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. Placing women’s rights at the center 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 Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

In line with fulfilling UN Women’s strategic objectives, UN Women Egypt Country Office focuses on three areas of immediate concern: Strengthening women’s participation in governance and leadership, eradication of violence against women, women’s economic security and rights. .

As part of the inception phase, the project will run a series of coordinated assessments to identify the main opportunities and threats faced by local communities consistently with the Human Security (HS) approach and local economic development approach. These will include a macro-level labour market study conducted as part of the “Decent jobs for Youth in Egypt” ILO project, and a micro-level labour market needs assessment conducted by IOM in collaboration with MOLD.

In order to complement these efforts and gather a deeper understanding of HS issues as perceived by the local communities, a “territorial analysis” will be undertaken. This will represent a basis for the formation of HS Forum (at the mother-village and markaz levels) and other initiatives of all UN partners.

Meantime, The HS approach stresses the importance of local ownership and bottom-up participation from the earliest stages of project design. The territorial analysis would allow embedding local participation in the project inception phase. Its main objectives are:

• Mapping HS vulnerabilities and opportunities through the eyes of local stakeholders, while introducing the HS concept to local communities and sensitizing local stakeholders on their territory, its assets and challenges;
• Informing the establishment of the Hayat fora at mother village and markaz levels, including adequate leadership and reporting arrangements in the local governance context, and identification of social and economic representatives to be included;
• Informing the design of a social, economic and environmental planning process at village and district level, in the context of the local governance arrangements;
• Provide other, more sector-specific inputs to project design;
• Accordingly, the territorial analysis study will be used as a baseline study to:
• Strengthen the ownership of the project by local stakeholders and empower local communities to realize development visions with their respective local government institutions in collaboration with the private sector;
• Improve local participatory planning processes and inform the design of an economic, social and environmental (human security) strategy for the targeted areas;
• Identify at least 20 priority interventions across the five villages for job creation in agro-industries, neighborhood improvement projects, micro-entrepreneurial activities, and women entrepreneurship, that will be supported by the project’s Fund;
• Strengthen existing or facilitate the creation of youth associations;
• Design skills enhancement and job matching programmes for youth;
• Identify neighborhood upgrading interventions.

Duties and Responsibilities

In particular, the objectives of the assignment are the following:

To finalize a Socioeconomic mapping and profiling of the targeted areas

To engender the following:

• Refined and finalised the methodology / develop specific research tools;
• Listing of non-government organizations in the field.

To finalize territorial analysis report including

• Socio-economic mapping;
• Socio-economic profiling;

Recommendations covering in particular:

• Sectors and products with comparative advantage for economic development;
• Gaps within the representation of key social and economic groups;
• Gaps in service delivery and training needs assessment of NGOs

Under the overall supervision of UN Women Programme Manager, below are the expected deliverables:

Engendered research tools and methodology

• In coordination with the lead researcher, submit research tools developed highlighting the gender focus on both the formation of the questions as well as topics covered;
• In coordination with the lead researcher, highlight the gender focus in the methodology of the mapping (sampling, the approach, the implementation..).

The gender chapter of the territorial analysis report

• Submit a special annex to the territorial mapping highlighting the major findings from a gender lens (major obstacles, major intervention opportunities, most interesting findings, priority areas for awareness raising).

Competencies

• 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;
• Cultural sensitivity and valuing 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.

• Ethics and Values: Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity;
• Organizational Awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment
  
• Development and Innovation: Take charge of self-development and take initiative;
• Work in teams: Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds;
• Communicating and Information Sharing: Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication;
• Self-management and Emotional Intelligence: Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others;
• Conflict Management: Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution;
• Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing: Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge;
• Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making: Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

• Ability to strongly manage teams;
• Ability to In-depth knowledge of women’s rights issues;
• Ability to communicate clear and concise;
• Ability to work in difficult surroundings and flexibility ;
• Ability to plan and set clear goals.

Required Skills and Experience

• A bachelor degree in political science, economics, business administration or any research related degree.

• A minimum of 10 years of work experience with active background in research.

• Fluency in written and spoken English and Arabic is mandatory.

Evaluation Criteria:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

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

Criteria Weight Technical: 70%

• Criteria: At least ten years of relevant experience in research and data analysis (Weight: 30%. Maximum obtainable Points: 30);
• Criteria: Knowledge of gender issues in Egypt (Weight: 30%. Maximum obtainable Points: 30);
• Criteria: Relevant education in social science, including any degree in research OR replaceable by active ten years of work experience in the research field (Weight 5%; maximum obtainable points 5);
• Criteria: Excellent written and spoken English and Arabic. (Weight 5%; maximum obtainable points 5);

(Lowest Bid Offered*)/(Bid of the Consultant) x 30

*"Lowest Bid Offered" refers to the lowest price offered by Offerors scoring at least 49 points in technical evaluation.

Documents to be included when submitting the proposal:

• A cover letter with a brief presentation of your consultancy explaining your suitability for the work;
• Personal CV;
• A brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work (limit to under 1500 words).

Financial proposal:

• Financial proposal indicating the daily fee of the consultant.

Note:

Those who previously applied need not apply again.