UNDP Jobs - 70106- Consultancy – Consultant: Gender Equality and Elec

Consultancy – Consultant: Gender Equality and Elections module update, BPPS/G&PB

Location :

Home Based

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

27-Jan-2017

Application Deadline :

18-Jan-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

20 working days

Languages Required :

English French

Expected Duration of Assignment :

20 working days

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

BRIDGE stands for Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections. It is a modular professional development program on electoral processes with the most comprehensive curriculum and workshop package available in the field of elections, designed to be used as a tool within a broader capacity development framework. The five BRIDGE partners are the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), International IDEA, International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division (UNEAD).

The BRIDGE partners are currently in the process of updating the BRIDGE Curriculum, refining the existing modules and developing BRIDGE Version 3 (V3). BRIDGE V3 aims to meet changing needs in electoral environments, update BRIDGE language and activities to reflect inclusive and diverse societies; and update BRIDGE resources to include new developments in the field of elections. The BRIDGE V3 modules will be updated and released on the BRIDGE website (www.bridge-project.org) throughout 2016-2017.

The specific module to be updated under this consultancy is the Gender and Elections module. The module will need to include the 2011/12 UNDP created a new customized version for a 5-day workshop on the subject. This customized UNDP version is less comprehensive and follows a different structure that the original module, but many of the activities and resources are more up to date. The two versions of the module need to be aligned into one unified module, incorporating the best aspects of both. In addition, some sections and resources will need to be updated and the module needs to be aligned to the new Version 3 standards. The new V3 module will be named to Gender Equality and Elections. The objective of the assignment is to deliver one unified and updated Gender Equality and Elections module, which brings together the best aspects of both current versions available on the BRIDGE website.

The Gender Equality and Elections module update is being done by the Electoral Assistance Division in the Department of Political Affairs and UNDP.

Duties and Responsibilities

Functions/Key Results Expected

Under the overall supervision of the UNDP electoral policy specialist and EAD/DPA partnerships team leader, and under the direct guidance of the BRIDGE Curricula Manager, the consultant will:

review the two versions of the module (BRIDGE Official module and UNDP’s customized 5 day version)as well as new major documents on women and elections including the UN policy directive on supporting the electoral and political participation of women, and provide a new suggested outline for a Gender Equality and Elections module, as well as a set of actions to improve and update the module (such as, reorganizing and/or renaming sections, adding new activities and subject matters currently left out, improving existing activities);
update and correct outdated and incorrect information, references and resources;
improve and clarify existing activities, and develop new activities where needed;
identify and suggest new case studies, examples and resources;
update synopsis, glossary and reading list;
update the Power Point consisting of all the OHP’s in the module;
throughout the module, eliminate the use and reference to OHP’s and instead refer to ‘Projected Slides’.

In undertaking this task, the Consultant will make use of and ensure consistency with the BRIDGE Updating Manual and its annexes. In particular, the Consultant should:

organize resources into ‘section’ folders’;
maintain BRIDGE V3 naming protocols of updated or new resources; and
align the module to the Style Guide (Annex F).

Skype calls will be set up at the beginning of the assignment (to discuss the task and BRIDGE V3), two weeks in to the assignment (to discuss the suggested outline and agree on a way forward) and three weeks after the 1st draft has been delivered (to agree on the final version of the update).

Key Deliverables and Timeline

Deliverable 1:

Provide a suggested outline and the set of actions to improve and updated the Gender Equality and Elections module to the BRIDGE curricula manager. Due Date: 3 February 2017.

Deliverable 2:

First draft of the update module of Gender Equality and Elections for review and feedback. Due Date: 28 February 2017.

Deliverable 3: Based on feedback received, submit a second and final version of the Gender Equality and Elections module. Due Date: 15 March 2017.

Competencies

Strong analytical and communication capacities with ability to relate to people from different institutional and cultural contexts;
Good interpersonal and teamwork skills;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Highest standards of integrity, discretion and loyalty.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master degree in International Relations, Political Science, Development, Education or related field is required
Full BRIDGE accreditation required, with at least 200 hours of BRIDGE workshop facilitation

Experience:

Minimum seven years of experience working in the areas of electoral assistance and/or electoral management required
Proven work experience in the area of gender equality and elections
Experience developing tools, knowledge, and training curricula, experience drafting or updating BRIDGE and gender and elections materials an advantage

Language:

Full written and oral fluency in English and French is required

Application Procedure

The application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):

Online application with brief description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment; and
Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects and specifying the relevant assignment period (from/to), as well as the email and telephone contacts of at least three (3) professional references.

Note: The above documents need to be scanned in one file and uploaded to the online application as one document.

Shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal.

The financial proposal should specify an all-inclusive daily fee (based on a 7 hour working day - lunch time is not included - and estimated 21.75 days per month).
The financial proposal must be all-inclusive and take into account various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; cost of travel from the home base to the duty station and vice versa, where required; living allowances at the duty station; communications, utilities and consumables; life, health and any other insurance; risks and inconveniences related to work under hardship and hazardous conditions (e.g., personal security needs, etc.), when applicable; and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services under the contract.
This consultancy is a home-based assignment, therefore, there is no envisaged travel cost to join duty station/repatriation travel.
In the case of unforeseeable travel requested by UNDP, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNDP and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.
If the Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.

The Financial Proposal is to be emailed as per the instruction in the separate email that will be sent to shortlisted candidates.

Evaluation process

Applicants are reviewed based on Required Skills and Experience stated above and based on the technical evaluation criteria outlined below. Applicants will be evaluated based on cumulative scoring. 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:

Being 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 where technical criteria weighs 70% and Financial criteria/ Proposal weighs 30%.

Technical evaluation - Total 70% (70 points):

Full BRIDGE accreditation required, with at least 200 hours of BRIDGE workshop facilitation (14 points)
Experience working in the areas of electoral assistance and/or electoral management required (14 points)
Proven work experience in the area of gender equality and elections (21 points)
Experience developing tools, knowledge, and training curricula, experience drafting or updating BRIDGE and gender and elections materials an advantage (21 points)

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (490 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (700 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial evaluation - Total 30% (30 points)

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

Contract Award

Candidate obtaining the highest combined scores in the combined score of Technical and Financial evaluation will be considered technically qualified and will be offered to enter into contract with UNDP.

Institutional arrangement

The consultant will work under the guidance and direct supervision of the BRIDGE Curricula Manager, BPPS/G&PB and will be responsible for the fulfilment of the deliverables as specified above.

The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own laptop.

Payment modality

Payment to the Individual Contractor will be made based on the actual number of days worked, deliverables accepted and upon certification of satisfactory completion by the manager.
The work week will be based on 35 hours, i.e. on a 7 hour working day, with core hours being between 9h00 and 18h00 daily.

Annexes (click on the hyperlink to access the documents):

Annex 1 - UNDP P-11 Form for ICs

Annex 2 - IC Contract Template

Annex 3 – IC General Terms and Conditions

Annex 4 – RLA Template

Any request for clarification must be sent by email to cpu.bids@undp.org

The UNDP Central Procurement Unit will respond by email and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.