Background

UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, operational since January 1 2011, works towards accelerating the United Nations’ goals on gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women supports innovative and catalytic programmes, advocacy, and technical assistance related to women’s human rights in countries throughout the world as part of the overall UN development cooperation system.

Mainstreaming gender-sensitivity as a discourse in journalism and other media sources is critical especially at this transitional phase in Egyptian political and cultural history. Both national as well as international media sources have been present at all of the noteworthy events during and after the January 25^th Revolution. The rise of role of citizen journalists is a sizeable matter in nowadays Egypt’s transitional phase media coverage; these non-formal journalists play a role as to photographers, independent journalists and bloggers, digital media users, taking to the streets with their cameras and smart phones to document crucial happenings on the ground in times and places where traditional media could not take place for diverse reasons. By using the media and public digital outlets (YouTube, social media, blogs, etc.) as a catalyst for action and an incubator for change, women and girls are able to gain greater access to public space and visibility and speak out alongside their male counterparts, thus putting over the spotlights several hidden or neglected happenings.

The ability of journalists to report accurately and regularly on women’s rights issues is significant to increasing public awareness and convincing local and national authorities that failure to enforce women’s rights regulations will not be overlooked. The media, as one of the most powerful forces shaping the way we think, potentially has a powerful role to play in transforming gender relations and breaking gender stereotypes. By providing media sources with the necessary tools and information to address the needs and roles of women in all areas of life, women in Egypt and across the world stand a better chance of increasing their engagement with the political and social bodies governing them, assuming decision-making roles, reporting violations, organizing their voices, documenting success stories and experiences and conceptualizing their needs and increasing their socio-economic engagement.

Mainstreaming gender-sensitivity as a discourse in the media, in online platforms, in informal media venues will have an inarguable impact on the possibility of mainstreaming gender-sensitivity discourse throughout the national public discourse in Egypt, thus fostering the nation’s progress towards a more equitable future for all Egyptian women.   

Therefore, the purpose of this TOR note is to recruit an independent consultant to design and implement a training seminar to be held over a series of 3 to 5 comprehensive training workshops geared at strengthening the knowledge of media experts (including talk show presenters) and journalists on mainstreaming a gender-sensitive dialogue into their everyday work practices so as to incite increased coverage of women and women’s issues in the media. Each training will focus on a different women’s issue, with a single underlying theme: “Raising awareness of gender-sensitive reporting” in print, TV, radio, photos and other forms of journalism.

The Consultant, will work under the Women Political Empowerment and Violence against Women Unit and under the supervision of the Country Programme Manager.

Duties and Responsibilities

• The consultant has to conduct the media training in high quality and develop the curriculum as per market; professional standards. Planning for a media retreat targeting journalists, media public figures, young social media experts, bloggers, talk show researchers and producers and other groups fitting in the selection criteria.
• Selection of participants through objective criteria;
• Development and Preparation of training methodology, curriculum and materials used in it;
• Implementation of the media training as per approved plan;
• Assessment and evaluation of the media retreat as per approved plan.

Comprehensive action plan that includes all components mentioned above. The plan should include:

• Needs assessment research and methodology to be used in the media retreat;
• Goals and objectives of this activity and expected outcomes;
• Implementation and time plan with exact dates for implementing all phases;
• Outline for the development of modules/curriculum;
• Indicators for monitoring and evaluation of the media retreat.

Detailed research and literature review as well as the development of the curriculum and necessary activities:

• Literature review about media training and gender-mainstreaming through it;
• Setting learning objectives and development of media training curriculum, sessions agendas, participants handouts, worksheets, presentations;
• Designing, planning and printing of the practical activities and working sheets for these activities;
•  Contacting and inviting guest speakers and lecturers in the media training;
• Development of monitoring and evaluation tools.

Manage the implementation of the media training:

• Conducting and facilitating retreat workshops;
• Using the proper indicators and tolls for monitoring and evaluation as per action plan approved by UN Women;
• Documenting all media retreat days audio-visual.

 Carry out the proper evaluation and assessment for the media retreat:

• Handling all aspects of the data entry and its collection;
• Analyzing data collected in detail as part of a detailed report on this component.

Deliver a final full report including all components with findings, analysis, lessons learnt and recommendations.

• The consultant has to provide UN Women with all data collected for the media training. The consultant will submit one electronic copy in MS Word format for all deliverables;
• UN Women has to approve action plan and all strategic decisions to conduct the media retreat;
• Documentation in audio-visual format has to be sent to UN Women on DVD;
• Selection of Media personnel attending requires UN Women’s approval.
  

Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Advocates and promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN Women;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Knowledge and Expertise in Women’s Rights and Gender Equality

• Strong skills in drafting, writing, and editing;
• In-depth knowledge of women’s rights issues;
• Communicates sensitively and effectively across different constituencies.

Management and Leadership

• Demonstrates excellent judgment, particularly with regard to being able to prioritize according to importance and urgency;
• Highly organized, with particular ability in devising systems to ensure follow up;
• Enjoys multi-tasking and managing several projects at one time;
• Focuses on impact and result;
• Ability to work as a positive and valued member of task teams and demonstrates conflict resolution skills;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors;
• Responds positively to critical feedback and differing points of view;
• Displays High level of discretion.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• A university degree in communication, management or development related areas – Mass communication, Public relations, Economics, Public Policy, Development Management etc.

Experience:

• Five years of professional experience as well as a proven professional record in communications and advocacy strategies. UN experience is a plus.

Languages requirements:

• Full proficiency (both oral and written) in English and Arabic essential.

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis:

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

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

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

• Criteria:   At least three years of relevant experience in process documentation (Weight: 30%. Maximum obtainable Points: 30);
• Criteria: Relevant education in social science, including gender, law, political science etc. (Weight 5%; maximum obtainable points 5);
• Criteria: Excellent written and spoken English and Arabic. (Weight 5%; maximum obtainable points 5);

Financial: Lowest financial proposal: 30%.

Contract will be awarded to the technically qualified consultant who obtains the highest combines score (financial and technical). The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula:

(Lowest Bid Offered*)/(Bid of the Consultant) x 30
Lowest Bid Offered" refers to the lowest price offered by Offer or scoring at least 49 points in technical evaluation.

Applications:

Documents to be included when submitting the proposal:

Interested Individual Consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

To be included as part of the proposal :( all the following should be included in one word document):

• A brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work (limit to under 1500 words)
• Personal CV.

• Proposed daily fee.