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 work in Ukraine focuses on supporting the government and civil society in advancing gender equality and implementation of the national and international commitments on gender equality and women’s human rights. UN Women Ukraine implements interventions towards the realization of following strategic goals: elimination of violence against women and girls; implementation of women, peace and security agenda and gender responsive governance. UN Women works closely with the UN Country Team in integration of women’s rights and gender equality in all spheres of UN work.

Since 2017, the National Women’s Machinery has changed considerably: the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration was tasked with the coordination of state gender equality policies, and the position of the Government Commissioner for GE Policy was introduced. UN Women Ukraine has contributed greatly to the National Women’s Machinery further strengthening and capacity development to implement national and international gender equality and women empowerment commitments through strategic partnerships with the key institutions of the National Women’s Machinery in the Government and Parliament.

In September 2020 the Commission for Coordination of Interaction of Executive Authorities in Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men was established as a national coordination mechanism at the highest governmental level and is in line with the CEDAW Committee Concluding Observations’ recommendations “to ensure effective coordination”. The Commission is chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, as a governmental official responsible for gender equality policy coordination in Ukraine.

Gender equality was embedded as a cross-cutting issue in a new architecture of development cooperation by establishing a government–donor Inter-Sectoral Working Group “Gender Equality”[1] and appointing gender focal points in all sectoral working groups. The Inter-Sectoral Working Group “Gender Equality” includes women’s CSOs, which allows for consistent gender mainstreaming in different policy areas and improved coordination among different sectors relating to gender commitments.

During the full-scale russian invasion to Ukraine, started in February 2022, gender equality and women’s empowerment remains among priorities of the Government of Ukraine. This was demonstrated by revision of its National Action Plan on Implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 “Women, Peace and Security” till 2025 and adoption of the State Strategy on Equal Rights and Opportunities of Women and Men for the period till 2030[2] (approved by the Government in August 2022). UN Women supported the state institutions with the development of the State Strategy being a comprehensive strategic document which defines priority consolidated actions of the central executive bodies and local authority, CSOs and other stakeholders for increasing gender equality rate in the Ukrainian society. The Strategy is covering all critical areas of concern identified by the Beijing Platform of Actions and is in line with the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030.

In June 2022, Ukraine has received the status of a European Union candidate and considering that gender equality belongs to the key EU values, gender mainstreaming during the processes of European Integration will be an integral part of work of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration.

The Sweden funded project “Transformative approaches to achieving gender equality in Ukraine” will keep providing further technical and expert support to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration in its efforts on gender equality policy coordination and strengthening synergy among the Government and the development partners.

As part of its assistance, UN Women is looking for a National Consultant on Gender Mainstreaming to provide expert and technical support to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration.

[1] See https://www.kmu.gov.ua/diyalnist/mizhnarodna-dopomoga/coordination/genderna-rivnist/mizhsektoralna-robocha-grupa-genderna-rivnist-2.

[2]See https://www.kmu.gov.ua/npas/pro-skhvalennia-derzhavnoi-stratehii-zabezpechennia-rivnykh-prav-ta-mozhlyvostei-752-120822

Under the overall guidance of the UN Women Representative and direct supervision by the Programme Specialist/Project Manager, the National Consultant will provide expert and technical support to the Office of the Deputy Prime-Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration on gender mainstreaming.

The assignment will include but not be limited to the following tasks developed in coordination with the Office of the Deputy Prime-Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and UN Women:

• Provide expert and policy advise support to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration for coordination of the implementation of the national and international gender equality commitments of Ukraine;
• Establish cooperation and build synergies between the key Government institutions on mainstreaming gender to the policies and reforms, including those related to minimize the impact of the full-fledged Russian aggression and further post-conflict recovery, in particular provide expert and policy advise support to organize the work of the Commission for Coordination of Interaction of Executive Authorities in Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men in its efforts to coordinate, implement and monitor gender equality policy;
• Coordinate cooperation and build synergies between the Government, regional and local authorities in advancement of gender equality and women’s human rights;
• Organize the engagement with the civil society and women’s groups under the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration to contribute to the government-civil society dialogue on gender equality and women’s empowerment commitments development, implementation and monitoring and evaluation;
• Organize regular multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral expert groups with diverse women’s groups and inter-ministerial consultations, including expert and policy advise support to the work of the Sectorial Working Group “Gender Equality” within the Donor Coordination Architecture, co-led by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, to strengthen synergy among the Government and the development partners;
• Provide management, coordination, monitoring and evaluation support to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for EU and Euro-Atlantic Integration on collaboration with the Parliament, women’s groups and CSOs for strengthening the National Women’s Machinery.

Assignment Deliverables:

*All reports should be submitted in English language and include the full set of supporting documents, such as analytical briefs, meeting notes, concept notes and agendas, handouts and lists of participants.

The timeframe for the work of the National Consultant is tentatively planned from March 2023 to 31 August 2023, with an estimated total volume of work not to exceed 108 working days, including multi-stakeholder consultations, coordinated in advance with the UN Women and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, upon contracting.

Note: The mentioned number of working days has been estimated as being sufficient/feasible for the envisaged volume of work to be completed successfully and is proposed as a guideline for the duration of assignment. It cannot and shall not be used as criteria for completion of work/assignment.

Inputs

• UN Women and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration will provide the Consultant with background materials related to the assignment
• The consultant is expected to work using her/his own computer.

Performance evaluation:

Contractor’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, efficiency, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered. The evaluation will be carried out and cleared by the hiring manager, which will also be the basis for payment on a delivery-by-delivery basis to the consultant.

Financial arrangements:  

Payments will be disbursed in four installments upon receipt of the deliverables (as per above matrix) and their certification by UN Women Programme Specialist that the services have been satisfactorily performed. The installments will be paid according to the following schedule:

1. installment – after acceptance of the deliverables ##1 and 2;

2. installment – after acceptance of the deliverable # 3;

3. installment – after acceptance of the deliverable # 4;

4. installment – after acceptance of the deliverables ## 5 and 6.

Core Values

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism
• Competencies

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/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Qualifications Education:

• Advanced (Masters) university degree in human rights, international human rights, law, international law, gender studies or other relevant fields.

Experience:

• Minimum 3 years of relevant work experience in the field of human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• Proven experience with conducting legal analysis of normative documents (laws/by-laws) and developing legal and policy gender-responsive recommendations on different gender equality commitments;
• Previous experience of providing advisory/technical support to the parliaments and the governments dealing with gender equality issues;
• Experience with coordination of multiple stakeholders’ activities and liaison with governmental and non-governmental stakeholders, including UN Women and other UN Agencies and development partners.

Language skills:

• Fluency in verbal and written English and Ukrainian is required.

Evaluation of Applicants:

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of their qualifications (including a written test and an interview) and financial proposal. A two-stage procedure is utilized in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal (including a written test and an interview) being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. The award of the contract should be made to the individuals whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable.
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical criteria (including a written test and an interview) - 70% of total evaluation. Total max 70 points:

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 70. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on desk review and following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation will be further considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points allocated for the financial/price component is 30.
• 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 49 points in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.
• Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 30
• (S - score received on financial evaluation; F min - the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round; F - financial offer under the consideration).

Sample of Financial Proposal

The format shown on the following table is suggested for use as a guide in preparing the Financial Proposal

1. Cost Breakdown per Deliverables*

*Basis for payment tranches

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.