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, 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 is 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 responses and services. 

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 and Adana (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. The training sessions will take place in Izmir, Gaziantep and Ankara.

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 field needs. To achieve high quality and replicable training modules on gender sensitive refugee response, all the materials shall be subject to a peer review conducted by UN Women.

In addition to the first line responders, the programme also targets Syrian women directly to empower them and their communities. In this context UN Women will implement women empowerment activities aiming to:

• Strengthen Syrian women’s understanding of joint action and engagement in the design, delivery and monitoring of assistance related to livelihoods and protection.
• Reinforce women’s leadership skills and understanding of gender equality.

The training modules targeting the first line responders shall be tailored and delivered to Syrian women community leaders/activists, including those attending the SADA Women-Only Center.

In this context UN Women in Turkey plans to hire an international expert to contribute to designing and carrying out training to foster local partners’ capacities to provide gender sensitive refugee response and to empower Syrian women engaged in community, humanitarian and resilience work.

Duties and Responsibilities

II. Functions

Within the scope of the assignment the consultant shall provide consultancy services for the below listed taks:

1.      Review and improve training module content on gender sensitive refugee response and service delivery, based on international best practices, emerging training needs and feedback from the training sessions, in close consultation with the national training consultants.

2.      Contribute to the peer review process for the finalization of the training materials on gender sensitive refugee response, to be carried out with relevant UN agencies and UN Women colleagues. Incorporate the valid suggestions made in the peer review to finalize the training package.   

3.      Together with the national consultants, participate in and deliver a maximum of five training sessions with first line service providers in Ankara, Gaziantep, Adana and Izmir, based on the available modules. The trainer is expected to provide international best practices on gender sensitive refugee response.  Interpretation during the trainings will be provided by UN Women where needed.

4.      Participate in and deliver maximum five empowerment sessions with Syrian women, including those attending the SADA Women Only Center. The sessions shall engage at least 50 women, and should primarily aim to strengthen their understanding of joint action and engagement in the design, delivery and monitoring of livelihoods and protection assistance. They should reinforce women’s leadership skills, understanding of gender equality, and awareness of their ability to contribute to the development of more gender sensitive and relevant programming. The sessions should cover issues including: building solidarity, gender equality, access to rights, women’s human rights, local service provision for women and children, mechanisms for protection and prevention of GBV, early and force-marriages, women organizing and advocacy for more gender sensitive service delivery.

5.      Provide one-to-one mentoring/coaching for a maximum of 10 Syrian women rights advocates/peace builders with a view to enhance their participation in the advancement of the women, peace and security agenda (UNSCR 1325 and subsequent resolutions) and to reinforce their leadership.

6.      Provide strategic advice for enhancing the capacities of first line service providers and to further empower refugee women.

7.      Present the work done under the assignement during high level events and meetings.

The consultant will work under the overall supervision and guidance of the UN Women Programme Management Specialist or his/her delegate and in close collaboration with the International Gender and Humanitarian Consultant at UN Women Turkey.

III. Deliverables

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

All deliverables shall be received and cleared by the UN Women in Turkey. All reports shall be presented in English, in electronic version.

The timeframe for the work of the International Consultant is tentatively planned from November 2018 until October 2019 with an estimated total volume of work not to exceed 115 working days, coordinated in advance with the UN Women Programme Management Specialist.

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 in Turkey shall be the only criteria for international consultant’s work being completed and eligible for payment/s.

IV. Key Performance Indicators

·        Timely and quality inputs to training programme design and delivery

·        Timely and quality inputs to workplans

·        Adherence to UN Women standards and rules

·        Number of knowledge products developed

Competencies

V. Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues, particularly in the refugee context
• 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

Required Skills and Experience

VI. 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.

·        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 7 years progressively responsible experience in international development, humanitarian aid and/or refugee response.

·        At least 3 years experience in developing training manuals and/or delivering training programmes.

·        At least 3 years of experience in gender equality and women’s empowerment.

·        Experience in working with refugees in the MENA region and/or in Turkey.

Language Requirements:

·        Fluency in written and spoken English is required;

·        Knowledge of Arabic and Turkish is an asset.

VII.  Travel

The Consultant will be responsible for all travel expenses 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. The Consultant should foresee maximum three international travels from home base and five domestic travels within Turkey. In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs should be agreed upon, between UN Women in Turkey and the Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

VIII.  Schedule of Payments

The amount paid to the consultant shall be gross and inclusive of all associated costs such as travel, 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.

Application Procedure:

Interested candidates are invited to submit their online applications by 10 September 2018. 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 USD 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.