UN Women (UNW), 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. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, the UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women’s triple mandate, along with its global network and deep policy and programming expertise, continues to endow the Entity with a unique capacity to: (i) support Member States to strengthen global norms and standards for gender equality and women’s empowerment, and mainstream gender perspectives in other thematic areas; (ii) promote coordination and coherence across the UN system to enhance accountability and results for gender equality and women’s empowerment; and (iii) undertake operational activities to support Member States, upon their request, in translating global norms and standards into legislation, policies and strategies at country level.

UN Women plays an innovative and catalytic role in the State of Palestine since its inception in 1997 (as UNIFEM). In line with the national priorities, the work of UN Women for the period 2023-2025 is aligned with three of the Palestine United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework’s (UNSDCF) outcomes:

• Palestinians have greater access to economic opportunities that are inclusive, resilient, and sustainable, including decent employment and livelihoods opportunities in an empowered private sector.
• Palestinians, including the most vulnerable, have equal access to sustainable, inclusive, gender responsive and quality social services, social protection, and affordable utilities.
• Palestinian governance institutions, processes, and mechanisms at all levels are more democratic, rights-based, inclusive, and accountable.

Its three-year Strategic Note supports the efforts to achieve measurable results in country in terms of four UN Women global Strategic Plan impacts (2022-2025): (SP Impact 1). Governance and participation in public life; (SP Impact 2). Women’s Economic Empowerment; (SP Impact 3). Ending Violence Against Women and Girls and; SP Impact 4. Women peace and security, Humanitarian & Disaster Risk Reduction.

In line with the Palestinian Government’s commitment to fight Violence Against Women (VAW) as set in the National Strategy to Combat VAW, and in full partnership  with the protection, security and justice sectors’ actors, including the Palestinian Civil Police (PCP), the Public Prosecution (PP), the High Judicial Council (HJC), the Supreme Judge Department (SJD) and the Ministry of Social development (MoSD) UN Women,  within its joint programme with UNDP and UNICEF- “Promoting the Rule of Law in Palestine- SAWASYA II” is supporting the Justice and Security institutions to mainstream gender into their procedures and policies, and develop and provide  gender responsive services to women victims and survivors of violence, through providing institutional capacity building and policy level interventions  amongst others.

UN Women, as part of its’ global goals and commitments towards empowering women and enhancing gender equality and women’s access to justice is exerting efforts towards supporting the furthest left behind groups of women and girls’ victims and survivors of violence who face intersectional and compounded forms of Gender-Based violence (GBV), including physical, legal, psychosocial, economic, and sexual violence, which increase their marginalization and vulnerability. Deeply rooted discriminatory social norms and stereotypes reinforce the marginalization of the excluded groups within their families and the society at large. These norms and stereotypes are also reflected and translated into discriminatory laws and policies that reinforce exclusion and discrimination against them, in addition to the complete lack of responsive services to meet their needs, and the existence of non-responsive services that have not been adapted to the needs of the most marginalized, excluded and furthest left behind groups of women and girls’ victims and survivors of violence.

Leaving no one behind (LNOB) is the central, transformative promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It represents the unequivocal commitment of all UN Member States to eradicate poverty in all its forms, end discrimination and exclusion, and reduce the inequalities and vulnerabilities that leave people behind and undermine the potential of individuals and of humanity as a whole.

Under its work within SHAML Programme -  Enhancing the Protection and Reintegration of Furthest Left Behind Groups of Women and Girls, UN Women will capitalize on the ongoing efforts exerted by the different actors, notably the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) ,the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD), and CSOs providing protection and re- integration services to the furthest left behind groups of women and girls victims and survivors of violence,  to further strengthen stakeholders’ capacities to accelerate the realization  and fulfillment of the rights of the furthest left behind groups of women and girls victims and survivors of violence. 

The furthest left behind groups of women and girls for this programme are the seven groups of women and girls who are denied access to sheltering services as per the Cabinet’s decision of 2011 on Protection Centers for Women Victims of Violence: women who have committed crimes (misdemeanors and felonies) and are executing court sentences, women with physical and mental disabilities, substance abuse cases, women accused of prostitution, women or girls who have infectious diseases, women who form a threat to other women, and girls who are below the age of 18, in addition to elderly women particularly those with mental or physical disabilities.

In 2022, the Ministry of Social Development submitted a request to the Cabinet to open an Emergency Shelter in Beitunia to cases of women users of drugs, women sex workers and women with disabilities.  The Ministry has then recruited six staff including social counsellors to provide services at the Center. As part of the plan to properly operationalize the Center,  UN Women will support the MoSD  to develop a functional plan to guide the development of the vision, mission, objectives, and scope of the Center, including types of cases, scope and types of services, admission policies, safety and security considerations, capacity of the Center, coordination and referral mechanisms, and required human resources amongst others, and a Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs)- noting that  separate chapters will be developed within the SoPs for each group of the three targeted groups.  

 Against this background, and through full cooperation with the MoSD and coordination with the MoWA, the Ministry of Health (MoH),  and CSOs providing sheltering services to women survivors of violence, UN Women within  Shaml programme plans to recruit a national expert/ consultant to support developing a functional plan and a SoPs for  Beitunia Emergency Shelter.

The main objective of the assignment:

The main objective of the assignment is to develop a functional plan and SoPs for the newly established Emergency Shelter at Beintuia to facilitate and guide its   effective operationalization.

The specific objectives of the assignment include the following points:

1. To support the MoSD and its partners to build a consensus on the vision, mission, objectives, scope and types of services, target groups, in addition to the ethical considerations, coordination and referral mechanisms, safety and security considerations, capacity of the Center and required human resources.
2. To develop a SoPs to guide the unified, consistent, gender- responsive and inclusive services at the Center- taking into consideration that separate chapters will be developed for each target group. Under the current assignment, based on consultation and approval of the MoSD, one chapter will be developed on cases of one group of the three targeted groups. 

Under the overall guidance of UN Women Special Representative, the direct supervision of  UN Women Rule of Law Programme Specialist, and working in close cooperation and coordination with  the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs- (MoWA), the Ministry of Health (MoH), CSOs, UN Women’s technical team and other partners, the consultant will undertake the following tasks:

1. Inception phase:

• Develop a work plan with timeframe and methodology, and share with UN Women and the MOSD  for discussion and approval.
• Meet with UN Women and the targeted institutions to agree on the assignment’s objectives and the methods that will be used.

2. Development of the functional plan:

• To conduct a desk review on national, regional and international references, including the MoSD strategy, the National Strategy on Combatting VAW (2023- 2029) which is currently under review by the Cabinet, UN Women  PALCO Strategic Note, UN principles and guidelines; CEDAW General Recommendations, plans and policies adopted by the MoSD and CSOs running shelters for women victims and survivors of violence and others. The desk review should include references to experiences, practices and recommendations of other countries at the regional and international levels.
• To meet with UN Women, the MoSD, MoWA,  MoH, and relevant partners to collect data and get a background about the current practices in managing VAW cases at shelters, lessons and recommendations.  
• To hold individual and groups meetings with relevant service providers, including representatives from the field, to explore current practices, challenges and recommendations.  
• To facilitate collective workshops with representatives of relevant institutions to discuss the vision, mission, objectives, scope and types of services, target groups, coordination and referral  mechanisms-including roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders, ethical considerations, safety and security considerations,  amongst others.
• To draft the functional plan and share it with UN Women for review and inputs.
• To amend the functional plan in line with the provided comments and facilitate a validation session to generate consensus on the different components of the functional plan.
• To submit a final approved functional plan.

3. Development of the  SoPs:

• To review the SoPs used by the other shelters in the country.
• To review national, regional and international related references.
• To conduct bilateral and collective meetings with services providers to discuss the procedures  and practices used by the different shelters; and the MoH, lessons learned,  challenges and recommendations.
• Based on consultation with the MoSD and UN Women, to develop a draft chapter on the cases of one of the three targeted groups, and submit it for UN Women for review and inputs.
• To submit an amended version of the developed chapter in line with the provided inputs.
• To facilitate a validation session with service providers to ensure consensus and applicability of the developed procedures.
• To submit a final approved chapter.

4. Reporting on the assignment:

To submit a final narrative report that includes a description of the assignment’s methodology, main findings, observations, challenges and recommendations for future related programming.  Minutes of meetings, sessions, and list of interviewees should be annexed. 

Deliverables:

• Deliverable 1:  An approved work plan with methodology and time frame. Expected delivery date: 10 days from the signature of the contract.
• Deliverable 2:  An approved functional plan.  Expected delivery date: three months after the signing of the contract.
• Deliverable 3: An approved chapter of SoPs , and a final approved narrative report, that includes an overall description of the assignment, the methodology used, the achieved results, challenges, and recommendations. Expected delivery date: five months after the signing of the contract. 

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

• Ability to lead Policy review process through consultation with stakeholders;
• Very strong background on gender;
• Experience in assessing impact of policies, strategies and measures from a gender perspective;
• Ability to manage time and meet tight deadlines;
• Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
• Proven networking, organizational and communication skills.

Evaluation Criteria:

This SSA modality is governed by UN Women General Terms and Conditions. UN Women will only be able to respond to applicants who meet the minimum requirements.

Candidates should clearly indicate how they meet the above-mentioned criteria in their applications.

The following documents should be submitted as part of the application. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials:

• UN Women P11 including experience in similar assignments; the P11 form can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment, a signed copy should be submitted;
• Provide a sample of a developed  product by the applicant; (policy document on the management of VAW cases; or policy and/ or response document to emergencies, or any other related document).

Note: Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Please upload as one attachment of the documents as mentioned above online through this website

Candidates should have the ability to quickly submit degree certificates, medical certification (of good health) expression of Interest (EoI).

Evaluation of applicants

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications mentioned above, and financial proposal. A contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer receives the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria. Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 50 points in the technical evaluation will be considered for financial evaluation. Only candidates obtaining 30/50 in the desk review will be considered for Technical Interview.

Technical Evaluation (70%) – max. 70 points.

• A Bachelor’s degree in social science, gender, development, human rights, criminology, sociology or related discipline. An advanced degree is an asset. (max. 10 points)
• At least 8 years of working experience in the field of violence against women, protection, and women’s rights. (max. 10 points)
• At least 5 years of previous experience in providing services at and/or managing a protection shelter for women survivors of violence. Previous experience with at least one group of the three targeted groups is a great asset. (max. 20 points)
• At least 2 previous assignments related to developing policies or procedures to cases of women survivors of violence.   (max. 15 points)
• Experience with the UN system or/and International Organizations is an asset. (max. 5 points)
• A sample of a developed  product by the applicant; (policy document on the management of VAW cases; or policy and/ or response document to emergencies, or any other related document). (max. 10 points)

Financial Evaluation (30%) – max. 30 points.

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

Only long-listed candidates will be contacted.

Financial proposal. Shortlisted candidate will be requested to submit a financial proposal. The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount breaking down a daily professional fee, proposed number of working days and any related expenses, i.e. travel and communications expenses.