Background

2020 will be a pivotal year for the accelerated realization of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. As the global community marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995), and five years of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development2 and its Sustainable Development Goals, the moment is right to achieve irreversible and measurable progress towards this universal commitment to all women and girls, everywhere.    

Leading up to the anniversary should be a comprehensive national-level review process that involves all stakeholders. Under the leadership of the Head of State/Government, reviews should mobilize all branches and levels of government, civil society organizations, the private sector, the entities of the United Nations system and regional and international organizations, academia, the media and other stakeholders. Reviews should mobilize all women and men, of all ages, around a new and renewed dialogue for change, and actions to prevent and eliminate all forms of discrimination and violence against all women and girls.  This anniversary should be used as the occasion to bring a young generation of gender equality advocates and those who remain on the sidelines into the centre of a whole-of-government, whole-of-society effort. By joining forces, government together with society has the capacity to overcome and eradicate the root causes of gender inequality and chart a path forward for genuine, substantive equality, with equal rights and equal opportunities for women and girls.   

This anniversary is also the opportunity to strengthen gender-responsive action and implementation of other global commitments, such as those under Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) and subsequent resolutions on women and peace and security; the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (2015); the Paris agreement on climate change (2015), among others. 

On the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Commission on the Status of Women of the United Nations will undertake a review and appraisal of progress made in implementation, in March 2020.   

Accordingly, all States are called upon to undertake comprehensive national-level reviews of the progress made and challenges encountered in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and of the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly held in 2000.  

Governments are called upon to collaborate with relevant stakeholders at all levels on the preparations for the 2020 review so as to benefit from their experience and expertise. The United Nations regional commissions are invited to undertake regional reviews so that the outcomes of intergovernmental processes at the regional level can feed into the Commission’s 2020 review.   

UN Women in Albania is committed to supporting the national review process and for this purpose is seeking to employ 2 (two) national consultants to assist and facilitate the Government of Albania for conducting the national review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and preparation of the national report.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the assignment

UN Women is seeking to recruit two national consultants to support the Beijing+25 Review Process of the Government of Albania. The national consultants will work in cooperation and coordination with the national Gender Equality Mechanism and the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.

Comprehensive national-level reviews should assess progress made in implementation and identify challenges encountered. They should take stock of achievements, identify gaps and setbacks, and outline strategies for addressing those gaps and challenges. They should result in renewed commitment and clear sets of priority actions, with timelines, actors and resources for their implementation.  Reviews should align and build synergies with work on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and galvanize its gender-responsive implementation.  They should involve all stakeholders.  National reports should synthesize the progress over the last five years (approximately 2014 – 2019, or since the completion of the national report on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action), the persisting challenges for women and girls, and the way forward.

2020 will be the first time that the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action is reviewed with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (henceforth, ‘the 2030 Agenda’) fully in place. For practical purposes, the 12 critical areas of concern have been clustered into six overarching dimensions that highlight the alignment of the two frameworks.  The 2030 Agenda dedicates a specific goal to gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls (SDG 5, achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls) with targets that resonate strongly with the BPfA . It also stresses that the systematic mainstreaming of a gender perspective in the implementation of the Agenda is crucial. As an issue that cuts across the other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Agenda includes a series of gender-related targets addressing critical areas of concern of the BPfA, from women’s poverty to women in the environment.

As part of their contract, the national consultants will also be requested to support UN Women in the completion of a country questionnaire for a Baseline Study on Gender Policies in the Western Balkan Region Countries undertaken by the Regional Coordination Board of the Network of National Gender Equality Mechanisms of the Western Balkan Countries. The study aims to provide the overview of the capacity of gender mechanisms, identification of major problems in the implementation and identification of the best practices. This will serve us ( Regional Coordination Board) to identify areas in which we can work together at the regional level, using our knowledge, experiences and resources.

The national consultants should consider the following points:

1. Institutional setup and communications 

Leadership: Comprehensive national-level reviews should encompass a whole-of-government approach. 

All-of-government approach and coordination: An inter-ministerial committee or working group, chaired by the head of the national mechanism for gender equality and the empowerment of women and bringing together all ministries and government agencies, could be a conduit for an all-of-government approach to the review, thereby confirming that all ministries and government agencies contribute to and have a stake in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. Local and municipal government authorities can also make an important contribution.  Existing inter-ministerial committees could be strengthened for this purpose. It is also recommended that the review be discussed at least once by the Cabinet of the Head of State/Government. Collaboration and alignment with other existing institutional arrangements, in particular those responsible for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development or preparation of reports under international human rights treaties to which the State is a party, should also be sought.  

Access to data: High quality, up-to-date and disaggregated data should inform the comprehensive national-level review.  The review may also be leveraged as an impulse to collect additional data disaggregated by sex, age and other factors and gender statistics. The role of and collaboration with national statistical offices will be essential.   

All-of-society approach and collaboration: In addition to institutional setups that ensure an all-of-government approach, arrangements for collaboration and consultation with other stakeholders should be in place.  A national steering committee or similar arrangements should be constituted, convened by the head of the national mechanism for gender equality and the empowerment of women, to enable regular exchange with and inputs from stakeholders.  Such stakeholders should include, among other actors, civil society organizations, in particular women’s and community-based organizations, feminist groups, women human rights defenders, girls’ and youth-led organizations, trade unions, professional organizations, the private sector, academia, and national human rights institutions where they exist.  

Information dissemination: The comprehensive national-level review should be well publicized, and regular updates on activities provided, through traditional and new media, including social media.  

2. Multi-stakeholder participation and contributions 

Stakeholders: Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls, everywhere, is a societal responsibility – this is amply confirmed in all critical areas of concern of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, in the outcomes of its first review of 2000 and subsequent outcomes that invite stakeholders to contribute to implementation. An all-of-society approach should therefore complement the all-of-government approach for comprehensive national-level reviews.  Key in such efforts are, in particular:  civil society organizations in particular women’s organizations, women human rights defenders, national human rights institutions where they exist, organizations representing women and girls subject to multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, other representative organizations such as trade unions, women’s self-help organizations, youth groups, faith-based organizations, and professional organizations, as well as the private sector, including employers’ organizations. Collaboration with and outreach to academia will also be important. Media should also be involved.   

Engagement: Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls requires change at all levels, including at an individual level.  National-level reviews present an opportunity to engage the general public – women and men, girls and boys – in a national discussion on the issue. Communications campaigns, including through social media, as well as national, sub-national and local discussion forums, town hall-style meetings, and other appropriate platforms can be used to ensure broad-based outreach and inclusive engagement.   

Contributions: Participation by a wide range of stakeholders in a process promotes ownership. Comprehensive national-level reviews should ensure that all stakeholders participate in the process and contribute to accelerated implementation of existing commitments to gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.  A multi-stakeholder engagement strategy could be put in place for systematic outreach to and involvement of all key stakeholders, as well as their mobilization and concrete contributions to the review process. Different stakeholders, such as the private sector, educational institutions, academia and others, can directly contribute to realizing gender equality through their own actions.   

Activities: A calendar of activities should be maintained, and the contributions of all stakeholders, including their commitments to specific actions, compiled and publicized.  

Role of the UN system: Entities of the United Nations system, in particular UN-Women where present, including Resident Coordinators, UN Country Teams and Gender Theme Groups, should be invited to support such processes. This could include technical inputs and support, serving as convener for stakeholder engagement and participation, and support for data collection and analysis.   

Role of the United Nations regional commissions:  The regional commissions are encouraged to undertake regional reviews so that the outcomes of intergovernmental processes at the regional level can feed into the Commission’s 2020 review.  Regional commissions, as applicable, will also contribute to supporting their respective Member States in national preparations. The regional review meetings are expected to take place in late fall of 2019 and early 2020.  

Description of tasks:

Under the overall supervision of UN Women Albania Representative and the direct supervision of the Head of Programme Unit, the two consultants shall both be gender experts but shall have two different backgrounds and qualifications – refer also to Qualifications section below:

A) One National Consultant with a juridical background

B) One National Consultant with a social background

Their tasks will consist of the following:

• Preparation of a Roadmap for conducing the national review, in consultation with the Government and UN Women;
• Review of Albania’s progress based on the obligations stemming from the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action;
• Developing a methodology for the input collection and the structured consultations with relevant stakeholders as per the format of the report and the questionnaire;
• Supporting the Government in the organization of stakeholder review workshops with representatives of the National Gender Machinery, Government representatives, civil society organizations, and other concerned partners to review the progress and produce recommendations;
• Processing of data collected and final analysis with recommendations for the Review Report;
• Presentation of final draft of the Review Report.

Expected Deliverables:

• Roadmap/workplan for conducting the national review (in Albanian and English);
• Presentations for planned consultations;
• Draft analyses by assigned area to inform the national review process;
• Minutes of meetings with stakeholders;
• National Review Report (in Albanian);
• Analyses, data collection and completion of a country questionnaire on the Gender Equality Mechanism;
• Focus group with 5-6 representatives from the national GE mechanism using the dedicated FG questionnaire;
• Analyses of legislation, implementation, budgets and preparation of best practices

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

Functional Competences:

• Excellent analytical and research skills
• Strong interpersonal and good communication abilities
• Excellent writing skills both in Albanian and in English
• Proven ability to work within limited time constraints in the preparation of high quality documents;
• Ability to organize work efficiently and deal with multiple tasks;

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

A) for National Consultant with a juridical background

• Master’s degree in Law, Human Rights Consultant

B) For National Consultant with a social background

• Master’s degree in Gender Studies, Political Science, Policy Studies, Sociology, Social Sciences, or related fields.

Experience

• At least seven years of experience on issues related to gender equality, women’s empowerment and ending violence against women; Proven knowledge of national and international standards on gender equality and EVAW;
• Demonstrated experience in monitoring and reporting processes for international human rights treaty bodies and inter-governmental processes focused on women’s human rights and gender equality;
• Familiarity with the national mechanism on gender equality and civil society in Albania;
• Previous experience or familiarity with the UN system or other international organizations would be desirable;

Language requirements

Fluency in spoken and written Albanian and English.

Duration

The completion of this consultancy assignment will take up to 25 working days in the estimated period between February-April 2019.

Evaluation of applicants:

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal. The evaluation of technical criteria will include interviews with the candidates, to confirm their experience in the areas of gender equality, women’s empowerment and ending violence against women. Contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive to and compliant with the ToR; and

• Having received the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

* Technical Criteria weight – 70%

* Financial Criteria weight – 30%

 Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

Technical Criteria:   Weight 70%   Max. Points 70                                                                              

• Education: Consultant A) Master’s degree in Law, Human Rights Consultant B) Master’s degree in Gender Studies, Political Science, Policy Studies, Sociology, Social Sciences, or related fields – 10 points.
• At least seven years of experience on issues related to gender equality, women’s empowerment and ending violence against women – 25 points;
• Proven knowledge of national and international standards on gender equality and EVAW – 10 points;
• Demonstrated experience in monitoring and reporting processes for international human rights treaty bodies and inter-governmental processes focused on women’s human rights and gender equality - 10 points;
• Familiarity with the national mechanism on gender equality and civil society in Albania – 10 points;
• Previous experience or familiarity with the UN system or other international organizations would be desirable – 5 points;

Financial Criteria: Weight 30% Max. Points 30

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. The calculation formula applied is as follow:

p = 30 (µ/z); where: p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated; µ = price of the lowest priced proposal; z = price of the proposal being evaluated.

Application Procedure:

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online. The application should contain:

• Cover letter explaining the applicant’s interest in applying for the position.
• Filled Personal History Form (P11 form) including past experience in similar assignments and contact details of referees (blank form can be downloaded from: http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment/); please upload the P11 instead of your CV
• Financial Proposal* - specifying a total lump sum amount in Albanian Lek (ALL) or the tasks specified in this announcement.

 *Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant during the contract period.

Payments will be made only upon confirmation of UN Women on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner based on produced deliverables and the submission of time-sheets.

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

Important Notes:

• The consultancy post is open to local (Albanian) individuals or foreign individuals with valid temporary or permanent residence.
• Applications without the financial offer will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.
• The individual consultants should take the mandatory learning security course prior to commencement of assignment– details will follow before the issuance of contract.