Antecedentes

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.

All independent Caribbean have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). UN Women has supported countries in the region in implementing the principles of substantive equality and non-discrimination especially as it pertains to access to justice.

In 2011, the UN Women flagship publication: Progress of the World’s Women focused on access to justice: “In Pursuit of Justice”. Based in Barbados the UN Women Multi-Caribbean Office Caribbean has had a particular focus on access to justice, with close working relationships with the OECS Secretariat on the Family Law and Domestic Violence Reform project, and with the judiciaries of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Belize Supreme Court and the Guyana Supreme Court on judicial sensitisation on gender and the law.

In relation to the OECS Family Law and Domestic Violence Reform Project, UN Women (then UNIFEM) led the technical review process for draft model legislation; and is supporting the process of Family Court establishment in the OECS.  With the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, UN Women led the development and delivery of judicial sensitization for judges and magistrates in 2011-2012 and currently is working with the Belize Supreme Court and the Guyana Supreme Court on judicial sensitisation on gender and the law. UN Women has also been requested to support gender mainstreaming in the implementation of the JURIST project. Throughout these projects UN Women established strong relationships with regional justice institutions, judicial officers and training institutes.

Across the Caribbean region there have been significant achievements in eliminating discrimination embedded in laws and policies. For the most part, member states of CARICOM have enshrined gender equality in their constitutional obligations and sex is a prohibited basis of discrimination. Yet gender inequality persists in the culture and in the practices of both state and non-state actors. Women continue to experience inequality in the labour market, with higher unemployment levels despite educational advancements; suffer pay inequity; are segmented in the lowest paying jobs; have very limited participation in elective parliamentary processes; carry the disproportionate burden of care for children and experience high levels of gender-based violence.

Gender disparities, even when not caused by exclusion or discriminatory treatment, can also be harmful for men and boys as dominant notions of masculinity can contribute to higher levels of educational under-achievement, vulnerability to involvement in the informal and illegal economy and criminal or counter-culture activity.

In several sociological and anthropological studies undertaken on courts in the Caribbean, deficits such as unpredictability in the application of legal principles, delay and unresponsiveness to the social realities of litigants before the court have been highlighted. Where the studies have looked at issues such as domestic violence and family law, (in particular child support), what is asserted is that these challenges are nuanced by gender both in causative or contributing factors as well as in outcomes. Gender stereotypes about women’s and men’s roles influence judicial decision-making and perpetuate women’s marginalisation and constraining gender roles for men even where this may not be consciously understood by the judicial decision maker.

In 2015 the CEDAW Committee shared General recommendation 33 on Women’s to Justice. The General Recommendation speaks to how to address stereotyping and gender bias in the justice system, education and awareness raising, justifiability, availability, accessibility, good-quality, provision of remedies and accountability of justice systems and recommendations for specific areas of law including constitutional law.

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) – Government of Canada/Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) supported Judicial Reform and Institutional Strengthening (JURIST) Programme seeks to improve court administration and the administration of justice by strengthening the ability of the courts and the judiciary to resolve cases effectively and fairly in the Caribbean region. Further, the CCJ and Government of Canada are seeking to integrate key gender equality principles in the implementation of the JURIST Project. To this end, UN Women MCO-Caribbean will support CCJ in promoting improved, gender-responsive court administration and justice, as well as governments and CSOs in the region with implementation of gender responsive access to justice.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Under the overall supervision of the UN Women MCO - Caribbean Representative and the direct supervision of the Deputy Representative the consultant will be contracted to complete the following:

• Develop Caribbean Specific CEDAW Legislative Indicators to act as baseline for measuring Court response and impact of JURIST Project and Baseline on all Gender Sensitive Awareness Trainings conducted for judicial officers;
• Update CEDAW Made Easy Booklet with section on General recommendations 19 and 33;
• Support the development of at least 2 tools (such as infographics) on women’s access to justice;
• Support the development and facilitation of gender equality, and gender analysis and monitoring and evaluation training for JURIST and CCJ staff and opportunities for further training;
• Develop gender responsive monitoring and evaluation baselines for the JURIST project;
• Lead Baseline Assessment of Sexual Offense policies, legislation, protocols, systems/structures developed in the region to inform Advisory Committee on the development of Guidelines on sexual offences cases (including children);
• Coordinate guide to enhance data management systems to strengthen the collection, compilation, analysis and dissemination of gender disaggregated data on court use and decisions;
• Support gender analysis capacity needs assessment of key actors supporting the judicial process at the national and regional levels; and
• Support the formulation of gender-based indicators of court performance.

Competencias

Core Values / Guiding Principles:

Integrity and Fairness:

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

Professionalism:

• Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work;
• Conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results.

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:

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

Core Competencies:

Work in teams:

• Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Communicating and Information Sharing:

• Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication;

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:

• Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behaviour towards others.

Conflict management:

• Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

• Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

• A law degree is essential;
• An additional undergraduate or post graduate degree in International Development, Gender, Human Rights, Public Administration or other related Social Sciences would be an asset.

Experience:

• Minimum 3 years relevant experience at the national or international level working with development projects providing hands-on experience in design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects; and supporting relationships among international organization and national governments, in the field of human rights and access to justice;
• Experience with CEDAW indicators;
• Gender and Development experience in the areas of ending violence against women and girls considered a strong asset;
• Prior experience in the UN System and the Region will be an asset.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required.

Official travel and other requisites:

• If not based in Trinidad and Tobago, the Consultant will be expected to travel to Trinidad and Tobago, at least twice, and if not based in Barbados the consultant will be expected to travel to Barbados at least once.

Deliverables:

Specific activities and deliverables:

• Caribbean Specific CEDAW Legislative Indicators;
• Updated CEDAW Made Easy Booklet with section on General recommendations 19 and 33;
• At least 2 tools (such as infographics) on women’s access to justice ;
• Gender equality, and gender analysis and monitoring and evaluation training for JURIST and CCJ staff and opportunities for further training;
• Gender responsive monitoring and evaluation baselines for the JURIST project;
• Baseline Assessment of Sexual Offense policies, legislation, protocols, systems/structures developed in the region to inform Advisory Committee on the development of Guidelines on sexual offences cases (including children);
• Guide on gender responsive data management for courts;
• Capacity needs assessment of key actors supporting the judicial process at the national and regional levels; and
• Gender-based indicators of court performance.

Remuneration:

• Remuneration will be paid upon receipt of the invoice for each completed deliverable.

Hardware, software, and communication:

• The consultant must be equipped with a portable computers (laptops). The organization must be reasonably accessible by email and telephone (preferably mobile). The use of reliable, internet-based communication (Skype or equivalent) is required.

Timeframes and Institutional Arrangements:

• The consultant will be engaged for a maximum of 60 working days from 21 September 2015 –   25 March 2016. The consultancy will be home-based.

Evaluation Procedure

The evaluation will follow the subsequent procedure:

Stage 1: Preliminary examination

Prior to the detailed evaluation of each offer UN Women will undertake a preliminary examination of the offers in order to  determine whether the offers meet the administrative requirements.  UN Women may reject any offer during the preliminary examination which does not comply with the requirements set out in this solicitation document, without further consultation with the bidder.

Offers will not be considered for further evaluation in cases where:

• They are incomplete (i.e. does not include all required data and/or documents as specified);
• The validity of the offer is not in accordance with the requirements;
• The technical and financial documents have not been submitted;
• If the bidder does not accept the correction of arithmetical errors;
• Offers which are incomplete frivolous, clearly not compatible, or contain material deviations from or reservations to the terms of the contract, may in UN Women´s absolute discretion, be rejected or excluded from further consideration at any time during the evaluation, including after preliminary evaluation.

Stage 2: Technical Evaluation

The candidates must possess minimum qualification criteria to be eligible for further technical evaluation.

Technical evaluation will be as follows:

• A  Law Degree. (6 points);
• At least 3 years relevant experience at the national or international level working with development projects providing hands-on experience in implementing and supporting relationships among international organization and national governments, in the field of access to justice (14 points);
• Specific experience working in the areas of human rights (14 points);
• In-depth knowledge of the inter-relatedness of gender and access to justice (14 points);
• Experience in CEDAW (14 points); and
• Experience in programme management and coordination (8 points).

Maximum total technical score amounts to 70 points. Only candidates who have passed over the minimum qualification criteria and have accumulated at least 49 points out of maximum 70 under technical evaluation will qualify for the next stage i.e. evaluation of their financial proposals.

Stage 3: Financial Evaluation:

• Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F 30;
• S – score received on financial evaluation;
• Fmin – the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round;
• F – financial offer under consideration.

The winning candidate will be the candidate, who has accumulated the highest aggregated score (technical score + financial score).

 How To Apply:

A complete application consists of:

• Detailed curriculum vitae including a description of main achievements;
• Dully filled Personal History Form PHF11 that can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment;
• Financial Proposals (in USD) - 1 proposal identifying Lump sum financial proposal/offer, aggregated including fee per day and a calculation of total fee by assessing how many days each deliverable will take to complete.

Only Short listed candidates will be contacted.

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

The consultant contracted will be required to sign a statement of confidentiality and freedom from any conflict of interest with potential future contractors with respect to the TORs and work that they will be delivering.