UN WOMEN Jobs - 50386- International Consultant to Strengthen Effective P

International Consultant to Strengthen Effective Participation of Romani Women in Elections Republic of Moldova 2014 – 2015

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Chisinau, MOLDOVA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Nov-2014

Application Deadline :

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

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

1 year

Languages Required :

English Russian

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Up to 61 days over a period of one year, out of which up to 30d. of work in Moldova and 31d. home

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

Roma represent one of the most vulnerable groups in the Republic of Moldova. Roma face discrimination and multiple barriers to social inclusion, employment, education, health care and other services. There is a high degree of intolerance and hostility towards Roma held by the majority population. Romani women encounter multiple discrimination - as Roma, as women and in many cases also as persons belonging to a low socio-economic class. Romani women experience greater risks of social exclusion and poverty than men of their community and women from the ethnic majority. This lack of equality is seen in violence against women, access to employment, education, decision making positions and social services. Romani women rarely benefit from reproductive health services that are available at the community level, and often are not even aware about the availability of such services. In 2014, UN agencies in the Republic of Moldova published a comprehensive study on the situation of Romani women in Moldova: http://www.un.md/docsandpub/

In 2011 the Government of the Republic of Moldova approved the Action Plan to Support Roma Ethnic Group in the Republic of Moldova for 2011-2015, which was elaborated with a support of the UN family in Moldova. The plan includes inter alia a set of actions to address the needs of Roma women in such areas as employment, education, health care, social inclusion, participation in decision making, etc. In October 2013, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) expressed concern inter alia at the fact that there is not currently a single Romani woman in any position of elected authority anywhere, at any level in the Republic of Moldova. In December 2013, a network of Romani women and girls was constituted, to aim at strengthening the rights of Romani women and girls in practice in the Republic of Moldova.

The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) has had a Human Rights Adviser in Moldova since July 2008, based in the UN Resident Coordinator Office, mainstreaming human rights in the work of UN Country Team, Government, civil society and the National Human Rights Institution. Beginning in 2014, UN Women, jointly with UNDP, is supported by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) to strengthen the empowerment of women in political life, in particular in the context of national elections and local elections in the Republic of Moldova in 2014 and 2015 respectively. The current action is undertaken jointly by UN Women and OHCHR as part of these efforts.

Duties and Responsibilities

Overall objectives of the assignment

The overall objective of this consultancy is to build the capacity of Romani women community organizations, Romani women’s groups and Romani women in the communities to identify their needs and priorities in programs supported localities.

Specific objectives:

Strengthen the rights and effective participation of Romani women and girls in the Republic of Moldova, in the context of local and national elections;
Support the articulation of Romani women’s voices in 2014 and 2015 election, as well as to strengthen participation as voters, participants in electoral committees, as candidates, and in other capacities;
Encourage Romani women to articulate issues in the context of national and local elections, and to bring to the attention of relevant UN agencies requests for support in the articulation of agendas;
Support the development and advancement of the newly-established network of Romani women and girls.

Duties and Responsibilities

An international consultant is sought to work under the supervision of the UN Women National Program Manager, Women in Politics Program Manager and the UN Human Rights Adviser in Moldova (OHCHR).

The consultant is responsible for implementation of the following responsibilities:

Undertake desk review of all available statistical, analytical and other information resources as well as key policy documents and legislation;
Plan, implement and undertake three missions to the Republic of Moldova, totaling 30 working days (10 days each mission) in the Republic of Moldova, with the aim of advancing the empowerment of Romani women and girls, in particular in the context of 2014 and 2015 elections. In the course of which, undertake consultative meetings with Government, CSOs, Roma community mediators, Romani women and girls, UN Agencies and other international development partners working with human rights, and women’s rights in particular, gender equality, minority rights and Roma issues. A minimum of one mission must be undertaken in advance of the November 30, 2014 national elections.

Pre-parliamentary election mission:

Assist Romani women from the targeted localities to identify, formulate, prioritize and agree on key issues pertaining to their rights and needs, both at national and local levels; In total up to 15 communities will be targeted;
Provide support to Romani women from the targeted localities to voice their needs and issues directly to the political party leaders and the leaders of the state;
To inform the Romani women from the targeted localities about the parliamentary election process and to encourage them to vote.

First pre-local election mission:

Provide support to Romani women and girls network to be able to facilitate the participatory e-nomination in the local elections of Romani women from the targeted localities.

Second pre-local election mission:

Provide support to identified Romani women candidates from the targeted localities to build and enhance their capacity to run for office;
To inform the Romani women from the targeted localities about the local election process and to encourage them to vote.

Identify the key power structures and individuals, who influence girl marriage within Soroca community. For this, undertake a power mapping exercise in Soroca Roma community in close consultation with UN Women Country Office, and in partnership with the community activists

Produce, within not more than 10 days following each mission, a usable mission report, detailing findings and recommendations for further action.

Deliverables and Timeframe

The selected consultant shall be responsible for delivering of the following outputs, comprising of the main milestones:

Deliverable 1: Mission Report 1, including recommendations for further action - deadline for completion: not later than 5 December 2014, 20% (up to 10 days);
Deliverable 2: Power Map Soroca draft 1 - deadline for completion: 10 December 2014, 15% (up to 13 days);
Deliverable 3: Power Map Soroca Final - deadline for completion: 15 March 2015, 15% (up to 13 days);
Deliverable 4: Mission Report 2, including recommendations for further action - deadline for completion: Within 10 days of completion of Mission 2, and not later than 30 April 2015, 20% (up to 10 days);
Deliverable 5: Mission Report 3, including recommendations for further action – deadline for completion: Within 10 days of completion of Mission 3, and not later than 30 September 2015, 20% (up to 10 days);
Deliverable 6: Final Report on carried out activities, stages passed, challenges faced and recommendations for follow-up actions, including brief on lessons learned - deadline for completion: By 15 October 2015, 10% (up to 5 days).

All the deliverables should be agreed with the Women in Politics Program Manager and UN Human Rights Adviser in Moldova (OHCHR) and be provided in English, electronic copy.

Duration of the assignment

The total duration of the contract is tentatively planned for 12 calendar months starting with 1 November 2014. The consultancy shall involve about 61 working days (of which up to 30 days mission in Moldova) coordinated in advance with the Women in Politics Program Manager and UN Human Rights Adviser in Moldova (OHCHR), upon contracting.

Note: The mentioned number of working days has been estimated as being sufficient/feasible for the envisaged volume of work to be completed successfully and is proposed as a guideline for the duration of assignment. It cannot and shall not be used as criteria for completion of work/assignment. The provision of envisaged deliverables approved by the Women in Politics Programme Manager shall be the only criteria for Consultant’s work being completed and eligible for payment/s.

Management arrangements

The Consultant will perform tasks of lead consultant and will work in cooperation local consultants engaged by UN Women. The consultant will work under the supervision of the UN Human Rights Adviser in Moldova (OHCHR) and UN Women/UNDP National Program Manager, and of Women in Politics Program Manager. Guidance on undertaking the power map will be provided by UN Women.

Travel

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UN Women does not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the consultant wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UN Women Moldova and the Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Under this assignment, there are envisaged up to 3 travel missions (representing up to 30 working days) to Moldova.

Performance evaluation

Contractor’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

Financial arrangements:

Payment will be disbursed upon submission and approval of deliverables and certification by the Women in Politics Programme Manager that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Demonstrated understanding of the electoral system of the Republic of Moldova, to a level possible from available public information;
Demonstrated competence in conducting individual interviews with affected groups according to standard human rights documentation methodologies preferred;
Demonstrated understanding of the electoral system of the Republic of Moldova, to a level possible from available public information.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

University Degree in Law, International Law, Human Rights, social, economic or political studies or other relevant field. Advanced degree is an advantage.

Experience:

At least 5 years of practical work with human rights, women’s, minority and Roma rights;
Previous work experience with an international organization, especially with an UN Agency, with a special focus on respectful of differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language, age, HIV status, disability, and sexual orientation, or other status will be an asset;
Previous experience in gender equality, women's and minority rights and empowerment;
Proven experience in producing analytical reports in the area of human rights, women’s and minority rights; (to be assessed based on the presented sample of completed report);
Proven knowledge of regional and relevant international best practices and experiences on minority rights and empowerment (to be assessed based on submitted information);
Proven experience in mobilizing excluded minority communities for participation and inclusion;
Advanced knowledge and skills of MS Office, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint; (to be assessed based on submitted application)
Demonstrated competence in conducting individual interviews with affected groups according to standard human rights documentation methodologies preferred;
Previous work experience with an international organization, especially with an UN Agency, with a special focus on respectful of differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language, age, HIV status, disability, and sexual orientation, or other status will be an asset.

Language:

Excellent command of Romanian, Romani, Russian languages.
Fluency in English is an advantage;
Knowledge of one or more of the other minority languages relevant for Moldova, including Gagauz, Ukrainian, Bulgarian or other languages is an asset

Evaluation Procedure

Initially, individual consultants will be short-listed based on the following minimum qualification criteria:

University Degree in Law, International Law, Human Rights, social, economic or political studies or other relevant field. Advanced degree is an advantage;
At least 5 years of practical work with human rights, women’s, minority and Roma rights;
Demonstrated understanding of the electoral system of the Republic of Moldova.

The short-listed individual consultants will be further evaluated based on a cumulative analysis scheme, with a total score being obtained upon the combination of weighted technical and financial attributes. Cost under this method of analysis is rendered as an award criterion, which will be 30% out of a total score of 500 points.

Evaluation of submitted offers will be done based on the following formula:
B= T+Clow/C*X,
where:
T- is the technical score awarded to the evaluated proposal (only to those proposals that pass 70% m 350 points obtainable under technical evaluation);
C - is the price of the evaluated proposal;
Clow - is the lowest of all evaluated proposal prices among responsive proposals; and
X - is the maximum financial points obtainable (150 points).

Technical evaluation will be represented through desk review of applications and further interview will be organized if needed, depending on the short-listed candidates’ qualifications.

Technical Evaluation (350 points): The technical part is evaluated on the basis of its responsiveness to the Terms of Reference (TOR):

University Degree in Law, International Law, Human Rights, social, economic or political studies or other relevant field. Advanced degree is an advantage (under Master’s – up to 20 pts, Master’s – up to 25 pts, PhD – up to 30 pts) – max. 30 pts;
At least 5 years of practical working experience with human rights, women’s, minority and Roma rights (<5 years - 0 pts, 5 years - 30 pts, each year over 3 years - 10 pts per each additional year) – max. 50 pts;
Previous experience in gender equality, women's and minority rights and empowerment (up to 40 pts) – max. 40 pts;
Proven experience in producing analytical reports in the area of human rights, women’s and minority rights (to be assessed based on the presented sample of completed report) – max. 30 pts;
Proven knowledge of regional and relevant international best practices and experiences on minority rights and empowerment (to be assessed based on submitted information) – max. 40 pts;
Demonstrated understanding of the electoral system of the Republic of Moldova, to a level possible from available public information (up to 40 points) – max. 40 pts;
Proven experience in mobilizing excluded minority communities for participation and inclusion; (up to 40 pts) – max. 40 pts
Advanced knowledge and skills of MS Office, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint; (to be assessed based on submitted application) – max. 10 pts;
Excellent command of Romanian (up to 10 pts), Russian language (up to 10 pts), Romani (up to 10 pts). Fluency in English (5 points) – max 35 pts;
Working knowledge of one or more additional languages relevant for Moldova, including Bulgarian, Gagauz, Romani, Ukrainian or sign language (each language up to 5 pts, up to a maximum of 15 pts) – max. 15 pts;
Demonstrated competence in conducting individual interviews with affected groups according to standard human rights documentation methodologies preferred – max. 10 pts;
Previous work experience with an international organization, especially with an UN Agency, with a special focus on respectful of differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language, age, HIV status, disability, and sexual orientation, or other status will be an asset – max. 10 pts.

Financial evaluation:

In the Second Stage, the financial proposal of candidates, who have attained minimum 70% score in the technical evaluation (at least 245 points), will be compared.

Winning Candidate

The winning candidate will be the candidate, who has accumulated the highest aggregated score (technical scoring + financial scoring).

Submission package:

Duly filled UN Women Personal History Form (P11)/CV including records on past experience in similar projects/assignments and specific outputs obtained;
Letter of Interest with justification of being the most suitable for the work, vision and working approach;
Sample of report/policy paper or any other similar working paper produced;
Financial proposal (in USD) - specifying an all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs as per template provided.

Please note that only applicants who are short-listed will be contacted.

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

The United Nations in Moldova (UN Women) is committed to workforce diversity. Women, persons with disabilities, Roma and other ethnic or religious minorities, persons living with HIV, as well as refugees and other non-citizens legally entitled to work in the Republic of Moldova, are particularly encouraged to apply.