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.

Through the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) in Bangkok and a number of country and multi-country offices as well as programme presences across the region, UN Women builds on a long history of support to governments, civil society, and other actors, including the UN, to promote gender equality and empower all women and girls. UN Women stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on five priority areas: addressing gender in governance and leadership; enhancing women’s economic empowerment; ending violence against women and girls; and promoting women’s participation in peace and security and humanitarian action.

The programme “Enhancing Access to Justice for Women in Asia and the Pacific:  Bridging the gap between formal and informal systems through women’s empowerment” is a five-year initiative that commenced implementation in 2018, supported by the Government of Sweden. The overall goal of the project is to enhance access to justice for women in formal and informal systems in Asia and the Pacific, bridging the gap between these systems through women’s empowerment and reduction of gender biases. In realizing this goal, the programme partners – UN Women, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), and OHCHR – focus on achieving the following outputs: (1) Domestic laws adopted and court decisions are consistent with international human rights law and standards, including CEDAW; (2) Gender discriminatory attitudes and stereotyped behaviors towards women by formal and informal justice providers are addressed; and (3) Grassroots women’s organizations and community-based justice providers (formal and informal)  work towards the elimination of discrimination against women, access to justice and adequate protection for women and girls seeking justice.

Women with disabilities face additional and significant barriers to accessing justice due to discrimination on the basis of both their gender and disability. Women with disabilities are disproportionately excluded from legal protection and are more likely to have their credibility questioned owing to harmful gender norms and disability stereotypes. Such barriers not only limit the ability of women with disabilities to use the justice system but also limit their ability to contribute to the administration of justice to society as a whole. A number of international human rights treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), affirm and underpin the right of women with disabilities to access justice. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Role and Responsibility

Under the supervision of the Regional Access to Justice Specialist, the International Consultant will be responsible for providing expert technical advice to the Women’s Access to Justice programme with the overall goal of enhancing access to justice for women with disabilities with focus on intellectual and learning disabilities. The consultant will specifically support the following tasks:

• Develop a technical paper on access to justice for women with disabilities focusing on how to improve accessible and inclusive knowledge sharing, legal aid, legal autonomy for women with intellectual and learning disabilities, good practices, policies, and legislative framework throughout the justice chain to support justice seekers with disabilities. 
• Conduct two consultations with women with disabilities and their representative organisations, CSOs and UN Women country offices to discuss the technical paper and develop recommendation to advance policy and advocacy work in Asia and the Pacific
• Provide technical support and participate at regional discussions (three events) during the development process of the UN Women regional Women’s Access to Justice strategy to ensure that the rights for women with disabilities are sufficiently included.
• Provide technical assistance to develop and attend a UN Women staff training session on CRPD implementation and reporting. Increase understanding of necessary policy, legislative and social change to advance access to justice for women with disabilities through the development of briefs, communications pieces and talking points, as well as participating in related events.
• Support the coordination of programme partners, OHCHR and ICJ, on joint activities, events, and knowledge products as they relate to women with disabilities.

Contract period and work location

• From 10 December 2021 – 30 June 2022. The consultant will be home-based.                                                                                           

  Deliverables

  Tasks	Deliverables	Targeted Date
  1st Develop a technical paper on access to justice for women with disabilities focusing on how to improve accessible and inclusive knowledge sharing, legal aid, legal autonomy for women with intellectual and learning disabilities, good practices, policies, and legislative framework throughout the justice chain to support justice seekers with disabilities.	1st ·       Technical paper on access to justice for women with intellectual and learning disabilities as outline above.	7 January 2022
  2nd Conduct two online consultations with women with disabilities and their representative organisations, CSOs focusing on women with disabilities, and UN Women country offices and project partners to discuss the technical paper and develop recommendation to advance policy and advocacy work in Asia and the Pacific.	2nd   Material (PPT, outlines etc.) and consultation reports for two consultations	20 February 2022
  Tasks	Deliverables	Targeted Date
  3rd •     Provide technical assistance to develop and attend a UN Women staff training session on CRPD implementation and reporting.	3rd ·       Online course material, training session material and recommendation for follow up interventions.	11 March 2022
  4th  •     Provide technical support and participate at regional discussions (three events) during the development process of the UN Women regional Women’s Access to Justice strategy to ensure that the rights for women with disabilities are sufficiently included.	4th   ·       Set of recommendations for disability inclusion in the regional Access to Justice Strategy based on the technical paper and the three regional Strategy consultations.	15 April 2022
  5th    •     Increase understanding of necessary policy, legislative and social change to advance access to justice for women with disabilities through the development of briefs, communications pieces and talking points, as well as participating in related events.	5th   •     Access to Justice for women with disability brief (one pager), article on access to justice for women with intellectual disabilities for UN Women website, talking points for project teams and UN Women senior management.	15 May 2022
  6th    •     Support the coordination of programme partners, OHCHR and ICJ, on joint activities, events, and knowledge products as they relate to women with disabilities.	6th   ·       One joint activity on access to justice for women with disabilities, having regard to the CRPD Committee’s priorities for the Asia Pacific region.	15 June 2022

  *Payment will be made upon submission of deliverables and approval of the Programme Specialist. 

                  

Competencies

Competencies

Knowledge and experience:

• Demonstrated knowledge of rights of women with disabilities, and related human rights frameworks.
• Previous experience advancing the rights of persons with disabilities, including in through multi-stakeholder engagement.
• Excellent writing skills. Experience writing project proposals and policy briefs.
• Fluency in English.

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the United Nations' values and ethical standards.
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the UN and UN Women.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
• Ability and willingness to work as part of a team to meet tight deadlines and produce high quality work.

Required Skills and Experience

Required Skills and Experience

• Master’s Degree or equivalent in law, human rights, international development, or a related field is required.
• Minimum 5 years of experience at the national or international level in advancing the rights of persons with disabilities.
• Experience operationalizing CEDAW and the CRPD, including in collaboration with DPOs.
• Experience working in the UN System is an asset.
• Excellent command of written English, with proven report writing experience (to be assessed through writing sample).

Contract period and work location

The consultant will be home-based with travel throughout the Asia Pacific region, as assigned. For travel on mission, travel costs and Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) will be provided by UN Women. Travel Authorization will be granted to the consultant prior to the travel date.

Evaluation

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis.

• Technical Qualification (100 points) weight [70%]
• Financial Proposal (100 points) weight [30%]

A two-stage procedure is utilised in evaluating the applications, with evaluation of the technical application being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically qualified candidates who may be contacted for validation interview.

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points allocated for the price component is 100.
• The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

Submission of application

Interest candidates are encouraged to submit electronic application to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org with cc to nichapa.athipan@unwomen.org , not later than 24 November 2021, 23:59 Bangkok time.

Submission package includes:

• Personal History Form(P11): https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs
• Writing sample
• Financial proposal: the financial proposal shall specify a lump sum total amount breaking down the daily professional fee, proposed number of working days (Please see the financial proposal template as below).

Diversity and Inclusion

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need. 

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application. 

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)