Background
UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality and 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 and the third gender as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.
All human development and human rights issues involve gender dimensions. Globally, UN Women focuses on key priority areas that are fundamental to women’s equality, that can unlock progress across the board. The six priority areas include increasing women’s leadership and participation in political spaces, ending violence against women, enhancing women’s economic empowerment, engaging in all aspects of women peace and security processes, making gender equality central to national planning and budgeting through Gender Responsive Budgeting and advancing gender in intergovernmental processes.
The UN Security Council Resolution 1325 recognizes that conflict affects women and girls differently when compared to men and boys, and that women must be part of conflict resolution and long-term peacebuilding processes. In this regard, UN Women has a universal mandate to assist countries and the UN system in progressing more effectively and efficiently towards achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women, as well as upholding women’s rights. UN Women plays a critical role in the development and strengthening of international norms and standards alongside their implementation through operational and coordination activities, while also informing the development of those norms and standards through experiences on the ground. It has also established strategic partnerships and networks with a wide range of stakeholders, including governments, women’s human rights advocates, and civil society organizations.
Following the aftermath of the war in 2009, Sri Lanka has made several commitments to peacebuilding, reconciliation and good governance, and represents a historic opportunity to advance accountability and reconciliation as necessary steps towards long-term and sustainable peace. In this regard, the Sri Lanka Peacebuilding Priority Plan (PPP) was developed, in collaboration with the UN, to serve as the framework for a coordinated Government, UN and development partners’ response to peacebuilding in Sri Lanka. The PPP places particular emphasis on integrating gender perspectives within its framework. As such, it aims to ensure that peacebuilding initiatives in Sri Lanka include leveraging women’s capacities and contributions, and developing strategies for inclusion, which recognize their roles, and diverse experiences of conflict. Without women’s engagement at the stages of peace consolidation, the dangers of relapse are greatly heightened. Empirical evidence reveals a strong connection between the inclusion of women in peace processes and more durable and stable peace. Despite this however, the most challenging gap in terms of women’s inclusivity in decision-making, concerns the participation of women in peace processes and post-conflict political transitions. This is particularly relevant to the context of Sri Lanka, given that, when compared to other development indices, the political participation of women claims the widest gender gap in the country.
In this context, with generous support from the Multi-Partner Trust Fund for the implementation of project on addressing Sexual Bribery experienced by Military Widows and War Widows in Sri Lanka to enable resilience and sustained peace, UN Women aims to focus on the empowerment of Female Heads of Households (hereinto referred to as FHHs) including military widows (predominantly Sinhalese widows in the North Western and North Central Provinces) and war widows (predominantly Tamil widows in the Northern Province) by addressing the high incidence of sexual bribery and exploitation, which acts as a significant barrier to their socio-economic advancement. The project will empower military and war widows on leadership and business skills development to support sustainable income generation, to relieve dependency and indebtedness, and enable resilience against re-victimisation from sexual bribery and sexual exploitation.
UN Women believes that women’s leadership will not only facilitate social cohesion and reconciliation but become increasingly significant in Sri Lanka’s development trajectory to reach an upper-middle income status.[1] Therefore, the project will focus on promoting FHHs leadership and participation to strengthen their role in decision-making processes to develop a peacebuilding agenda that is broadly owned, open and transparent.
[1] The Institute of Policy Studies and Oxfam International, Sri Lanka, Female Entrepreneurship and the Role of Business Development Services in Promoting Small and Medium Women Entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka, 2014. http://www.ips.lk/research/highlights/highlight_archive/2014/entrepreneurs.pdf
Duties and Responsibilities
UN Women is seeking the services of a consultant to facilitate open dialogues on peacebuilding and reconciliation with identified widows representing widows’ collectives in three districts: Anuradhapura, Kurunegala and Kilinochchi. The dialogues will be followed by a series of trainings on leadership and life skills development.
The dialogues and trainings will function as phase two and three of the project’s overarching goal to empower FHHs and strengthen their role in peacebuilding and decision-making processes within their own communities, thus contributing to the country’s peacebuilding agenda, in line with the Peacebuilding Priority Plan.
The first phase entails a perception survey to understand the views of FHHs (including military and war widows) on peacebuilding and reconciliation in the current context of Sri Lanka. The consultant will be provided with the detailed report of the perception survey, and based on its findings, the consultant will develop a methodology to conduct a series of dialogues and trainings, along with a follow-up assessment workshop to the trainings.
The consultant will also be provided with linkages to and further information on the widows’ collectives that were created and strengthened through the project, within the three targeted project districts. The consultant will be working under the supervision of the National Programme Analyst at UN Women - Sri Lanka to ensure the following:
No. | Duties and Responsibilities |
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1. | Develop a detailed workplan with a specific timeline and methodology to conduct a series of dialogues and trainings aimed at fostering community cohesion, leadership and life skills among FHHs (including military and war widows) from the districts of Anuradhapura, Kurunegala and Kilinochchi.
When developing the methodology, the consultant is expected work in close consultation with UN Women and any project implementing partners. The consultant is also expected to closely refer to the detailed findings of the perception survey conducted as the first phase of this intervention. The methodology should include:
The methodology must also be integrated within gender and human-rights principles. This is particularly important to understand and assess programmes addressing complex, intersectional issues on women’s rights.
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2. | Conduct a scoping mission to identify, connect with and have discussions with identified widows’ collectives in the three project districts of Anuradhapura, Kurunegala and Kilinochchi. The consultant is expected to travel to the three project districts of Anuradhapura, Kurunegala and Kilinochchi to receive an understanding of the existing and newly formed widows’ collectives through the project. The consultant will be accompanied by the project implementing partners to have brief discussions with FHHs (including military and war widows) within these widows’ collectives. The discussions will be undertaken in accordance with Chatham House rules, to ensure confidentiality. Any amendments – in consultation with UN Women – should be made to the workplan and methodology based on the first-hand experience received from the scoping mission.
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3. | Convene and facilitate 03 dialogues (01 per district) bringing together FHHS (including military widows and war widows) to discuss common perceptions on peacebuilding and reconciliation, as well as the role that can be played by FHHs to contribute to the country’s broader peacebuilding agenda at the community level. The consultant will convene and facilitate three two-day dialogues (one per district in Anuradhapura, Kurunegala and Kilinochchi). The dialogues must be convened in accordance with Chatham House rules, to maintain confidentiality and transparency.
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4. | Conduct 03 training programmes (01 per district) for FHHs (including military widows and war widows) on women’s leadership and life skills to enable resilience against re-victimisation of sexual bribery and sexual exploitation. The consultant will conduct three two-day training programmes (one per district in Anuradhapura, Kurunegala and Kilinochchi), focusing on leadership and life skills to equip FHHs (including military widows and war widows) to respond to instances of sexual bribery and exploitation. Subsequent to the trainings, the consultant (in discussion with UN Women and project implementing partners) will develop a strategy to conduct the follow-up assessment workshops.
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5. | Conduct 03 follow-up assessment workshops (01 per district) subsequent to the training programmes to provide ownership for trained FHHs (including military widows and war widows) to create role-model system within widows’ collectives in the districts of Anuradhapura, Kurunegala and Kilinochchi.
The consultant will conduct three one-day follow-up assessment workshops with the trained group of FHHs as a means of ensuring ownership and sustainability.
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6. | Record the proceedings from the dialogues, training programmes and follow-up assessments, and support with devising specific recommendations for any follow-up action. The consultant – in consultation with UN Women – is expected to compile a final report based on the proceedings and findings from the dialogues, trainings and follow-up assessment. The report must also include recommendations for any further action and interventions.
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EXPECTED DELIVERABLES
No. | Tasks & Deliverables | Target dates |
|---|---|---|
1. | Developing a detailed workplan with a specific timeline and methodology
Deliverables: Draft workplan for review by UN Women
| 15th November 2019 (Two weeks following the signing of the contract) |
2. | Incorporating comments from UN Women and finalizing the workplan with a specific timeline and methodology
Deliverables: Finalised workplan containing a specific timeline and methodology.
The finalised methodology must contain:
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22nd November 2019 (1 week) |
3. | Scoping mission to the three project districts:
Deliverables: Provide brief report on the scoping mission and undertake any amendments to the workplan including the methodology in consultation with UN Women.
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22nd November – 6th December 2019 (Two weeks) |
4. | Convene 03 dialogues bringing together FHHS (including military widows and war widows) to discuss common perceptions on peacebuilding and reconciliation.
Deliverables: Facilitation and delivery of 03 dialogues
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December 2019 – March 2020 |
5. | Conduct 03 training programmes (01 per district) for FHHs (including military widows and war widows) on women’s leadership and life skills
Deliverables: Facilitation and delivery of 03 training programmes; Strategy to conduct follow-up assessment workshops.
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6. | Conduct 03 follow-up assessment workshops (01 per district)
Deliverables: Facilitation and delivery of 03 follow-up assessment workshops
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7. | Develop report incorporating all proceedings, findings and recommendations from the dialogues, trainings and follow-up assessment.
Deliverables: Draft report for review by UN Women.
| March – April 2020 |
8. | Incorporating comments received from UN Women and finalizing the report.
Deliverables: Final report on the proceedings, findings and recommendations from the dialogues, trainings and follow-up assessment.
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30th April 2020
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Competencies
Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis.
- Technical Qualification (100 points) weight; [70%]
- Financial Proposal (100 points) weight; [30%]
A two-stage procedure is utilised in evaluating the applications, with evaluation of the technical application being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.
Technical qualification evaluation criteria:
The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:
Technical Evaluation Criteria | Obtainable Score |
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20% |
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70% |
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Total Obtainable Score | 100% |
Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:
- Only candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated for the financial proposal submitted.
- The total number of points allocated for the price component is 100.
- 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 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.
Payments
Payments for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of each deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed. Payments will not be based on the number of days worked but on the completion of each stated deliverable within the indicated timeframes. Payments will be made upon submission of final deliverables with an approval of the National Programme Analyst at UN Women Sri Lanka. The consultant will be required to travel on mission, Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) and travel costs in compliant with UN Women Travel Guideline will be reimbursed to the consultant at actual amount upon submission of receipts and travel stubs.
- Technical proposal: Brief summary of the proposed methodology for the light review exercise (1 page) and at least three sample reports from previous evaluation/review (all samples will be kept confidential) or links to website where reports can be retrieved (highly recommended).
- Financial proposal
Items | Amount (USD) |
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Lump Sum fee (equivalent to daily fee x no. of days)
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Total Financial Proposal |
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Incomplete proposals will not be considered.
Please ensure that a competitive financial proposal is submitted as it will be evaluated cumulatively with the technical proposal. The Financial proposal itself will be weighed at 30%.
Required Skills and Experience
- Bachelor’s Degree in Conflict and Peace Studies, Gender and Development, International Relations, Public Administration, Law, Human Rights or equivalent in relevant fields of Social Science. Master’s degree would be advantageous.
- At least 5 years of demonstrable experience in working on women’s leadership, policies or programmes on peacebuilding and reconciliation, and governance issues.
- Previous experience in conducting training programmes for women and youth on leadership and peacebuilding is desirable.
- Prior expertise in working with provincial and local levels of governments is required.
- Experience in working within a conflict and/or post-conflict context in Sri Lanka through a rights-based and gender-centric lens is an asset.
- Proficiency in software applications like Word, Excel, Power point, etc.
- Spoken Sinhala/Tamil is mandatory.