Background

UN Women (UNW), 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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, the UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women plays an innovative and catalytic role in Palestine since its inception in 1997 (as UNIFEM). UN Women in the State of Palestine focuses its activities on one overarching goal, namely to support the implementation at the national level of existing international commitments to advance gender equality in line with the national priorities. In support of this goal and thoroughly taking into consideration the specificities of the oPt context, UN Women concentrates its efforts and interventions toward the realization of following strategic goals: Engendering governance, peace and security; Supporting women's economic security and rights; and Promoting women’s rights and protection against violence.

UN Women is currently working within the framework of its 2014-2016 Strategic Note which is aligned with national priorities. Combating violence against women and providing services for women and girls survivors of violence in accordance with international standards is a main focus area for UN Women in Palestine.  To that extent, UN Women is implementing a project on Support to Sustainable Protection And Empowerment Services For Women Victims and Survivors Of Violence with a main component of supporting shelters in Palestine to prepare women residents and beneficiaries both psychologically and socio-economically to reintegrate back into the community. 

The project which is funded by the Government of Spain intends to intervene in the sensitive stage of reintegration when women are exposed to society's discrimination and prejudice, which render them vulnerable. It intends to offer combined socio-economic empowerment services, support to accessing the labour market, tailored psychological support and specialized family counselling. The activation of the foreseen services, systems and providing the needed capacity building interventions and their complementarity with the shelters’ services, will enable the creation of a virtuous mechanism through which women exiting from violence will be supported to find an adequate response to her needs of protection and reintegration through relevant and available services.

The main objectives are:

  1. long-term protection and well-being of women victims and survivors of violence is enhanced; and
  2. Socio-economic empowerment of women victims and survivors of violence is enhanced.

Building on the experience and lessons learned of anti-violence shelters; specifically based on the findings and recommendations of the “Evaluation of Mehwar Centre Policies and Procedures” (2011) and within the framework of the National Strategy to Combat Violence Against Women (2011-2019)  and the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) for the State of Palestine (2014-2016) , the project intends to address gaps in capacity, systems and service delivery regarding the rehabilitation and reintegration of women victims of violence who leave the anti-violence centers / shelters and seek long-term safety, growth in social status and sustainable socio-economic empowerment. Shelters in Palestine aims to build the preliminary conditions of justice and safety to allow women victims of violence to see and pursue a future free from violence. The experience of over 350 cases of women sheltered at Mehwar since its opening in 2007 demonstrated that reintegration into society faces numerous challenges, whether women are reintegrated inside or outside the family household. While building a completely independent life away from the family is extremely difficult, returning to the family without the possibility to count on enhanced life and vocational skills, a support network and a dignified income, also puts women at high risk of re-victimization.

Within this framework, UN Women is willing to hire an international expert to draft a set of guidelines on reintegration for sheltered women in the State of Palestine, based on national and international experiences in developing and applying reintegration guidelines.

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall purpose of the guidelines is to improve the support that shelters provide women in the state of Palestine to reintegrate inside or outside the family household. It is expected that the guidelines will review and analyze the current approaches to reintegration services and provide targeted recommendations for different stakeholders.

The guidelines will be used by the government and/or NGO run shelters in the State of Palestine, Ministry of Social Affairs, UN Women and other partners to improve evidence based programming and policy making related to reintegration services.

Under the overall guidance of UN Women Special Representative, the direct supervision of the Women Human Rights Projects Manager, and working in close cooperation and coordination with UNW program Coordinator and the National Consultant, the main duties and responsibilities of the Consultant are the following:

  • Based on a consultative and participatory process with all stakeholders, lead the drafting of a set of guidelines on reintegration for sheltered women in the State of Palestine, based on national and international experiences in developing and applying reintegration guidelines;
  • Establish the peer review group of the Guidelines comprising of UN Women, line ministries and national partners, as relevant and applicable, and liaise regularly with the key partners and stakeholders, as needed;
  • Develop and deliver a skype presentation/ PowerPoint on the draft guidelines for the peer review group. This should include background information, good practice and standards related to reintegration services in Palestine, the region and globally;
  • Deliver a sensitization workshop and support the capacity building of key project staff within UN Women and national (government/NGO) partners on applying the reintegration guidelines;
  • Work closely and conduct regular meetings with UN Women’s WHR Projects manager, associate and national consultant for the successful implementation and completion of this assignment including providing regular updates on the progress of the assignment;
  • Draft the guidelines through applying a participatory and consultative process with all relevant stakeholders and share with the peer review for feedback. Incorporate the received feedback into the final Draft of the Guidelines; and
  • Draft the final Guidelines, to include at a minimum; executive Summary, guidelines for key institutional actors and relevant stakeholders in Palestine, recommendations, all annexes including background information, good practice and standards at the national/international levels, lists of people interviewed and interviews, meetings results, etc.

Key Deliverables:

  • Draft Guidelines on reintegration for sheltered women, within two months from starting the assignment; and
  • Final Guidelines based on received feedback, incorporating comments from the peer review group, within 4 months from starting the assignment.

It is expected that the consultant will prepare a work-plan for the assignment within one week upon signing the assignment’s contract with UN Women.

All deliverables must be submitted in English. 

Timeframe:

The assignment is expected to start in May 2016 and to be finalized by August 2016.

Competencies

Core Values/Guidling 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; and
  • Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity. 

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values:

  • Demonstrating / safeguarding ethics and integrity.

Organizational Awarerness:

  • Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Developing and Empowering People / Coaching and Mentoring:

  • Initiative-taking; coaching and mentoring ability.

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.

Conflict Management / Negotiating and Resolving Disagreements:

  • Managing conflict.

Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning:

  • Learning and sharing knowledge and encouraging the learning of others.

Functional Competencies:

  • Sound knowledge of international standards on women rights;
  • Ability to liaise with a variety of stakeholders and partners, including government and international organizations;
  • Strong analytical, dialogue, consultation and communication skills;
  • Maturity, ability to take decisions under pressure and ability to deal with matters that are politically and culturally sensitive;
  • Ability to work as a member of a team;
  • Demonstrated experience in timely delivering of quality products, including knowledge products, and in contributing to complex processes within the women’s protection area of work;
  • Demonstrated coordination, facilitation and presentation skills;
  • Results oriented, flexible and problem solving skills; and
  • Extensive knowledge and understanding of International Frameworks related to gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Advanced degree in Social Sciences, Gender, or other related field.

Experience:

  • Relevant experience of a minimum of 5 years in working on violence against women issues;
  • Proven experience of a minimum of 3 years with shelter services; specifically in developing re-integration services guidelines in other countries in the Arab region and/or globally;
  • Proven experience in developing quality knowledge products; including manuals, strategic documents, guidelines and/or project proposals (at least 2 cases); and
  • Previous professional experience within the UN system or related field of work will be an asset.

Laguage:

  • Fluency (both oral and written) in English.

Application procedure:

This SSA modality is governed by UN Women General Terms and Conditions. UN Women will only be able to respond to applicants who meet the minimum requirements.

Candidates should clearly indicate how they meet the above mentioned criteria in their applications.

The following documents should be submitted as part of the application. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials:

Candidates should have the ability to quickly submit degree certificates, medical certification (of good health) expression of Interest (EoI) and sample of previous work should they be short-listed in consideration of this consultancy.

Evaluation of applicants:

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications mentioned above; and financial proposal. A contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer receives the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria. Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 50 points in the technical evaluation will be considered for financial evaluation.

Technical Evaluation (70%) – max. 70 points:

  • Relevant education: 10 points;
  • Relevant experience of a minimum of 5 years in working on violence against women issues 20 points;
  • Proven experience of a minimum of 3 years with shelter services; specifically in developing re-integration services guidelines in other countries in the Arab region and/or globally 15 points;
  • Proven experience in developing quality knowledge products; including manuals, strategic documents, guidelines and/or project proposals (at least 2 cases) 20 points; and
  • Previous professional experience within the UN system or related field of work will be an asset; 5 points.

Financial Evaluation (30%) – max. 30 points:

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. A suggested formula is as follows:

p = 30 (µ/z)

Using the following values:

  • p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
  • µ = price of the lowest priced proposal
  • z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Only long-listed candidates will be contacted.