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 has begun implementing a new Strategic Plan (2018-2022) which outlines the Entity’s strategic direction, objectives and approaches to support efforts to achieve gender equality and empower women and girls. One of the strategic outcomes of the new Plan is to ensure that “Women lead, participate in and benefit equally from governance systems.” In Turkey, UN Women’s news Strategic Note (2019-2022) also prioritizes increasing women’s political participation and supporting the government meet its commitment to gender equality through the development of gender responsive plans and budgets.

UN Women has been implementing Gender Equality in Political Leadership and Participation in Turkey project since 2015. Achieving the goal of gender equality, particularly with respect to women’s political participation and leadership, has become a key priority in Turkey. While progress has been consistent in the fields of women’s education and health, women have been unable to advance politically in significant numbers, especially at the local level. The project aims to ensure that women participate in all aspects of decision making, especially within the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA), and the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men (EOC) is the main beneficiary.

In 2019 UN Women started a new phase of the Gender Equality in Political Leadership and Participation in Turkey project which seeks to support women in various positions of leadership including women elected to municipal councils, in municipal government, in parliament and in civil society. The project will bring together gender equality advocates and women in leadership positions to encourage multi-stakeholder dialogues on issues that can advance gender equality and women’s empowerment at the national and local level such as the application of gender responsive budgeting (GRB) and gender sensitive governance. The project will include capacity development and training activities, advocacy and the exchange of best practices within Turkey and with women leaders in the region. The project is implemented by UN Women, in partnership with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

In this respect, UN Women in Turkey had conducted Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) within the UN Joint Program (UNJP) on Promoting the Human Rights of Women. The UNJP had been carried out in 11 pilot provinces by UNDP, UN Women and Sabanci University in cooperation with Ministry of Interior, Ministry of National Education, Ministry of Family and Social Policies and Union of Municipalities of Turkey. By UN Women’s interventions within the UNJP, strategic plans of municipalities were prepared with a more equalitarian approach, budgets allocated for women’s empowerment increased and the cooperation between municipalities and CSOs strengthened. Besides, good practices which enable women to benefit more from the municipal services have been developed. On the other hand, a legislative expert of the Committee on Equal Opportunity for Women and Men (EOC) participated a Regional Exchange Workshop on GRB in Albania, where participants exchanged experiences, challenges and lessons learned, and the EOC legislative expert presented the Republic of Turkey’s experience on GRB. The workshop enabled the EOC legislative expert to gain knowledge on GRB at the local, central and parliamentary levels, and the expert’s participation was the first step of the future activities that the Gender Equality in Political Leadership and Participation Project in Turkey has been conducting with the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TGNA) on GRB.

In line with the requests of TGNA staff and parliamentarians, the Project aims to continue its support to building parliamentary capacity on GRB by delivering training and developing necessary tools for effective utilization of GRB within budgetary processes of the parliament and public sector.

For this purpose, A GRB Guideline is prepared for supporting effective utilization of GRB in planning, implementation and monitoring of parliamentary and public budgets. The guideline is developed with the inputs received from relevant administrative staff of TGNA and ministries. GRB guideline will provide practical information and tools for integration of GRB in strategic plans and budgets and its monitoring through performance programs, activity reports and gender responsive auditing. It will aim to provide an understandable and practical tool for relevant technical staff to use during budgetary processes.

In this context UN Women in Turkey plans to hire a national consultant to provide peer review and editing of GRB Guideline in Turkish.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the Assignment:

In line with the Project’s objectives, UN Women aims to provide peer review and editing of GRB Guideline in Turkish.

Scope of Work and Responsibilities:

Under the direct supervision of UN Women Project Manager and overall guidance of UN Women Turkey Office Director, the National Consultant will be responsible for the following specific tasks:

1.Peer review of the Turkish GRB Guideline

2.Turkish editing of the GRB Guideline

The national consultant, who will be responsible of peer review of the GRB Guideline in Turkish, assess quality of work, ensure that the work is rigorous and coherent, and offer revisions if necessary.

The national consultant will also correct the errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar, edit copy to improve readability and if necessary rewrite the copy to make it easier for readers to understand.

Although The GRB Guideline is in Turkish, the consultant may need to read or check the English version during editing and peer review and may offer revisions in the English version as well, if necessary.

The peer review will be home-based. The tentative dates for the peer review are from 15 April to 26 April.

Deliverables and Payment Schedule

Duration of the assignment is from 29 April 2019 to 15 May 2019. The Consultant is expected to spend up to 10 working days on a consecutive basis throughout the assignment. The consultant will use his/her own equipment.

Expected Deliverables:

The following table summarizes main activities and expected deliverables against targeted delivery deadlines and indicative working days to be invested by the Consultant.

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 Project Manager shall be the only criteria for Consultants work being completed and eligible for payment(s).

Payment Schedule:

National Consultant shall be paid upon successful completion of the deliverables. Payment shall be affected only if all the deliverables in this TOR are submitted to UN Women Project Manager within the timeframes stipulated in the TOR and they are approved by UN Women Project Manager. Without submission and approval of the deliverables, Consultants shall not receive any payment even if they invest time for this assignment.

During assignment’s related missions, the National Consultant may use the facilities of the office (i.e. internet access, printing, copying, local phone calls, etc.). However, s/he is expected to use his/her own personal computer.

Competencies

Key Performance Indicators

• Timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.
• Adherence to UN Women standards and rules.

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies

• Ability to communicate sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies;
• Knowledge of social media platforms and experience in social media outreach;
• Knowledge of local country media landscape;
• Knowledge of gender, human rights and/or refugee response issues desirable;
• Focuses on impact and results for client;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.

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

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in social sciences, gender studies, or a related field.
• Master’s degree will be considered as asset.

Skills and Experience

• Minimum 2 years of experience in gender equality, gender responsive budgeting, gender mainstreaming and women’s political participation;
• Minimum 2 years of experience in editing and proof reading is a must;
• Previous professional experience with the United Nations is desirable. 

Language Requirement

 Fluency in English and Turkish (written and oral) 

Application Procedure:

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 (with breakdown of fee on a per day basis. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount - Please see Annex I: Price Proposal Guideline and Template and Annex II: Price Proposal Submission Form

Candidates should have the ability to quickly submit degree certificates and medical certification 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

An interview/practical test may also be used for the selection of best candidates.

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

N/A.

3.Daily Subsistence Allowance

N/A.

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 (Gender Responsive Journalism Training)

Dear  Madam/Sir,

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 90 days.

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

[Signature]

Date:

Name:

Address:

Telephone/Fax:

Email: