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.

UN Women plays an innovative and catalytic role in the State of Palestine since its inception in 1997 as UNIFEM. UN Women focuses its activities on one overarching goal, namely to support the empowerment of Palestinian women and girls and to allow them to enjoy their human rights.  In support of this goal and thoroughly taking into consideration the specificities of the context in Palestine, UN Women concentrates its efforts and interventions toward the realization of three strategic goals: Engendering humanitarian action and increasing the effective leadership and participation of women in peace and security; supporting women's income security, decent work and economic autonomy; and promoting a life free of violence for women and girls in Palestine.  For this, UN Women in collaboration with national partners in Palestine aim to contribute to a legislative and policy framework that prevent violence and support the empowerment of those affected by violence to recover; address structural barriers preventing women from economic participation and provide women entrepreneurs with the needed skills, financial resources and partnership to access a more equal share of the market; and ensure that policy makers have the capacity to effectively implement, monitor and track women’s peace and security commitments and place women’s rights at the center of humanitarian action in Palestine. 

UN Women and ILO are jointly implementing a 4-year regional multi-country programme “Promoting Productive Employment and Decent Work for Women in Palestine, Jordan And Egypt”, funded by Sweden, to promote decent employment opportunities for women, by addressing the structural causes of inequalities that women face taking into consideration country context specificities. The programme aims to promote productive employment and decent work for women in Palestine by promoting equitable laws and policies, engaging public, private and community actors, and reducing the uneven burden of unpaid care work.

Interventions include awareness raising, identification of good practices in the region and internationally, cross-country/regional learning and exchange of practices.

UN Women Country Office and the International Labour Organization (ILO) in the State of Palestine plan to continue supporting national efforts to review and reform the Palestinian Labour Law from a gender perspective, in line with international standards. Accordingly, UN Women and ILO will support the establishment of a national group for advocating and lobbying the inclusion of equitable reforms to promote gender equality and non-discrimination. The national group, comprising of key national NGOs/CSOs and trade unions that are involved in the promotion of women's rights and labour, will work closely with the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions towards creating a common vision to provide better protection for women workers based on International Labour Standards and its core conventions. 

For this purpose, UN Women is seeking the expertise of a national expert to update a mapping of local NGOs/CSOs, in close cooperation with the NGO Development Center (NDC), based on agreed upon criteria with UN Women and ILO (UN Women conducted a mapping of CSOs in 2016, which will be made available for updating as part of this assignment, based on agreed upon criteria). Out of the mapped NGOs/CSOs, a group of up to 10 organizations will be selected to join the national group following a clear set of agreed upon criteria for selection and relevant capacities in relation to policy dialogue, labour rights etc. The consultant will be expected as part of this assignment to conduct a capacity needs assessment of selected organizations in relation to policy dialogue, public debates, gender equality concepts and tools, labour rights, advocacy and engagement, community mobilization, among others, that will inform the capacity needs of the group. Following this assignment, and based on the capacity needs assessment results, active participation of NGOs/CSOs and quality of action plans developed, UN Women and ILO will be delivering a specialized training program in 2020 to enable selected NGOs/CSOs implement related advocacy and lobbying initiatives for Labour Law Reform.   

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall goal of the assignment is to strengthen the role and capacities of civil society organizations and unions to engage in national dialogue with government and private sector institutions on mainstreaming gender equality and non-discrimination into labour laws and social policies as a means towards enforcing accountability.

The specific objectives of this assignment are:

1. Map local NGOs/CSOs and assess their capacity needs to adhere to international standards;
2. Establish a national group of local NGOs/CSOs to work closely with the PGFTU to effectively participate in ongoing national labour reform efforts;
3. Identify the capacity needs of the selected NGOs/CSOs; and
4. Assist the national group in identifying its advocacy targets and the development of its advocacy action plan.

Duration:

The duration of this assignment is estimated to be 80 days over the duration of 4 months, between July and October 2019. The contract will be managed in accordance to the UN Women applicable procedures and general terms and conditions.

Under the overall guidance of UN Women’s Special Representative and the direct supervision of the UN Women Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme Manager, and in close cooperation with the ILO, the National Consultant will be responsible for undertaking the following:

1. Develop a tool for identification of potential NGO/CSO as members of the coalition, including trade unions; such as selection criteria, methodology for data collection for NGOs, etc. for the review of UN Women and ILO;
2. Update the NGO/CSO mapping in Palestine (in West Bank- including Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip, that was developed in 2016, based on the agreed upon criteria with UN Women and ILO, and in close cooperation with the NGO Development Center (NDC);
3. Support UN Women and ILO in identifying and selecting the NGO/CSO national group comprising of up to 10 organizations, based on the results of the updated mapping;
4. In close coordination with UN Women and ILO, conduct a capacity needs assessment for the selected group of NGOs/CSOs in relation to policy dialogue, public debates, gender, labour rights, advocacy and engagement, community mobilization etc. to inform the training/coaching needs; and
5. Propose the mandate and governance of the national group and the action plan for 2019/2020, in close cooperation with the national group members, building also on a similar experience in Jordan.

Key Deliverables:

1. An updated mapping report of local NGOs/CSOs based on the agreed upon criteria, including a proposed mandate for the national group;
2. A capacity needs assessment of the selected NGOs/CSOs;
3. A validated mandate and governance and an action plan for 2019/2020 for the national group; and
4. A final report of the assignment summarizing results, recommendations and related information and annexes.

All deliverables need to be officially submitted in both English and Arabic languages.

Competencies

Core values / Guiding principles:

Integrity:

• Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
• Professionalism.
• Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
• Cultural Sensitivity / Valuing diversity.
• Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values.

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

Functional Competencies:

• Sound knowledge of international standards on human rights, labour, gender, and women's rights including international women human rights conventions.
• Sound knowledge of gender issues, including gender analysis and gender mainstreaming.
• Sound technical knowledge of social protection, labour standards, and women’s economic empowerment.
• Strong dialogue and communication skills.
• Establishes, builds and sustains effective relationships with clients, demonstrating understanding of client’s perspective; anticipates client needs and addresses them promptly.
• Understanding and working knowledge with government institutions.
• Proven analytical and writing skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

A master’s degree in development studies, human rights, gender, law, or relevant fields.

Experience:

• At least 6 years of professional technical experience in research and capacity development in gender equality and the empowerment of women, labour standards across different sectors at the national and international levels.
• Proven record of previous publications/reports related to gender and women’s empowerment, including research, analysis of a minimum of 2 is required.
• Demonstrated experience in working with local NGOs/CSOs at the local level, of at least 5 years, is required.
• Good experience in socio-cultural, geopolitical and economic country context, as well as labour rights, international labour standards and gender equality principles is a strong asset.

Language Requirements:

Excellent command of written and spoken English and Arabic

UN Women will only be able to respond to those applications who will meet minimum requirements

Application procedure:

This SSA modality is governed by UN Women General Terms and Conditions.

Candidates should have the ability to quickly submit degree certificates, medical certification (of good health) expression of Interest (EoI), and at least two previous samples of related publications/report should they be long-listed in consideration of this consultancy.

Evaluation of applicants:

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications mentioned above; and financial proposal. A 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 50 points in the technical evaluation will be considered for financial evaluation.

Technical Evaluation (70%) – max. 70 points:

• Relevant education. (10 points).
• At least 6 years of professional technical experience in research and capacity development in gender equality and the empowerment of women, labour standards across different sectors at the national and international levels. (20 points).
• Proven record of previous publications/reports related to gender and women’s empowerment, including research, analysis of a minimum of 2 is required. (10 points).
• Demonstrated experience in working with local NGOs/CSOs at the local level, of at least 5 years, is required. (20 points).
• Good experience in socio-cultural, geopolitical and economic country context, as well as labour rights, international labour standards and gender equality principles is a strong asset. (10 points).

Financial Evaluation (30%) – max. 30 points:

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.