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, 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 help ensure that women and girls enjoy equal access to rights, resources and services and are able to enjoy their human rights with zero tolerance to any form of discrimination. UN Women in Turkey seeks to reach this goal through programming that supports women’s leadership and participation, encourages gender responsive governance and budgeting, elimates violence against women and child and forced marriage, and contributes to the empowerment and co-existence of refugee and host community women.

UN Women has established partnerships with central and local governments, UN agencies, and international and national NGOs. To implement its programs, UN Women cooperates with civil society organizations (CSOs) as implementing partners or responsible parties based on calls for proposals. Shorlisted CSOs need to undergo capacity assessments to ensure that they can deliver the expected results. The assessments analyse the organization’s technical capacity, governance and management structure, and financial and administrative management based on a set checklist. It requires a close and comprehensive review of CSO documents and proceedures. A CSO capacity assessment remains valid for two years.    

In Fall 2018, UN Women Turkey Office launched a call for proposals to support the implementation of its “Strengthening the Resilience of Syrian Women and Girls and Host Communities in Iraq, Jordan and Turkey” program. This program referred to as the Refugee and Response Programme (RRP), is 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.

The Fall 2018 call for proposals targets civil society organizations (CSOs) working in the areas of women’s empowerment, gender equality, violence against women, community engagement, conflict resolution, social inclusion, elimination of violence against women, refugee response and resilience. More specifically, the projects to be implemented shall entail the following:

• Implementing men-engage programs to educate men and mobilize their support for women’s economic empowerment and against gender-based violence.
• Supporting women from refugee and host communities to participate in dialogue, cultural events and physical activities.
• Supporting women to engage in common community level projects.

The projects will be implemented in cities with high concentration of Syrian refugees. Please refer to http://eca.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2018/08/call-for-proposals-strengthening-the-resilience-of-syrian-women-and-host-communities-in-turkey for further information about the call for proposals.

In 2019 UN Women Turkey may launch additional calls for proposals within the context of its Refugee Response Program or in other areas of work, especially to combat Child Early and Forced Marriages. Additional capacity assessments will be required.  

In addition, UN Women plans to support women’s organizations and groups, as well as CSOs working with women refugees to boost their technical and organisational capacities in tailored areas with a focus on gender-sensitive humanitarian and refugee response. UN Women will ensure that such organizations and groups can access to best technical expertise in areas where they are willing to develop capacities. Prior to commencing the capacity building actions, it is essential to identify and map the organizations and groups requiring such support, as well as to carry out an assessment of their most urgent needs.

Duties and Responsibilities

Within the scope of the assignment the national consultant is expected to provide consultancy services for the below listed generic taks:

1. Carry out capacity assessments for maximum eight civil society organizations which have been pre-selected under the call for proposals and/or are identified as interested partner for upcoming call for proposals. This entails the desk-review of standard operating procedures, policies, internal rules and regulations, manuals, etc. provided by the applicants. The consultant will also hold at least one meeting in person with the CSOs.
2. Following the assessment, the consultant will fill in and submit to UN Women the capacity assessment checklist, i.e. the template that will be provided by UN Women. The checklist comprises items related to governance, management and technical capacities, administration and finance related capacities, as well as procurement and client relationship capacities. UN Women may provide comments and feedback to the checklist submitted by the consultant, where in this case the consultant shall revise and re-submit the checklist accordingly.
3. The consultant will prepare a mapping and analysis not exceeding 30 pages containing information on (indicatively):

• Women’s organizations and groups, as well as CSOs working with women refugees and in the field of humanitarian/refugee response in Turkey, as well as cross-border Syria.
• Existing capacities, potentials, gaps and capacity building needs of women’s organizations and groups and CSOs working with women refugees.

The specific outline of the CSO mapping will be agreed upon between the consultant and UN Women, and may include additional elements relevant to UN Women programming. The product will be prepared through a desk-review, a minimum of three field missions (Gaziantep, Istanbul and Izmir, indicatively) where such entities are located.

The consultant is responsible for covering his/her own travel and accommodation costs, which should be included in the financial offer. Maximum five travels within Turkey will take place, which on average will last two days each. Additional travel not foreseen in this terms of reference will be covered by UN Women.

Key Performance Indicators:

• Adherence to UN Women standards and rules.
• Number of capacity assessment checklists successfully prepared and submitted.
• Number of knowledge products developed and disseminated.

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
• 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

Travel:

The Consultant 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.

Schedule of Payments:

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

Application Procedure:
Interested candidates are invited to submit their online applications by 20 November 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 and a preliminary proposal on what will be included in the CSO mapping.
• 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.

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.

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

Annex I: Price Proposal Guideline and Template

The prospective Individual Consultant should take the following explanations into account during submission of his/her price proposal.

1.Daily fee

The daily price proposal should indicate a "lump sum amount" which is "all-inclusive"; All costs (professional fees, communications, consumables during field related missions, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor needs to be factored into the proposed price.

UN Women will not withhold any amount of the payments for tax and/or social security related payments. UN Women shall have no liability for taxes, duties or other similar charges payable by the Individual Contractor in respect of any amounts paid to the Individual Contractor under this Contract, and the Contractor acknowledges that UN Women will not issue any statements of earnings to the Individual contractor in respect of any such payments.

2.Travel costs

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. In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs should be agreed upon with UN Women in Turkey.

3.Daily Subsistence Allowance

The proposal should be inclusive of the daily subsistence allowance required for the assignment.

4.Currency of the price proposal

The applicants are requested to submit their price proposals in Turkish Lira. In case of proposals in other currency, these shall be converted into TL using the official UN exchange rate for currency conversion to TL at the date of applications’ submission deadline.

Annex II: Price Proposal Submission Form

To: United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

Ref: National Consultant for Capacity Assessment of Civil Society Organizations and Mapping of Women’s Groups in Refugee and Humanitarian Response

Dear Sir / Madam,

I, the undersigned, offer to provide professional consulting services to UN Women within the scope of the referred Assignment.

Having examined, understood and agreed to the Terms of Reference and its annexes, the receipt of which are hereby duly acknowledged, I, the undersigned, offer to deliver professional services, in conformity with the Terms of Reference.

My maximum total price proposal for the assignment is given below:

I confirm that my financial proposal will remain unchanged. I also confirm that the price that I quote is gross, and is inclusive of all legal expenses, including but not limited to social security, income tax, pension, etc., which shall be required applicable laws.

I agree that my proposal shall remain binding upon me for 60 days.

I understand that you are not bound to accept any proposal you may receive.

[Signature]

Date:

Name:

Address:

Telephone/Fax:

Email: