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.

Over the past 20 years, notable progress has been made in furthering the women, peace and security (WPS) agenda in the Asia Pacific region - as detailed in a study released by UN Women in 2020, which acknowledged that 14 countries have developed national action plans on women, peace and security and 59 per cent of peace agreements in the region included substantive gender provisions. One of the areas where women’s participation and leadership tend to fall behind the most is security sector participation. According to the same study, only 10 per cent of the police service in the region are women. Within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), women’s representation in the police ranges from around 6 to 20 per cent.

The UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) Governance, Peace and Security section leads knowledge development and coordinates programme implementation in areas of gender and peacebuilding, inclusive governance, women’s access to justice, climate security and cybersecurity. It works towards a vision where women meaningfully participate, lead and benefit from peace and security processes. A key part of this vision is societies where communities and institutions work together in inclusive ways to achieve better security and sustainable peace for all.

To this end, women’s participation and leadership in law enforcement is an area of focus. One of the key benefits of having more women in law enforcement that research has pointed to is that it supports the building of community trust and institutional legitimacy. Women officers have been found to be less likely to use excessive force and more likely to acknowledge the importance of community-oriented policing (COP). In turn, COP has been increasingly recognized as key to building trust with communities, being responsive to community needs and resulting in more effective policing. While a lack of trust and confidence in state institutions and security forces can be a conflict driver that undermines governance, peace and security, increased confidence and collaboration can contribute to stability and security.

In light of these challenges and opportunities, UN Women ROAP is implementing a project “Sustaining Peace in Partnership: Women’s Leadership in Community Oriented Policing in South and South-East Asia” (January 2023 to June 2024) to promote women’s leadership in COP for sustaining peace. Under the project, UN Women ROAP is currently conducting a regional COP assessment in collaboration with the Standing Police Capacity (SPC) to:

• Identify good practices related to gender responsive COP and key elements of success;
• Identify the barriers to gender responsive COP among relevant actors (government, police, communities) as well as gaps in terms of capacities and skills;
• Identify the main supporters and potential partners (UN, bilateral actors, IGOs, CSOs, think tanks); and
• Identify key recommendations for Government, police institutions, CSOs, Community leaders to advance gender responsive COP in their context.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision and guidance of Programme Specialist Governance, Peace and Security of UN Women ROAP and in close consultation with the experts of SPC, the Consultant will be responsible for providing professional services for producing the gender responsive COP assessment report. The scope of work requires substantive experience and in-depth understanding of gender responsive policing and excellent writing and analytical skills. The scope of work and responsibilities of the assignment areas include:

• Analysing and consolidating the findings from the desk review and the field missions in the selected countries conducted by the SPC experts (covering a minimum of four countries), and drafting the COP assessment report as per agreed report format;
• Supporting the SPC experts to facilitate a virtual expert group meeting(s) to discuss the preliminary key findings of the draft COP assessment report with the key stakeholders to receive their feedback; and
• Incorporating the feedback from the meeting(s) and supporting the SPC experts to finalize the COP assessment report.

Expected Deliverables

The Consultant will produce the following deliverables:

All the deliverables, including annexes, notes and reports should be submitted in writing in English. Upon receipt of the deliverables and prior to the payment of the first instalment, the deliverables and related reports and documents will be reviewed and approved by UN Women. The period of the review is one week after receipt.

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

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:

• Strong interpersonal, teamwork and communication skills;
• Ability to work independently and proactively solve problems;
• Capacity to plan, prioritise and deliver tasks on time;
• Capacity to engage with national and international staff, provide clear feedback and maintain effective rapport with different kinds of people;
• Actively work towards continuous learning and sharing with others to support local capacity development;
• Ability to research, analyse and present complex information.

Required Skills and Experience

The Consultant should fulfil the following requirements:

Education:

• Master’s degree in Gender Studies, International Law, Social Science, Political Science or other related fields.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Minimum 7 years’ experience at the international level in supporting the advancement of the Women Peace and Security agenda with a focus on policing work;
• Experience in developing analysis and report documents on gender-related issues;
• Experience in peace and security or a related field in the Asia-Pacific region would be considered an asset;
• Previous professional experience with the United Nations or similar organisations in this or a related field would be considered an asset;
• Experience in working with public officials at central and local levels is an asset;
• Experience in working with a research institute or academia is an asset.

Language and other skills:

• Proficiency in English is required;
• Knowledge of other UN working languages is an asset;
• Knowledge of other languages of the region is an asset.

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 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 technical qualification evaluation criteria.

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 technically 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 an electronic application to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org with -cc to vanissa.limkriangkrai@unwomen.org, no later than 9 April 2023.

Submission package includes:

• Personal History Form (P11)
• Examples of previous work related to WPS.
• Financial proposal which shall specify the daily professional fee. Please see the financial proposal template 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, colour, 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.)