Background

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

As part of its Coordination Mandate, UN Women has been chairing the UN Gender Theme Group (UN GTG) in Ukraine since 2015. UN GTG is comprised of members of 18 UN agencies.

In 2016 UNCT Ukraine took part in piloting the SWAP-Scorecard assessment based on the new methodology (1). The assessment measured gender mainstreaming in UN common programming across 7 dimensions and 18 indicators. The assessment included a web-based Organizational Culture Staff Survey aimed to collect UN staff perceptions of gender equality, discrimination within the UN, and work-life balance etc. The GTG has led the implementation of received recommendations through its annual work plans.

UN GTG was instrumental in gender mainstreaming of the UN Partnership Framework for 2018- 2022. The UNDG Desk Review of 18 UNDAFs in Europe and Central Asia on the Application of Twin-Track Approach to Gender in UNDAFs and CCAs to promote Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women highly positively assessed the quality of the gender mainstreaming of the Ukraine UNDAF (2). At the same time the Assessment highlighted the areas requiring further improvements.

In January 2018 during the GTG Retreat, the group updated the Terms of Reference to ensure alignment with the new Resource Guide by UNDG (3), as well as to strengthen the Group’s work towards the common results outlined in the UNPF 2018- 2022. One of the main objectives of the UN GTG is to strengthen the performance of the UNCT on gender equality by providing technical support and expertise on gender mainstreaming and coordination on programming and advocacy issues within the United Nations Partnership Framework (UNPF). To do this, the GTG accomplished analysis of gender equality and women’s rights issues against national and international normative frameworks and SDG nationalized targets by UNPF Ukraine Pillars (4), as well as assigned a member of GTG to function as a gender lead in each of 4 UNPF Pillars (Pillar 1: Sustainable economic growth, environment and employment; Pillar 2: Equitable access to quality and inclusive services and social protection; Pillar 3: Democratic governance, rule of law and civic participation; Pillar 4: Human security, social cohesion and recovery with particular focus on Eastern Ukraine).

One of the GTG priority tasks for 2018 is to assess the capacity needs of its members, as well as the members of the UNPF Pillar Groups. During July and August 2018, the GTG has conducted the on-line learning needs assessment, the results of which will inform a series of the face-to-face training for the GTG and four UNPF Pillar Groups.

Therefore, UN Women Ukraine seeks the services of a qualified and experienced International Consultant to review the learning needs assessment results, and develop and conduct tailored-made trainings for members of UN GTG and UNPF Pillar Groups on gender mainstreaming in UNPF Pillars work. The international consultant will also conduct organizational culture staff survey.

[1] https://undg.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Ukraine-Gender-Scorecard-Report-2016.pdf

[2] Desk Review of 18 UNDAFs in Europe and Central Asia: Application of Twin-Track Approach to Gender in UNDAFs and CCAs to promote Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women. Available from: https://undg.org/document/desk-review-of-18-undafs-in-europe-and-central-asia/

[3] https://undg.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Resource-Guide-Gender-Theme-Groups-web.pdf

[4] UN Women will provide the analysis to the International Consultant.

Duties and Responsibilities

The International Consultant will work under the overall guidance of the UN Women Representative and in close collaboration with the National Programme Coordinator. The assignment will include but not be limited to the following tasks:

• Desk review of the documents related to the assignment.
• Develop the questionnaire for and conduct staff survey (5,6) on organizational culture on gender equality and discrimination. Prepare report with a summary of the survey results ahead of the training.
• Based on the results of the gender LNA and organizational staff survey develop a concept, agenda and content for:
• 2-day training for the members of UN GTG on normative frameworks and tools for gender equality and women’s empowerment and their practical application in their day-to-day work as gender focal points (the week of 8 October);
• Four separate 1-day workshops for members of the 4 UNPF Pillar Groups covering basics concepts of gender equality and women’s empowerment; international frameworks for gender equality; gender equality issues in Ukraine based on the analysis of gender equality and women’s rights issues against normative frameworks and SDG nationalized targets by UNPF Ukraine Pillars. The training should also have a strong practical component on gender mainstreaming in the work of UNPF Pillars (the week of 8 October). The trainings for the Pillar Groups will be co-facilitated by the respective members of the UN GTG Ukraine.
• Participate in the skype and face-to-face meetings with the UN Women team and the UN GTG members to plan and coordinate the assignment-related activities (prior and after the mission to Ukraine).
• Undertake a mission to Ukraine (up to 10 working days starting from 8 October) for the workshops and debriefings with UN Women country team.
• Submit a detailed report summarizing the implemented activities and recommendations to the UN Women Ukraine and UN GTG on how to accelerate mainstreaming of gender perspective into all UNCT operation and thematic coordination mechanisms, specifically UNPF.

Assignment Deliverables:

1.       A draft plan of the activities submitted – 3 days by 20 September 2018.

2.       Detailed concept and agenda for the workshops submitted – 4 days by 4 October 2018.

3.       A summary report on the implementation of the activities and developed recommendations submitted – 13 days, by 26 October 2018.

TOTAL –  20 days

• All documents and the report should be submitted in English language 
• The Consultant is expected to work remotely using her/his own computer, but may access the UN Women office for printing of relevant documents or should he/she be required to work on-site at any point during the assignment. 

UN Women/UN GTG inputs

• UN Women/GTG will provide the consultant with all the background reading materials.
• UN Women/GTG will facilitate the on-line organizational staff survey.
• UN Women/GTG will co-facilitate the trainings for 4 UNPF Pillar Groups.

Performance evaluation:

• Contractor’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered. The evaluation will be carried out and cleared by the hiring manager, which will also be the basis for payment on a delivery-by-delivery basis to the consultant.

Financial arrangements:  

• Payment will be disbursed in one instalment upon receipt of the deliverables (as detailed above) and their certification by the UN Women Programme Coordinator that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

[5] The Survey will be done using the SurveyMonkey platform with facilitation of the UN GTG and UN Women.

[6] Number of respondents needs to be identified based on the total number of UN personnel, in order to ensure representative nature of the survey.

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

Required Skills and Experience

• Qualifications Education:
• Master degree (or equivalent) in gender equality, social sciences, international relations, or a related field

Experience:

• Strong knowledge of gender equality in the UN.
• A minimum of ten years of experience of work on gender mainstreaming in the development programmes/projects at national and international levels.
• A minimum five years of experience of conducting trainings on gender equality and women’s empowerment, gender analysis, gender mainstreaming (including on the UNDAF/UNPF work)  and promoting commitments to gender equality and women’s rights.
• Experience in gender-sensitive data collection, analysis, interviews, surveys etc.
• Experience with UN/UN Women is an asset.

Languages and other skills: 

• Proficient English
• Excellent writing skills, oral and written communications
• Excellent presentation skills
• Proven experience with organization and facilitation of learning sessions, e.g. trainings, workshops, with multiple stakeholders’ participation
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, IT tools, ability to use Internet and email.

Evaluation of Applicants:

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of their qualifications and financial proposal. A two-stage procedure is utilized in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. The award of the contract should be made to the individuals whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

The candidate’s application should include: 

• A brief Letter of Interest containing the statement on candidate’s experience in the field of recruitment. Completed and signed UN Women Personal History (P-11) form, which can be downloaded from: http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment. 
• Proposal. The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount with a breakdown of a daily professional rate per number of anticipated working days to include daily subsistence allowance, international travel related costs, and other costs (telephone, etc.). 

Interested candidates are requested to apply no later than 5 September 2018, 09:00 am EET  by submitting 2 attachments: 1) technical (a Letter of Interest and P-11) and 2) financial proposal to the following e-mail address: procurement.ukraine@unwomen.org with a subject “UN Women Ukraine – International Consultant to build capacity of the members of the UN Gender Theme Group and United Nations Partnership Framework Pillars on gender mainstreaming”. 

Applications without financial proposal may be treated as incomplete and may not be considered for further assessment.

Sample of Financial Proposal

The format shown on the following tables is suggested for use as a guide in preparing the Financial Proposal

A.      Cost Breakdown per Deliverables*

*Basis for payment tranches

UN Women applies fair and transparent selection process that would consider the competencies/skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals.