UNDP Jobs - 86575- Research Expert(s)/Gender in Public Administration

Research Expert(s)/Gender in Public Administration

Location :

Yerevan, ARMENIA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Sep-2019

Application Deadline :

23-Aug-19 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

1 September 2019 – 31 October 2019 (up to 35 working days)

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. For UNDP, creating equal opportunities for women and men is critical for equitable, sustainable development and prosperity. Hence, gender equality is in core of the UNDP mandate globally and nationally.

UNDP Armenia, within the past decade, has continuously implemented projects on women empowerment, gender equality and youth leadership in Armenia. At the same time, the local context also presents several challenges to the goal of participation, empowerment and gender equality. Various research point at political, socio-economic and cultural factors, which limit women participation, such as: insufficient mechanisms and regulations to advance gender equality at the national and local level; reluctance of political parties to appreciate and promote women leadership; narrow gender identities; lack of female leadership culture and support networks; power distance; lack of confidence and skills among women; etc. All these factors limit opportunities for building a critical mass of female cadre in national and local governance.

Overall, the legal framework for women political involvement is not fully conducive and additional mechanisms and affirmative actions are needed for realization of women’s rights.

UNDP GEPAA project, which has been operating since January 2019, focuses, among others, on revamping the recruitment procedures and practices in selected public bodies to promote women’s role in higher levels of public administration; enhancing the training, staff development and coaching functions with focus on promoting young women cadre, based on the Gender Policy Strategic Action Plan for 2017-2021; developing the how-to guides for all levels of public administration.

The overarching goal of the project is to contribute to achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women in public service, through addressing risks and vulnerabilities of the on-going Armenia’s public-sector reform through a gender prism.

To that end, UNDP Armenia initiates a multi-step research which will encompass:

TASK 1: Review of legal acts regulating the public service, and selected by-laws regulating civil service system in Armenia through the gender prism. UNDP’s Gender Seal Methodology may be of help, Armenia’s commitments under the Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the International Labor Organization should also be considered.

TASK 2: a) Screening of organigrams, remuneration, recruitment, employment and promotion procedures through gender prism with application of the UNDP Gender Seal Methodology. This Task shall be implemented in selected units within the Prime Minister’s Office, 3-4 key Ministries (taken the planned optimization of the government structure) and Yerevan Municipality;

b) Conducting in-depth interviews with randomly selected women officials to reveal factors affecting promotion, i.e. positive (incentives), as well as negative (obstacles). To that end, UNDP seeks to recruit a Group of Research experts (hereafter Experts) who will undertake desk and documentation reviews within the afore-mentioned tasks. The recommendations derived from the findings will inform the Public Administration Reform and contribute to its gender-sensitivity, with focus on engagement of women in public roles and managerial/leadership positions. The recommendations shall be aligned to the key findings of SIGMA 2019 Baseline Measurement report on the public administration system in Armenia and complement it from the gender perspective.

The Experts will work under the overall supervision of the Programme Manager, direct supervision of the Project Technical Task Leader, and in collaboration with the project team.

Duties and Responsibilities

Though the tasks of the Experts are thematically divided, they shall work as one team. Throughout the implementation of the Tasks, the team shall ensure the synergy, coordination and information exchange within the Experts’ group and the UNDP team. The overall assignment will be coordinated by the project Technical Task Leader. The Experts shall commit to regular meetings, networking and information exchange.

Scope of works of the Expert (s) under TASK 1 will include one main work pillar:

Review of legal acts regulating the public service, and by-laws regulating civil service system in Armenia through the gender prism

Map of the fundamental legal acts regulating public service and selected sub-legal acts regulating civil service system in Armenia;
Review of the mapped legislation from the gender perspective
Identify the legislative gaps and flaws, including gender-blind and gender-biased provisions;
Draft the report with recommendations on how to amend legal acts and by-laws for elimination of gender biases and/or discriminatory practices (if any) and making them gender-sensitive.
Finalize the report as per the feedback received from UNDP and relevant counterparts.

Scope of works of the Expert (s) under TASK 2 will include one main work pillar:

Screening of organigrams, remuneration, recruitment, employment and promotion procedures through gender prism. Target institutions are: the Prime Minister’s Office, 3-4 key Ministries and Yerevan Municipality.

In close collaboration with the human resources personnel of the selected institutions retrieve organigrams, internal regulations on remuneration, recruitment, employment and promotion procedures applying, inter alia, UNDP’s Gender Seal, which is UNDP’s UNDP’s signature methodology for self-assessment. The methodology is being piloted in the public institutions of several countries, including Moldova, Egypt, Panama. It enables the public institutions to examine their internal regulations and processes and assists in creating a more gender-sensitive public administration system. The first assessment, carried out by the assistance of the Expert (s), will set a baseline, against which the subsequent assessments will be conducted to measure the progress. The methodology is comprised of six parts to track progress on gender equality goals: 1) Framework, 2) Capacities, 3) Enabling environment, 4) Partnerships and engagement, 5) Laws, policies and programmes, and 6) Results and impact.
Review all retrieved materials from the gender perspective within a defined time period to understand existing trends;
Identify gender-blind and gender-biased provisions, cross-check against the core laws and by-laws regulating the area (laws on public service, civil service, labor code, selected by-laws);
Develop the Baseline Report with recommendations on how to improve organigrams, corresponding parts of the internal regulations and procedures to eliminate gender bias and/or discriminatory practices
Finalize the report as per the feedback received;
Conduct in-depth interviews with randomly-selected female public servants within the selected institutions to reveal enabling or preventing factors for their promotion within the public service;
Develop the report summarizing all the findings of the interviews, with recommendations on how to address both incentives and the obstacles
Finalize the report as per the feedback received.

Deliverables covering scope of works under TASK 1
Delivery date -31 October, 2019

Report, encompassing analysis, findings and recommendations on how to improve corresponding parts of the legislation to eliminate gender bias and/or discriminatory practices

Deliverables covering scope of works under TASK 2
Delivery date -31 October, 2019

Report, encompassing analysis, findings and recommendations on how to streamline organizational structure and internal procedures (remuneration, recruitment, employment and promotion) from the gender perspective
Report, summarizing factors, affecting promotion of women (positive and negative aspects thereof)

Competencies

Ability to deliver and reach the planned targets without undermining proper operational processes;
Strong interpersonal skills with ability to establish and maintain effective work relationships with people of different social and cultural background;
Creativity, flexibility and an innovative approach to problem solving;
Demonstrated initiative, tact and high sense of responsibility and discretion;
Strong teamwork skills;
Ability to work under the pressure and meet deadlines;
Strong computer literacy and proficiency in MS Office (MS Word, Excel, etc.); ability to design and maintain spreadsheets, as well as web-based management systems (SPSS).
Competence on research techniques and terminology
Strong verbal and written communication skills; strong competence in writing reports intended for diverse audiences

Required Skills and Experience

Education

University Degree in Sociology, Social Sciences, Monitoring and Evaluation, Public Administration, Political Science or Economics, Law degree or other related field. Training in Gender Studies is highly desirable.

Experience

Minimum 3 years of experience in qualitative and quantitative research;
Experience in conducting desk researches and analysis;
Experience in reviewing legislation from the gender perspective is highly desirable
Relevant experience in analyzing qualitative data and preparing sets of recommendations;
Experience in drafting analytical reports;
Exposure to innovative research methods and techniques.

Language skills

Excellent written and verbal command of Armenian and English.

Note: The expert recruited for the implementation of this task will undergo a training with an international consultant on Gender Equality Seal Award Methodology prior to undertaking the assignment. Therefore, previous knowledge on or experience in applying Gender Seal Methodology is not required.

INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANTS WILL BE EVALUATED BASED ON THE FOLLOWING METHODOLOGY:

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants' technical qualifications, experience and financial proposal. The contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as technically responsive/compliant/acceptable to the requirements of the ToR and received the highest cumulative (technical and financial) 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.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation - max. 70 points

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation - max. 30 points.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE APPLICATION.

Financial Proposal and Availability form: OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP
CV shall include Education/Qualification, Processional Certification, Employment Records /Experience
List of qualitative and quantitative research designed and conducted (or contributed to) developed during the last three years
Brief outline of the proposed methodology scope of work (no more than 1-2 pages)

General Conditions of Contract is available here: http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf.

Note: Please note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents in one single PDF file to attach).