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. Women is the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.

The Regional Office for the Arab States (ROAS) is based in Cairo and covers 17 countries in the Arab States region, providing direct support to UN Women country offices in Egypt, Iraq, occupied Palestinian territories (oPt), Jordan and the Morocco Multicounty Office (MCO) covering Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. In addition, UN Women has programme presence in Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Libya. In 2014, UN Women started working in Kuwait as a non-resident agency and will pursue this modality in countries where there is no programme or office presence, including in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The regional office supports country offices in assisting national governments to fulfill their gender equality commitments under the applicable national and international laws. The regional office works with country offices in strengthening areas of programmatic interventions under the six thematic areas identified in the organization’s Strategic plan for 2014–2018. In aid of this, the office is producing a number of knowledge products and communication products, and to support the translation of these from English into Arabic, is hiring a translator – home based – to support the translation of these documents as requested. The knowledge products and communication products focus on issues related to women, peace and security, and humanitarian action.

Duties and Responsibilities

  • Translation of UN Women knowledge products and communication materials from English to classical Arabic.
  • The translator is expected to perform terminology research (i.e. UN/ UN Women / Un Term websites and others) to ensure the accuracy and appropriateness of all translations. The translator is also responsible for ensuring quality and accuracy of the entire document before submitting it back to UN Women.

Deliverables

Timeframe

Translation from English into classical Arabic of up to 9 knowledge products on issues related to women, peace and security and humanitarian action in the Arab States. Each report on average of 40 pages. Translation to include text boxes, figures, tables, photo captions, sources, cover etc.

Reports to be submitted in Word format.

  • 5 reports due in late June.
  • 2 reports due between July to August.
  • 2 reports due between September and December.

Translation from English into classical Arabic of short communication materials (one page in length), including

  • 30 tweets/Facebook posts.
  • 5 one-page stories.

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.

Functional Competencies

  • Outstanding translation and editing skills in English and Arabic;
  • Ability to work under pressure and meet strict deadlines;
  • Ability to produce a high volume of quality content;
  • Experience with the UN System in General;
  • Demonstrated willingness to work as part of a team in a multicultural environment;
  • Keeping files, personal details and any other sensitive material confidential and safe.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

  • University degree in English literature, Arabic literature, Translation Studies;
  • Translation certificate.

Experience

  • At least five years of proven professional experience in translation from English to Arabic;
  • Experience in working for an international organization is essential;
  • Experience in translation and interpretation of UN products;
  • Demonstrated experience in translating issue of peace, security and humanitarian action.

Language

  • Fluency in both English and Arabic, written and spoken.

Technical qualification evaluation criteria

The contract will be awarded to the technically qualified consultant who obtains the highest combines score (financial and technical). The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula: (Lowest Bid Offered*)/ (Bid of the Consultant) x 30 *"Lowest Bid Offered" refers to the lowest price offered by Offerors scoring at least 49 points in technical evaluation. 

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:
 
Technical Evaluation Criteria Obtainable Scores (70 Points)

  • Proven at least five years of professional experience in translation from English to Arabic (25 points);
  • Experience in working for an international organization (15 points);
  • Experience in translation and interpretation of UN products (10 points);
  • Demonstrated experience in translating issue of peace, security and humanitarian action (10 points);
  • Fluency in English and Arabic (10 points).

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation (30 Points)

  • Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 49 points score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated;
  • The total number of points allocated for the price component is 30;
  • The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70 point score in the technical evaluation;
  • All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price. 

Submission of application
Interested candidates are requested to submit the following documents:

  1. Cover letter;
  2. P11, including contact information for 3 references, available from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment;
  3. Financial proposal (broken down as a daily rate);
  4. Example of the previous translation.

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount per each deliverable, including any travel, per diem and administrative fees.

The above-mentioned documents (Cover letter, Methodology, UN Women P11, and financial proposal – offering a daily rate for translation) should be merged in a standalone file including all them, since the online application submission does only permit to upload one file per application. Incomplete submission can be a ground for disqualification. 

Selected candidates will need to submit prior to the commencement of work:

  1. Copy of the latest academic certificate;
  2. Certificate of good health.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

UN Women is applying fair and transparent selection process that would take into account both the technical qualification of Consultants as well as their price proposals. The contract will be awarded to the candidate obtaining the highest combined technical and financial scores.