UN WOMEN Jobs - 59560- Consultant - Women Political Participation Facts a

Consultant - Women Political Participation Facts and Figures

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Home Based

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

10-Sep-2015

Application Deadline :

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

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

3 months

Languages Required :

Arabic English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

3 months

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

The under-representation of women constitutes a serious hindrance to the legitimacy of the contemporary democratic ideal. Thus, the promotion of women in decision-making positions is a fundamental area of action to enhance democratic governance. Women’s fair representation is also an obligation that should be fulfilled by the different Arab countries as it is underlined by international commitments, such as: the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which upholds women’s right to participate in public life, and the Beijing Platform for Action, which calls for removing barriers to equal participation. In the last decades, affirmative actions in the form of constitutional, legislative, electoral and political party quotas for parliamentary mandates were introduced in many countries worldwide as a way of levelling the playing field. Yet, many hurdles remain in the different parts of the world, including the Arab States, which still hamper women from realizing their public and political rights. UN Women’s programmes on Leadership and Political Participation are guided by a history of international commitments to women’s representation.

UN Women´s programme on leadership and political participation aims at empowering Arab States women as candidates and voters, focusing in particular on first time women and youth candidates. Towards these ends, capacity building programmes are provided to women candidates to support them to in running for elections. As well, and since a substantial part of the hurdles are related to the socio-cultural factors, awareness raising, advocacy and lobbying are offered to the different stakeholders, including political parties, electoral management bodies, government, CCSOs, commoners, to enhance civic education and knowledge of gender equality and women’s rights. UN Women complements the work done on the ground with working at the policy level as well through advocating for new legislations and constitutional reforms that are “gender responsive” and promotes women’s roles as voters, candidates, elected officials and civil service members.

An important barrier in ensuring greater support to women’s active public and political participation is the lack of access to credible primary data on women’s involvement in local and national decision-making processes from local councils, representation in unions, political parties. To this end, UN Women ROAS is seeking to collect, consolidate and review available data and information on women’s participation in local councils, unions, and political parties.

The consultant will be expected to collect, treat and analyse the below data and information to increase knowledge on women’s political participation in the region at the level of:

Women representation in local councils, especially at the decision making levels;
Women representation in syndicates/unions, especially in higher decision making levels;
Women representation in political parties as members and in decision making positions.

The consultant is responsible for covering all countries of the Arab States region.

Methodology

The information will be gathered through:

Desk-top reviews - to create benchmarks and document previous and current status of women public and political participation (including surveys, census, etc.);
Virtual interviews with key stakeholders in the region (bureau of statistics, women’s organisations, academia, etc.)

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Programme Manager, the consultant is expected to perform the following activities:

Prepare a work plan and methodological framework and tools for the research including means for data verification;
Collect, treat and analyse primary/secondary data on women’s public and political participation in the region;
Prepare a draft report of key findings, limitations and recommendations;
Develop country profiles on women’s participation in public and political decision-making at the local levels using the collected data;
Provide supplementary documentation;
Create an initial basis for an on-line library of resources comprised of existing documents and country profiles;
Collect and organize all background materials gathered during the process, including records of interviews conducted, and other resource materials;
Incorporate comments and inputs generated from UN Women's team concerning the draft report and submit the final versions of both (In English and Arabic).

Phase A – (first month):

Detailed work plan with associated milestones;
Methodological research tools and data collection including: the agreed set of guiding questions for use during interviews;
Mapping of key stakeholders.

Phase B – (second month):

Draft report of main findings;
Women in local councils country profiles.

Phase C – (third and last month)

Final report key findings, limitations and recommendations (in both languages Arabic and English);
Compilation of background materials on CD-ROM, including records of interviews conducted, and other resource materials;
A brief (one to two pages) report on personal reflections of the process, including suggestions how to overcome some of the barriers in collecting the data.

The Consultant will submit his/her progress report to the Programme Manager on monthly basis. A final and satisfactory (ready to print) report should be submitted before the end of the consultant's contract. It is the responsibility of the consultant to ensure confidentiality of all information gathered, read or analysed to UN Women's staff only.

Competencies

Core Values and Guiding Principles:

Integrity:

Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity:

Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff;
Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values:

Demonstrating / Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity.

Organizational Awareness:

Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Developing and Empowering People / Coaching and Mentoring:

Self-development, initiative-taking.

Working in Teams:

Acting as a team player and facilitating team work.

Communicating Information and Ideas:

Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively.

Self-management and Emotional intelligence:

Creating synergies through self-control.

Conflict Management / Negotiating and Resolving Disagreements:

Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning: Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others.

Functional Competencies:

Sound knowledge on political participation and gender issues at local level;
Academic and research experience of working on gender and politics;
Ability to work effectively and harmoniously with people from varied cultures and professional backgrounds;
Results based management skills;
Ability to produce well-written programme documents demonstrating analytical ability and communication skill.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Doctorate level degree in Political Science, International Relations, History, or relevant field and/or equivalent practical experience.

Experience:

Minimum seven years of work experience on quantitative and qualitative research and analysis in the region;
Demonstrated knowledge and experience in the design of a study protocol, tools, questionnaire, interview discussion guides, and data analysis;
Experience with the design and implementation of qualitative and quantitative research;
Sound knowledge of international standards on human rights, women’s rights and related instruments;
Demonstrated experience in conducting similar assignments;
Demonstrated knowledge in the thematic area of gender equality and/or women’s social, political or economic empowerment is a requirement;
Familiarity with local level structures in the Arab States region;
Experience working with multi-stakeholder organizations is essential: governments, CSOs, and the UN/ multilateral/bilateral institutions.

Language:

Fluency in oral and written Arabic and English is required.

Evaluation 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%.

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

Criteria Weight Technical: 70%:

Criteria - Minimum seven years of work experience on quantitative and qualitative research and analysis in the region; (7.5%);
Criteria - Demonstrated knowledge and experience in the design of a study protocol, tools, questionnaire, interview discussion guides, and data analysis; (12.5%);
Criteria - Experience with the design and implementation of qualitative and quantitative research; (12.5%);
Criteria - Sound knowledge of international standards on human rights, women’s rights and related instruments; (5%);
Criteria - Demonstrated experience in conducting similar assignments; (7.5%);
Criteria - Demonstrated knowledge in the thematic area of gender equality and/or women’s social, political or economic empowerment is a requirement; (7.5%);
Familiarity with local level structures in the Arab States region; (5%);
Criteria - Experience working with multi-stakeholder organizations is essential: governments, CSOs, and the UN/ multilateral/bilateral institutions. (5%);
Criteria - Fluency in oral and written Arabic and English is required (7.5%).

Financial - Lowest financial proposal: 30%.

Contract will be awarded to the technically qualified consultant who obtains the highest combines score (financial and technical). The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula:

(Lowest Bid Offered*)/ (Bid of the Consultant) x 30;
"Lowest Bid Offered" refers to the lowest price offered by Offerors scoring at least 49 points in technical evaluation.

Applications

Documents to be included when submitting the proposal:

Interested Individual Consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

Proposal
To be included as part of the proposal:

A cover letter with a brief presentation of your consultancy explaining your suitability for the work;
A brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work (limit to under 1500 words).
UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment.
Personal CV.

Financial proposal:

Proposed daily fee.

Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.