UN WOMEN Jobs - 50314- UN Women - National Consultant to support Alliance

UN Women - National Consultant to support Alliance of Albanian Women MPs

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Tirana, with missions as required, ALBANIA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

24-Oct-2014

Application Deadline :

16-Oct-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

60 working days within 24 October 2014 - 28 February 2015

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

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development; human rights; as well as humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women's rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

In Albania, women’s role in public life remains largely un-recognized, and women’s full and equal participation in decision-making continues to be restricted due to pervasive stereotypes and discriminatory practices, which remain inherent in the public arena. However, with the inclusion of quotas in both the law “On Gender Equality in Society” (July 2008) and within the revised Electoral Code, the results of the 2009 and 2013 National Elections witnessed a systematic increase of the number of women in Parliament (from 7% in 2005 to 16.4% in 2009 to 19.3% in 2013). Although far from the 30% quota, this is a considerable change, but still needs to be done.

Gender Equality Law requires the implementation of 30% of gender quota in elected and nominated positions. For the first time in Albania’s history women make up 33% of government ministers: 7 out of 20 ministers are women including non-traditional posts (Defense, Urban Planning & Tourism). There are still expectations that this number will be increased further. However when it comes to local governance, Albania still suffers from a very low representation of women at the local level: Only seven women lead 384 local government units, five in urban municipalities and there are only 12.4% of women councilors. The upcoming local elections of 2015 and implementation of the territorial and administrative reform may be a great opportunity to increase women representation at the local level if well used by the political parties.

Another positive development on the progress towards empowerment of women in decision making is the established of the Alliance of Women MPs of Albanian Parliament in December 20th, 2013. The Alliance is a voluntary group that aims to further the cause of women’s empowerment in the Parliament and at various Government levels. All women MPs are members of the Alliance including women ministers who resigned their MP status.

Through a signed Declaration, the main objectives of the Alliance are: to work in the areas of increasing women representation at both national and local level; eradicate violence against women; women economic empowerment; and increasing women participation in cultural, public, artistic and scientific life in the country.

Since with its establishment, the Alliance has been engaged in a number of actions and activities addressing the different areas part of their Declaration. Nevertheless for the Alliance to be acting more effectively, consistent support is needed to support the coordination, focus of work and specific products based on Alliance actions and interventions.

Objective

UN Women will require the services of a National Consultant with proven knowledge on Albanian politics, women’s and human rights and experience in leading and coordinating complex processes with high level decision makers ensuring focus of work and concrete results.

Some of the main objectives of the consultancy will be to (a) support the Alliance to analyze its work based on the Declaration and identify and improve gaps in areas of focus; (b) provide consistent and sustainable support in development of the Alliance agenda and work plan based on the Declaration; (c) provide day-to-day technical assistance and advise Alliance on the overall implementation of the Declaration/work plan and increasing Alliance visibility; (d) map and coordinate the interventions based on agreed actions; (e) Provide ongoing support to the Alliance relations with other organizations & partners, note-ably members of the Working Group in Decision Making (f) support Alliance to produce qualitative publications capturing their work and interventions and support sharing of information among members of Alliance.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of UN Women Representative and direct supervision of the UN Women National Project Manager on Leadership and Political Participation, the National Consultant will focus primarily on the following. Further revisions to the below actions will be adjusted and agreed based on discussions with the Alliance:

Establishment of the work plan jointly with Alliance and UN Women – 2 days
Support the Alliance to analyze its work based on the Declaration, identify and improve gaps in areas of focus, including support to essential events and associated communication – 10 days
Provide consistent and sustainable support in development of the Alliance agenda and work plan based on the Declaration – 15 days
Provide ongoing support to the Alliance relations with other organizations & partners, note-ably members of the Working Group in Decision Making – 10 day
Support the publication of the event conducted by the Alliance on the 8th of March & Alliance Annual Report, and other essential documentation – 18 days
Support sharing of information among members of Alliance – 5 days

Deliverables:

The following products and deliverables are expected to be completed by the National Expert according to the agreed schedule:

Work plan agreed and discussed with Alliance and cleared by UN Women
Communications list of Alliance members
Supporting documents for the organization of the workshop/retreat
Meeting minutes, reports from meeting with different partners, donors
Publication of 8th of March
Publication of Alliance Annual Report

Quality of deliverables:

Technical inputs and other on-demand reports on specific initiatives when requested by the Alliance will be reviewed and agreed with UN Women for quality.
Quality of relationships with partners is central to success and will be assessed.
The contract will be initiated with a two month evaluation period to assess the quality of technical inputs and quality of relationships with partners. Based on this evaluation the contract may or may not be extended beyond the two month evaluation period.

Duration and remuneration:

UN Women will fund the costs and maintain overall oversight and monitoring of the consultancy work. The consultancy might involve some in-country travel to the regions, to be planned and agreed with the consultant and as needed during the Alliance work plan implementation process. Any costs related to travel outside Tirana will be covered separately. The duration of the consultancy will be from 24th October, 2014 until the 28th February, 2015 with an estimated 60 working days.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

Communication: Excellent communication skills, including the ability to pose questions, listen, evaluate and capture opinions, suggestions and comments, both orally and in writing, in a clear and persuasive style tailored to match different stakeholders;
Client orientation: Ability to establish and maintain productive partnerships with national partners and pro-activeness in identifying of beneficiaries and partners’ needs, and matching them to appropriate solutions;

Functional competencies:

Ability to communicate and co-ordinate with local and international partners and stakeholders;
Strong analytical, writing and communication skills on issues related to good governance, gender, human rights, etc.;
Good computer skills in Windows environment, knowledge of internet communications and command of MS Office applications (Word, Excel, Power Point);
Ability to establish and maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds, gender and diverse views, while maintaining impartiality and objectivity.

Required Skills and Experience

Education/Academic Qualifications:

Master’s degree in one of the following areas: social sciences, gender studies, human rights, political sciences, international relations etc.;

Work experience:

A minimum of 10 years of professional experience in leading and managing positions responsible to prepare reporting including on political context, human rights, advocating on human rights issues, institutional relations and development etc.;
Experience and knowledge on central government, parliament and international organizations will be considered an asset.

Strong leadership skills, note-ably coaching, mentoring and coordinating skills;
Strong background in interacting and coordinating activities with media and Public Relation experience;

Language requirements:

Excellent written English and Albanian;

Evaluation of Applicants

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal. Contract will be awarded to the individual expert whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

Responsive to and compliant with the ToR; and
Having received the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

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

Criteria:

Technical Evaluation (70%) – Maximum Obtainable Points 70

Financial Evaluation (30%) – Maximum Obtainable Points 30

The criteria of evaluation will be as per below:

TOTAL - 100 points

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion. A suggested formula is as follows:

p = 30 (µ/z)

Where:

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

µ = price of the lowest priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Application Procedures:

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via http://www.un.org.al. The application should contain:

Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment please upload the P11 instead of your CV)
Financial Proposal* - specifying a total lump sum in Albanian Lekë amount for the tasks specified in this announcement.

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials as well as detailed descriptions of your previous positions and duties in your P11 form.

*Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee, health insurance, vaccination and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services...).