Objective and Purpose of the Assignment

1. The Department of External Relations (DER) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) serves as the Secretariat for the ADB Annual Report (AR). The Secretariat is the channel of communication between the Board Working Group (BWG) (a committee consisting of members of the ADB Board of Directors), ADB Management, the Office of the Secretary (OSEC), and numerous ADB staff. The Secretariat also facilitates communication between the BWG and the Board of Directors (BOD), if so requested by the Chair of the BWG.

2. An Annual Report Project Manager (the Consultant) is needed to facilitate the overall production of the AR, from administrative matters to design development and editorial. The AR consists of two Volumes: the first is the narrative of activities during the year, and the second consists of financial statements and other statutory information. The Consultant will be responsible for managing submissions from and maintaining communications with various ADB departments and staff, overseeing the editorial process, ensuring accuracy and on-time delivery of materials, and drafting and preparing all necessary documentation.

Scope of Work

• The Consultant will work with the Secretariat over a 10-month period, beginning in August and concluding in May, at the time of the ADB Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors. The Consultant will employ project management methods and tools to closely manage, track, and ensure consistency and version control of submissions from departments/staff for up to seven (7) drafts of Volume 1, and numerous rounds of review of Volume 2. The Consultant will manage the multi-layered editorial process involved in each draft, determining editor, typesetter, proofreader, and printer schedules, and ensuring on-time delivery of every draft. The Consultant will also maintain communications with all parties involved, facilitate the confirmation of facts, figures, etc. with responsible departments, maintain comprehensive and up-to-date documentation, draft and finalize memos, emails, meeting minutes, guidelines documents, issues papers, terms of reference, talking points, etc.

• The Consultant will work with a mix of ADB staff, other ADB consultants, and external service providers in the production of the AR. These will include up to 80 AR liaisons (representatives from ADB departments assigned to work on the AR), BWG members, and a team of editors, copyeditors, proofreaders, layout artists and typesetters. The Consultant will report to the AR Managing Editor.

Detailed Tasks and/or Expected Output

Specific tasks of the Consultant include, but may not be limited to, the following:

(i) Manage the consolidation of submissions, comments, input, etc. from various ADB staff into the AR. Keep detailed records/documentation of submissions from and correspondence with ADB staff. Remind AR liaisons regarding upcoming deadlines and information they are required to submit.

(ii) Track progress against evolving production schedule and milestones, and ensure completion of deliverables to deadline.

(iii) Support the design strategy. Collect and maintain a database of images and photos, with captions and credits, for potential use in the AR. Obtain permission for use of images and photos as necessary. Ensure development, finalization and approval of design templates for both Volumes 1 and 2.

(iv) Manage the multi-layered editorial process involved in each draft. Determine and communicate schedules for editor, typesetter, proofreader, printer and other resources. Ensure accuracy and version control of content between AR liaisons, editors, typesetters and proofreaders. Ensure that edits and revisions to content are done in accordance with advice from, and are approved by, the BWG, AR liaisons, and heads of departments/offices.

(v) Working with the lead editor, ensure the delivery of Secretariat-generated content including opening chapter blurbs, photo captions, featured items in the margins, the Message from the President, and the news release to be published along with the final report. Obtain approvals from concerned departments/staff.

(vi) Ensure delivery of drafts (email and hardcopy) by stage to heads of departments/offices, AR liaisons, BWG, OSEC, BOD, etc. Ensure design files and PDFs are delivered to printers, ADB Board Document System, etc. for execution. Ensure placement of final report for Board of Governors and general public review on adb.org and other appropriate online channels.

(vii) Compose memos from the PD DER/DER Front Office or BWG to accompany drafts, the final report, and other related documents.

(viii) Draft emails to heads of departments/offices, BWG, Board of Directors, etc. pertaining to AR production, drafts and various issues.

(ix) Prepare meeting materials for BWG meetings including the agenda, talking points and background materials for the Secretariat. Attend BWG meetings, take and draft minutes. Prepare minutes for circulation to BWG and BOD.

(x) Prepare various documents for the Board meeting to discuss the AR including talking points and remarks for PD DER, statement of the BWG Chair, opening and closing remarks for the President.

(xi) Draft AR post-mortem documentation including lessons learned, recommendations, issues papers, terms of reference, etc. Update AR production guidelines document at the end of the process.

Minimum Qualification Requirements

• University degree in Communications, Business Administration, Economics, Law or a development field. Master’s degree in Communications, Business Administration, Economics, Law or a development field, or project management training/certification, is a plus. • At least 7 years of relevant experience in corporate communications, publishing, and/or project management. • Experience in production and publication of corporate reports, management of editorial and typesetting teams, corporate writing and editing. • Knowledge of the range of stakeholders and target audiences of ADB or similar organizations. • Excellent writing, editorial, and oral skills in English.