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 center of all its efforts, the UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Europe and Central Asia is a large region, diverse in language, culture and religion. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia and exacerbated by the global financial crisis of 2008, austerity measures have disproportionately affected women and girls.  Economic inequality has risen, and large portions of the population live on less than USD 5 per day. Throughout the region, women’s wages, pensions and labour market participation rates are lower than men’s. Pervasive traditional gender stereotypes prevent women from equal participation in political and economic decision-making, while gender-based discrimination means that women are often victims of domestic abuse, sexual violence, border disputes, human trafficking and child marriage. Not all countries in the region have a national gender equality support mechanism and those that do often lack adequate resources to implement needed changes. The UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (UN Women ECARO) was established in Istanbul, Turkey in early 2014. It provides support and oversight to Country Offices in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Ukraine. In addition, the Regional Office directly supports programme and project presence in Kosovo (under UN Security Council Resolution 1244), Serbia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tajikistan and Turkey. All human development and human rights issues have gender dimensions. UN Women focuses on priority areas that are fundamental to women’s equality and that can unlock progress across the board. UN Women ECARO focuses on these main areas of work.

Working with national governments, civil society and international actors to promote women’s leadership and political participation in all spheres of life.

Enhancing women’s economic empowerment to promote women’s ability to secure decent jobs, accumulate assets, and influence institutions and public policies.

Ending violence against women and girls by tackling root causes to prevent violence, raise awareness of its causes and consequences and ensure gender-sensitive protection services for survivors.

Enabling women’s participation and influence in all aspects of peace and security and humanitarian action to prevent and resolve conflicts and ensure that women have access to justice and are protected from discrimination and human rights violations.

Advocating for transparent national planning and budgeting that provides adequate public financing for gender equality and adopts gender-responsive budgets that channel adequate resources to both women and men providing intergovernmental support so that Member States can act to meet their international commitments and implement key gender equality norms and standards.

Providing technical support to UN country teams and UN system coordination to strengthen effective UN action on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

In this regard, UN Women ECARO seeks to appoint 3 consultants to provide written translation services on a retainer basis as needed as stipulated below.

Objective

The objective of this assignment is to provide high quality written translation and editing services from English to Russian vice versa as and when required.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work and Responsibilities

 Scope of Work

The consultants will work under the direct supervision of the UN Women ECARO Programme Specialist and will be responsible for the following.

• Translate and edit various UN Women working documents from English to Russian vice versa using appropriate programmatic language.
• Ensure accuracy of terms and terminology is used in the document.
• Include annexes, tables, graphics and infographics to visualize the key statements and issues covered by the written submission where applicable.
• Consult with the Programme Specialist when required on interpretation of data generated from the survey for further presentation.
• Submit a draft translated research documents to the Programme Specialist for review/comments and submit final document based on the feedback provided.
• Maintain the statistical data to support the analysis and ensure evidence-based recommendations for policy related actions as is on the original document.
• Complete the work within the agreed timeline and submit the final translation in both soft and hard copy in the required language either in Russian or in English.

Expected deliverables and payment procedures

The selected consultants will be responsible for delivering the following deliverables.

Deliverables:

Provide high quality written translation services including editing and proofreading of documents on a retainer basis from English to Russian vice versa as and when required.

The turnaround time for translation services will be as follows

All deliverables should be agreed with the UN Women ECA RO Programme Specialist as per the set requirement.

Competencies

Core Values

• Respect for Diversity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration

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

• Possesses the ability to work independently, under pressure and meet deadlines.
• Good knowledge of technical area.
• Experience in translation and editing of research documents.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Master’s degree in Linguistics, Economics Sciences, Social Science, Humanities, Gender Equality or area relevant to the requirements of the TOR.

Working Experience

• At least 5 years of professional translation experience in Russian and English in development related issues and gender equality/women’s rights.
• Demonstrated good understanding of technical terms used in areas of human development, socioeconomic aspects, statistics, gender and youth.
• Previous experience working with UN Women and UN agencies and/or international organisations is an asset.

Knowledge of languages

• Fluency in written and oral Russian and English required.

Other:

Good computer skills in Windows environment, knowledge of internet communications and command of MS Office applications (Word, Excel, Power Point).

Application Process 

The application should include

Personal History Form (P-11 form) - including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment  a signed copy should be submitted.

Financial Proposal:  Specifying the cost of translation per page (page of 2100 characters) for ordinary and urgent translation.

Candidates should have the ability to quickly produce degree certificates and medical certification (of good health) should they be short-listed in consideration of the consultancy post.

Payment Schedule

Payment will be made per number of pages translated upon certification of satisfactory services and deliverables in accordance with the set requirements for each translation.

Evaluation process

Consultants will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of 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.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

Technical Evaluation Criteria                                                                                     

TECHNICAL EVALUATION (70

Language Requirements:    

Proficiency in written and spoken Russian and English -   REQUIRED    

 Education (20):

Master’s Degree in Linguistics, Economic Sciences, Social Science, Humanities, Gender Equality or related areas.

0: without relevant degree                                          

20: relevant degree                                                                      

Professional Experience (50): 

At least 5 years of professional  translation experience in development related issues and gender equality   and women’s rights.  

0: without 5 years of relevant experience

0 -10: 5 years of relevance experience

10 -20: more than 5 years of relevant experience

Demonstrated good understanding of technical terms used in areas of human development, socioeconomic aspects, statistics, gender and youth.  

0: without understanding                                           

10 -20: with understanding                                              

Previous experience with UN Women and UN agencies and/or international organisations is and asset.

0: without experience

0 - 10: relevant experience

Total technical  70                                                                                                         

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