication (separate server requested)
- Maintain integrity of the site through automated and reliable spam control measures;
- iknowpolitics.org domain email account management for small group of staff with advanced spam control;
- All iKNOW Politics service must be hosted on non-shared environment.
Regular technical site and code maintenance
- Maintain a development or staging environment separate from live environment;
- Security patches;
- Software patches, upgrades
- Bug fixes;
- Translation issues;
- Site development of significant additional new features and design work;
- Regular introduction of new site features (see Site Development Plan section below);
- Support of regular program initiatives (E-Discussions, special events, custom blocks, audio/visual integration, cutting edge technology integration);
- Design of graphics, logos for site and specific site initiatives (blocks, special events)
- Graphic design for version 2.0 of the site
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
- Site availability 24x7x365 with 99% uptime guarantee;
- SLA to include addressing site down, critical issues and general issues (bugs) deemed not critical;
- Email listserv services that support the iKNOW Politics network;
- Mailman listserv services and/or upgrade to other listserv providers;
- Database support – custom new user export for listserv import
Email listserv services that support the iKNOW Politics activities such as E-Discussion Forums, Online courses and experts network.
- Electronic newsletter support;
- Creating and maintaining user/member database;
- Email server management and maintenance
Site Development Plan
The following are a list of general new site features that would be planned and developed in consultation with the technology partner under the terms of the agreement. There are not listed in priority order. Additions or changes are likely over the period of the agreement so flexible development schedules and processes are required.
- Enhancing dis-aggregated member data collection and analysis on the network;
- Improvements to navigation and functionality of the network;
- Enhanced user registration process and user identity authentication requirements for logging into the website;
- A password-protected discussion space for iKNOW Politics experts/ experts network portal, including web 2.0 features such as a wiki;
- An improved social networking space, including advanced search functionality for users (ie: by area of interest, professional affiliation, language, mentoring needs, volunteer opportunities, party affiliation, region, etc.);
- Consistent and accurate translation of all strings and pages on the site in all languages and improved toggling between the languages, even of the interactive pages such as E-Discussions, Discussion Circles and election talk;
- A search engine that can sort all products, news items, static content across the site by keywords, publishers, date of publications, authors and languages;
- More interactive features – quizzes, competitions, invite a friend, etc.;
- Evaluation and feedback options for users about the site – user surveys
- Better usage statistics, including more detailed regional breakdowns and data on iKNOW Politics members;
- Enhanced functionality on the site allowing mass subscribing, unsubscribing and participation of iKNOW Politics members in specific online activities i.e. E-Discussion Forums and Online trainings. This functionality should ensure that the site functions properly during the time when such special activities are held, even if there is an unusually high traffic on the site;
- Integrating cutting edge/new tools in the industry to suit iKNOW Politics’ needs;
- Online, password-protected contact management database;
- E-mail listserv functionality integrated into the website for discussions and e-discussions;
- Flexible email alerts/notification frequency functionality, which allows users to choose between immediate, daily, and digest options for receiving updates from iKNOW Politics;
- Create a youth portal/page through which young people can access the site and network;
- Enhancements to the site look and feel on an ongoing basis;
- The site version adjustable for mobile phones and any other portable devices
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Core Compentencies:
- Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
Functional Competencies:
- Extensive experience with Drupal;
- Experience with databases management;
- Sound knowledge of JavaScript, Flash, HTML, ActionScript, CSS, XML and other relevant internet development software
- Attention to detail;
- Ability to work in a team and to communicate in a clear fashion;
- Experience in software testing ;
- Experience in graphical design, Photoshop, Illustrator and video production
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