Background:

UN Women is the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to ensure that the standards are effectively implemented and truly benefit women and girls worldwide. It works globally to make the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) a reality for women and girls and stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on four strategic priorities: (i) Women lead, participate in and benefit equally from governance systems; (ii) Women have income security, decent work and economic autonomy; (iii) All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence; and (iv) Women and girls contribute to and have greater influence in building sustainable peace and resilience, and benefit equally from the prevention of natural disasters and conflicts and humanitarian action.

The Project “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 began implementation in 2018, thanks to the generous support of 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 women’s organizations are empowered and well-positioned to document, monitor, liaise and facilitate interactions with formal and informal justice providers.                             

Until recently, a lack of data has obscured the scale of the world’s failure to provide justice for all. It turns out that the current justice gap is massive. According to the first global synthesis of the justice gap presented by the Task Force on Justice in its 2019 report, the majority of the world’s population does not have access to meaningful justice. Closing the justice gap to advance Gender Justice will require systemic changes responsive to people’s needs and adjusted to the specific needs of particular groups, including women.

UN Women aims to address two main objectives and six levers that contribute to the achievement of Gender Justice. The first objective, addressing mainly the quality of justice services, is people-centred justice. The second objective, addressing the number of available justice services, is upscaling of justice. The six levers each, but especially through synergy will contribute to people-centered and scalable justice. The levers are (1) prevention, (2) standardization, (3) technology (4) financing & data, (5) decentralization and non-adversarial mechanism, and (6) youth interventions & coalition building.

In this context, the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific will hire a consultant to provide strategic support to advance gender-responsive legal technology Asia-Pacific region with a strong focus on the benefits of creating and scaling Online Dispute Mechanisms that advance women’s access to justice. The consultant is expected to provide technical guidance to incorporate legal technology components into programme documents, support regional expert discussions, develop knowledge pieces, and provide a platform for governments to learn from technical experts.

Task Force on Justice, Justice for All – Final Report (New York: Center on International Cooperation, 2019) available at https://www.justice.sdg16.plus/

Roles and responsibility

UN Women seeks the services of a consultant as outlined above. Under the supervision of the Programme Specialist - Access to Justice -, the consultant will be responsible for the following:

1. Provide written and verbal feedback to strengthen UN Women’s programming to advance gender-responsive legal technology and the development of UN Women’s regional Women’s Access to Justice strategy.
2. Develop an expert paper (not exceeding 1000 words) to highlight benefits and opportunities to advance women’s access to justice through Online Dispute Resolution.
3. Support UN Women’s efforts to support South-South exchange by providing a learning opportunity for government officials on legal technology.
4. Co-create and co-facilitate a 90-minute session on gender and legal technology session at the regional Women’s Access to Justice conference (17 -19 April 2023). The conference will bring together justice providers, decision-makers and CSOs from the Asia-Pacific region.

1. Contract period and work location

From 25 January 2023 – 15 June 2023. The consultant will be home-based with one mission to Bangkok, Thailand. For travel on a 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.

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

• Knowledge of Women’s Access to Justice, Human Rights and Gender equality
• Ability to pragmatically apply in-depth knowledge and experience of issues and practices in the fields of judiciary systems; legal reform; gender equality,
• Strong skills and experience in presenting evidence and ideas for policy and programme.
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.
• Strong communications skills (written and oral)
• Demonstrated experience in gender, legal and development-related research.
• Leadership and skills to work with autonomy and initiative.
• Knowledge of gender equality and women’s human rights in the Asia-Pacific region.
• Strong knowledge of the UN system.

Required Skills and Qualifications

• Master’s degree in law, and/or any relevant field. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• Minimum of 10 years of relevant and geographically diverse experience in the sector of legal technology, preferably Online Dispute Resolution.
• Proven experience in supporting government and private sectors to create and utilize legal technology.
• Demonstrated experience in strategic planning across multiple countries and stakeholders.

• Previous work experience with the UN is an advantage. 
• Proficiency in English.

Payments

Each payment will be issued upon acceptance and approval of the deliverables stipulated in the table above by the Programme Specialist - Access to Justice, UN Women ROAP. The expected deliverables will be done in close collaboration/supervision of UN Women personnel.

1. Evaluation Criteria

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 utilized in evaluating the applications, with an 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 the 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.

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

Interested candidates are encouraged to submit electronic application to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org, and copy nichapa.athipan@unwomen.org not later than 16 December 2022, midnight New York time.

The submission package includes:

• A cover letter with a brief presentation of your consultancy explaining your suitability for the work.
• P11 Form, downloaded from https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs
• Financial proposal which shall specify a total lump sum amount based on deliverables

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

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.)