UN WOMEN Jobs - 59482- National Consultant on Enhancement of Women’s Poli

National Consultant on Enhancement of Women’s Political Participation in Kazakhstan (Open to Kazakhstan Nationals only)

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Almaty, KAZAKHSTAN

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

03-Sep-2015

Application Deadline :

01-Sep-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

8 weeks

Languages Required :

English Russian

Expected Duration of Assignment :

37 working days

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

National Consultant on enhancement of women’s political participation in Kazakhstan - home-based Almaty, KAZAKHSTAN

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; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. One of priorities of UN Women work in Kazakhstan is to ensure a focus on the substantive aspects of women’s leadership and political participation, which means focusing on building the institutions and processes that will sustain and enhance women’s participation. This also involves developing the capacity for civic engagement and grass root movement to foster the next generation of women leaders.

In 2007, Kazakhstan adopted 3 MDG+ goals, including some new targets on MDG 3. These included ensuring adoption and implementation of measures aimed at increasing representation of women in legislative and executive bodies. The Constitution of Kazakhstan guarantees equality and prohibits discrimination and in 2005 a National Strategy for Gender Equality for 2006-2016 was adopted in 2005. Nevertheless, women remain under-represented in legislative bodies (Parliament and local representative bodies), including in leadership positions in political parties, as well as in executive bodies (both central and local authorities level) and diplomatic service despite national efforts to reach international commitments in this area. Therefore, access of women to decision making processes and their ability to effectively drive policy change remains limited; and at the same time, sustainability of the progress already achieved also remains rather uncertain.

In 2014, the CEDAW Concluding Observations on the combined third and fourth periodic reports of Kazakhstan called upon the State party to consider using temporary special measures, in accordance with article 4 (1) of the Convention and the Committee’s general recommendation No. 25 on temporary special measures, as a necessary strategy to accelerate the achievement of substantive equality of women and men in all areas of the Convention where women are underrepresented. Moreover, the National Gender Equality Strategy for 2006-2016 has identified reaching 30% representation of women in both elected and appointed positions as one of its goals.

In view of this and with the overall aim to enhance women’s political participation in Kazakhstan, UN Women Multi-country office under its Annual Work plan for 2014-2015, has been providing support to stakeholders’ working group on enforcing and monitoring gender equality legislation and supporting efforts exploring the opportunities to introduce temporary special measures to promote women's political participation. In support of these efforts and the country’s commitments to advance Women’s Political Participation agenda, in April 2014 UN Women MCO organized training on Gender and Elections combined with high-level round table to discuss the findings on impediments to increased women’s political participation. In order to ensure continuation and sustainability of these earlier interventions, UN Women is seeking a consultant to conduct desk review of earlier conducted analysis, studies and discussion on impediments to women’s political participation, representation and leadership, including, as required, review of applicable legal framework and international standards, facilitate consultations with CSOs on obstacles to introducing TSM in Kazakhstan and steps to overcome them to develop a common CSO recommendations and advocacy points, prepare a position paper to serve as a basis for discussion during stakeholder meeting, organize and facilitate stakeholder meeting with participation of key national stakeholders (Members of Parliament, National Commission On Women Affairs And Family-Demographic Policy, relevant government officials and CSOs), and develop the outcome document, containing set of recommendations for enhancement of women’s political leadership and participation that could serve as a basis for inclusion into the new strategic national document on gender equality and for formulation of CSO advocacy documents.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of UN Women MCO Kazakhstan Programme Specialist, the National Consultant is expected to prepare and facilitate discussions on ways and tools for increasing women’s political participation with relevant stakeholders (Members of Parliament, National commission on women and family-demographic affairs, government officials and NGOs) and complete the following tasks:

Conduct desk review of Bridge training materials, proceedings and outcomes of the roundtable on WPP, earlier studies, discussion and position papers and specifically on introducing TSM, including, as may deemed necessary, review of legislative and policy base and other resources pertaining to enhancement of women’s political participation in Kazakhstan in order to form a contextual basis for discussion and development of recommendations and draft position paper on mechanisms to increase women’s participation, tailored to the context of Kazakhstan policy and legislation, including on feasibility of introduction of voluntary or mandatory party quotas and other non-quota measures; (8 working days w.d.);
Develop consolidated position on increasing WPP and introduction of TSM in Kazakhstan (4 w.d.);
Prepare agenda, presentation and other preparatory documents for meeting and facilitate the meeting with CSOs (1 w.d.);
Prepare outcome document with CSO recommendations, disseminate among relevant CSOs, collect feedback and finalize consolidated positon paper (5 w.d.);
Prepare agenda, presentation and other preparatory documents for meeting of stakeholders (3 w.d.);
Facilitate the meeting of stakeholders aiming at ensuring productive discussions and agreement on conclusions and draft outcome paper with a set of recommendations (1 w.d.);
Draft and submit report on the stakeholders roundtable (5 w.d.);
Develop the outcome document with recommendations and disseminate among relevant stakeholders and UN Women MCO, collect feedback and finalize the outcome document including proposed text for inclusion into new strategy document on gender equality to supersede the National Strategy 2006-2016 (10 w.d.).

Key deliverables:

Desk review of the Bridge training materials, proceedings and outcomes of the roundtable on WPP, analysis of Law on Political Parties and Law on Elections and other resources related to women’s political participation in Kazakhstan - by 11 September 2015;
Draft position paper on mechanisms to increase women’s participation, tailored to the context of Kazakhstan policy and legislation, including on feasibility of introduction of voluntary or mandatory party quotas and other non-quota measures -by 14 September 2015;
Consolidated position on increasing WPP and introduction of TSM in Kazakhstan - by 17 September 2015;
Report from the meeting with CSOs prepared; outcome document with CSO recommendations prepared and disseminated among relevant CSOs, feedback collected and finalized consolidated positon paper finalized - by 28 September 2015;
Agenda, presentation and other preparatory documents for meeting of stakeholders - by 1 October 2015 (TBC);
Submission of a report on the round table stakeholders - by 9 October 2015;
The outcome document with recommendations developed with feedback from UN Women MCO, CSOs and other stakeholders finalized - by 23 October 2015.

Management arrangements

The consultant will work under direct supervision of UN Women MCO Programme Specialist. The consultancy will require a home-based work with presence in Almaty, Kazakhstan, to facilitate a meeting with CSOs in September 2015 and roundtable with the stakeholders’ group in October 2015. Both events would be organized by and covered from the funds of UN Women MCO. Deliverables shall be prepared and submitted in Russian. Payment for services is subject to acceptance of deliverables by UN Women MCO Programme Specialist.

Competencies

Sound knowledge and understanding of gender equality and human rights agenda in Kazakhstan;
Ability to facilitate high-level discussions with participation of public officials and ability to undertake self-directed research and produce well-written analytical papers.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced degree in Gender Studies, Law, International Relations, Development Studies, Social Sciences, Public Policy, or other related field.

Experience:

Minimum 7 years of professional or combined professional and academic experience in the area of gender, development and human rights, with at least 3 years focusing on developing analytical or policy documents on gender equality, political participation and women’s leadership;
Previous experience working with international organizations, NGOs, UN organizations or other development assistance actors;
Experience in organization and/or facilitation of round table and workshops on gender equality and human rights issues.

Language:

Excellent writing and speaking skills in Russian, ability to read and understand written text in English;
Working level fluency in English and/or Kazakh is an advantage.

Evaluation process

The candidates should possess the minimum qualification criteria to be eligible for further technical evaluation. The following minimum qualification requirements shall apply to the perspective candidates, and will be assessed at the stage of application documents review, and short-listing (which is the first stage of the evaluation process):

Advanced degree in Gender Studies, Law, International Relations, Development Studies, Social Sciences, Public Policy, or other related field;
Minimum 7 years of professional or combined professional and academic experience in the area of gender and human rights, with at least 3 years focusing on developing policy documents on gender equality and women’s political participation;
Fluency in Russian and ability to read, understand and analyze documents in English.

The second stage of the evaluation will be conducted for the short-listed candidates and will be comprised of submission and cumulative evaluation of the evidence on relevant experience and expertise (as evidenced by record of previous experience and, where necessary, reference check, and interview), and of technical proposal.

Only candidates who meet all the mandatory requirements and were short-listed will qualify to the second stage of the selection process.

Criteria:

Advanced degree in Gender Studies, Development Studies, Social Sciences, Public Policy, or other related field – 20 points;
At least 7 years of professional or combined professional and academic experience in the area of gender and human rights, with at least 3 years focusing on developing policy documents on gender equality and women’s political participation – 50 points;
Experience in analysis of government regulations, laws and procedures on gender equality in developing countries and development of advocacy papers on WPP - 20 points;
Previous experience of work with NGOs, international NGOs, UN organizations or other development assistance actors - 20 points;
Sound knowledge and understanding of gender equality and human rights agenda in Kazakhstan - 20 points;
Experience in facilitation of round tables and workshops on gender equality and human rights issues - 40 points;
Excellent writing and speaking skills in Russian, ability to read and analyze documents in English - 20 points;
Working level fluency in English and/or Kazakh is an advantage – 20 points;
Ability to facilitate high-level discussions with participation of public officials and to undertake self-directed research and produce well-written analytical papers – 40 points.

Maximum total technical scoring: 250 points

At the second stage of evaluation up to 250 points will be scored to each candidate. Only candidates, who will accumulate at least 175 points of the maximum 250 points during the second stage of the selection process, will qualify to the third stage.

At the last (third) stage of evaluation, the financial offers of the technically qualified candidates will be requested and will be weighted in terms of selection points as per below formula: P = Fmin / Fc * 125 where P - points attributable to the given candidate, Fmin - lowest financial offer of all candidates qualified into the second stage, Fc – financial offer of the given candidate.

Financial offer should include all costs related to completion of the task under the current Terms of Reference: honorarium expectations per working day that should be inclusive of any expenses the candidate might incur in relation to above deliverables.

The successful candidates are those, who have accumulated the highest aggregated score (technical and financial scoring).

Application process:

All applications are accepted only online. All online applications must include (as an attachment) a sample of analytical paper on topics related to gender equality or women’s human rights, authored by the candidate (unpublished and unedited) and the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/~/media/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/P_11_form_UNwomen%20doc.doc

Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Only those candidates who will undergo the technical evaluation, will be requested to submit their financial proposals for the final stage of evaluation.

Notes:

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.