UN WOMEN Jobs - 51303- Consultant for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Ch

Consultant for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Gender Policy Paper and Conceptual Framework

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

08-Dec-2014

Application Deadline :

21-Nov-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

65 days over a 6 month period

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

December 2014-June 2015

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

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.

As part of the Secretary-General’s Global Strategy for Women’s And Children’s Health (2010) focused on reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCH) and in support of the UNSG’s Global Movement of Every Women Every Child (EWEC - www.everywomaneverychild.org). UN Women, as a member of the H4+ partnership of UN agencies - UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO, the World Bank, UNAIDS and UN Women – who have joined forces to support countries with the highest rates of maternal and newborn mortality, seeks a consultant with relevant experience to develop knowledge products examining the role of gender as social determinant of health.

The H4+ primary focus is working with countries to strengthen their health systems to provide better maternal and newborn health services in order to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by 75% and achieve universal access to reproductive health – and advance the two targets under MDG 5 and to reduce child mortality as called for by MDG 4. The work of the H4+ is also linked to MDG 3 promoting gender equality and empowering women and MDG 6 combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases. A critical area of work for H4+ is to tackle the root causes of maternal, newborn and child mortality and morbidity, including gender inequality, low access to education (especially for girls), child marriage and adolescent pregnancy.

According to the Commission on Social Determinants of Health, gender biases in power, resources, entitlements, norms and values, and the way in which organizations are structured and programmes are run damage the health of millions of girls and women.[1] Equality in health depends vitally on the empowerment of individuals to challenge and change the unfair and steeply graded distribution of social resources to which everyone has equal claims and rights. There is direct link between women’s health—a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing—throughout their life cycle and the level of national development. The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, including the health system. They are most responsible for health inequities - the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries. A major barrier to women’s health is inequality between women and men, and among women in different geographical region, social classes, among others.

Although evidence points to the correlation between gender-based discrimination and unequal power and poor RMNCH outcomes, a comprehensive framework for addressing how gender dimensions affect health outcomes both in the community and within the health sector and cataloguing of relevant gender-responsive interventions does not exist. This activity seeks to close the gap between what we know through existing evidence and programs, how the causal pathways operate diminishing women’s health outcomes and what strategies exist to directly address gender inequality within health care delivery throughout a woman’s lifecycle.

Through the frameworks of social movements, community engagement and health promotion, engaging community structures in formal and informal settings in various aspects of health care delivery with the objective of improving overall health outcomes has become commonplace. Acknowledging the positive influence of increased linkages, engagement and mobilization of community structures, little has been done to understand and address how gender dimensions influence program conceptualization, design, implementation and evaluation, what the gendered experiences are of women in communities utilizing health services and what considerations are made to ensure harmful social norms from either community systems or health care systems are reduced or eliminated to ensure women’s human rights are maintained.

As progress is being measured against existing targets and goals for RMNCH to inform the post-2015 development frameworks, there is an opportunity for reflection and analysis of the root causes and social determinants of health based on lessons learned. Utilizing the guiding principal of gender as a social determinant, UN Women is requesting a consultant to conduct a review and develop a conceptual framework for gender equality within RMNCH, which identifies the causal pathways of lived women’s experiences and health outcomes.

[1] http://www.who.int/social_determinants/thecommission/finalreport/key_concepts/en/index.html)

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective: To provide analysis and develop a conceptual framework for addressing gender dimensions within RMNCH.

Tasks:

Conduct a literature review of Gender as a social determinant of health and RMNCH within the current literature.
Develop a policy paper on the role of gender as a social determinant of health which includes a conceptual framework for gender equality within RMNCH.
Present policy paper and conceptual framework at an experts’ meeting on Gender as a social determinant of health
Develop case studies highlighting gender-responsive strategies & programming for RMNCH.
Develop a guidance document for applying a Gender equality conceptual framework to RMNCH strategies and plans at national and sub-national levels.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

Work plan including timeline by December 15th 2014;
Draft Policy paper: Conceptual Framework for Gender as a social determinant of health within RMNCH by January 31st, 2015;
Report from Expert meeting on Gender Equality framework development for RMNCH by March 31st, 2015 (dependent on dates of Expert meeting);
Final Policy Paper: Conceptual Framework for Gender as a social determinant of health within RMNCH by May 15th, 2015;
Guidance for applying gender framework to RMNCH strategies and plans (including case studies) by June 30th, 2015;

Methodology:

As part of UN Women’s role of thought and knowledge leadership within H4+ for gender equality mainstreaming within overall strategies and national programming, this activity aims to develop a conceptual framework for addressing gender dimensions within RMNCH broadly and provide analysis for policy and program development. This will be achieved through a desk review of relevant literature in the areas of social determinants of health focused on gender, and an analysis of the theme followed by the development of a policy paper which sets forth a conceptual framework for gender equality within RMNCH. The policy paper and conceptual framework will be part of an expert’s meeting on Gender dimensions within RMNCH. These products will be supplemented with a guidance document aimed at national health officials and international organizations engaged RMNCH activities which provides recommendations for intervention selection and implementation as well as case studies highlighting best practice programs, which will be gathered from currently running programs.

The policy paper will present a global overview of literature concerning gender dimensions within RMNCH to date and present a conceptual framework for gender as a social determinant of health within the post-2015 framework. It will consider the progress achieved under the current MDG framework as well as identify the major remaining challenges. It will be forward looking and provide pertinent policy recommendations that could be taken into account as the international community prepares for the Post 2015 development agenda. It will also address some specific issues that are currently the focus of the global discourse on RMNCH such as: linkages to economic empowerment, education, unpaid care work, child marriage and sexual and reproductive rights. The paper will be between 25-30 pages in length (excluding tables and graphs) and include an Executive Summary, Footnotes and List of References.

Competencies

Core Values and Guiding Principles:

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.

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values:

Demonstrate and promote ethics and integrity by creating organizational precedents.

Communication and Information Sharing:

Create and promote an environment for open and 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;

Functional Competencies:

In-depth knowledge of gender and health, Beijing Platform for Action, ICPD, CEDAW and other relevant international instruments related to gender equality,women’s empowerment and reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health;
Proven analytical and writing skills;
Proven ability to deliver quality reports/papers in line with established deadlines.

Required Skills and Experience

Educational Qualifications:

Advanced university degree in public health, medicine, nursing, development studies, public policy, or other relevant social sciences relevant to this assignment.

Experience:

At least 10 years of work experience in health and social development, and/or international development. A particular focus on Sexual, Reproductive health or Maternal, Newborn Child health preferred.
Experience with Gender Equality policies and programming as well was gender analysis;
Experience developing conceptual frameworks;
Familiarity with RMNCH current issues being discussed as part of the post-2015 agenda;
Track record of working with multi-lateral institutions and government.
Track record of widely disseminated high-level publications in relevant fora.

Language:

Fluency and excellent analytical writing skills in English.

Financial Proposal

Contract will be based on a daily rate basis in US dollar. Payments are made to the Individual Consultant based on receipt of the Certificate for Payment (CoP) and acceptance of the work by the UN Women Responsible Staff that will be attached to the agreed deliverables.

Evaluation Method:

Cumulative Analysis - The financial quote will account 30% and technical assessment will account for 70% of the total evaluation score;

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):

Education and expertise of the consultant in subject matter– 30 points;
Quality and relevance of proposed outline– 20 points;
Quality of writing sample submitted (logical reasoning, tailored to audience, writing/styling) – 20 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

Application Requirements:

In addition to the online application, interested individual consultants must submit soft copies of the following documents to: Sevati.Bondanza@unwomen.org:

CV;
Daily rate;
Proposed outline of the policy paper (2-4 pages);
A sample of previous authored work.

Annex - Individual IC General Terms and Conditions

For any clarification regarding this assignment please write to Sevati.Bondanza@unwomen.org

Office and equipment

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