Background

Background:

In Bangladesh, the next parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place anytime between December 2018 and January 2019. In this context, UNDP and UN Women, with support of Department of Political Affairs (DPA), have developed a project to jointly provide assistance to the Bangladesh Election Commission (BEC) for the next parliamentary elections.
The overall goal of the project is to strengthen capacity of BEC for training, capacity building and outreach for an inclusive, efficient and cost-effective election process. UN Women will specifically focus on
1)    Strengthening BEC’s ability to promote inclusive participation in the electoral process, focusing on women and other underrepresented groups, and
2)    Supporting BEC develop and implement a strategy to prevent monitor and mitigate violence against women in election (VAWE) for BEC to promote a more peaceful electoral process.

UN Women is seeking the services of a highly qualified international consultant to support the project team to achieve the specific gender equality objectives of UNDP/UN Women’s electoral assistance to Bangladesh.

Objectives and scope of the Consultancy:

The overall objective of the consultancy is to deliver the gender specific activities that to be directly implemented by UN WOMEN, as per the agreed project document and work plan.

Duties and Responsibilities

Specific scope of work:

The national consultant will closely work with international consultant. The scope of work will include:

• Work with international consultant to conduct a gender assessment of the BEC to review its operational effectiveness in organizing and administering a gender inclusive electoral process using the joint UNDP-UN Women “Inclusive Electoral Processes: a guide for electoral management bodies on promoting gender equality and women’s participation” 1  as a guide. This will be about doing the desk review, drafting the preparatory documents and consultations with BEC and other stakeholders:
• Support development of a gender policy and action plan for BEC for gender-responsive management of the upcoming election based on the above gender assessment;
• Assist international consultant to ensure timely support to enable the BEC to disaggregate voter data by sex in all aspects of its work to identify gender gaps in electoral and political participation by looking at data on candidate, voter turnout, or staffing levels;
•  Lead capacity-building activities on gender-sensitive electoral management as well as gender sensitization of BEC staff at central and local level (district officers), particularly newly recruited staff;
•  Coordinate with relevant stakeholders and support international consultant to convene multi stakeholders dialogues with CSOs, Development Partners, Political Parties, Police and other Law Enforcement agencies to discuss on common forms of violence against women in election cycle;
• Support to develop a strategy to prevent monitor and mitigate violence against women in elections (VAWE) using UNDP/UN Women Guidebook on Preventing Violence Against Women in Elections as a guide 2 . This will be about doing the desk review, drafting the preparatory documents and consultations with BEC and other stakeholders;
• Assist to Develop a BEC Code of Conduct for political parties on zero tolerance to violence against women in election.

Expected Deliverables and Time Frame:

• A work plan with proposed methodologies for the assignment - 01 day;
• Report on the consultations with BEC staff and preparatory documents for the Gender Assessment-05 days;
• Desk review report, consultations report and preparatory documents to draft Gender Policy and Action plan for gender-responsive management of the upcoming election, including strengthening sex disaggregated data collection-05 days;
• Desk review report and preparatory documents to draft strategy to minimize VAW in election-05 days;
• Consultation reports with BEC staff and other stakeholder on the Draft code of conduct on zero tolerance to violence against women in election for political parties for 07 days;
• Report on the capacity building activities for BEC staff on gender sensitive electoral management-10 days;
• Report on the support provided to roll out the action plan for gender sensitive management and implement strategy for addressing VAW in election-12 days.

Duration of Assignment and Duty Station:

The assignment is Dhaka-based, with expected travel to outside of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Total number of working days is 45 days within the contract duration from 1 May 2018 to 30 Nov 2018.  

UN Women will bear the travel and accommodations costs beyond commuting distance from the consultant’s usual place of residence for UN Women authorized travel as per the UN Women standard guidelines.

Supervisor:

Country Representative, Bangladesh in close consultation with Programme Management Specialist.

[1] Available here: http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2015/7/inclusive-electoral-processes;

[1] http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2017/11/preventing-violence-against-women-in-elections.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity;
• Integrity;
• Professionalism.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues,
• Accountability,
• Creative Problem Solving,
• Effective Communication,
• Inclusive Collaboration,
• Stakeholder Engagement,
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Master degree (or equivalent) in development related disciplines, gender, economics, statistics, development or other social science fields.

Experience:

• A minimum of 7 years of experience in the field of gender and election at the national and/or international level with a strong focus on Bangladesh;
• Experiences in conducting gender assessment at institutional level and related knowledge on gender equality approach for electoral process;
• Technical expertise in addressing VAW in election;
• Experiences working with and/for government institution in development context.

Language Requirements:

• Excellent command of English and Bangla.

Application:

• Professionally written cover letter and a resume clearly demonstrating the required qualifications as mentioned in the TOR

  Please use ‘National Consultant-Gender and Election’ as the subject heading of your application.

  All applicants must include (as an attachment) a CV, P11 and a financial proposal. The financial proposal should include professional fees  and other anticipated costs. Applications without financial proposal will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment. “Personal History Form - P 11” which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment