Background

UN Women Eastern Europe and Central Asia Sub-Regional Office starts implementation of the project aimed at establishment of the Regional GRB Center of Excellence for EECA region.
The Center will serve as the Regional GRB Hub to create and disseminate GRB knowledge, enhance GRB teaching capacity and provide training and retraining for all levels government officials in EECA countries to enable them to apply gender responsive planning and budgeting in their specific sectors. The project will cover the following countries: Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Ukraine.

Within the project first stage the GRB training module should be developed to ensure formation of a group of master-trainers on GRB, who will be equipped with ready-to-use GRB tools to provide high quality educational services to government officials and civil society organizations in EECA countries. The work at the first stage will be focused on: GRB TOT methodology elaboration and adoption to EECA countries realities; conducting GRB TOTs; work with national academies for civil servants for elaborating GRB curricula for civil servants; tracking and assisting civil servants in applying GRB knowledge in their sectors; setting up post-training Student-Center feedback mechanism within the GRB Help-Desk: studying lessons learnt to adjust/improve GRB teaching methodology.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the Programme Specialist in UN Women Sub-regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, in close collaboration with the National Project Coordinator in the Russian Federation, and national project experts the International Consultant will be responsible for the implementation of the following tasks:

• Develop the GRB TOT  module including training materials and trainers’ handbook based on:

1. Review global and EECA countries GRB relevant resource materials and existing gender analysis in defined priority sectors, including gender analysis of sectoral budgets to incorporate them into the TOT module;
2. Based on the review develop the GRB TOT module, containing training materials/ handouts and trainers handbook;
3. Prepare case studies with examples of how the budgeting process, including gender analysis of budgets in participating countries for further incorporation into the GRB training module;

• Deliver the GRB TOT together with the national / international resource persons and team of national trainers and moderators;
• Prepare a report on the results of the TOT, including on the quality of educational and training materials as well as the methods of presenting the material during the TOT, the quality and effectiveness of lecture and interactive modes of study, drafting of a follow-up action plan;
• Review the TORs for the trainers who will conduct TOT follow up actions, and adjust them, if required;
• Undertake assessment of the capacity of GRB CoE trainers and external experts who will further be involved in the learning process on GRB (participating countries);
• Conduct analysis of the trainers’ action plan for the preparation of the workshop for civil servants from the EECA countries, including an assessment of training curriculum in participating countries.

UN Women is entitled to all materials developed within the framework of the given assignment. The International Consultant acknowledges and agrees that such products, documents and other materials constitute works made for UN Women.

Deliverables and Timeframe:

The timeframe for the work of the International Consultant (methodological part) is tentatively planned within November 2011 – April 2012.

The following deliverables should be at place, i.e.

Deliverable 1

• Review of country GRB relevant resource materials and existing gender analysis in defined priority sectors in the participating countries, including gender analysis of sectoral budgets conducted and incorporated into the TOT module;
• Based on the review the GRB TOT module, including training materials/ handouts and trainers handbook developed;
• Case studies with examples of how the budgeting process, including gender analysis of budgets in participating countries prepared and incorporated into the GRB training module;
• GRB ToT module including training materials and trainers’ handbook developed.

Timeframe - 15 working days  by 1 March 2012.

Deliverable 2

• GRB TOT conducted  together with the resource person and team of national trainer and moderator

Timeframe - 5 working days  by 20 March 2012.

Deliverable 3

• Report on the results of the TOT, including on the quality of educational and training materials as well as the methods of presenting the material during the TOT, the quality and effectiveness of lectures and interactive modes of study, drafting of a follow-up action plan;
• The TORs for the trainers who will conduct TOT follow up  actions, reviewed and adjusted;
• Assessment of the capacity of GRB CoE trainers and external experts who will further be involved in the learning process on GRB (participating countries) undertaken; 
• Analysis of the trainers’ action plan for the preparation of the workshop for civil servants from the EECA countries, including an assessment of the ToT curriculum is conducted.

Timeframe - 6 working days by 10 April 2012.

Evaluation procedure:

UN Women applies fair and transparent selection process that takes into account the competencies/skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals. The contract shall be awarded to the expert who is the most technically qualified and provides the best value for money.

Technical evaluation criteria:

Nr. / Criteria / Maximum score

1. MS in Economics, Political Economy or related field - 30;
2. Strong knowledge of GRB approaches and human rights - 30;
3. At least 3-years experience of working in the UN system - 30;
4. Proved experience of working in the higher education system - 40;
5. Presence of the publications/ researches/training materials in the field of political economy, women’s rights etc. - 20;
6. Ability to undertake analytical work, prepare narrative reports and develop training materials - 40;
7. Advanced knowledge of the regional context and understanding of the EECA specific towards gender issues - 25;
8. Proficiency in English, Russian is an asset - 35.

Maximum total technical scoring: 250

Only candidates who reached at least 175 points will be qualified for financial evaluation.

Evaluation of proposals:

Evaluation of submitted offers will be done based on the following formula:  B = T + (Y/C)*X,

where
T – is the total technical score awarded to the evaluated proposal (only to those proposals that pass 70% of technical evaluation);
C – is the price of the evaluated proposal; and
Y – is the lowest of all evaluated proposal prices among responsive proposals.
X – is the maximum financial points obtainable (financial part is 30%, while technical is 70%, meaning that if the total technical points are 250 (70%), the financial figure should be 107 (30%).

Winning candidate:

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

Submission package:

• Duly filled Personal History Form PHF11/CV;
• Letter of Intent;
• Financial proposal*.

*Each applicant will be required to submit an aggregated financial offer (“aggregated financial offer” is the total sum of all financial claims of the candidate for accomplishment of the task).

Management Arrangements:

The International Consultant will be working under the direct supervision of the programme specialist of the UN Women Sub-Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, overall guidance and supervision of UN Women Programme Coordinator in the Russian Federation and in cooperation with national experts working under the project.

Competencies

• Strong understanding of  human rights, GRB, gender equality and gender mainstreaming concepts and how to apply these tools;
• Ability to undertake analytical work, prepare narrative reports and develop training materials;
• Familiarization with UN human rights instruments and the national policy in this field;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• MS in Economics, Political Economy or related filed.

Work experience:

• Proved experience of working in adult learning and higher education system;
• Presence of the publications/ researches/training materials in the field of political economy, women’s rights etc. Experience in GRB training is an asset;
• Knowledge of the regional context and understanding of gender and development issues.

Languages:

• Proficiency in English, Russian is an asset.

UN Women 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.

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.

All online applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from  http://www.unwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/P_11_form_UNwomen.doc).
Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.