Background

In 2015 the 59th Commission on the Status of Women will review progress made in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA), 20 years after its adoption at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. UNDP will join UN partners by convening an international conference to discuss progress made in addressing “Women and Poverty”. This event will be an opportunity to hear leading experts in the field and to learn from UNDP’s vast experience over the last twenty years supporting national efforts to promote women’s empowerment through social, economic, political and sustainable human development. It will bring together experts in the field of gender and poverty, policymakers and development practitioners from different parts of the world, as well as grassroots women leaders, to reflect on the impact of the BPfA, examine the current situation, highlight some of the achievements and point out the remaining challenges.
 
The UNDP two-day conference on “Women and Poverty” (date and venue to be decided) will be held in early 2015. It will highlight global issues of concern and best practices directed at eradicating poverty and their impact on women. Specialists in the field will discuss progress made since the adoption of the BPfA, the multidimensional aspects of poverty and also examine their implications for sustainable and inclusive development and for a forward-looking post 2015 agenda. During the two-day conference, there will be a high-level segment that will look at the situation of women and poverty since the adoption of the BPfA followed by a series of sessions identifying current challenges, featuring innovative experiences and lessons learnt.
 
The Gender Team in the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) seeks the expertise of a writer with experience in the substantive area of gender and poverty to produce a background paper for the conference. The background paper will serve to orient the participants and will be published for wider distribution in English.

Duties and Responsibilities

Specific Deliverables/Specifications of Background Paper:
 
Produce a background paper between 35-40 pages or approximately 25,000 words that will:

Present a global overview of current status of women and poverty
  • Discuss the goals set-forth in the BPfA under this topic and the progress achieved over the last twenty years;
  • Identify the major remaining challenges regarding efforts to empower and improve the situation of women living in poverty;
  • Address some specific issues that are currently the focus of the global discourse on women and poverty such as: the lack of access to employment and decent paid work, unpaid work or the so called “care economy,” the informal employment sector and the need for improved social protection, as well as policies to respond to the needs of women in poverty;
Ensure the paper’s content and tone is forward looking and provides pertinent recommendations that could be taken into account as the international community prepares for the Post 2015 development agenda.
Include an Executive Summary, Footnotes and List of References.
Be responsible for the initial editing of the paper including rewriting and restructuring parts of text to incorporate inputs from peer group and to ensure greater readability as necessary.
Target Audience:

 Intended for external audience including partners and stakeholders.
 
Deliverables and Timeline:
  • Draft detailed, annotated Outline of the background paper (September 24, 2014);
  • First Draft of background paper to be reviewed by peer group with footnotes and list of references (October 10, 2014); 
  • Second Draft of background paper with all pertinent inputs/modifications to be reviewed by peer group (November 3, 2014); 
  • Third Draft of background paper (November 14, 2014);
  • Final Draft of background paper with all pertinent inputs/modifications, edited and ready for publication.The consultant will edit the paper and carry out more extensive editing where required, including rewriting and restructuring parts of texts for greater readability as necessary. (December 3, 2014).   

Competencies

  • Excellent analytical and writing skills demonstrating complete fluency in English language;
  • Demonstrated accuracy and attention to detail;
  • Ability to be flexible and respond to changes as part of the review and feedback process;
  • Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure.        Strong organizational, research and writing skills;
  • Demonstrated in-depth knowledge on gender equality, poverty and development;
  • Respect for Diversity:  Understanding of the United Nations system, operations and structures, particularly those related to gender equality and women’s empowerment;
  • Highest standards of integrity, discretion and loyalty;
  • Commitment to UNDP’s vision, mission, and strategic goals;
  • Ability working under minimum supervision and tight deadlines.

Required Skills and Experience

Education: 

  • Minimum Master's degree in development studies, social sciences, journalism, communications, international relations or other development or communications-related area of study

Experience:

  • In-depth knowledge of gender and poverty, Beijing Platform for Action, CEDAW and other relevant international instruments related to gender equality and women’s empowerment;
  • Minimum 10 years’ experience as a writer/analyst of gender issues and women in poverty;
  • Understanding of the United Nations system, operations and structures, particularly those related to gender equality and women’s empowerment;
  • Proven ability to deliver quality reports/papers in line with established deadlines;
  • Previous experience as a consultant with UN is desirable.

Language:

  • Fluent English.
Documents to be included when submitting the proposals
 
Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:
  • Complete and duly signed Personal CV and/or UNDP Personal History form including past experience and demonstrating qualifications. A copy of UNDP Personal History form is available here [http://sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc] (Annex 1);
  • Please provide samples of previous writing samples (2 samples);
  • Financial proposal indicating a daily rate in US dollars;
  • At least 3 references (names, titles, email addresses).
Financial Proposal:
 
Contracts will be based on daily fee: Please indicate your all-inclusive daily fee rate in US dollars. Payments are made to the Individual Consultant based on the number of days worked and upon receipt of the Certificate for Payment (CoP) and acceptance of the work by the UNDP Responsible Staff.
 
Travel:

There is no anticipated travel for this assignment.

Evaluation:

Method: Cumulative analysis method will be used to evaluate proposals.

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: 

  • 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.  

  Technical Criteria weight: 70% ;
    Financial Criteria weight: 30%.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 (70%) points on technical part will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Criteria for technical evaluation (70 points maximum):

  • Criteria 1: Education – 10 points;
  • Criteria 2: Expertise of the Writer, taken into account earlier performances relevant to the subject areas – 30 points;
  • Criteria 3: Quality of writing based on the samples provided (logical reasoning, tailored to audience, creative writing/styling – 30 points.

Criteria for financial evaluation (30 points maximum):

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

p = y (μ/z), where

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal
μ = price of the lowest priced proposal
z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Important Considerations:

UNDP Personal History Form

To note, a completed PH 11 Form will be required at the time a consultant signs an Individual Contract (IC) or his/her employer, if employed, signs a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) for work associated with this assignment.

Office and equipment

Consultant is required to have her/his own computer and communication facilities (access to internet, email service and telephone line).

Annexes/Forms

Annex 1 – UNDP Personal History Form (UNDP PH11) [http://sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc

Annex 2 – Individual Consultant General Terms and Conditions is provided here: http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf.