UNDP Jobs - 47903- UN WOMEN-Local consultant to mentor pilot state in

UN WOMEN-Local consultant to mentor pilot state institutions and coach Ministry of Finance on gender responsive budgeting

Location :

Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Aug-2014

Application Deadline :

18-Jul-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Estimated 25 working days for the period from 01.08.2014-30.11.2014

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Over the past years, through the Regional Project “Promoting Gender Responsive Polices in South-East Europe and the Republic of Moldova”, UN Women has provided support to national and local stakeholders in strengthening democratic governance and advancing women’s rights through initiatives aimed at mainstreaming gender in policy planning and budgeting processes. Those intiatives led to the recognition of Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) as an important tool for the advancement of gender equality in laws and strategies in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Moldova.

In FYR Macedonia, the Law on Equal opportunities between women and men now obliges central and local authorities to incorporate the principle of equal opportunities of women and men in the framework of their strategic plans and budgets; to follow the effects and impact of their programs on women and men and report findings in the framework of their annual reports. The Government also adopted a separate Strategy for incorporation of GRB (2012-2017), which obliges line Ministries to select programmes for gender budget analysis and produce recommendations and indicators to improve the gender responsiveness of those programmes.

To operationalise the Strategy for incorporation of GRB, the Government further adopted Methodology for GRB and the Ministry of Finance revised the instructions for the preparation of the budget obliging pilot Ministries to select programme for gender analysis and develop gender indicators.

The implementation of the Strategy and Methodology and operationalisation of the entire institutional process of gender responsive budgeting are currently among the key activities of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (MLSP), which as central gender equality mechanism leads the initiatives in the field.

To support the implementation of the National Strategy for incorporation of GRB and the Methodology for GRB, UN Women is seeking to recruit a Local consultant to mentor pilot state institutions and coach Ministry of Finance (MoF) on gender responsive budgeting.

Duties and Responsibilities

Working under the supervision of the UN Women Regional and Country Project Managers, the Local consulatnt will be responsible for the following:

-   Supporting the three pilot Ministries selected with the Budget circular 2014 to assess progress in the achievement of gender indicators and report to the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy;
-   Mentoring three line Ministries for the preparation of the budget for 2015 in carrying out GRB analysis of selected programs, developing output indicators and preparing gender budget statements on the basis of the Methodology for gender responsive budgeting in close consultation with the MLSP;
-   Coaching the MoF in the development of mechanisms to assess and monitor the levels of application of gender responsive budgeting in close consultation with the MLSP;
-   Instructing the officials of the MoF sector on Budget and funds on gender responsive budgeting;
-   Preparing inputs for amendments to the Law on Equal Opportunities between women and men to further institutionalise gender responsive budgeting;
-   Writing a final report on the assignment with recommendations for UN Women.

       Deliverables

The Local consultant shall provide the following deliverables:
-    Workplan for the assignment;
-    Programme for mentoring three Ministries in carrying out GRB analysis of selected programs, developing output indicators and preparing gender budget statements and for coaching the MoF on the institutionalisation of gender responsive budgeting;
-    Gender budget statements for the programmes selected by the three Ministries which will undergo a mentoring process for the preparation of the budget for 2015;
-    Template for reporting progress within programmes selected for gender analysis the previous years;
-    Inputs for amendment to the Law on Equal Opportunities between women and men to further institutionalise gender responsive budgeting;
-    Final report on the assignment (with focus on lessons learnt and possible future steps for UN Women) in English.

Competencies

Core values

•   Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modeling UN values and ethical standards.
•   Demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results.
•   Display cultural, gender, nationality, religion and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Core competencies

•   Strong expertise on gender, public administration and GRB analysis;
•   In-depth knowledge of gender mainstreaming processes and gender indicators;
•   Excellent communication and writting skills
•   Extensive experience in working with civil servants.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

•   Advanced degree in sociology, economics, international law, development studies, and/or gender studies and/or international relations, or similar. Masters or PhD would be an advantage.

Experience

•   A minimum of 7 years of relevant professional experience;
•   Recognised expertise and experience in GRB, gender mainsteaming, public policy, or similar fields;
•   Experience in producing gender analysis, mentoring and coaching public institutions on gender mainstreaming and gender responsive budgeting;
•   Knowledge of relevant government policies/strategies on the status of women, gender equality, gender responsive budgeting and public administration;
•   Ability to work in a team and independently;
•   Strong analytical, writing and communication skills in Macedonian and English;
•   Good computer skills in Windows environment, knowledge of internet communications and command of MS Office applications (Power Point, Word, Excel).

    Evaluation of Applicants:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal. The award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

•   responsive/compliant/acceptable
•   having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Only the highest ranked candidates who would be found qualified for the job will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical criteria – 70% of total evaluation (max 70 points):

Criteria A – Relevant education (max points: 20)
Criteria B – Recognised expertise and experience in GRB, gender mainsteaming, public policy, or similar fields; (max points: 20)
Criteria C - Experience in producing gender analysis, mentoring and coaching public institutions on gender mainstreaming and gender responsive budgeting; (max points: 20)
Criteria E – Knowledge of relevant government policies/strategies on the status of women, gender equality, gender responsive budgeting and public administrarion (max points: 10)

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation (max. 30 points)

    Duration and remuneration:

The duration of the contract is maximum 25 working days in the period 25 July – 30 November 2014. The payment will be divided in several installments linked to the deliverables listed above, with a final installement released upon the completion of of all tasks in the assignment, and submission and approval by UN Women of final report.

    Application

Interested candidates are requested to apply online through this site no later than COB 13 July 2014.

The application should contain:

•    Short Letter of interest, including financial proposal, indicating a total lump sum for the delivery of outputs as per above description. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (consultancy fee per number of anticipated working days, travel and any other possible costs).
•    Completed UN Women Personal History (P11) form, that can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment/

UN Women applies fair and transparent selection process that would take into account the competencies/skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals.