UNDP Jobs - 70354- Gender Equality Consultant

Gender Equality Consultant

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

20-Feb-2017

Application Deadline :

19-Feb-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

6 months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

6 months with possible extension

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

The Gender Team is at the forefront of UNDP's commitment to gender equality and women's empowerment. The Gender Team is part of the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) which provides policy advice and technical support to all of UNDP’s operations. The Gender Team works to implement gender equality as a core objective of UNDP through a two-pronged approach (i) mainstreaming gender in all core practices; and, (ii) dedicated interventions that empower women and promote gender equality. In order to advance UNDP’s mandate in this area, the Gender Team created the UNDP Corporate Gender Equality Strategy 2014-17 which outlines in detail how UNDP will work towards gender equality in each of the goals and key results set out in the UNDP Strategic Plan 2014-2017. In addition to addressing the gender dimensions of each focus area, the Strategy sets out institutional arrangements which are aimed at ensuring that there are adequate human and financial resources as well as effective senior management oversight to achieve the expected gender equality results. To this end, several initiatives have been launched, such as the gender equality seal, the gender marker, which help strengthening accountability for gender equality results in the organization.

The UNDP Gender Team is implementing two initiatives: the UNDP Gender Equality Seal and the UNDP Women Leadership Programme. The UNDP Gender Equality Seal is a corporate quality assurance mechanism that measures and certifies the achievements and competence of UNDP Country Offices in advancing women's rights and gender equality. The Gender Equality Seal has three levels of certification (Gold, Silver, and Bronze) and Country Offices are awarded a certain level of certification according to their gender equality accomplishments. Additionally, the Gender Team has received expression of interest from partners such as other UN entities, International NGO-s (INGO), bilateral partners, and others, to support them in developing gender equality certification programmes.

The UNDP Women Leadership Programme looks for providing a space for female staff engaged in gender equality work to learn and reflect as women leaders on the new post 2015 scenario and challenges -including the way UNDP leads and their own leadership identities- to effectively support government mainstreaming gender and reducing gender inequalities.

The Gender Team is looking for a consultant to support these two key interventions of the Gender Equality Seal initiative during 2017.

Duties and Responsibilities

Management and Coordination (40% of time):

Support project management functions: develop bi-annual work plans of both projects; coordinate team meetings; track implementation of work plans and budgets; support administrative and procurement activities of both projects.
Support the launching and implementation of the Gender Equality Seal 2017-2018 round of applications.
Support the launching and implementation of the Leadership Programme in 4 regions.

Technical Global and Country Support (30% of time):

Provide substantive gender technical advice gender mainstreaming/organizational change/institutional architecture for gender equality including leadership issues to Country Offices/participants of both projects through skype, email and/or technical missions if needed;
Prepare substantive briefings, reports, and power point presentations as demanded.
Prepare and disseminate system widely good practices from both projects through newsletters, updates and email marketing messages targeting different audiences on internal and external platforms;

Learning, Knowledge and Research (20% of time):

Coordination of the Community of Practices for both initiatives.
Support the coordination and implementation of learning components of the Leadership programme which are a) Online Pre-work b) A 2 days’ workshop c) creation of a peer mentoring system for participants.
Support the coordination and implementation of the Gender Equality Seal learning plan for applicant Country Offices (webinars, events, online resources and archives, guidance notes/tools, etc.);
Track and keep updated all data bases for both initiatives.

Communications (10%):

Coordinate, draft, edit, polish, and design outgoing communications materials of the UNDP Gender Equality Seal and Leadership initiative, including website write-ups, supporting materials for Country Offices, brochures, power points, infographics, web graphics, and innovative media for a variety of audiences;
Maintaining contact directory and email distribution list for both initiatives;

Support other initiatives from the unit as requested.

Expected Deliverables/Outputs (February-July 2017)

Work plan of the UNDP Gender Equality Seal and Women Leadership projects developed, followed up, and weekly coordination meetings delivered on time (February-July 2017);
Project management functions special attention to budget, procurement and administrative tasks supported (on going);
Ceremony of the UNDP Gender Equality Seal Certification coordinated (June 2017)
The new Gender Equality Seal 2017-2018 round of applications launched and participant countries tracked (March 2017).
Baseline assessments of new applicants of the UNDP Gender Equality Seal supported
(May-July 2017)
Technical advice (substantive gender inputs) provided to Country Offices/participants of both projects through skype, email (on going);
Learning components of the Leadership programme implemented a) readings identified and shared with participants b) A 2 days’ workshop in at least 2 regions coordinated c) Peer mentoring sessions in 5 regions coordinated (February-July 2017);
Learning Plan for Seal country offices designed including at least 6 webinars, 6 Seal TALKs (June 2017)
Good practices from the 2015-2016 Seal round disseminated through at least one newsletter and PPT presentations (March 2017);
Community of Practices for both projects set up and coordinated (on going);
Maintaining contact directory and email distribution list for both initiatives updated (On going);
Briefings, TORs, reports and power point presentations for both projects updated (on going);
Communication materials for both projects coordinated and available (on going);

Competencies

Functional Competencies

Excellent oral and written communication and reporting skills in English, strong capacity in communications and/or reporting fields;
Good interpersonal and diplomacy skills; openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
Outstanding team-building, organizational, communication, and networking skills;
Demonstrated capacity for strategic and creative thinking, and expertise in global gender equality and mainstreaming strategies;
Demonstrated ability and willingness to work with people of different cultural, ethnic and religious background, different gender, and diverse political views;
Ability to use critical thinking, conceptualize ideas, and articulate relevant subject matter in a clear and concise way;
Ability to work under pressure and meet strict deadlines.
Knowledge of graphic design principles and tools and experience producing communications materials for a variety of platforms is a plus.

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrated integrity by upholding the United Nations' values and ethical standards; treats all people fairly;
Appreciates differences in values and learning from cultural diversity;
Promotes UNDP vision, mission and strategic goals;
Displays cultural, gender, religious, race, nationality and age-based sensitivity and adaptability;
Demonstrates consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UNDP in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

Master's degree in gender issues, women’s studies.

Years of experience:

Minimum 3 years of relevant experience in international development work focused on gender mainstreaming, institutional development, and/or gender evaluations/gender assessments/gender equality standards is a requirement;
Minimum of 2/3 years of comprehensive work experience in the field including project coordination experience is a requirement;
Experience in the field of research, communication and knowledge management focused on achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women is a requirement;
Knowledge of C4D (Communications for Development) principles, and capacity to use graphic design tools (e.g. Adobe InDesign; Adobe Illustrator; online tools; etc.) is a requirement;
Experience with UN Agencies and/or strong understanding of UN system modus operandi, frameworks and structures, particularly those related to gender equality and women’s empowerment and field experience will be an asset;

Language:

Proficiency in English language for report writing;
Working knowledge of French, Spanish or Arabic is an asset

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.
An individual work plan will be developed by the consultant complementing the Seal project annual work plan and weekly follow up team meetings will be organized to ensure timely delivery.

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.
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% (700 points):

Criteria 1. Minimum 3 years of relevant experience in international development work focused on gender mainstreaming, institutional development, gender evaluation/gender audits/gender standards, weight: 20 points.
Criteria 2. Minimum of 2/3 years of comprehensive work experience in the field, including project coordination/management experience. Weight 10 points
Criteria 3. Experience in the field of communication, learning and knowledge management focused on achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women: Weight 10 points.
Criteria 4. Knowledge of communications and visual design, C4D (Communications for Development) principles, and capacity to use graphic design tools (e.g. Adobe InDesign; Adobe Illustrator; Canva; Info.Gram; etc.) Weight 5 points
Criteria 5. Relevant Experience with UN Agencies Weight 5 points

Having reviewed applications received, UNDP will invite the top four shortlisted candidates for interview.

Interview ; Weight 20 points

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% (300 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 Policy Advisor on Gender Mainstreaming of the UNDP BPPS Gender Team in New York 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

Annex 1 - UNDP P-11 Form for ICs
Annex 2 - IC Contract Template
Annex 3 – IC General Terms and Conditions
Annex 4 – RLA Template

The above templates and forms can be accessed from the following link: IC Templates

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