Antecedentes

The UN Security Council Resolution 1325 adopted by the Security Council in 2000 and subsequent Resolutions 1820, 1888, 1889, and 1960 (UNSCRs) represent the international law calling for increased roles and representation of women in formal peace processes, conflict resolution, and transitional governments, and prosecution of sexual violence as a weapon in war and conflict situations. More specifically these Resolutions established commitments and standards for:

• increasing women’s representation in managerial position in the security sector to improve their impact in security related decision making;
• encouraging women to become an accountable part of peace and security structures;
• ensuring women representation and participation in peacekeeping missions, peace talks and processes aimed to prevent and resolve conflicts;
• integration of gender aspects into curriculums and resources for trainings for the security staff at all levels;
• localizing commitments under UNSCRS in a form of local policies and plans with well-designed mechanisms for results-based implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

The 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 the key barriers towards acceleration of women, peace and security (WPS) promotion in the country is lack of knowledge and understanding of WPS and Security Council resolution 1325 and supporting resolutions adopted by the Security Council — 1820, 1888, 1889 and 1960 and its application in Kazakhstan. Therefore, UN Women MCO targets capacity building of the key stakeholders and encourage/engage them in policy discussions on WPS implementation in Kazakhstan.

The National Action Plans to enforce UNSCRs serve as a powerful tool for building consensus and ownership in support of UNSCRs - the NAPs are currently implemented in 25 countries of the world at present and in some countries NAPs are still being developed. Countries without high risks of insecurity and conflict are also among countries which have their NAPs 1325, including Canada, Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Austria, UK, etc. Their NAPs includes commitments to support gender mainstreaming into the peace keeping operations, improve gender balance at the security sector at the decision making level, and contribute to gender responsive peace building and conflict prevention within the development aid programming.

In 2015, the government of Kazakhstan has decided to include implementation of UNSCRs on WPS in the next Concept/Strategy on Gender Equality, planned to be developed in 2016. At the moment Kazakhstan has conditions and a solid background to implement the international obligations under “women, peace and security” framework, focusing on consolidation and coordination efforts to prevent conflicts in the region. The latter is supported by the clear-cut and consistent policy on conflict prevention and peace keeping in Central Asia including the initiatives in Afghanistan. 

Kazakhstan has experience in peace building processes, i.e., in 1992-1997 in Tajikistan, in 2005/2010 in Kyrgyzstan. Kazakhstan is an active member of the regional organizations whose mandates include peace building component such as OSCE, CSTO, SCO, CICA. From 2012 Kazakhstan works on the imitative of the setting up of the UN hub in Almaty to facilitate peace building in Afghanistan inter alia.  In 2014 Kazakhstan launched the official development assistance (ODA) programme which targets Central Asian least developed countries as the main aid recipients. It is worth to mention Kazakhstan’s contribution to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women as demonstration of the strong commitment towards gender equality.   Certain areas of concern in the region exist in relation to the security situation in the region with the  implication on women. Specifically, unresolved conflicts, current tensions around allocation of and access to water resources, illicit drug trafficking, radicalization of the society and organized crime. 

To support UN Women MCO activities related to the implementation of the international obligations under the WPS issue, UN Women MCO requires the service of International Consultant to work in a team with a National Consultant and in close cooperation with the UN Women MCO Programme Specialist for Kazakhstan, to support the WPS activity in Kazakhstan. 

Deberes y responsabilidades

The international consultant will undertake the following specific tasks:

• Conduct a desk review of the international legal and policy framework in relation to the WPS norms and standards relevant to Kazakhstan, its application in the non-conflict countries similar to Kazakhstan in order to form a contextual basis for delivering a training and roundtable, overview of the institutional context of Kazakhstan in relation to existing mechanisms to implement the UNSCRs on WPS, including national commitments on conflict prevention, peace-building and participation in decision making and existing roles and responsibilities of governmental bodies tasked with implementation;
• Identify entry points and priority areas for developing the national implementation strategy on UNSCRs on WPS based on  considering  the country’s settings;
• Prepare a draft position paper outlining recommendations for localization of UNSCRs on WPS and strategy for their implementation given Kazakhstan’s country context and existing institutional, policy and legal framework;
• With support of the national consultant, conduct a needs assessment of government officials within relevant government bodies related to UNSCR on WPS and civil society to adjust the workshop-training programme;
• Prepare training materials in Russian (translation from English will be arranged by UN Women, but only in case of minimum of 2 weeks advance submission) on implementation of the UNSCRs on WPS and other related issues, tailored to the context of Kazakhstan’s policy and legislation frameworks and based on the identified needs of the participants;
• Provide agenda, handouts and all other core training materials, including evaluation form, etc. to UN Women for photocopying, at least one week ahead of the actual dates of the training;
• Contribute to identification, selection and invitation of international experts in the field of implementation/localization of UNSCRs on WPS in non-post-conflict countries;
• Deliver back-to-back the 1-day training and facilitate discussion at the subsequent 1-day roundtable in Russian or in English (simultaneous translation will be arranged and covered by UN Women);
• Develop the outcome document, with set of detailed recommendations based on the discussion at the roundtable, with support of National Consultant collect feedback from  participants and finalize the outcome document;
• Produce the final report including the discussion findings and enclosing the materials generated within the given assignment. 

Deliverables and timelines (Deliverables/ Timeframe to provide deliverables/ Quantity of working days (maximum)

International experts in the field of implementation/localization of UNSCRs on WPS in non-post-conflict countries invited/5 November 2015/1 w.d.

Needs assessment of government officials within relevant government bodies related to UNSCR on WPS and civil society conducted/6 November 2015/2 w.d.

Draft position paper outlining recommendations for localization of UNSCRs on WPS and strategy for their implementation given Kazakhstan’s country context and existing institutional, policy and legal framework is endorsed by the UN Women MCO Programme Specialist on WPS/9 November 2015/8 w.d.

All core training materials, agenda and handouts for roundtable on implementation of UNSCRs on women peace and security into national plans and gender strategy tailored to the context of Kazakhstan’s policy and legislation frameworks and based on the identified needs of the participants prepared and submitted to UN Women for photocopying/12 November 2015/3 w.d.

1-day training and 1-day roundtable discussion facilitated/20 November 2015/2 w.d.

Outcome document, containing a set of detailed recommendations based on the discussion at the roundtable and feedback from  participants finalized and submitted to UN Women MCO/27 November 2015/5 w.d.

Final report reflecting the findings, feedback from participants and lessons learned, enclosing the materials generated within the given assignment submitted to UN Women MCO/30 November 2015/1 w.d.

Total: 22 w.d.

Management Arrangements:

The Consultant will work under direct supervision of UN Women MCO Programme Specialist for Kazakhstan.

The consultancy will require a home-based work with presence in Astana, Kazakhstan, to facilitate a roundtable/training/discussion in November 2015.

The event will be fully covered from the funds of UN Women MCO.

Deliverables shall be prepared and submitted in Russian or English.

Payment for services is subject to acceptance of deliverables by UN Women MCO Programme Specialist.

Evaluation process:

The candidates must possess the minimum required qualification criteria to be eligible for further technical evaluation. The minimum qualification criteria include Education, Experience and Language requirements.

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 University degree in Development Studies, Political Science, Law, Peace studies, or other related field;
• At least 10 years experience in development issues, gender equality, public policy analysis, or related fields;
• Minimum of 2 years of policy or legal analysis in the field of peace, conflict and security and women’s empowerment;
• A minimum of 3 years of experience in delivering trainings on women, peace and security, gender equality or women’s human rights;
• Prior experience facilitating high-level discussions with the variety of stakeholders including government, civil society, UN agencies and international organizations;
• Excellent writing and speaking skills 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 relevant experience and expertise (as evidenced by record on previous experience and, where necessary, reference check), 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.

The second stage of the evaluation will be comprised of the cumulative evaluation of the technical proposal and a financial proposal of the technically qualified candidates

Technical Evaluation Criteria:

Criteria / Maximum scores

• Advanced University degree in Development Studies, Political Science, Law, Peace studies, or other related field/ 30;
• At least 10 years experience in development issues, gender equality, public policy analysis, or related fields/ 50;
• Minimum of 2 years of policy or legal analysis in the field of peace, conflict and security and women’s empowerment/ 30;
• A minimum of 3 years of experience in delivering trainings on women, peace and security, gender equality or women’s human rights/ 30;
• Prior experience facilitating high-level discussions with the variety of stakeholders including government, civil society, UN agencies and international organizations/ 30;
• Previous experience working with international organizations, NGOs, UN organizations or other development assistance actors is an advantage/ 30;
• Excellent writing and speaking skills in English/ 30;
• Working knowledge of Russian/ 20.

Total: 250

Only candidates who reached at least 175 points will be qualified for financial evaluation and invited to submit the consolidated financial proposal.

Financial Evaluation :

At the final stage of evaluation, the financial offers of the technically qualified candidates will be weighted in terms of selection points as per below formula:

P = Fmin / Fc * 125

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, including all travel and visa related costs.

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

Payment will be disbursed in one instalment upon submission and approval of all deliverables and certification by the UN Women that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

Selection of the candidate:

Contract will be signed with the expert qualified on the results of two evaluation stages: technical evaluation and financial evaluation.

Competencias

Functional Competencies: 

• Sound knowledge of the international framework on women, peace and security as well as other relevant international norms and standards in relation to gender equality;
• Ability to facilitate high-level discussions with participation of public officials and ability to undertake self-directed research and produce well-written analytical papers;
• Understanding of women human rights agenda in Kazakhstan.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

• Advanced university degree in Development Studies, Political Science, Law, Peace studies, or other related field.

Experience:

• At least 10 years experience in development issues, gender equality, public policy analysis, or related fields and a minimum of 2 years of policy or legal analysis in the field of peace, conflict and security and women’s empowerment;
• A minimum of 3 years of experience in delivering trainings on women, peace and security, gender equality or women’s human rights;
• Prior experience facilitating high-level discussions with the variety of stakeholders including government, civil society, UN agencies and international organizations;
• Previous experience working with international organizations, NGOs, UN organizations or other development assistance actors is an advantage.

Language:

• Excellent writing and speaking skills in English;
• Working knowledge of Russian is an advantage.

Application process:

The interested candidates should submit the accurately filled in Personal History Form PHF11 (this PH11-form can be obtained at the following internet link: http://www.unwomen.org/~/media/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/P_11_form_UNwomen%20doc.doc.  

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

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.