Background

Gender equality and women’s empowerment are human rights that lie at the heart of development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. This is why UNDP integrates gender equality and women's empowerment in its four main areas of work and inside the organization (Poverty Reduction and MDGs, Democratic Governance, Crisis Prevention and Recovery and Environment and Sustainable Development). The key lesson learned from UNDP experience is that committed leadership, effective oversight, adequate funding, a quality management system and improved capacity, are the key ingredients for achieving tangible gender equality results. 

The Gender Equality Strategy 2008-2013 (GES) builds on these lessons learned and stresses that changes should be planned at three levels: the technical level (capacities, systems, tools and instruments for gender mainstreaming); the policy level (commitment, planning, prioritizing, and decision-making): and the cultural level (where habitual attitudes and behaviors form and sustain the environment and daily practice of the organization). 

Since 2008, UNDP has made a notable progress in institutional capacity and improving work environment towards gender equality. UNDP has developed the first level of accountability in terms of systems and policies with formidable success. However, gender mainstreaming is a complex process and various internal assessments have demonstrated that UNDP needs a new system of quality management which allows our organization to change policies, improve internal processes, realign structures, optimize resources and transform cultural systems. In order to achieve and improve results “doing good business”, UNDP should promote interventions that transform the internal dynamics of business.

In this context, UNDP Gender Team initiated in 2011-2012 a Gender equality Seal project. The Seal was adapted from the certification programme from private and public organizations to promote gender equality in the private sector workplace in Latin America by the BDP Gender Team. The UNDP Seal is envisaged as a corporate certification process that recognizes good performance of UNDP offices/units to deliver transformational gender equality results. It offers three levels of certification: Gold/great, Silver/good, and Bronze/improving. In a pilot phase in Kyrgyzstan, Argentina and Bhutan, a methodology was developed to test the feasibility of the Seal.

The three pilot appraisals provided the experiential base for strengthening the assessment tool, fleshing out the details of the certification methodology and developing a comprehensive toolkit for appraisal teams. A validation global workshop on the UNDP Gender Equality Seal was organized in June 2012 to share results from the pilot phase, validate the Seal methodology and determine next steps of the initiative.

The purpose of this consultancy is to support the UNDP Gender Team in the current phase of the project.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Consultants will be part of a pool of assessors/auditors of the Seal, and will also provide training to country office applicants.  To this end, he/she will perform the following tasks in collaboration with the Gender Team institutional development Adviser:

Before starting the support to country offices, the consultants will agree to participate in a training of assessors on the Gender Equality Seal benchmarking matrix and methodology, to ensure quality of the services they will provide.

Under the overall supervision of the Gender Team institutional development Adviser, the Consultants will carry out certification missions (assessment missions) and will:

Responsibilities and tasks:

Before certification missions: Desk review of online assessment of Country Offices (2-3 working days per country)

• Review Country Offices/Units background documents (evidences) from the online assessment tool of the Gender Equality Seal, and score each benchmark based on evidences uploaded.
• Request for more evidences when needed.
• Complete a Benchmarking matrix that will include a qualitative analysis with information gaps, aspects to cover in-depth and potential good practices to explore/identify during the assessment missions.

Certification mission

• Negotiate an agenda for the assessment mission with the selected Country Offices (5 working days per country)
• Carry out a learning session (3 hours) to capture challenges and lessons learned of the Seal process as well as reinforce institutional goals of the initiative;
• Carry out the assessment through: Data collection through key informant interviews in the office; Focus group discussions with staff, interviews, workshops (both within and across work teams and functional units); Survey using free online survey tool such as Survey Monkey;
• Complete a Benchmarking Matrix with final scores. This should be done before the mission ends;
• Develop a report (5/7 pages max.) which should include a final score for each assessment area of the UNDP Seal benchmarking tool; recommendations; and recommended level of certification. This should be done before the mission ends;
• Meet with Senior Managers of the country offices and Gender Focal Team to share results and suggested level of certification;
• Prepare a presentation (PPT) and present final results to country office staff of the assessment and tentative level of certification;
• Share electronically the draft report with country offices managers and Gender Focal Team;
• Submit the report and recommended level of certification of the Country office/Unit (Gold, Silver, Bronze) to the UNDP Gender Equality Seal Team.

Advisory services for gender mainstreaming (demand driven)

• Provide advisory services to Country offices on gender mainstreaming/ improvement of projects/institutional development as needed through a mission in country of virtually (emails, webinars, trainings etc.) by demand.

Expected outputs

• Desk review of online self-assessment carried out and preliminary benchmark matrix completed;
• Final benchmarking matrix completed;
• Summary Report with final assessment by area and indicator, including recommended level of certification, and recommendations for the Country Office developed. (Approximately 5/7 pages) submitted to the UNDP Gender Equality Seal Team.

Competencies

Required functional competencies

• Proven capacity to produce high quality qualitative research and ability to absorb, analyze and synthesize large amounts of complex information within tight deadlines.
• Demonstrated ability and willingness to work with people of different cultural, ethnic and religious background, different gender, and diverse political views.
• Demonstrated capacity for strategic thinking, and expertise in global gender equality and mainstreaming methodology.

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrated integrity by upholding the United Nations' values and ethical standards;
• Promotes UNDP vision, mission and strategic goals;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age-based sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly;
• Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UNDP in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
• Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciate differences in values and learning from cultural diversities.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Masters or PhD in a development related discipline (women’s studies or gender and development) or related discipline.

Experience:

• Minimum of 7 years of comprehensive knowledge in gender and development, institutional development and gender mainstreaming or related fields; Field experience will be considerate an asset;
•  Experience with UNDP and strong understanding of the UNDP, operations and structures, particularly those related to gender equality and women’s empowerment and field experience;
• Proven expertise on gender audits, evaluations and capacity assessments for gender mainstreaming.
• Experience working in Francophone Africa desirable.

Language

• Proficiency in English language for report writing;
• Ability to speak Fluent French mandatory.

Financial proposal:

The payments for the services to the Individual contract will be based on all-inclusive daily professional fee. The financial proposal will specify the daily fee; payments are made to the Individual Consultant based on the number of days worked, and after completion of assignments to be agreed between UNDP and the consultant in advance.

Travel:

Experts shall be required to travel for specific assessment and UNDP will arrange and cover the cost of the official travels in accordance to UNDP rules and procedures by providing tickets, travel allowances – daily substance allowance and terminal expenses. This may include, but is not limited to, travel to up to 3 countries per region (Africa, Latin America, Europe and CIS, Asia and Pacific and Arab States). Each expert is expected to undertake at least one mission on average and should expect to be hired for a specific region.

The fare will always be “most direct, most economical” and any difference in price with the preferred route will be paid for by the expert.

Documents to be included when submitting the porposals:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• Proposal: Explaining why they are the most suitable for the assignment;
• Financial proposal by providing all-inclusive daily professional fee in US dollars;
• Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references (names, titles, email addresses).

Selection criteria:

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.

Technical Criteria weight: 70.Financial Criteria weight: 30.

The following formula has been used to evaluate financial proposal: p = y (µ/z)

•     p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated;
•     y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal;
•     µ = price of the lowest priced proposal;
•     z = price of the proposal being evaluated.

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

Criteria for Technical Evaluation

• Criteria A: Minimum of 7 years of comprehensive knowledge in gender and development, institutional development and gender mainstreaming or related fields; and field experience: 20 points;
• Criteria B: Experience with UNDP and strong understanding of the UNDP, operations and structures, particularly those related to gender equality and women’s empowerment and field experience: 25 points;
• Criteria C: Proven expertise on gender audits, evaluations and capacity assessments for gender mainstreaming: 25 points.

Financial proposal: 30 points.

Applicants are required to fill and sign a P11 Form and submit it together with Curriculum Vitae on the online application. The P11 Form can be obtained at http://sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc.

Mechanics for Engagement

Successful Applicants will be included by UNDP as one of UNDP’s Cadre of Experts, to be drawn upon as resource persons, as and when needed, for UNDP related activities in the area of gender equality and institutional development.

It is expected that the consultant(s) will sign a Long-Term Agreement (LTA) with UNDP in order to be rostered for a period of 2 years (i.e. for assignments within 2013 and 2014), which will be expected to be signed in September 2013. A LTA is a framework agreement that aims to establish the terms and conditions of future contracts that may arise from the LTA. As such, a LTA does not imply a financial commitment on the part of UNDP and does not guarantee that a succeeding contract will be issued.

When called upon to engage, the individual will have to sign an Individual Contract (IC) or his/her employer, if employed, will have to sign a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), whichever is preference of the individual on LTA. The length and timeline of the IC consultancy or RLA, whichever is applicable, will be based on the specific assignments, which can range from 1-15 business days (reviewing country offices assessments or advisory services and missions in country to support gender mainstreaming work).

When a request for services arises, UNDP shall directly engage the consultant from the roster without the need for further selection process. A specific Terms of Reference (ToR) outlining the outputs and detailed arrangement for each assignment shall be provided and an IC or RLA, whichever is applicable, will be issued to the consultant, detailing the time frame.

As the assignments associated with this LTA are home-based, the consultant(s) are expected to provide their own office space and equipment.

General Conditions of the Services under the Long Term Agreement are provided as Annex 1

Annex 1. General Conditions of the Services under the Long Term Agreement.

The LTA does not necessarily mean that a contract with UNDP is guaranteed. This will depend on forthcoming needs as specified in this ToR. Where a request for services arises, UNDP shall directly contract the consultant from the roster without the need for further selection process. A specific Terms of Reference (ToR) outlining the outputs for each assignment shall be provided and an Individual Contract (IC) or Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), whichever is applicable, will be issued to the consultant, detailing the time frame. Conditions of a particular assignment may be negotiable.

UNDP does not warrant that any quantity of services will be purchased during the term of this Agreement.

Applicants hereby confirm that s/he has complied with the minimum break in service required before becoming eligible for an Individual Contract. S/he also fully understands that, if s/he is engaged as an Individual Contractor, s/he has no expectations or entitlements whatsoever to be re-instated or re-employed as a staff member.

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.

• Demonstrated capacity for strategic thinking, and expertise in global gender equality and mainstreaming strategies;
• Proven capacity to produce high quality qualitative research and ability to absorb, analyze and synthesize large amounts of complex information within tight deadlines;
• Demonstrated ability and willingness to work with people of different cultural, ethnic and religious background, different gender, and diverse political views.