Background

I. Organizational Context

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, 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.

UN Women in Turkey is working with national governments, UN agencies, local authorities and non-governmental organizations to empower refugee women and girls and improve their access to opportunities, rights and services, as required by international treaties and national legislation. UN Women concluded an assessment in six cities to determine the needs of refugee women and girls, their challenges in accessing services and the areas that need improvement. The assessment helped inform the development of the “Strengthening the Resilience of Syrian Women and Girls and Host Communities in Iraq, Jordan and Turkey”, referred as Refugee and Response Programme (RRP), an integrated programme that targets both displaced Syrian women and girls and host-country nationals across Iraq, Jordan and Turkey. The programme works through a multi-dimensional strategy that: i) enables women’s empowerment through addressing issues of economic vulnerability and violence by increased access to recovery and livelihood opportunities, paired with comprehensive protection services and support to national justice structures to promote accountability for violence against women, and ii) promotes a culture of peace and co-existence through supporting women to lead and engage in peacebuilding, reconciliation and conflict prevention.

The partners for programme implementation in Turkey are the Municipality of Gaziantep, International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants (ASAM). The programme  offers a two-tier approach that combines livelihoods and referral support at the SADA Women-Only Center in Gaziantep, with interventions aiming at increasing women’s participation in decision-making mechanisms and creating social dialogue between women and girls from refugee and host communities. The implementation of the project started in February 2017 and will last until the end of January 2020.

With a view to enhacing gender sensitive refugee response and delivery, UN Women shall provide a series of training seminars for first-line responders and for the staff of key line ministries at the national and local level, staff of municipalities as well as other relevant service providers. This includes but not limited to the staff of the Ministry of Labour, Social Services and Family and Directorate General of Migration Management affiliated to the Ministry of Interior, municipal staff as well as those of community centers and field workers so that the responders better understand and internalize how to deliver gender sensitive response and services[1]. 

UN Women has designed training materials with eight modules including topics on gender equality, why gender mainstreaming matters in refugee response, engaging men and boys for gender equality, protection from sexual and gender based violence, international and national legal framework for preventing SGBV, sexual orientation and protection of gender identities, supporting social cohesion and combatting xenophobia from a gender perspective and the importance of gender analysis and data. The modules are ready to be piloted with first line service providers. A minimum 400 staff are expected to be trained (200 women and 200 men) by two national consultants through a minimum of twenty 2-3 day training sessions to take place in Ankara, Gaziantep, Izmir (subject to final agreement). It is expected that local service providers from Hatay, Adana, Kilis, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Istanbul, Osmaniye, Konya, Eskisehir and Izmir provinces will be invited to attend who will travel to the three cities where the training programmes will take palce. Indicatively 45 seats will be allocated per city, whereas 85 seats will be reserved for the central level staff. Selection of the participants will be done in consultation with the line ministries and beneficiary institutions.

While the training materials are ready to be rolled out, updates, adjustments, revisions and improvements will need to be introduced based on the actual and emerging needs of the trainees prior to, during and aftermath of the training seminars based on pre- and post-evaluations. In this way the training materials can serve as quality and replicable reference for future similar trainings.

In this context UN Women in Turkey will recruit two national consultants, individually, aiming to to collectively provide guidance and trainings with a view to fostering capacities of national and local partners in providing sender sensitive refugee response services.

[1] The final list of the beneficiary institutions will be determined during the assignment.

Duties and Responsibilities

II. Functions

The main responsibility of the Consultants is to provide UN Women consultancy services for gender sensitive refugee response and service delivery to the first line responders mentioned above.

Within the scope of the assignment the consultants are expected to provide consultancy services for the below listed generic taks:

1.      Plan and and prepare for the training seminars in consultation with the key national and local partners.

2.      Deliver the training modules to minimum 400 first line responders based on the available training materials and content (200 men and 200 women). A minimum 20 training seminars will be carried out.

3.      Improve, revise and update the training modules on the basis of training needs assessments, pre- and post-training surveys, including the measurement of satisfaction of the training beneficiaries, in close consultation with the international gender expert.

4.      Provide support to relevant UN Women staff and the international gender expert for the alignment and implementing of training programs, as well as for the peer-review if the training modules.

5.      Provide technical advice and guidance to the partners in developing strategies in enhancing resilience among refugee women by assisting the policy dialogue between UN Women, relevant government agencies and local authorities as well as by identifying and proposing a pool of experts and trainers from the local and national authorities for mainstreaming gender equality in refugee response.

6.      Document the experience and lessons learnt regarding the training seminars and refugee interventions of the partners. Present such lessons learned at events, programme meetings and other relevant platforms.

Each consultant will be in charge of the delivery of certain modules and should submit proposals according to their primary field of expertise. UN Women will make available the existing training materials and the modules to the consultants, which are based on the training manuals of UN Agencies. The national consultants shall closely work with each other, with the International Gender Sensitive Refugee Response Consultant, as well as with the relevant staff and other consultants of UN in fulfilling the requirements of the assignment.

The fields of expertise are categorized below according to which the proposals must be submitted. The applicants must clearly specify the category for which the application is made:

Category 1: Gender equality concepts and practices, gender mainstreaming, engaging men and boys for gender equality, women’s empowerment and leadership, social cohesion and xenophobia from gender perspective.

Category 2: Protection from sexual and gender based violence including counseling and interviewing SGBV survivors; gender sensitive refugee response; sexual orientation and protection of gender identities in a refugee response context; child, early and forced marriages.

The consultancy provided should also result in an increased level of understanding of gender mainstreaming, including increased capacity to conduct gender analysis, to use basic tools in gender-based budgeting and policy making in refugee response, and how to collect and analyse sex disaggregated data. The training should contain case studies and practical exercises wherever possible. During the implementation of the assignment the consultants will support each other and may cover each others category field as required and provided that their expertise and experience are pertinent. The two national consultants and the International Gender Sensitive Refugee Response Consultant will work as a team. The final divison of work between the consultants will be determined under the supervision and guidance of UN Women.

The UN Women training material has been designed in English but the consultants will prepare the training hand-outs for the participants in Turkish.

Costs related to logistics and organization of the training seminars will be covered by UN Women. The proposals should not include logistical costs related to the organization of the training programmes. However the consultant are responsible for covering their own travel and accommodation costs, which should be included in the financial offer of the candidates.

III. Deliverables

The assignment will start in October 2018 and be completed in October 2019. The table below outlines the estimated number of working days that are allocated to each Consultant to carry out the assignment.

All deliverables shall be agreed with the UN Women Programme Management Specialist and/or relevant UN Women staff. All reports shall be presented in English, in electronic version.

Note: The mentioned number of working days has been estimated as being sufficient/feasible for the envisaged volume of work to be completed successfully and is proposed as a guideline for the duration of assignment. It cannot and shall not be used as criteria for completion of work/assignment. The provision of envisaged deliverables approved by the UN Women Programme Management Specialist shall be the only criteria for national consultants’ work being completed and eligible for payment/s.

III. Key Performance Indicators

·        Timely and quality inputs to training programme delivery and improvements.

·        Provision of quality and timely post-training assessments

·        Timely and quality inputs to workplans.

·        Adherence to UN Women standards and rules.

·        Timely organization of events.

·        Number of knowledge products developed and disseminated.

Competencies

IV. Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and sensitivity regarding gender Issues, particularly in refugee contexts
• 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

• Programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Knowledge of results based management
• Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings
• Good knowledge of technical area
• Good organizational skills and ability to pay close attention to detail
• Sensitivity to local contexts

Required Skills and Experience

V. Recruitment Qualifications

Education and certification:

·        Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/ women’s studies, refugee studies, international development, or a related field is required.

Experience:

·        At least five years experience in developing and delivering training programmes.

·        At least 3 years of working experience in training in gender issues is required.

·        Experience in enhancing refugee resilience is an asset.

·        Experience in delivering training to government officials, international organizations, civil society or NGOs is an asset.

Language Requirements:

·        Fluency in written and spoken Turkish and English required.

·        Knowledge of Arabic is an asset.

VI.  Travel

Indicatively ten training sessions are expected to take place in cities Gaziantep and Izmir (cities to be confirmed). Minimum 12 domestic travels (return) are foreseen under this assignment. The Consultants will be responsible for all travel expenses and daily subsistence allowances associated with undertaking this assignment. All travels shall be coordinated with UN Women in Turkey and shall be included in the total contract amount of the contractor. In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs should be agreed upon, between UN Women in Turkey and the National Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

VII.  Schedule of Payments

The amount paid to the consultant shall be gross and inclusive of all associated costs such as social security, pension and income tax, etc.

Payments will be made upon submission and approval of deliverables above, and certification by the UN Women Supervisor that the services have been satisfactorily completed. The amount will depend on the abovementioned deliverables and supporting documents (timesheets, reports, training participant lists, evaluation survey sheets, etc.) completed by the consultant and accepted/approved by the UN Women Supervisor and should be delivered within the agreed timeframe. Without submission and approval of the deliverables, the Consultant shall not receive any payment even if he/she invests time for this assignment.

VIII. Application Procedure:

Interested candidates are invited to submit their online applications by 3 September 2018 deadline. The following documents should be submitted as part of the application:

• Cover letter to include a brief overview about which of your previous experiences makes you the most suitable candidate for the advertised position.
• P11 including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment
• Financial Proposal - Specifying a total lump sum amount in Turkish Lira for the tasks specified in this announcement. The sample financial proposal can be found among the application documents.

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

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials

Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

VIX. 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 receives 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.