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.

In 2017, with funding from the Government of Sweden, UN Women launched the project “Enhancing accountability for gender equality and women’s empowerment in national reforms, peace and security”. The aim of this project, implemented during 2017–2021, is to support the consolidated efforts of the Ukrainian Government, Parliament, women’s groups and civil society organisations (CSOs) to meet State commitments on gender equality and women’s rights through the reforms, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security (including UNSCR 1325) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The project will also support the Government and other important stakeholders, including civil society, to establish or strengthen adequate mechanisms for financing, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of gender equality commitments.

In order to achieve these objectives, the project will provide the Government, and specifically the Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons, with technical support and capacity development to mainstream gender and women’s human rights, especially in State planning and budgeting, to ensure that policies and programmes address the conflict’s profound impact on gender relations and roles and the specific needs and priorities of women affected by the conflict.

The Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons has demonstrated continued openness to the integration of gender equality perspective in their State programmes and strategies and specific actions targeting the concerns of women IDPs. UN Women has successfully supported the Ministry on a number of different initiatives, including providing technical expertise in formulating the gender-responsive objectives and actions of the State Programme on Recovery and Peacebuilding. To achieve this objective, UN Women mobilized 65 women IDPs in 2016 from seven regions and facilitated the collection of their recommendations for inclusion in the Ministry’s State Programme.

In September 2018, the revised National Action Plan on implementation of UN SCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security and the action plan on the implementation of recommendations provided in the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to the eighth periodic report of Ukraine on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) were adopted by the Government of Ukraine. Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons is one of the state institutions, responsible for implementation of both mentioned plans.

In November 2018, the action plan on implementation for the “Strategy of integration of IDPs and implementation of long-term decisions concerning IDPs for the period to 2020” was adopted by the Government of Ukraine. It included number of gender-responsive measures, which have been integrated by the Ministry upon technical support of UN Women, which also facilitated the collection of recommendations of IDPs for inclusion of their voices to the action plan.

Based on this experience, UN Women would like to continue this collaboration by supporting the Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons to mainstream gender in its strategies, policies, plans and budgets. UN Women, therefore, seeks to hire a National Consultant on Gender Equality to serve in the role of gender advisor to provide technical assistance, policy advice and capacity-building to ensure that gender is mainstreamed in the institutional structures, policies and mechanisms of the Ministry. This support will include technical expertise and assistance to the Ministry with the implementation of the following plans, aimed at advancing gender equality and responding to the needs of internally displaced women, which the Ministry committed to implement:

• Action Plan for the “Strategy of integration of IDPs and implementation of long-term
• decisions concerning IDPs for the period to 2020”;
• Action Plan for the State Target Programme for Recovery and Peacebuilding in Eastern Regions of Ukraine;
• Revised National Action Plan on implementation of UN SCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security;
• Action plan on the implementation of recommendations provided in the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to the eighth periodic report of Ukraine on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW);
• State Social Programme to Ensure Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Consultant will work under the overall guidance of the UN Women Representative and direct supervision by the Programme Specialist, and the day-to-day supervision by designated supervisor by the Deputy Minister, the Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons. The consultant will also coordinate with the other project managers, especially the ‘Engendering Decentralization’ project to implement a set of tasks, including, but not limited to:

• Develop annual work plan for the provision of advisory services, including tasks, indicators for measuring progress, and a timeline of deliverables.
• Provide day-to-day technical and policy advice to the Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons to ensure the Ministry’s policy and legislative framework is in line with international human rights and humanitarian standards and Ukraine’s international, regional and national commitments on gender equality and women’s human rights.
• Support the Ministry to ensure gender and the needs and priorities of women IDPs and women affected by the conflict are considered and responded in the implementation and monitoring of the Action Plan of the “Strategy of integration of IDPs and implementation of long-term decisions concerning IDPs for the period of to 2020”; Revised National Action Plan on implementation of UN SCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security; Action plan on the implementation of recommendations provided in the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to the eighth periodic report of Ukraine on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
• Facilitate engagement with women’s groups, including internally displaced women, and civil society organizations to increase their understanding of the “Strategy of integration of IDPs and implementation of long-term decisions concerning IDPs for the period of to 2020”; Revised National Action Plan on implementation of UN SCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security; Action plan on the implementation of recommendations provided in the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to the eighth periodic report of Ukraine on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and facilitate their participation in the work of Public Council of the Ministry.
• Coordinate and participate in multi-stakeholder and inter-ministerial working group meetings, learning workshops to analyse, formulate and execute gender-responsive policies, reforms, plans and budgets, and support the Ministry to institutionalize these practices.
• Provide a set of recommendations on gender mainstreaming in legislation, policies, plans and budgets of the Ministry, and in staff competencies, based on conducted institutional/functional gender analysis.
• Based on the capacity needs assessment of the staff of the Ministry, including staff of the regional offices, responsible for implementation of the above-mentioned actions, plan to identify the gaps in staff understanding of key issues of gender equality.
• Based on the needs assessment, develop a capacity-building plan for delivering necessary trainings on gender mainstreaming for the staff, including staff of the regional offices,  to increase awareness of issues related to gender equality, the women, peace and security normative framework including UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the subsequent resolutions, the National Action Plan for the Implementation of the UNSCR1325 and regional action plans, as well as tools for monitoring and implementing the Action Plan for the “Strategy of integration of IDPs and implementation of long-term decisions concerning IDPs for the period of to 2020”, Revised National Action Plan on implementation of UN SCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security; Action plan on the implementation of recommendations provided in the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to the eighth periodic report of Ukraine on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
• Contribute to strengthening the Ministry’s efforts to increase social cohesion of women IDPs and host communities by coordinating activities between the Ministry and a consulting company hired by UN Women to increase advocacy, dialogue and awareness-raising among women IDPs, host communities and the Ministry. Initiatives will facilitate joint brainstorming on policies, programmes and actions that can be taken, both by women affected by the conflict and the Ministry, to ensure their rights are upheld and their needs and priorities are met.
• Support the organization and implementation of international events, like study tours or international conferences for key representatives of the Ministry to gain hands-on learning experience, particularly on best practices of implementation of WPS agenda and on addressing the needs of conflict-affected and internally displaced women.
• Provide technical /expert support on gender equality to regional offices and act as internal coordination mechanism of the Ministry, in communication and coordination with the latter;  Coordinate the participation of regional offices in the localization of UNSCR 1325 in at least three oblasts (Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia) and ensure alignment of the regional plans and programmes on UNSCR 1325 with the National Strategy and Action Plan integration of IDPs and implementation of long-term decisions concerning IDPs for the period to 2020. .
• Take part in working groups, meetings and learning sessions on Women, Peace and Security, including those organized by UN Women.

Assignment /Deliverables

*All reports should be submitted in English language and include the full set of supporting documents, such as analytical briefs, training agendas, handouts and lists of participants. The supporting documents can be submitted in Ukrainian.

Inputs

• UN Women and the Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons will provide the Consultant with background materials related to the assignment.
• The Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons will provide the consultant with the space and access to internal institutional documents.
• The consultant is expected to work using her/his own computer.

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 month by month basis to the consultant.

Financial arrangements:  

• Payment will be disbursed on monthly basis upon receipt of the deliverables (as per above matrix) and their certification by the Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons and UN Women Programme Specialist that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

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:

• Advanced (Masters) degree in Human Rights, Political Science, Gender Studies, Social Sciences, Law or related field.

Experience:

• Minimum 3 years of relevant experience in humanitarian, development, human rights, gender equality or another relevant field;
• Proven experience of conducting institutional and policy analysis, drafting policy and briefing documents on gender equality, women’s empowerment or women, peace and security issues, as well as provision of capacity building for government officials;
• Proven knowledge of international humanitarian, human rights, gender equality, women’s empowerment and women, peace and security frameworks;
• Understanding of national legislation and policy frameworks and governance systems, including Ukrainian legislative framework related to IDPs;
• Experience with organizing and participating in high-level dialogues, consultations and workshops, including with Members of Parliament, Government, CSOs, etc.;
• Previous professional experience with development agencies and the United Nations would be considered an asset.

Languages and other skills: 

• Fluent Ukrainian, English and Russian
• 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.

Technical criteria  - 70% of total evaluation. Total max 70 points:

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 70. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on desk review and following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation will be further considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points allocated for the financial/price component is 30.
• The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 30

(S - score received on financial evaluation; Fmin - the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round; F - financial offer under the consideration).

Application and submission package:

The candidate’s application should include:

P11 with indication of relevant experience in line with the ToR requirements.  Completed and signed UN Women Personal History (P-11) form can be downloaded from: http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment

Financial proposal (sample is provided below): The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount with a breakdown of a daily professional rate per number of anticipated working days, travel costs (daily subsistence allowance and other in-country travel costs) and other related costs (e.g. tele-communication).

Interested candidates are requested to apply no later than 23:59 20 February 2019 by submitting applications to the following e-mail address: hr.ukraine@unwomen.org  with a subject “National Consultant on Gender Equality to the Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons”.

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 table 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 take into account the competencies/skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals.