Background

UN Women, the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women has been created to accelerate up the process of meeting the needs of women and girls across the world. 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 a reality for women and girls and stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life.

Tajikistan’s commitment to gender equality can be traced back to its international obligations in global normative frameworks on gender equality and national obligations to implement UPR[1] and CEDAW[2] recommendations. Gender equality issues identified as an objective and mainstreamed throughout the strategies, policy, and action plans. Gender is a crosscutting issue in the four-year action agenda of the “Government of Tajikistan & United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework” (UNSDCF) (2023-2026). The UNSDCF contains standalone interventions of the Strategic Priority III.  People-centred governance and rule of law, Outcome 4. People-centred governance and rule of law: “By 2026, governance is more inclusive, transparent and  accountable, serving to protect human rights, empower women,  and reduce violence and discrimination in alignment with the  international commitments of Tajikistan”.

Importantly, the overall objective of the European Union in its Gender Action Plan III - 2021-2025 - Country Level Implementation Plan (CLIP) in Tajikistan for gender equality and women’s empowerment also envisages support of implementation of international commitments of Tajikistan on gender equality and women’s rights through engagement in policy dialogue with both the government and the civil society, outreach and implementation of programmes targeting directly and indirectly strategic and practical needs of women.

Having this said, it would be rather ambitious to achieve without enhanced coordination and the coherence of the work on gender at the country level. The Inter-Sectorial Gender Group (ISGG) is expected to support the Committee on women and family affairs under the Government of RT (CoWFA) to act as an interagency network on gender and development.

In 2023 in the framework of the Spotlight Initiative in Tajikistan – A Joint EU-UN Initiative to Eliminate Violence Against Women and Girls, the establishment of such an Inter-Sectorial Gender Group (ISGG) and to secure first steps towards its functioning and sustainability.

UN Women will hire an Expert to facilitate the establishment of the Inter-Sectoral Gender Group under coordination of the Committee on women and family affairs under the GoT (INTER-SECTORAL GENDER GROUP EXPERT).

[1] Universal Periodic Report

[2] The Convention on elimination of all forms of discrimination against women

1. Goal and objectives

The main goal is to support the CoWFA in strengthening efforts to mainstream gender in all programmatic spheres of activity and to strengthen the capabilities of the state institutions as a whole in the area of gender. 

The objective is to facilitate the process of establishment of the Inter-Sectoral Gender Group under coordination of the Committee on women and family affairs of the GoT, in order to:

1. Contribute to strengthening the inter-sectorial performance on gender equality, including by providing support to the mainstreaming of gender into the national development priorities, national and sectoral policies, and their practical implementation.
2. Create a venue for coordination and the regular sharing of information and experiences on actions, programming and normative support in pursuit of gender equality, including for the Government of Tajikistan & United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF)’ implementation.
3. Create a venue for collaboration and exploring and pursuing possible joint actions and programmes, including joint communications and advocacy, aimed at achieving gender equality.
4. The ISGG will also ensure that “gender” does not become a synonym for “women” rather than transformation of negative gender relations.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the UN Women Programme Coordinator and in Coordination with the responsible staff of CoWFA, the Inter-Sectoral Gender Group Expert  will be responsible for the following:

1. To identify and engage gender focal points of the related state bodies, ministries, committees and agencies, responsible for promotion of women empowerment and gender equality agenda to become ISGG members (the Expert can refer to the UNSDCF);
2. To offer the draft ToR of the ISGG to the ISGG members; and to adjust and validate the ToR of the ISGG with its members;
3. To document the membership of the ISGG and create an e-mail group of ISGG;
4. To arrange at least 2-day training on “Women empowerment and Gender equality” for ISGG members as the first capacity building step. The Expert will be responsible for all arrangements, including preparation of materials and handouts, logistics (meal, stationery, printing, translation);
5. To arrange and facilitate at least 3 working meetings till 30 October, 2023.

The agenda points of the working meetings will cover:

• validation of ToR;
• development and validation of the Group Action Plan;
• monitoring of implementation of several NAPs including CEDAW NAP, UPR NAP, DVL NAP, NAP 1325.

The ISGG meetings can be conducted within 2 -2,5 hours at CoWFA premises. It is deemed that the meetings will continue taking place on a regular basis and under the leadership of the CoWFA upon the Consultancy is over.

1. REPORTING

Expert’s Training Report will contain summary (highlighting key results), the process of the training, lists of participants; conclusions, annexes (if any), photo report with credits.

Expert’s Final Report will contain summary (highlighting key results), the processes of the ISGG, top-line components on M&E of the indicated NAPs, lists of participants and special guests, if any; conclusions, annexes (if any), photo report with credits.

1. Expected deliverables, timeframes, and payment procedures:

Monitoring

It is envisaged that UN Women’s supervisor of this contract will organise bi-weekly virtual meetings to facilitate the process and assess the progress made towards achieving agreed deliverables.

Competencies

1. Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender and EVAW Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration

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:

• Possesses the ability to work independently and meet deadlines;
• Good knowledge of technical area;
• Good organizational skills;
• Experience in facilitating public consultations;
• Experience in report writing;
• Proven excellent communication and facilitation skills;
• Ability to conduct gender trainings.

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications:

Education:          

• University Diploma in the areas of Gender Studies, Human Rights and Law, Social Development, Economic, or an area that is relevant to the deliverables of this TOR;

Experience:

• At least 3 sole assignments with proven results of their implementation in the sphere of Analysis and Review of NAPs and programmes (preferably on CEDAW agenda);
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience on facilitating inter-sectorial thematic working groups and public consultations;
• Prior experience with UN Women or UN agencies in relevant assignments.

Knowledge of languages:

• Proficiency in written and oral Tajik and Russian languages.

1.  Application Process 

The application should include:

• Personal History Form (P-11 form) - including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment, a signed copy should be submitted;
• Financial Proposal:  Specify a total lump sum amount for the tasks specified in this Terms of Reference. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount per deliverable, including logistics costs for the training.

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.

1. Payment Schedule

Consultant will be paid by deliverables as per Expected Deliveries (see the table of Section V) upon submission and the acceptance of each deliverable by the time as specified in the financial offer in 3 tranches:

1. Tranche 1 - payment of 20% of the contract amount upon submission of the deliverable 1.
2. Tranche 2 - payment of 60% of the contract amount upon submission of the deliverables 2 .
3. Tranche 3 – final payment of 20% of the contract amount upon submission of the deliverable 3.

Payment of abovementioned tranches for the services provided will be made upon achievement of expected results and approval of deliverables described in the sector IV and acceptance of services by the UN Women (PERF) that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

Bank charges related to any payment will be borne by the consultant.  No statement of earnings will be issued by UN Women to the consultant. The service provider is responsible for any taxes levied on the monies received under this agreement.

1. Evaluation process

Consultants will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of qualifications and financial proposal. Contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

1. Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
2. Having received the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

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

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion. A suggested formula is as follows:

p = 30 (µ/z)

Using the following values:

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

µ = price of the lowest priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated

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 based on 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).