Background

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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system in Lebanon efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women works to economically empower diverse women in Lebanon, at micro, meso, and macro levels. Since 2016, when UN Women established its office presence in Lebanon, the Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) programme has predominantly focused on increasing the resilience of vulnerable women and girls in refugee and host communities, under the Resilience Unit. The programme’s overall goal is to empower vulnerable women, girls and their communities, and strengthen their resilience to conflict and displacement. The project design is based on two pillars of intervention: 1) Economic Empowerment and 2) Protection. The economic empowerment interventions, skills training, paid opportunities in the private sector, and entrepreneurship support, combined with protection interventions at the individual, institutional and societal levels to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. The programme targets refugees and nationals together, as a method of fostering understanding and trust between their communities.

Objective of the Assignment:
Reporting to the Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme Manager, the Programme Specialist will support the Monitoring & Evaluation, reporting, partnerships, and Resource Mobilization under the direct supervision of the WEE Program Manager. She/he works in close collaboration with the WEE programme team, to support successful and timely implementation.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of UN Women’s, Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme Manager to support in UN Women’s WEE project implementation. The Programme Specialist will support the WEE team to conduct the following:

1. Support the programmatic development of UN Women’s economic empowerment portfolio in Lebanon:

• Provide technical support on inter-agency coordination where appropriate; represent UN Women remotely in inter-agency forums and support online trainings as relevant
• Provide inputs to the development of knowledge management products on Women Economic Empowerment.
• Support in archiving WEE documents on the SharePoint, Document progress/calls/file. 
• Support in preparing partner onboarding packages – including partner budgets, proposal, capacity assessments, amendments, etc.
• Support in project/partner Evaluation. 
• Support the call/request for proposals processes, such as draft calls for proposals, overseeing their issuance – respond to queries, convene technical committee meetings for review, drafting the minutes of meetings etc.

2. Support partnership development:

• Support the assessment and scoping of potential partners, and identification of areas for new partnerships.

3. Support the monitoring and reporting of UN Women’s economic empowerment portfolio in Lebanon:

• Leading quarterly results management process for the economic empowerment team.
• Support the monitoring of the implementation of programme activities, leveraging remote tools.
• Supporting in reviewing and coordinating the submission of implementing partners narrative and M & E reports.

Deliverables:

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

Functional Competencies

• Substantial knowledge and understanding of women’s economic empowerment.
• Substantial experience working in Lebanon on Women Economic Empowerment projects.
• Demonstrated leadership ability and technical ability to communicate complex ideas verbally and in writing.
• Experience drafting research findings and recommendations.
• Familiarity with processes and thematic issues related to the SDGs.
• Ability to communicate effectively both in writing and orally.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Gender and Women’s Studies, Business, social sciences, or related field.

Experience:

• Minimum 2 years of relevant experience in the field of livelihood, protection, promoting gender equality, and economic empowerment.
• Experience in supporting the implementation of activities by national partners.
• Experience with UN agencies is an asset.
• Computer skills, internet communication and command of MS Office.

Language Requirements:

• Proficient in written and oral English and Arabic is required.

Evaluation criteria:

Consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology: Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for the financial evaluation.

Criteria Weight Technical: 70% (70 points)

• Criteria 1: Education (10 points)
• Criteria 2: Experience in the field of livelihood, protection, promoting gender equality, or economic empowerment. (40 points)
• Criteria 3: Experience in working with local partners (20 points)

Financial: Lowest Financial Proposal: 30% (30 points)

The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula:

• Contract will be awarded to the technically qualified consultant who obtains the highest combined score (financial and technical).
• The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula: (Lowest Bid Offered*)/ (Bid of the Consultant) x 30.
• 'Lowest Bid Offered' refers to the lowest price offered by Offerors scoring at least 49 points in the technical evaluation.

Application:

Interested Individual Consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• A cover letter with a brief presentation of your consultancy explaining your suitability for the work and link to portfolio of work.
• UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc;
• Personal CV; and financial proposal; Proposed inclusive daily rate.

The above-mentioned documents should be merged in a standalone file including all of them, since the online application submission does only permit to upload one file per application. Incomplete submission can be a ground for disqualification.

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.)