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.

UN Women's work in Europe and Central Asia is informed by independent evaluations of regional initiatives and country programmes, and extensive consultative processes with a range of partners at country, sub-regional and regional levels.  One of the key lessons learned is the need to deepen strategic partnerships to increase synergies across multistakeholder networks of gender equality advocates, especially in the delivery of normative, coordination and operational results across the region. This includes engagement of partners in key inter-governmental and multi-stakeholder forums at regional and global levels, knowledge management, development and management of strategic partnerships, and resource mobilization.

At the regional office, the Strategic Partnerships team is in charge of building partnerships with member states, civil society organizations, and regional institutions and supporting partnerships with private sector entities. In addition, the Strategic Partnerships team supports country offices with their development partners' engagement efforts and helps build their resource mobilization capacity.

Under the guidance and direction of the Strategic Partnerships, Intergovernmental and Normative engagement Specialist, the consultant will support developing new and managing existing partnerships. The consultant will work in close collaboration with the Strategic Partnerships Unit and with the UN Women programme and operations teams at regional and country levels.

Duties and Responsibilities

The purpose of the consultancy is to assist the Strategic Partnerships team in developing and managing UN Women's relationships with strategic partners in the region, providing resource mobilization support to the regional office and country offices in Europe and Central Asia, and ensuring high-level quality engagement in intergovernmental processes and regional and global fora to accelerate the implementation of UN Women's Strategic Note 2021-2025 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In light of this, the consultant will perform the following tasks:

• Support the development of the systemic approach, coordination and management of ECARO's engagement with existing and new development partnerships.
• Provide support to the conceptualization and implementation of ECA action plan(s) to engage in critical intergovernmental processes and multi-stakeholder initiatives, including SDGs, Beijing+30, CSW and Generation Equality.

• Support the development of project proposals and the coordination between involved parties.
• Provide institutional support by identifying and researching priority areas of development partners and supporting internal outreach processes.
• Prepare briefing notes, talking points, background notes, and presentations supporting participation in intergovernmental processes, subregional, regional and global forums and convenings, and resource mobilization and engagement activities.
• Act as the ECARO focal point for youth engagement and coordinate a network of youth focal points in the region.
• Other duties as assigned but not limited to contributing strategic planning, conducting and disseminating research, and delivering advocacy and communications products.

Deliverables and timeframe:

Submission of a bi-monthly summary report of milestones, concrete outputs and results achieved per duties and responsibilities in terms of Reference, including key information on inter alia: report of medium and large events outcomes; advocacy and communications products development and dissemination;  action plans development and execution for engagement in global, regional fora and processes.

Competencies

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

Functional Competencies

• The consultant must have a strong sense of responsibility, a flexible and proactive mindset, and the ability to work independently.
• The consultant must have strong analytical skills;

Required Skills and Experience

• At least a master’s degree in business administration, Public Administration, Public Policy, International Relations, Economics or another related field
• Minimum five years of professional work experience with member states, development partners, civil society networks and/or other multi-stakeholder partnerships for sustainable development.
• At least two years of proven experience in designing and implementing communication and advocacy plans, tools and products, monitoring systems and approaches for partnership building and resource mobilization.
• Proven knowledge of international development, humanitarian, human rights, gender equality, women’s empowerment and women’s rights normative frameworks, consultation processes and reporting mechanisms
• Proven experience in project and initiatives development, implementation, management and reporting in multi-country contexts or at subregional and regional levels
• Demonstrated experience driving community engagement from an intersectional approach, particularly with young people.
• Experience with the UN system in the region is an asset
• Fluent in English, written and spoken. Knowledge of other UN languages will be an asset.

Evaluation

The evaluation will be based on the combination of the weighted technical and financial scores (80 per cent technical and 20 per cent financial). The technical evaluation includes the knowledge/experience in gender equality and women's empowerment, experience working with bilateral partners and the private sector and/or international institutions. Evaluation methods include desk review and/or interview.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 56 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

Required Skills and Experience

Financial Evaluation (20%) – max. 20 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

Application Information

All applications must include the following (as an attachment):

1. Application letter explaining your interest in the consultancy and why you are the most suited candidate for this position;
2. Updated CV;
3. Personal History Form (P11). The P11 Form can be downloaded from the following website: http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs
4. Financial proposal specifying a daily consultancy rate.  Financial proposal to also include travel cost estimated at three round trips to Istanbul from home country and living allowance for 7 days stay per trip. The travel cost will only be paid on actuals not exceeding proposed amount.

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, colour, 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.)