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 .Placing women's rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

The Government of Albania has made national and international commitments to advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women in many different socio-economic aspects.  Several international conventions and platforms, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the UN Beijing Platform for Action, demonstrate Albania’s commitment to the realization of women’s rights and the achievement of gender equality.

Over the past years, UN Women has provided support to national and local stakeholders in strengthening democratic governance and advancing women’s rights through initiatives aimed at mainstreaming gender in policy planning and budgeting. Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) has been identified as important tool for advancing gender equality in key national documents as in accordance with existing Albanian national policy documents on social inclusion and gender equality. In this framework, Albania has made important steps towards the institutionalization of gender responsive budgeting at central and local level.

GRB has been included as a legal requirement to the Local Government Financial Management cycle. The approval of law no. 68/2017 "On Local Government Finances”, paved the way for the effective inclusion of GRB in all the phases of local financial management cycle (medium term and annual budget programming, monitoring & reporting, evaluation and auditing) by local government units. The inclusion of the Gender Responsive Budgeting in the Medium-Term Budget Program as well as the legal changes in the field of Public Financial Management at local level, provide greater responsibilities and challenges for public entities in effectively managing gender-based policies, by devoting the budget resources to achieve them.

In the framework of the ‘Leave No One Behind” (LNB) Project, a UN Joint Programme funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and implemented by four UN Agencies UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, and UN WOMEN, in partnership with the Albanian Government, UN Women will continue support at the at local level in using GRB as a tool to advance gender equality and ensure that women’s needs are incorporated in policies and related budgets. The local government units play a vital role in designing policies at local level in providing and distributing the budget resources and in providing public services in the communities. When local government units give priorities to gender equality as policy targets, and when they directly involve women and men, communities and citizens – both women and men – in the process of local government, the benefit they have is undoubted.

UN Women intends to work with communities and civil society organisations in the municipalities of Tirana, Korca and Shkodra to support women’s active participation in the public hearings and support the Municipality in integrating the community’s gender equality needs into the projects which emerge from the Participatory Budgeting Process. The ultimate aim is that the targeted municipalities plan and implement budgets and programs that take into account the needs of men and women, girls and boys. In this frame UN Women will apply a two-pronged approach, on one hand work with the communities and mobilize women and girls to raise their voice and participate in the planning and decision-making process of local budgets and on the other hand provide direct support to municipalities to engage and implement gender responsive planning and budgeting including support women’s active participation in the public hearings and support the Municipalities in integrating the community’s gender equality needs into the projects which emerge from the Participatory Budgeting Process.

In this context, UN Women requires technical support of three national consultants  that will provide direct support to the Municipalities of Tirana, Shkodra and Korça (one consultant for each Municipality) to integrate gender equality perspective in the budgeting processes of the municipal budget and apply  gender responsive budgeting through the whole cycle of the local public finance management system. The applicants have to specify the Municipality –they are applying for.

The consultants will coordinate with UN Women team on a unified methodology/approach  that will be applied in all three muncipalities. UN Women team wil faciliate the cooridnation meeting among the three consultant to ensure the approach followed is the same in all three municipalities.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Program Manager of National Planning and Budgeting at UN Women Albania, and in close collaboration with the General Directorate of Social Services in the Municipalities of Tirana, Shkodra and Korca the national consultants are expected to conduct the following:

• Conduct three trainings/ in the house (in each municipality) with specialists of social services, budget planning, budget monitoring and gender equality employees on Gender Equality, Gender responsive budgeting and integration of GRB in the local MTBP processes and participatory budgeting processes;
• Mentor and coach a core team in each of the selected Municipalities, especially specialists of social services, budget planning, budget monitoring and gender equality employees to ensure sustainability of GRB application in the MTBP;
• Support the Municipalities to mainstream gender in the sector Mid-Term Budgeting Program (MTBP) and bring gender consideration into the core of the work;
• Guide Municipalities’ staff, budget specialist with the inclusion of gender equality objective(s) and indicators in MTBP;
• Define the sources of data in assisting the Municipalities with the establishment of gender sensitive policy objectives and financial products of the MTBP;
• Support the Municipalities in the development of an annual budget preparation instruction and the preparation of the draft MTBP, pointing out the mandatory application of the gender equality objectives and financial targets;
• Work with the selected Municipality on the economic and budgetary assessment and forecast, including proposals for preparatory expenditure ceilings for the following years;
• Support in the review of the budget plan upon the requests done in the public hearings by women, women organizations or other stakeholders, with regard to gender budgeting;
• Support record tracking and keeping and full documentation of the work conducted, and results achieved in the framework of this consultancy;
• Provide monthly reports and time sheets (in English and Albanian) and respective outcomes to the Municipalities and UN Women on the implementation of activities as it will be specified in the consultancy Work-plan;

Expected deliverables:

• A consultancy work plan that includes timeline and a proposed outline and methodology for the consultancy (to be consulted with and approved by UN Women).
• One training needs assessment (measuring municipal gaps) tool and report;
• 3 Training modules including materials, handouts, pre- and post- training evaluation tools;
• Report on the delivered 3 trainings including all materials, evaluation tools and follow-up recommendations for participants;
• Monthly reports on the technical support provided within the time period to UN Women;
• Presentation in excel of final MTBP with gender scores marked in the document;
• Technical inputs and on-demand reports on specific initiatives when requested.

Duration and remuneration:

The duration of the contract will be up to 60 working days in the period between July 2018 - October 2018. The payment will be made upon satisfactory completion of all tasks and deliverables in the assignment, and submission and approval by UN Women.

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

Functional Competencies:

• Thorough knowledge of Local Government budgeting processes and planning of the MTBP;
• Strong presentation, facilitation, reporting and writing abilities in English and Albanian;
• Diverse organizational skills in various settings;
• Proven ability to work within limited time constraints in the preparation of high quality documents;
• Strong ability to interact effectively with various partners and stakeholders, with focus on Municipality experts and public administration;
• Strong negotiating skills;
• Possesses the ability to work independently;
• Good computer skills in Windows environment, knowledge of internet communications and command of MS Office applications (Word, Excel, Power Point).

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications/Education: 

• Master’s degree in gender equality, human rights, public policy or any other related science;
• Additional trainings and certifications on gender equality and Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting;

Work Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience in gender responsive budgeting application either at the central or local level;
• Experience in working with local government finance policies and processes – including mid-term budgeting program (MTBP) budgeting methodologies and approaches;
• Experience in gender work;
• Experience in adult learning methodologies, provision of trainings, capacity building for government and other stakeholders;
• Previous experience or familiarity with the UN system and/or international organizations is considered an asset.

Language:

• Fluency and proficiency in spoken and written Albanian and English required.

Recommended Presentation of Offer:

Qualified and interested candidates are asked to submit their application no later than 24 June 2018:

• A Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability including a brief description explaining why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment. Candidates should specify in their application/cover letter which city they are applying for: Tirana, Shkodra or Korca.
• UN Women Personal History Form (P11) including past experience in similar assignment. Can be downloaded at: UN Women Personal History Form (P11)  or http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment
• Financial Proposal specifying the total all-inclusive monthly fee in Albanian Lek for the tasks specified in this assignment. The financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services). The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount in Albanian Lekë (daily rate and number of anticipated working days, cost of travel from the home base to Shkodra or Korca and vice versa; and any other possible costs where applicable).

Evaluation of applicants:

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal. Contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

Technical Evaluation –70 points:

• Master’s degree in gender equality, human rights, public policy or any other related science; (max. points 10);
• Experience in working with local government finance policies and processes – including mid-term budgeting program (MTBP) budgeting methodologies and approaches; (max. points 20);
• A minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience in gender responsive budgeting application either at the central or local level; (max. points 20);
• Experience in gender work;(max. points 5);
• Experience in adult learning methodologies, provision of trainings, capacity building for government and other stakeholders; (max. points 10);
• Previous experience or familiarity with the UN system and/or international organizations is considered an asset. (max. points 5 ).

Financial Evaluation – 30 points

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation will be considered for the Financial Evaluation

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion. A suggested formula is as follows:

p = 30 (µ/z)

Using the following values:

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

µ = price of the lowest priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated

How to Submit the Application: 

To submit your application online, please follow the steps below:

• All online applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from UN Women Personal History Form (P11)  or http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment   
• Merge all the required documents above ( Cover letter, P-11, aggregated financial offer) into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded;
• Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement);
• Click 'Apply Now' button, fill in necessary information on the first page
• Please enter the CV or Resume in the Resume Section of the online application format
• click 'Submit Application;'
• Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (indicated above);
• You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.

Note: Applications without the financial offer will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

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.

The United Nations in Albania is committed to workforce diversity. Women, persons with disabilities, Roma and other ethnic or religious minorities, persons living with HIV, are particularly encouraged to apply.