1. 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.

UN Women maintains a large presence throughout Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region, covering 12 countries, with programme presence in Kosovo[1], Serbia, Tajikistan and North Macedonia; and country offices in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkey and Ukraine.

UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (the “ECARO”) has positioned GRB as one of the priority areas in which the ECARO has unique technical expertise grounded in the combined technical skills that has been cultivated with respect to budgetary processes including GRB and the overarching expertise and credibility the Office has with respect to GEWE. Furthermore, this work is in line with global Strategic Plan 2018–2021 under Outcome 2: Women lead, participate in and benefit equally from governance systems.

Over the past years, through the technical and financial support UN Women different initiatives have been carried out in Western Balkans’ countries with the goal of strengthening democratic governance and advance women’s rights aiming at mainstreaming gender in policy planning and budgeting. As result, gender responsive budgeting has increasingly been recognized as important tool for advancing de facto gender equality, supporting the SDGs, the 2030 Agenda and other global goals as well as for contributing to the achievements of the commitments of the Western Balkans under the Gender Action Plan in the EU External Relations 2016-2020.

In order to deepen the work previously done, launch new initiatives and ensure sustainability of the interventions on GRB, UN Women initiated a regional programme with participation of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia and North Macedonia “Transformative Financing for Gender Equality towards more Transparent, Inclusive and Accountable Governance in the Western Balkans” (2020-2024). The main programme approach will be transformative financing as an enabler factor for policy and financing actions to accelerate implementation of existing national and international commitments on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the in Western Balkans.

The programme is structured around two outcomes:

• By 2024, national and local governments apply gender responsive budgeting to integrate gender equality principles in public financing processes
• By 2024 public oversight bodies[2] CSOs, women including the disadvantaged, demand transparency and accountability of public policies and budgets to gender equality processes

The programme includes development of a Regional GRB Repository for the use of UN Women colleagues.

[1] All references to Kosovo should be understood to be in the context of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999). For the European Union, this designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

[2] Parliament, Ombudsperson, Court of Audit, Commissioner for Protection Against Discrimination

2. Scope of Work

UN Women ECA RO seeks to recruit one Consultant for optimizing the accessibility and user friendliness of the knowledge repository platform. UN Women ECA RO GRB team have previously developed a Regional GRB Repository by compiling a total of 728 files, categorised into 112 folders. The files are categorized in a Directory of GRB Knowledge Products.

3. Tasks and Responsibilities

Under the guidance of the Regional GRB Programme Manager, the Consultant will be responsible for the following in order to make the repository user friendly and easily accessible for users:

• Suggest/revise the existing structure of the repository as per the UN Women’s Knowledge Management Strategy and suggest new structure if needed. To this end, the Consultant is expected to look at the actual classification of the documents and improve (revise and further elaborate where necessary) as necessary
• Upload the repository in the online platform (UN Women Intranet) to link each file with the corresponding name in the Directory
• Develop Information Note: the Consultant is expected analyse the data on the Repository and to work with the communication team to work on the visualisation of the data and develop an information note.
• Review and analyse 2 knowledge products. The consultant is expected to source check, develop the bibliography and introduction as well as to review these knowledge products to provide input where necessary or revise to ensure they are ready for publishing

4. Expected Deliverables 

5. Reporting

Under direct supervision of UN Women Regional GRB Programme Specialist consultant will develop and deliver the above listed deliverables in accordance with the indicative timeframe. All deliverables of an acceptable standard and quality should be submitted to the UN Women in English.

6. Competencies

Core Values/Guiding Principles:

• Integrity - 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 Consultant knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
• Cultural sensitivity and respect for diversity - Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Additionally, the individual should have an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Accountability – Takes ownership of all responsibilities and delivers outputs in accordance with agreed time, cost and quality standards.
• Inclusive Collaboration, Teamwork - Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
• Planning & Organizing – Develops clear goals in line with agreed strategies, identifies priorities, foresees risks, and makes allowances accordingly.
• Organizational Awareness - Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:  https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning

• Knowledge of gender equality and/or gender responsive budgeting or International Development
• Excellent level of conceptual and analytical capacity;
• Ability to write in a clear and concise manner and to communicate effectively in English;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Meets deadlines for delivery of products or services;
• Able to work virtually, using communication technologies;
• Strong analytical, communication and interpersonal skills;
• Strong IT skills, including databases, extranet and office software package.
• Ability to adapt all materials and deliver online training instead of in-person training.

Leadership and Self-Management

• Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure.

7. Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications Education:

• Master’s degree in a Social Science or other area relevant to knowledge management

Experience:

• At least 5 years of experience knowledge management, establishing/maintaining knowledge repositories or developing academic publications
• Experience in reviewing, editing knowledge products, conducting desk reviews, literature review, systematic reviews.
• Experience in analysing and communication data
• Experience in developing knowledge products

Languages and other skills: 

• Proficient in written and oral English;

8. Evaluation of Applicants

UN Women applies a fair and transparent selection process. Applicants will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications/skills and their financial proposal. Contract will be awarded to the individual consultants whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive to and compliant with the requirements of the ToR; and
• Having received the highest score out of below combined technical and financial criteria.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for 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 the consideration.

9. Duration and Remuneration

The international consultant will be engaged for a total of 25 working days during the period of 15 June 2022 – 30 September 2022. (**Please note, this is a lump sum arrangement, and the lump-sum should include all costs relating to completion of this assignment.)

Deliverables from the consultant will be reviewed and approved by UN Women before they are considered final. UN Women will process the payment of consultancy fee in two instalments:

• I instalment - 70% upon submission and approval of deliverables 1,2,3
• II instalment - 30% upon submission and approval of deliverables 4

10. Application

Interested individual consultants are requested to apply electronically through the following link: http://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm  no later than 30 May 2022 and to submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• Short Letter of interest, including financial proposal in USD, indicating a total lump sum for the delivery as per above description. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (consultancy fee and any other possible costs).
• Completed UN Women Personal History (P11) form, that can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment.
• UN Women applies fair and transparent selection process that would take into account the competencies/skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals.
• Candidates should have the ability to quickly produce degree certificates and medical certification (of good health) should they be short-listed in consideration of the consultancy post
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for further steps.
• Interviews can be organized, if needed, depending on the short-listed candidates’ qualifications. The hiring manager reserves the right to also hold interviews as required.

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.)