UN WOMEN Jobs - 61790- UN Women - Gender and Tourism Consultant to Engage

UN Women - Gender and Tourism Consultant to Engage in the Gender Revision of the Draft National Strategy for Tourism (2016-2020)

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Home-based

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

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

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Max 7 (seven) working days over period December 10th 2015 until February 29th, 2016

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

Over the past years, UN Women has been providing support to national and local governments in strengthening democratic governance and advancing women’s rights through initiatives aimed at mainstreaming gender equality goals into policy, national planning, and budgeting. In the framework of the Programme of Cooperation 2012-2016 between the Government of Albania (GoA) and UN in Albania, UN Women has focused on supporting government efforts in integrating gender equality goals into the Government’s priorities and national strategies.

In 2014, the European Council granted candidate status to Albania. Albania’s accession process is guided by the Enlargement Package of the European Commission, IPA II (2014-2020): following the EU Sector Wide Approach, priority areas include Employment, Social Policy, Economic governance, Public finance administration, and Public administration reform.

Support to Economic Reform is among the priority areas of the European Commission’s Enlargement Package for Albania. Equality - in particular equality between women and men - and accountability to female and male citizens are guiding principles within the EU, specifically reflected in the EU Gender Equality acquis.

Currently, a number of national strategies are under development, addressing growth through increased competitiveness and employment. Among them is the “National Cross-cutting Strategy for Tourism 2014-2020”, with the strategic objective to develop sustainable tourism in Albania in order to contribute to economic development and employment generation, representing a clear opportunity for embedding key principles of gender equality and women’s equal opportunities into Albania’s development agenda.

In recent years, tourism has become one of the most important growing sectors of the Albanian economy and is considered by the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade, Enterprises and Tourism as one of the three main engines of national growth (along with FDI and Technical and Economic Development Zones). Despite the generally positive situation, some major challenges remain to be addressed by the sector. According to the (draft) National Strategy for Development and Integration 2015-2020, investments in tourism are envisaged to expand opportunities for business and the economy, to generated income, economic development, employment and self-employment opportunities, increase the well-being for all Albanian citizens, and to advance the country on its path to integration into European systems.

Women’s role in and contribution to the tourism sector has so far received limited attention. Yet, tourism provides a range of opportunities for women to engage in employment, entrepreneurship and thereby benefit from development and growth. In line with Albanian Gender Equality Law, the UN Beijing Platform for Action, and the EU Gender Equality acquis, which oblige government to engage in the mainstreaming of gender equality concerns gaols into all aspects of policy drafting, programming, budgeting, and implementation, gender considerations still need to become part of developing Albania’s tourism sector.

Through the recently established Gender Equality Facility in Albania Phase I (GEF), UN Women extends its support for gender mainstreaming to reform processes in EU IPA II structural and sector governance reform. This resounds in GEF Objective 1 “In line with EU Directives, sector strategies, and sector programmes including respective action plans are designed with Gender Sensitivity consistently”. In this context, UN Women/GEF has been invited by the Government of Albania and the EU Delegation in Tirana to provide technical expertise to ensure that gender sensitivity is established as a clear and explicit quality marker of Albania’s tourism strategy.

To support this process, UN Women is looking for an International Gender & Tourism Consultant to review and integrate priority gender equality elements into the draft the “National Cross-cutting Strategy for Tourism 2015-2020”.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the Team Leader of the UN Women Gender Equality Facility in Albania, the International Gender expert will engage in the gender-sensitive revision of (one or more) draft versions of the national tourism strategy, ensuring alignment with international and EU standards and best practice.

This will entail:

Scrutinizing draft versions of the “National Cross-cutting Strategy for Tourism 2015-2020” and its action plan and make relevant comments/suggestions and interventions wherever considered relevant in this document, in order to ensure that essential and major gender equality concerns, as well as indicators, are integrated and reflected, in line with international best practice and the EU’s and Albania’s legal and policy framework on gender equality;
Summarising and highlighting the key gender equality issues to be considered in Albania’s Tourism sector, and therefore to be reflected by respective reference and measures in the “National Cross-cutting Strategy for Tourism 2015-2020” and its action plan.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

Commented draft “National Cross-cutting Strategy for Tourism 2015-2020” and action plan (using the track changes function);
Separate Technical Note summarizing key recommendations and proposed measures, including reference to the relevant international documents, and legal and policy framework in support of recommendations and measures (short Technical Note, maximum 2 pages, bullet points encouraged).

Institutional Arrangement

The international consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Team Leader of the UN Women Gender Equality Facility Phase I project, who will also be responsible for approval/acceptance of outputs and performance evaluation. Ultimate oversight rests with the UN Women National Programme Officer.

The contractor is required to submit Deliverables in a highly responsive manner and as agreed with the Team Leader of the UN Women Gender Equality Facility.

Competencies

Core Values:

Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modelling UN values and ethical standards;
Demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

The expert should be willing and capable to effectively engage in distance work;
Strong inter-personal and communications (oral and written) skills;
Efficiency in a multi-tasking and multi-cultural environment;
Ability to work and adapt to a dynamic working environment, judgment, results-orientation; and
Ability to perform under pressure.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced academic degree (minimum Master’s or equivalent) in tourism studies or related filed, with specialization in Gender Studies and Development disciplines.

Experience:

At least 8 years of relevant professional experience in the tourism sector with a particular emphasis on gender mainstreaming in national policies, strategic planning, programme design, and reviewing and monitoring public policies;
Specific knowledge of and proven familiarity with essential international and EU guidance on gender equality in the tourism sector, particularly applicable in the accession and enlargement context, and related expertise in goal setting and defining relevant indicators;
Experience with similar/related assignments in other countries; previous experience in the South-East Europe, MENA Region, or Albania is an asset;

Language:

Proficiency in written and spoken English, including gender and policy terminology; and excellent drafting and presentation skills.

Evaluation of Applicants

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal as per which maximum obtainable points is 100 out of which 70 points go for technical evaluation and 30 points for financial proposal.

Contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
Having received the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

Applications will be assessed according to the following technical criteria:

Advanced academic degree (minimum Master’s or equivalent) in tourism studies or related fields, with specialization in Gender Studies and Development disciplines (weight 20, max. points 20);
At least 8 years of international experience in the tourism sector with a particular emphasis on gender mainstreaming in national policies, strategic planning, programme design, and reviewing and monitoring public policies; (weight 20, max. points 20);
At least 6 years of engagement in consultancy work in the tourism sector, including specific knowledge of applying essential EU policy guidance in the tourism sector in the accession and enlargement context (weight 20, max. points 20);
Experience with similar/related assignments in other countries, preferably in South-East Europe, the MENA Region, or in Albania (weight 10, max. points 10);

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation. For more detailed information on the technical criteria please refer to the link ref. 1496 http://www.undp.org.rs/jobs_new.html.

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. The calculation formula applied 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.

Recommended Presentation of Offer

Qualified and interested candidates are asked to submit their application no later than 28th September 2015.

Applications should include:

Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UN Women;
Brief description explaining why the individual considers her/himself as the most suitable for the assignment;
P11 including past experience in similar assignments. Can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment;
Financial Proposal specifying the fee day amount in US Dollar for the tasks specified in this announcement.

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

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

Financial Proposal specifying a daily fee amount in US Dollars for the tasks specified in this announcement.

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, and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services).

Payment will be made as per the payment schedule in the contract upon (i) satisfactory completion of task; and (ii) provision of deliverables specified in the ToRs, and (iii) submission of the respective timesheet and invoice.