Background

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality for everyone, regardless of gender, as equal partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace, and security. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates 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 national priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with government, civil society, development partners, and other relevant actors.

In the context of the long-standing cooperation of the EU Delegation to the Kyrgyz Republic and the UN Women on gender issues, UN Women CO and the EU Delegation to the Kyrgyzstan are planning to develop Country Gender Equality Profile of Kyrgyzstan. Based on both statistical and qualitative data, Country Gender Equality Profile will form an analytical document to provide an understanding of the current context in relation to gender equality and women’s empowerment, including an overview of opportunities to address the gaps in the implementation of the National Gender Equality Strategy identified through in-depth analysis in the following thematic areas:

1. Gender-based violence
2. Sexual and reproductive health and rights of women
3. Women’s Economic Empowerment (economic and social rights of women)
4. Equal participation and leadership of women
5. Women in peace and security, including conflict gender analysis in Batken region
6. Gender Equality and climate change including water and other natural resources management
7. Gender and Digitalization

The purpose of developing a CGEP for Kyrgyzstan is to strengthen national understanding and data analysis and management on the advancement of international, regional, and national commitments towards GEWE; and to act as a primary source of information for evidence-driven advocacy to advance the gains and overcome the bottlenecks to realizing GEWE at sub-national and national levels.

The Country gender Equality Profile will serve as analytical and operational document which will be framed against international norms and standards on Gender equality and Women’s Empowerment and the national/international commitments made, including the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (PFA) and other relevant UN Security Council resolutions on women, peace and security (where applicable) and agreed conclusions of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) as well as other significant national and international commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment made in the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction etc.

The gender analysis included in the Country Gender Equality Profile is expected to support the government of the Kyrgyz Republic to identify the key gender equality issues, barriers and challenges thus to accelerate the advancement of gender equality corresponding to implementation of National Gender Equality Strategy till 2030 (minjust.gov.kg) and it’s NAP for a period 2022-2024 . The process of developing the CGEP will leverage and strengthen the role and leadership of the national gender machinery/ Ministry of Labor, Social Security and Migration as a key player in guiding and monitoring implementation of commitments to GEWE in the country. The CGEP findings and recommendations are expected to be validated through validation exercise within the National Task Force Group established by gender machinery. The analytical document will also assist the EU programming exercise in the context of the Multi-annual Indicative Programme during 2021- 2027 and EU Gender Action Plan 2020-2025 (GAP-III) for the Kyrgyz Republic. 

The document will generate the findings and recommendations to target national policy reform on institutional framework for gender equality based on holistic and robust analysis on gender equality and women’s empowerment as well as deep analysis on the root causes of 7 thematic areas which will be backed by accurate quantitative and qualitative gender statistics. 

The CGEP should at a minimum meet the following criteria:

1. Use key recent data and statistics on the situation of women and girls, men and boys, and gender and sexual minorities in Kyrgyzstan

2. Identify key barriers to achieving GEWE, including discriminatory social norms, legislative framework, institutional capacity

3. Identify key actors (stakeholder mapping) with the mandate to act for GEWE, including national and sub-national government actors, I/NGOs, civil society, and international development partners

4. Map data gaps, including those related to sex-age-gender-disability, disaggregated data and statistics

5. Identify realistic objectives/opportunities for policy and political dialogue,

6. Develop targeted and action-oriented recommendations for the integration of GEWE in the selected thematic areas, including from a programmatic perspective.

To implement this initiative, UN Women CO in Kyrgyzstan on behalf of UN system in Kyrgyz Republic and EU Delegation to the Kyrgyz Republic is seeking for the expertise of International Consultant to lead and coordinate the development of Country Gender Equality Profile in Kyrgyzstan. The Consultant will work in close collaboration with the UN Women team and national team of experts (National Gender Expert and National Data and Research Consultant).

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the Regional Gender Data Specialist based at UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (ECARO), SDG Data and Partnership Coordinator at UN Women Country Office and Macro-economist/Public Finance  Management Programme Officer at EU Delegation to the Kyrgyz Republic, CGEP International Lead Consultant in coordination with team of national consultants will develop the Country Gender Equality Profile.

Within the assignment, the Consultant will be responsible for the following activities:

Task 1: Review all available assessments, reports and prepare Inception Report including detailed methodology, annotated outline and detailed timeframe for CGEP elaboration in line with Concept Note for CGEP, UN Women Corporate Guidance to ensure coherence of the overall product.

• Review the available reports, researches, assessments on legal country’s framework and political context on GEWE
• Identify the priority needs for data and statistics to conduct data analysis
• Develop a detailed methodology and annotated outline for the CGEP to ensure coherence of the overall product as well as its individual components, building on relevant UN Women guidance and sample publications
• Prepare detailed timeframe for CGEP elaboration

Task 2: Coordinate and ensure the required substantive analysis for the elaboration of CGEP

The International Consultant in close collaboration with UN Women and national consultant’s team (Gender expert and Data Research Consultant) will ensure  the following:

• Coordinate the work of the national team of consultants (Gender Research Consultant and Gender Consultant)
• Guide and monitor the progress and quality of services to be delivered by the team of national consultants
• Validate the accuracy and relevance of data and analysis for the first version of CGEP
• Drawing on inputs from the team of national consultants, draft the forward, executive summary, concluding chapter with key recommendations
• Edit the CGEP for cohesive structure and flow, including addressing gaps in analytics, information, making any necessary restructuring and rewriting to ensure the clarity, consistency and the use of gender-sensitive language
• Participate in the validation and discussion of the initial CGEP draft (UN Women, EU Delegation to the Kyrgyz Republic and Task Force Group)

Task 3: Finalize the CGEP for publication

The International Consultant will be responsible for finalization of the CGEP for final clearance by UN Women, EU Delegation

• Address all comments to be received as a result of validation meeting and suggestions to be provided by the proofreader if needed
• Prepare a PowerPoint presentation drawing on the CGEP with key findings and recommendations (max 20 slides). 

1. Timeframe, payments and deliverables

It is anticipated the assignment will take up to 15 working days over a period of 6 months:

Payment for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of each deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed. Payment will be based on the submission of the SSA report along with the timesheet and relevant annexes as supporting documents for the achievement of deliverables:

Inputs from UN Women and EU Delegation:

• UN Women and EU Delegation will provide the consultant with background materials for the assignments. Specifically, this will include national reports, researches, data, EU Gender Action Plan 2020-2025 (GAP-III) etc.
• UN Women CO will provide the contact details and introductions to the team of National Consultants.

Reporting requirements:

The CGEP International Lead Consultant is expected to work remotely using her/his own computer. UN Women and EU Delegation to the Kyrgyz Republic will provide may provide support to coordinate activities with NSC, when and if required.

Consultancy report should be provided in electronic version in English with detailed description of the fulfilled tasks, according to the present Term of Reference, and the contribution of the team of national experts. Analytical documents, reports and other materials developed by expert should be attached to the report as annexes, which will serve as a justification for payment.

Competencies

Core Values:

Integrity:

• Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Professionalism:

• Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Respect for Diversity:

• Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff.
• Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrate and integrity and fairness by modeling UN values and ethical standards.
• Knowledge of the social, cultural, and political context of Kyrgyzstan and local issues of gender, public policy and governance
• Strong written/oral communication and training skills
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Competencies in coordination, planning and teamwork
• A commitment to quality product and deadlines

Required Skills and Experience

Application procedure:

Applications should include:

• Offeror's letter to UN Women confirming interest and availability for the assignment.
• Financial proposal, indicating a total lump sum to include all costs relating to the delivery of activities as per above description.
• P-11 form including experience in similar assignments. This form can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment.

Financial proposal format:

Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant during the contract period. The financial proposal should be provided in KGS. If the proposal is provided in any other currency, it would be converted as per UN exchange rate on the date of post closure.

Evaluation of applicants: 

The evaluation starts with shortlisting of potential candidates and received applications against the mandatory requirements. Only full applications will be considered. Shortlisted candidates will be then evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants' technical qualifications and experience, and financial proposal. The contract will be awarded to the individual  consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Technically responsive/compliant/acceptable to the requirements of the ToR; and
• Having received the highest cumulative (technical & financial) score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

The selection of candidates will be done in 3 stages:

1st stage: Prior to detailed evaluation, all applications will be thoroughly screened against eligibility criteria (minimum qualification requirements) as set in the present ToR in order to determine whether they are compliant/ non-compliant.

2nd stage: Technical Evaluation/ Desk review.

Short-listed candidates will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

3rd stage: Financial evaluation will be conducted according to the method described below:

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)

Where:

p - points for the financial proposal being evaluated;

µ - price of the lowest priced proposal;

z - price of the proposal being evaluated

The candidate achieving the highest cumulative score for both Technical and Financial evaluations will be recommended by the Evaluation Committee for contracting.

The Consultant shall promote a client-oriented approach consistent with UN Women rules and regulations and commits to high standards of quality, productivity and timeliness in the delivery of tasks. The Consultant will meet and apply the highest standards of integrity and impartiality.

The Consultant must be fully dedicated to the mandate and the values of UN Women, particularly to promoting Gender Equality as a strategy to reduce conflict, improve livelihoods and ensure fairness and justice; to Women Empowerment underpinning Gender Equality promotion efforts; to inter-ethnic tolerance and concord; and to respect for diversity.

Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.  Only shortlisted candidates will be notified.

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 is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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.)

Applications without the completed P-11 form are incomplete and will NOT be considered for further assessment!