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.

Despite the volatility and war inside of Ukraine, UN Women remains committed to delivering results across strategic priorities, exercising its triple mandate and building key partnerships. With the war in Ukraine having dramatically shifted the immediate priorities, it remains all the more essential that rights of women and girls remain at the centre of the humanitarian response. Aligning with the UN priorities, UN Women’s future operations in the country will focus on amplifying the localization agenda and strengthening the local women-led gender-responsive humanitarian response and ensuring the experiences of displaced, at risk and vulnerable women and girls are centralized during the recovery process.

Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian military invasion, Ukraine is rapidly emerging as one of the world’s most complex emergencies with millions of internally displaced people and refugees already fleeing the country. Women make up 64% of internally displaced people in Ukraine, and about 90% of those who have sought refuge European countries and beyond are women and children. The full-scale war impacts the unemployment rates among all categories of the population and will most likely continue pushing women into the unprotected informal sectors of the economy.

Rebuilding and sustaining inclusive economic growth will be a fundamental priority for early recovery and postwar Ukraine, and the equitable inclusion of women in these efforts will define the country's ability to rebuild and recover. Ensuring income generation opportunities and rebuilding women’s livelihoods and women led localized economies will be another important driver to prevent the drivers to further displacement and escalations of tensions. For displaced women and for those returning to their homes, finding new livelihoods is a considerable challenge. Targeted support to war affected women in accessing livelihoods will need to address their specific needs, including in areas of displacement and return.

To ensure evidence-based programming of the government, civil society and development partners for women economic empowerment during the full-scale war and for gender-responsive recovery of Ukraine, there is a need to collect all available data and conduct study on the impact of the full-scaled Russian invasion to Ukraine on women’s economic situation to fill in the gaps on the women’s access to labour market and business opportunities, as well as sex-disaggregated statistics at the labour market and about business.

UN Women is planning to contract a research institute/think-tank to conduct the study on women`s economic empowerment during the full/scale war in Ukraine to receive evidence on economic challenges for women in Ukraine at the labour market and in business to inform the programming of the government, civil society and development partners for women’s economic empowerment to ensure gender-responsive recovery of Ukraine. A Reference Group will be created to validate the methodology, as well as findings and recommendations of the Study. The Group will consist of the representatives of key governmental institutions, women’s CSOs and development partners. Considering the above, UN Women is looking for a National Consultant to provide coordination and expert support to the Reference Group to conduct the Study.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the UN Women Representative and direct supervision by the Programme Specialist/Project Manager, the National Consultant will provide support to the contracted research institution and the Reference Group with expert advice and support on conducting the Study on women’s economic empowerment in the labour market and in entrepreneurship during the full-scale war for the gender-responsive recovery of Ukraine. The assignment will include but will not be limited to the following tasks:

1. Provide expert support to the contracted research institution and the Reference Group in development and validation of the Study methodology.
2. Provide coordination support and conduct meetings of the Reference Group (including representatives of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, the Government Commissioner on Gender Equality Policy, Ministry of Social Policy, Ministry of Economy, women’s CSOs, ILO, UN Women, EBRD, other relevant partners), and facilitate methodology discussion and validation with other governmental institutions, employers organizations, business associations, trade unions, women’s CSOs, academia, UN Agencies and other development partners, as well as other relevant stakeholders.
3. Provide support to the research institution in finalization of the methodology based on the above consultations.
4. Provide expert and coordination support to the contracted research institution and the Reference Group in development of the detailed work plan for all activities with clear timeframes and anticipated results for Study.
5. Provide coordination support to the research institution and the Reference Group during conducting the Study.
6. Provide expert support to the research institution in development of a draft analytical report on the results of the Study and elaboration of the recommendations to all relevant stakeholders (the recommendations will be an integral part of the analytical report).
7. Conduct meetings with a Reference Group to present, comment and validate the preliminary analytical report on the Study findings and recommendations.
8. Support organization of and facilitate the multi-stakeholder’s consultations to present and discuss/validate the report with participation of the Reference Group and other relevant stakeholders.
9. Provide support to the research institution in finalization of the analytical report after consultations.
10. Facilitate the process of proof-editing, design and publication of the analytical report in consultations with the Reference Group.
11. Organize a presentation of the finalized analytical report on the findings and recommendations of the Study to the multi-stakeholders’ meeting to be conducted by UN Women in partnership the Deputy Prime Minister on European and Euro Atlantic Integration to advocate for the women economic empowerment initiatives for gender-responsive recovery.

Assignment Deliverables:

*All reports should be submitted in English language and include the full set of supporting documents, such as work plan, concept  note, analytical report, presentation, etc. The supporting documents can be submitted in Ukrainian.

Inputs

• UN Women will provide the Consultant with background materials related to the assignment.
• The consultant is expected to work using her/his own computer.

Performance evaluation:

• Contractor’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, efficiency, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered. The evaluation will be carried out and cleared by the hiring manager which will also be the basis for payment on a delivery basis to the consultant.

Financial arrangements:  

• Payment will be disbursed in three installments upon receipt of the deliverables (as per the below  matrix) and their certification by UN Women Programme Specialist that the services have been satisfactorily performed.
  • First installment after submission and acceptance of the deliverables ## 1 and 2;
  • Second installment after submission and acceptance of the deliverable #3;
  • Third installment after submission and acceptance of the deliverables ## 4 and 5;

Competencies

Core Values

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism
• Competencies

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

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications Education:

Advanced (Masters) degree in Economics, Marketing, Sociology, Gender Studies, Social Sciences or related field.

Experience:

• Minimum 3 years of relevant work experience (after Master’s degree) in the field of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment;
• Previous experience with contributing to the gender analysis, surveys, researches, assessments, development of policies and procedures;
• Previous experience on consulting for government and non-government institutions, private sector on gender equality and women economic empowerment;
• Proven experience of work with different stakeholders, including private sector, CSOs and development partners. Experience of work with UN will be considered as an asset;
• Advanced understanding of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.

Languages and other skills: 

• Fluency in verbal and written English and Ukrainian is required.

Evaluation of Applicants:

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of their qualifications and financial proposal. A two-stage procedure is utilized in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. The award of the contract should be made to the individuals whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable.
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical criteria - 70% of total evaluation. Total max 70 points:

• The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 70. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on desk review and following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation will be further considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points allocated for the financial/price component is 30.
• 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 49 points in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.
• Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 30
• (S - score received on financial evaluation; F min - the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round; F - financial offer under the consideration).

Application and submission package:

All applications must include as one attachment:

1. Completed and signed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.unwomen.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FHeadquarters%2FAttachments%2FSections%2FAbout%2520Us%2FEmployment%2FUN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK

1. Financial proposal (sample is provided below) completed and signed: The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount with a breakdown of a daily professional rate per number of anticipated working days to include all costs (e.g. tele-communication, etc).

Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment.

Sample of Financial Proposal

The format shown on the following table is suggested for use as a guide in preparing the Financial Proposal

1. Cost Breakdown per Deliverables*

*Basis for payment tranches

UN Women applies fair and transparent selection process that would take into account the competencies/skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals.

Interested candidates are requested to apply no later than 23:59 EEST 19 September 2023. Applications without P11 and financial proposal may be treated as incomplete and may not be considered for further assessment.

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).