Background

UN Women is the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls. The entity 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 a reality for women and girls and stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on four strategic priorities:

• Women lead, participate in and benefit equally from governance systems
• Women have income security, decent work and economic autonomy
• All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence
• 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

UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality, and in all deliberations and agreements linked to the 2030 Agenda. The organization works to position gender equality as fundamental to the Sustainable Development Goals, and a more inclusive world.

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection (MGCSP) want to support the Ministry of Labor (MoL) to conduct a gender audit of its Labor Practices Law (LPL) to help generate evidence on its gender-responsive implementation.

The audit will provide MoL and its stakeholders with information on the achievements, lessons learned, best practices, and challenges as it relates to the implementation of the LPL. It will also provide information on the extent to which the LPL promotes equal opportunities for people to obtain decent work.

The audit’s overall goal is to identify gender related existing and emerging challenges and opportunities in the implementation of the LPL and its impact, especially focusing on lessons learned and accountability, through an inclusive and participatory process.

Considering the above, UN Women Liberia is seeking a National Consultant to support with conducting and reporting on the gender audit of MoL’s LPL.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the assignment

• To assess MoL’s programmes and Gender Equality commitments - identifying best practices, opportunities, challenges and gaps in policies, processes and practices.
• To determine sample MoL staff’s level of understanding, attitudes and behavior regarding gender equality and women’s empowerment and the implications thereof on institutional and programmatic effectiveness.
• To identify benchmarks for prioritized GE focus areas.
• To assess the status of integration and promotion of GE in implementing the LPL and related policy instruments and strategies through a participatory process.
• To assess the institutional culture and extent to which MoL has achieved its goals of gender equality/equity in the labor sector along with an understanding of factors and commitments behind it, such as, targeted actions to increase women’s participation in the labor market, opening-up new opportunities for women/men in non-traditional work areas.

Scope of work and tasks

The results of the gender audit should provide the Ministry of Labor with three useful outputs, namely:

1. A broad scoping and reflection of the status of understanding and implementation of gender equality/equity practice with the Ministry of Labor  as an institution and with its LPL.
2. A collective discussion and analysis on future prioritization of Gender Equality (GE) interventions with the implementation of the LPL; and  
3. A position paper on participatory processes that build MoL’s institutional ownership for gender responsiveness of its LPL.

Under the overall guidance of the Deputy Country Representative of UN Women Liberia and direct supervision from the Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme Manager, and in close collaboration with the International Labor Organization, the Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection, and the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, the consultant will perform the following tasks:

Task 1.  Desk Review and development of the consultancy plan

1. Conduct a desk review of the Liberia LPL and other existing and relevant documents.
2. Conduct preliminary consultations with Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, and other key stakeholders for development of a consultancy plan.

Task 2.  Conduct a gender audit of the LPL to help generate evidence on its gender-responsive implementation in Liberia.

1. Data collection: conduct desk review and interviews to gather data on the gender responsive implementation of the LPL.
2. Lead and manage data processing and analysis.
3. Develop a well-structured report that comprehensively outlines the audit findings, methodology, challenges, recommendations, list of persons interviewed and workshop participants 

Task 3.  Develop 3 key knowledge based on findings from the gender audit

Based on the gender assessment/gender audit results:

1. Develop 1 position paper on MoL’s institutional capacity for the gender responsive implementation of the LPL, 1 policy brief, and 1 factsheet (factsheet should in an infographic format.)
2. Develop a detailed Costed Action Plan with clear goals and targets to further support/strengthen the gender-responsive implementation of the LPL in Liberia. The plan should further state roles and responsibilities for concerned stakeholders and outline a monitoring and reporting framework and include an indicative budget.
3. Develop a concept note to organize the validation workshop for the report from the gender audit of the LPL.
4. Organize and facilitate the validation workshop.
5. Incorporate recommendations from the validation workshop into the key knowledge products and the Costed Action Pan.
6. Submit the gender audit report.

Expected Deliverables

1. The local consultant will produce the following deliverables:

   #	Deliverables	Indicative Deadline	Number of days
   1	Consultancy work plan		4 working days
   2	Report on the Gender Assessment/Gender Audit of the LPL		11 working days
   3	Validated draft gender audit report, knowledge products, and costed action plan. The costed action plan will incorporate goals and targets and will further describe tasks and responsibilities, monitoring and reporting frameworks and have indicative budget		4 working days
   4	Submit the final gender audit report, knowledge products, and costed action plan. The costed action plan will incorporate goals and targets and will further describe tasks and responsibilities, monitoring and reporting frameworks and have indicative budget		4 working days

   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 installment, the deliverables and related reports and documents will be reviewed and approved by UN Women in close collaboration with ILO, MoL, and MGCSP. The period of  review is one week after receipt.

   Inputs

2. UN Women, ILO, MoL, and MGCSP will provide the Local Consultant with background materials relevant to the assignment.
3. The Local Consultant is expected to work using his/ her own computer.
4. The Local Consultant will be based at MoL.
5. MoL shall facilitate consultations/meetings between the local consultant and relevant stakeholders.

Competencies

Performance evaluation:

The Local Consultant’s performance will be evaluated based on timeliness, responsibility, innovation, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

Submission of application

Interested candidates are requested to submit electronic application no later than 07 June 2023.

Submission of package           

1. Cover letter.
2. CV, including contact information of  3 referees.
3. Technical Financial proposal. The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount per each deliverable, including any travel, per diem and administrative fees, based on the template in Annex 1. The lump sum costs must be accompanied by a detailed breakdown of costs calculation.

All applications must include (as an attachment) a CV, technical and financial proposal. Applications without a financial proposal will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further processing.

Please note that only short-listed candidates will be invited for the interview.                                                                                                              

Selected candidates will need to submit prior to commencement of work:

1. A copy of the latest academic certificate
2. UN Women P-11 form, available via  http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment
3. A statement from a medical doctor of ‘good health and fit for travel’
4. Before any travel outside of Monrovia, the consultant will need to provide proof (certificate) of “Basic and Advanced Security in the Field” (which can be accessed here: undss.trip.org)

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 used in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal 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 allotted for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Only the candidates who fit the minimum requirements will be longlisted and may be requested further documentation. Candidates with a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically qualified candidates and will be shortlisted for potential interview.

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 allotted 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.

Annex I: Financial Proposal

BREAKDOWN OF COSTS SUPPORTING THE ALL-INCLUSIVE FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

Breakdown of Cost by Components:

The lump sum costs should include all travels and administration costs and expenses related to the consultancy. All prices/rates quoted must be exclusive of all taxes. The lump sum costs must be accompanied by a detailed breakdown of costs calculation.

Required Skills and Experience

Required experience and qualifications

The Local Consultant should fulfill the following requirements:

Education

Master’s degree is required, but PhD would be an added advantage in Gender Studies, Social Sciences, Political Science, Governance, or other related fields.

Experience:

• At least 3 years of proven experience in gender and research.
• Proven exposure/experience in gender and  emergency including the design/development/implementation of capacity development support programmes
• Proven experience in leading and facilitating workshops.
• Previous experience in conducting gender audits and developing gender policies would be an asset.
• Familiarity with the UN system would be an asset.

Language and other skills:

• Proficiency in oral and written English
• Ability to effectively utilize computer software (i.e., MS Excel, Access, oracle, SPSS etc.) for database development and management.
• Excellent facilitation and training skills