Background
The Gender Team is at the forefront of UNDP's commitment to gender equality and women's empowerment. The Gender Team is part of the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) which provides policy advice and technical support to all of UNDP’s operations. The Gender Team works to implement gender equality as a core objective of UNDP through a two-pronged approach (i) mainstreaming gender in all core practices; and, (ii) dedicated interventions that empower women and promote gender equality. In order to advance UNDP’s mandate in this area, the Gender Team is finalizing the UNDP Corporate Gender Equality Strategy 2014-17 which outlines in detail how UNDP will work towards gender equality in each of the goals and key results set out in the UNDP Strategic Plan 2014-2017. In addition to addressing the gender dimensions of each focus area, the Strategy sets out institutional arrangements which are aimed at ensuring that there are adequate human and financial resources as well as effective senior management oversight to achieve the expected gender equality results. To this end, several initiatives have been launched, such as the gender equality seal, the gender marker, which help strengthening accountability for gender equality results in the organization.
The Gender Equality Seal is a corporate quality assurance mechanism that measures and certifies the achievements and competence of UNDP Country Offices in advancing women's rights and gender equality. UNDP introduced the Gender Equality Seal as a voluntary corporate quality assurance initiative which assesses and acknowledges good performance in delivering transformational development results for gender equality. The Gender Equality Seal has three levels of certification (Gold, Silver, and Bronze) and Country Offices are awarded a certain level of certification according to their gender equality accomplishments. Performance is measured according to a set of minimum acceptable quality standards based on international and corporate mandates.
In 2014, 29 country offices were certified, a rigorous process over a period of almost 2 years. During this period, country offices receive continuous technical and advisory support through webinars, individualized guidance, provision of tools and reference documents according to need as well as a community of practice for knowledge sharing and collective thinking.
The Gender Team is looking for a consultant to coordinate key interventions of the Gender Equality Seal initiative during 2015-2016.
Duties and Responsibilities
Scope of Work
The consultant will undertake the following tasks under the direct supervision of the Policy Advisor on Gender Mainstreaming of the UNDP Gender Team in New York.
UNDP Gender Equality Seal Coordination:
- Support the Awarding Ceremony and Global workshop that will take place in New York in 2015;
- Coordination of the full roll out of the Seal round 2015-2016: Prepare TORs for Seal Board; Support periodically meetings with Seal Board; Coordination of the reception of applications (create a system to track COs applicants);
- Follow up of the work plan implementation of the project for the next round 2015-2016 of the Seal;
- Coordinate conferences and support Regional Hubs;
- Review, coordination and keep track record of Country Offices online self-assessments and Plans for improvement;
- Coordinate the support to offices applicants of the Seal providing technical advice through skype, email and/or technical missions;
- Ensure quality of the implementation of the learning and communications/research component of the Seal initiative;
- Prepare briefings, TORs, reports and power point presentations as demanded;
- Ensure timely delivery of committed activities and budget;
- Support Seal project manager in management/administrative tasks (update LTAs, recruitments, budget reviews, etc.).
Expected Deliverables/Outputs
UNDP Gender Equality Seal (January-December 2015)
- Ceremony event coordinated, (May 2015);
- Full roll out of the Seal round 2015-2016 coordinated (May/June 2015);
- TORs for Seal Board prepared and at least 3 meetings of the Seal Board supported (April-December 2015);
- Coordinated the reception of applications and system to track COs applicants created and fully functioning;
- Coordinated at least 3 conferences with Regional Hubs;
- Coordinated and kept track record of Country Offices online self-assessments and Plans for improvement;
- Reviewed at least 30% of online self-assessment (July 2015);
- Coordinated the support to offices applicants of the Seal; provided technical advice through skype, email and/or technical missions (July-December 2015);
- Coordinated at least 4 appraisal missions to potential gold offices (August-December 2015);
- Prepared briefings, TORs, reports and power point presentations as demanded;
- Ensured timely delivery of committed activities and budget of the project;
- Seal project manager supported: budget reviews, updated of LTAs, logistics, recruitments, review of work plans, reports, etc.
Competencies
Functional Competencies
- Demonstrated capacity for strategic thinking, and expertise in global gender equality and mainstreaming strategies;
- Demonstrated ability and willingness to work with people of different cultural, ethnic and religious background, different gender, and diverse political views;
- Good interpersonal and diplomacy skills; Openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
- Ability to use critical thinking, conceptualize ideas, and articulate relevant subject matter in a clear and concise way;
- Excellent oral and written communication and reporting skills in English, strong capacity in communications and/or reporting fields;
- Outstanding networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills;
- Ability to work under pressure and meet strict deadlines.
Corporate Competencies:
- Demonstrated integrity by upholding the United Nations' values and ethical standards; Treats all people fairly;
- Appreciate differences in values and learning from cultural diversities
- Promotes UNDP vision, mission and strategic goals;
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age-based sensitivity and adaptability;
- Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UNDP in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Master's degree in gender issues, or women’s studies and/or related discipline.
Experience:
- Minimum of 3/5 years of comprehensive work experience and knowledge in gender and institutional development/organizational change and/or gender mainstreaming or related fields(capacity building/accountability/enabling environment/mainstreaming gender in a sector, etc.);
- Experience leading complex projects with a diverse range and high number of partners and constituencies;
- Minimum of 3/5 years of experience as a project manager;
- Minimum of 3/5 years of field experience;
- Experience with UN Agencies and/or strong understanding of UN system modus operandi, frameworks and structures, particularly those related to gender equality and women’s empowerment and field experience;
- Knowledge in overall issues related to gender equality and the empowerment of women.
Language:
- Proficiency in English language for report writing;
- Working knowledge of French is an asset.
Application submission process:
Applicants must submit their application through this online system using the following steps:
Step 1) Click “Apply Now” button and fill in the necessary information on the first page. You must:
- Explain why you are the most suitable candidate for the work (300 words maximum online);
- Provide brief description of the approach you will take to accomplish this work (500 words maximum online);
- Provide Names, titles and contact details (telephone and e-mails) of 3 references. UNDP retains the right to contact references directly;
- Upload CV or P11 to this online system ;
- Submit a non-negotiable all-inclusive daily rate in USD.
Step 2) Upload your CV or Personal History (P11) Form and then “Submit Application.” Please note only one document can be uploaded (scan all your documents into one single PDF file to attach). If you upload you CV we might request the P11 Form at a later date. A completed PH 11 Form will be required at the time a consultant signs an Individual Contract (IC) or his/her employer (if employed) signs a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) for work associated with this assignment.
UN Personal History form (UN PH11) can be downloaded from here http://sas.undp.org/documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc
Financial Proposal (daily rate).
Contracts is based on daily fee.
Please submit an all-inclusive lump sum daily fee in United States Dollars (USD).
Financial proposals must be all inclusive and must be expressed on the basis of a daily fee. The term ‘all inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, utilities, consumables, insurance, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the daily fee.
In the case of unforeseeable duty travels, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses will be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be paid to the consultant.
Evaluation
Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:
Evaluation of Applicants
Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the Cumulative Analysis methodology [weighted scoring method], where the award of the contract will 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 technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.
Technical Criteria weight: 70%.
Financial Criteria weight: 30%.
UNDP applies a fair and transparent selection process that would take into account both the technical qualification of Individual Consultants as well as their price proposals. The contract will be awarded to the candidate obtaining the highest combined technical and financial scores.
The following criteria will be used in the Technical Evaluation:
Technical Criteria (70 points):
Criteria A:
- Minimum of 3/5 years of comprehensive work experience and knowledge in gender and institutional development/organizational change and/or gender mainstreaming within organizations (capacity building/accountability/enabling environment/mainstreaming in a sector; etc.) 30.
Criteria B:
- Experience as project managers of complex projects with a diverse and high number of partners and constituencies (preferably regional or global), and at least 3 years of field experience 20.
Criteria C:
- Experience with UN Agencies/International NGOs and/or strong understanding of UN system modus operandi on gender mainstreaming, as well as frameworks and structures, particularly those related to gender equality and women’s empowerment and field experience 20.
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 (70%) points on technical part will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.
Annexes and References:
Individual Consultant's General Terms and Conditions are provided here: