Background

Title of the Project: Support to the State of Kuwait in the implementation of SDG 5 on Gender Equality

This assignment is implemented within the framework of the Project: “Support to the State of Kuwait in the implementation of SDG 5 on Gender Equality”. The project is supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Kuwait’ office and implemented by the Women Research and Studies Center at Kuwait University.

A. Background of the project

On 25 September 2015, HH Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Amir of the State of Kuwait, pledged Kuwait’s commitment to implementation of Agenda 2030 and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals before assembled world leaders at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in New York. The Kuwait National Development Plan (KNDP) 2015-2020 has also established a set of goals and targets that will assist Kuwait to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women. To this end, UNDP Kuwait and the UN Women Regional Office for the Arab States have partnered with the General Secretariat of the Supreme Council for Planning and development and the Kuwait University’s Women Research and Studies Center to support a national programme to accelerate the implementation of SDG 5 in the State of Kuwait.

This project has set in motion longer term transformative changes that will enable Kuwait to achieve the ambitious goals set under the women’s empowerment agenda of the SDGs in Kuwait. The project capitalizes on, and complements, previous work carried out by UNDP during the previous 2009-2012 CPAP cycle on women’s empowerment and supports Outcome 2 of the current CPAP, and on work currently being carried out by UN Women in the rest of the Arab States region. This project will focus on three key areas including: 1) the enhancement of women’s participation in political and public life; 2) women’s participation in all sectors is enhanced through increased awareness and application of gender-positive policies to promote women’s participation; and 3) Making data available to support elaboration of a comprehensive national plan to address violence against women.

The KNDP plays an integral part in Kuwait’s future development which requires active engagement from the necessary stakeholders and giving visibility to their achievements including Kuwaiti women. Such efforts will greatly facilitate the optimal execution of the KNDP enabling better results and contributing to prosperous growth in Kuwait.

Within this context, UNDP is seeking to contract a consultant for the collation, processing, entry, maintenance and analysis of information within the WRSC database and archive.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Support the WRSC research program in the areas of data collection, computing, and database organization.  Duties may include but are not limited to; the examination, synthesis, and evaluation of WRSC records:

• Engage with WRSC management to analyze and validate data. The primary focus of the research will be dealing with studies, articles, research documents and any other data source related to eliminating violence against women in addition to women’s economic and political empowerment.
• Collect research information in question and consider all variables to construct a data file to answer the questions.

2. Update and maintain user friendly information within the WRSC database including:

• Collate, organize and archive datasets provided by internal and external partners
• Process datasets including, but not limited to, reformatting data elements and file types, running data quality checks, and modifying or cleaning data elements as needed
• Transfer, enter or upload datasets into the primary WRSC database
• Maintain and further develop database features such as expanding database support for multiple languages, accomodating new types of indicators or other changes to the data model and structure.
• Create and update custom analytical software utilizing WRSC database (if any), including:

Existing/New library of R scripts processing WRSC data for the purposes of display in the online Dashboard 

• Create & maintain comprehensive documentation of the proper database data entry & retrieval procedures.
• Ensure an executive summary of WSCR database can be generated dynamically and accessible to WSCR website.
• Grant users access to WRSC database as requested while maintaining privacy and protections as per internal standards.
• Produce a current archive of reference materials (e.g. national reports, publications, etc.) used to generate the information stored in the WRSC database. 
• Articulate data quality, data management constraints, and possible analysis opportunities in an effort to contribute towards the following activities:
  • design, modification and maintenance of an integrated results framework 
  • implementation of the results framework and related analyses
  • on-going data quality improvements and harmonization of external datasets
• Develop and test data entry forms as required
• Provide ad hoc fulfilment of data requests, research and analytical support as required

Expected results and deliverables

Institutional Arrangement

The consultant will:

1. Report on day to day aspects of the assignment to the Project team consisting of UNDP  & WRSC/KU.
2. Consultation meetings will take place at UNDP & WRSC/KU.
3. All deliverables and documents should be approved by WRSC/KU, GSSCPD and UNDP.
4. Copyright of all final deliverables should be assigned to UNDP.
5. Payments are subject to submission of invoice and approved deliverable.

Duration of the Work   

The duration of this consultancy is expected to be 6 weeks in Kuwait.  Expected start date of the assignment is 23 April 2019.

Duty Station

1. Due to the consultative nature of the assignment, physical presence in Kuwait is required and consultant is expected to be fully available in order to complete the assignment.
2. The consultant is expected to conduct this assignment from his/her own premises with visits to WRSC/KU & UNDP offices for meetings and consultations. 

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

The financial proposal submitted shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. The financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount. 

Travel: No travels are envisaged under this TOR. It is local consultancy. 

Evaluation

Cumulative analysis

Total score=Technical Score + Financial Score.

Technical Criteria weight - 70%, 700 scores maximum 

Financial Criteria weight - 30%. 300 scores maximum

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 490 from 700 point in the Technical part of evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

The selection of candidates will be done in 3 stages:

1st stage: Prior to detailed evaluation, all applications will be thoroughly screened against eligibility criteria (minimum qualification requirements) as set in the TOR in order to determine whether they are compliant/non-compliant.

2nd  stage: Technical evaluation

Short-listed candidates will be evaluated based on the following criteria. Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 490 points (70%) at the Technical Evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

3rd stage: Financial evaluation

Cumulative analysis will be used based on the following methodology: All the offers of individual consultants who scored 490 (70% from 700) and more points during the desk review are acceptable for financial evaluation. The lowest financial qualified proposal receives 300 points and all the other technically qualified proposals receive points in inverse proportion per the formula:

The candidate achieving the highest cumulative score for both Technical and Financial evaluations will be recommended by the Evaluation Committee for contracting.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS.

• Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/search.html?q=Letter+of+Confirmation+of+Interest+and+Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
• Personal CV or P11 http://www.kw.undp.org/content/kuwait/en/home/jobs.html, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and three (3) professional references;
• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a methodology on how they will approach and complete the assignment. ; 
• Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided.  If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP. 

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

• Solid understanding of relational databases, in particular Microsoft Access
• Strong interpersonal skills - ability to effectively interact with all levels of staff and external contacts.
• Must be detail oriented and have the ability to follow-through.

Core Competencies

• Gathering Information
• Solution-oriented analysis
• Communicating effectively
• A results-oriented approach

Required Skills and Experience

Education: 

University degree in Computer science, IT, MIS, statistics, or another relevant field

Experience: 

• Three years’ experience in research/ database management and analysis;
• Monitoring and Evaluation experience is desirable
• Experience working in multi-cultural/national teams
• Experience writing code for Stata, SAS, Matlab or R is required.
• Computer skills, including proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office products, required

Language requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Good working knowledge of Arabic is preferable