For reference, the following positions might provide a useful yardstick in terms of equivalent UN Grades (Note that these are what they should be, not necessarily what they are):
- An ex-military security adviser or logistician in his or her mid-to-late thirties without a technical qualification would be equivalent to P.3
- A Senior Humanitarian Adviser seconded by DFID to advise a government on policy or systems should be equivalent to D.1 / P.6
- A Cluster Coordinator would be equivalent to P.5 for an L3 disaster, and P.4 for everything else
- A Junior Programme Officer for a large International NGO would be P.3/P.4
The daily rate indicated will have automatically compensated for a proportion of the additional benefits to which full-time UN staff are entitled but to which you, as a short-term contractor, are not.
It includes the cost of daily subsistence (food and rented (not hotel) accommodation). So, if your client/employer is paying these separately, you should deduct the equivalent daily amount.
Reduce the quoted rate by 10% for any contract with a duration of three months or more. (In Australia, a 25% pay premium is added by law for insecure short-term work.)
If sent to an active conflict zone, UN staff are entitled to 'Danger Pay' of $53 per day
Hardship Allowance in the UN system compensates for the degree of hardship experienced at the duty station in terms of health, security, climate, housing, isolation, local conditions and educational facilities. Duty stations are categorised on a scale of difficulty from A to E, with A being the least difficult. Scales can be found here (As a contractor, the designation of 'non-family duty station' is not relevant. Nor is 'Post Adjustment')
Don't forget to bill travel days