Background

Since 2008, UN Women has been cooperating with the Agency for Gender Equality of BiH (the Agency) on the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women. The Agency has the responsibility to prepare the GREVIO report for Bosnia and Herzegovina in line with the article 68 of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention)[1].

Istanbul Convention is based on the understanding that violence against women is a form of gender-based violence that is committed against women because they are women. It is the obligation of the state to address it fully in all its forms and to take measures to prevent violence against women, protect its victims and prosecute the perpetrators. The Convention was adopted by the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers on 7 April 2011. Following its 10th ratification by Andorra on 22 April 2014, it entered into force on 1 August 2014.

Bosnia and Herzegovina singed the Convention on 8th of March 2013. The Convention was ratified on 7th of November 2013 and it entered into the force on 1st of August 2014[2]. According to Article 68, paragraph 1 “Parties shall submit to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, based on a questionnaire prepared by GREVIO, a report on legislative and other measures giving effect to the provisions of this Convention, for consideration by GREVIO.”[3] Evaluations are carried out on a country-by-country basis.  The procedure is initiated by GREVIO when it sends its questionnaire[4] to the state parties concerned. For Bosnia and Herzegovina, the questionnaire will be forwarded in September 2019. The deadline for submission of the report is February 2020, after which the evaluation visits will follow in October 2020. Publication of the final GREVIO report for Bosnia and Herzegovina can be expected by June 2021.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, responsibility for reporting to GREVIO lies with the Agency for Gender Equality of BIH, which will be managing and coordinating the process of developing the GREVIO report. The GREVIO report will be developed on the basis of the entity level reports and the information collected from the state-level institutions and the Brcko-District. Gender Center of FBiH and Gender Center of RS will lead the entity level process and develop entity level reports that will be incorporated in the final consolidated report for Bosnia and Herzegovina to GREVIO committee.

[1] Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence available at https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/210

[2] More information available at https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/210/signatures

[3] Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence available at https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/210

[4] Questionnaire on legislative and other measures giving effect to the provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) available at https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=09000016805c95b0

Duties and Responsibilities

OBJECTIVE OF THE CONSULTANCY

UN Women is seeking to recruit the national consultant to support the Agency for Gender Equality of Bosnia and Herzegovina in developing the state Report of Bosnia and Herzegovina on implementation of Istanbul Convention in BiH.  In cooperation and coordination by AGE and joint supervision by AGE and UN Women, national consultant will be responsible for achieving following objectives:

• Developing a methodology for collection of data and a structure of the final report. Based on the documents produced by the consultant and validated by the AGE and entity Gender Centers, all three institutions will lead the processes in a consolidated way;
• Supporting the process of outreach and coordination with relevant institutions and preparation for data collection. This objective is two-fold and consultant will be engaged in: informing professionals from responsible governmental institutions at the state level and Brcko District about the GREVIO reporting process and following the entity level processes to ensure the methodology is used in a consolidated way;  
• Supporting the process of data collection and preparation of state level and Brcko District inputs for the final report. Consultant will be supporting the AGE in collecting the information for the report from state level institution and institutions from Brcko District;
• Developing a final report to GREVIO Committee. The consultant will develop this report by consolidating entity level reports and information collected from institutions at the state level and Brcko District;

OUTPUTS

Under the overall supervision of the Programme Specialist and the direct supervision of the EVAW Project Manager and Agency for Gender Equality, the national consultant is expected to deliver following outputs:

• Methodology for the input collection and the structured consultations with the relevant stakeholders;
• State level and Brcko District inputs for the final BiH report for GREVIO;
• Final consolidated report of BiH for GREVIO.

ACTIVITIES AND TIMEFRAME

The consultant will be expected to complete the following tasks within the indicative timeframe:

REPORTING

National consultant is expected to deliver the outputs specified above in B/H/S language. Supervision of the consultant will be shared between Agency for Gender Equality and UN Women.

Competencies

• Builds strong relationships;
• Focuses on impact and results and responds positively to feedback;
• Approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.

Values:

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modelling UN values and ethical standards;
• Demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;
• Displays cultural, gender, nationality, religion and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

• M.A. in Gender Studies, Political Science, Policy Studies, Sociology, Social Sciences, or related fields.

Skills and Experience:

• At least seven years of experience working as policy researcher/analyst in the fields of gender equality, political science, social sciences or related field
• Strong understanding of gender and development
• Knowledge of Gender Institutional Mechanisms, legislative and institutional framework for combating gender-based violence
• Track record of work relevant to the assignment, preferably experience in international reporting processes
• Previous experience working/consulting for international projects/programmes;
• Fluency in English and B/H/S, excellent spoken and written skills.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents:

1. Expression of interest and 1-2 page excerpt from previous similar work
2. Detailed financial proposal inclusive of all costs (which includes consultancy fees, travel, accommodation, subsistence etc.)
3. UN P11 form

Please note: All documents have to be uploaded in 1 single file.

EVALUATION OF OFFERS

UN Women applies a fair and transparent selection process that takes into account both the technical qualification of potential consultants as well as the financial proposals submitted in support of consultant applications. Candidate applications will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of applicant qualifications and financial proposal. The contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
• having received the highest score out of below defined technical, interview and financial criteria.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 50 points in the technical evaluation will be considered for an interview. Top 3 candidates (with highest number of points in the technical evaluation) will be interviewed. The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal will be allocated to the lowest price proposal among those candidates who have reached at least 5 points in the interview. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion.

Criteria:

• Technical Evaluation – documents and interviewed based (80%)

• Financial Evaluation - based on submitted offer (20%)

• Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 20

  • 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.

Please note that travel costs should be covered by the consultant.

Qualified women and men and members of minorities are encouraged to apply. 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.

Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.

For any additional information, please contact unwomen.bih@unwomen.org