Background

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.

Since 2001, UN Women (UNIFEM) has been providing continues support to partners in Georgia to increase meaningful participation of women in peace and security processes. Under the current country programme and in line with UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2021-2025, UN Women supports the government to develop and implement National Action Plans for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security #1325 (2000) et al. and to achieve targets of the nationalized SDG 5 and 16.

UN Women, with generous support of the UK Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) is implementing a project “Accelerating implementation of Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Georgia” aimed at supporting full implementation of WPS agenda in Georgia, including through increased women’s meaningful and representative participation in conflict prevention and peacebuilding at the community and national level, as well as increased accountability of the government to deliver WPS commitments.

Security has in the past often been narrowly defined within the terms of external and internal state security. The concept is nowadays understood in a broader manner, using the security needs of humans as a starting point – an approach enshrined in the concept of “human security” adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 66/290 in 2012. This further ensures a broader, more inclusive meaning - calling for an inclusive approach to laws, institutions, citizenship, and the state, where security is understood from the diverse security needs of all citizens, including the differentiate security needs of women and girls. Human security advocates nonviolence as its core methodology and opposes all discrimination and focuses on the excluded sectors of societies (Chenoy 2009:45). Further, human security is a tool for peace building, and when used in areas of armed conflict it ensures a way forward to sustained peace (Chenoy, 2009:45).

Therefore, in conflict affected contexts such as Georgia, with 288 455 internally displaced people, and around 46,620 conflict-affected population living in areas adjacent to the Administrative Boundary Lines with Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, Georgia it is of utmost importance that the concept of human security is applied and differentiate human security needs of women and girls are addressed adequately. To this reason, within the framework of the mentioned project, UN Women plans to hire international and local consultants to conduct the study on human security in Georgia exploring the notion of human security from a gender lens, revealing its gender dimensions, namely how security is understood within the context of protracted conflicts in Georgia, and determining levels of insecurity (that can come from within the home, the community and the state), as well as how it varies between women and men and its cross-cutting issues.

The study shall allow for (but not limited to) improved understanding of:

  • If and how human security is understood within the context of Georgia at the level of policy and practice (concept of state security and security provision: the extent to which security providers are capable of delivering human-centered and gender-specific security);
  • How the security needs of individuals and specific groups such as women and girls are addressed, through the analysis and identification of specific and differentiate security needs and challenges;
  • The best strategies for Georgia to adopt and deliver human-centered and gender-specific human security.
  • The potential of human security approach to transform Georgia’s protracted conflicts and its contribution to peace building.

The study will also provide recommendations for human-centered security approaches to be implemented in the country to support the adoption of a gendered approach to security, conflict, and post-conflict.

The target audience of the study findings and recommendations are relevant government stakeholders, partners from development sector and academia working on peace and confidence building, security and conflict transformation in Georgia, and civil society sector at large.

It is expected that the international and local consultants will study human security concept from a gender lens, how it is understood and linked with security needs of the IDPs and conflict-affected women and girls in particular.

The national consultant will be guided by and is expected to work in a team with international consultant to be also hired by the UN Women with regards to conduct the mentioned study.

Duties and Responsibilities

Duties and responsibilities of the National Consultant are:

  • To elaborate a study methodology and key approaches including the stages of the study, data collection (qualitative methods) and analysis; 
  • In coordination with the International Consultant to conduct the desk review of all relevant studies and data, as well as human security concepts, policies, programmes, and initiatives - namely, how these security measures influence women and girls. The desk review should inform the study methodology as well as its final recommendations;
  • To plan and conduct key informant interviews (government, civil society, experts from academia, development partners) in cooperation with the International Consultant to fill in the gaps identified through the desk review;
  • To develop study findings, and elaborate the recommendations on gender dimensions of human security in Georgia and how it impacts men and women, boys and girls in different ways;
  • To validate the study findings along with the draft list of recommendations with all key stakeholders and come up with agreed final set of recommendations for relevant stakeholders;
  • At all times, while implementing duties and responsibilities spelled out in this ToR work in a team with and support International Consultant as a resource person to ensure high quality of all deliverables;  
  • To submit final narrative report of the study (the body of the text not exceeding 60 pages) in English.

Deliverables:

  • A detailed study work plan and study methodology with timelines (1 working day) – by July 20, 2021.
  • In cooperation with the International Consultant conduct a desk review of human security concept, all key resources for the purposes of the analysis (2 working days) - by July 30, 2021.
  • Data collected through qualitative methods (8 working days) – by September 6, 2021.
  • Data analyzed and validated; initial study report drafted including the list of recommendations in cooperation with the International Consultant (9 working days) – by September 17, 2021.
  • Presentation of preliminary findings of the study and package of recommendations for relevant stakeholders (1 working day) - by September 24, 2021.
  • Final study report submitted (in English) (4 working days), by September 30, 2021.

Competencies

Core Values:

  • Respect for Diversity
  • Integrity
  • Professionalism

Core Competencies:

  • Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
  • Accountability
  • Creative Problem Solving
  • Effective Communication
  • Inclusive Collaboration
  • Stakeholder Engagement
  • Leading by Example

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Master’s degree in Gender/Women’s Studies, Social Sciences, Development Studies, Peace and Security studies, Human Rights, Sociology, or related field

Experience: 

  • A minimum of three years of experience of research in the field of peace, conflict, security, and/or gender studies
  • Sound knowledge and understanding of protracted conflicts, gender, peace and security context in Georgia
  • At least 1 year of working experience on human rights, peace, conflict, and security related issues

Language:

  • Fluency in English and Georgian

Evaluation Procedure:

The candidates will be evaluated in three stages: according to minimum qualification criteria; technical and financial evaluation.

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

  • Master’s degree in Gender/Women’s Studies, Social Sciences, Development Studies, Peace and Security studies, Human Rights, Sociology, or related field
  • A minimum of three years of experience of research in the field of peace, conflict, security, and/or gender studies
  • Fluency in English and Georgian

The candidates will be evaluated in three stages: according to minimum qualification criteria followed by technical and financial evaluation.

Technical evaluation criteria (including minimum qualifications):

  • Master’s degree in Gender/Women’s Studies, Social Sciences, Development Studies, Peace and Security studies, Human Rights, Sociology, or related field (max 60 points)
  • A minimum of three years of experience of research in the field of peace, conflict, security, and/or gender studies (max 100 points)
  • Sound knowledge and understanding of protracted conflicts, gender, peace, and security context in Georgia (max 100 points)
  • At least 1 year of working experience on human rights, peace, conflict, and security related issues (max 70 points)
  • Fluency in English and Georgian (max 20 points)

Maximum total technical score amounts to 350 points. Only candidates who have passed over the minimum qualification criteria and have accumulated at least 245 points out of maximum 350 under technical evaluation will qualify for the next stage i.e., evaluation of their financial proposals.

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 150

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 scoring + financial scoring).

Management arrangements:

The Consultant will work under the overall supervision and guidance of UN Women Country and/or Deputy Country Representative in Georgia and in collaboration and day to day management of UN Women WPS Project Analyst.

Financial arrangements:

Payment will be disbursed upon submission and approval of deliverables and certification by UN Women Component Manager that the services have been satisfactorily performed as specified below:

  • Deliverable 1, 2, 3 (11 working days) – 44%
  • Deliverables 4, 5, 6 (14 working days) – 54%

Application submission package:

*The applicants are required to submit an aggregated financial offer: “aggregated financial offer” is the total sum of all financial claims of the candidate for accomplishment of all tasks spelled out in this ToR. Travel costs (ticket, DSA etc.)  should not be included and will be paid for separately by UN Women.

How to Submit the Application:

  • Download and complete the UN Women Personal History Form (P11)- https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-p11-personal-history-form.doc?la=en&vs=558
  • Merge your UN Women Personal History Form (P11), CV and the Financial Proposal into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded.
  • Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement).
  • Click 'Apply Now' button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click 'Submit Application;'
  • Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above).
  • You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.

Notes:

  • UN Women retains the right to contact references directly. Due to the large numbers of applications, we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.
  • Applications without the financial offer will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.
  • The individual consultants should take the mandatory learning security course prior to commencement of assignment– details will follow before the issuance of contract.