Background

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (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, humanitarian action, human rights and peace and security.  UN Women provides support to Member States’ efforts and priorities in meeting their gender equality goals and for building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

One of the key programme areas for the agency is humanitarian action. Natural disasters affect women, girls, boys and men differently. Research shows that women and girls are disproportionally affected by disasters, are more likely to die in disasters, and have different and uneven levels of resilience and capacity to recover. In disasters, women are likelier than men to lose their lives and livelihoods. They face strong gender-specific barriers in disaster recovery and their specific needs, leadership potential and contributions are frequently ignored and unleveraged in resilience building and disaster risk reduction. This undermines the sustainability of entire communities and leaves the most impoverished and marginalized furthest behind in disaster prevention, preparedness and recovery.

UN Women plans to develop a new programme on Strengthening Women’s Disaster Resilience in Small Island Developing States (Women's Resilience Progamme). The aim of the programme is to render women’s and girls’ lives and livelihoods disaster-resilient, contributing to stronger, more sustainable and secure communities. The programme will propose a comprehensive package of actions for women’s resilience that focus on making prevention, preparedness and response systems, plans, policies and tools gender-responsive, with targeted strategies enabling women and girls to withstand natural hazards, recover fully from disasters and increase their resilience to future hazards.

To ensure that the programme in the Pacific leverages existing initiatives and builds on lessons learned and best practices acquired by UN Women and key resilience stakeholders, a ten-month pilot phase project is being proposed. A lead consultant has been contracted to facilitate the implementation of the pilot phase and help design the project document. This consultancy will take place during the pilot phase.

UN Women’s Fiji Multi Country Office Humanitarian Unit, working with UN Women’s global Humanitarian Team seeks to hire a consultant to facilitate 3 in-country consultations to build consensus with identified local stakeholders on gender responsive/ gender disaster resilience key components, priorities and approaches for the development of a Strengthening Women’s Disaster Resilience in Small Island Developing States (Women’s Resilience Programme) covering the global, the Pacific regional and country components. The consultant will develop stakeholder engagement plans, workshop content, agenda, invitations and facilitate workshop logistics, including note taking under the supervision of the lead consultant for the Women's Resilience Programme (henceforth, supervisor). 

The purpose of this assessment is to provide facilitation support to the inception phase of the Women’s Resilience Programme and through the country consultations to provide input into the program design document.

Objectives of the Assignment

The consultancy has two key objectives:

1. To design and facilitate in country consultations in three pilot countries, under the guidance of the supervisor.
2. To support the development of the programme document for UN Women’s multi-year Women’s Resilience Programme.

Scope of Work/Duties and Responsibilities        

Under overall guidance of the UN Women Fiji MCO Deputy Representative and direct supervision of the lead consultant, the Consultant will perform the following tasks:

Pre-consultations (estimated 4 days):

• Meet with the Humanitarian Unit and submit a workplan.
• Familiarize his/herself with key documents of the Humanitarian Unit at the UN Women Fiji MCO, including: 1) Project Document for the Women’s Resilience Programme; 2) Women’s Resilience Programme Needs and Gaps Analysis; 3) Relevant DRR documents pertinent to the country shared by the supervisor.
• Develop and share overall consultation plan for each country and the regional consultation;
• Develop an overall agenda for the in-country consultations and regional consultation based on the needs and gaps analysis, designing an interactive and needs-based program;
• Identify stakeholders in-country (Kiribati, Marshall Islands, and Vanuatu) in consultation with supervisor; draft letters of participation and manage follow-up and confirmations;
• Prepare the needed presentations, handouts, and other materials for the consultations (in addition to those to be prepared by the MCO);
• Organize the final workshop preparation in situ prior to the meeting.

During the consultations (approximately 5 days in each country; workshop style consultations as well as one on one consultations; estimated 10 days, 21st October 2019 – 28th February 2020):

• Facilitate the consultations.
• Facilitator will need to organize themselves to also be notetakers and provide backstopping support.
• Lead the stock-taking sessions with the management following each day of the consultations to ensure progress toward the retreat’s objectives and adjust the agenda, as necessary.

After the consultations (estimated 5 days):

• To prepare brief report (up to 5 pages) on the work carried out and key observations as well as recommendations for the MCO in relation to the key issues/topics covered during the consultations to help inform the overall program design.
• Write a blog piece highlighting major themes and ideas after each country consultation to share with MCO Communications Specialist.
• Ensure recommendations from the country consultations are integrated into program design document.

Duration of the assignment

The total duration of the contract assignment is tentatively planned for up to 6 months starting with 7th October 2019 with task being accomplished by end 07th April 2020, with an estimated number of working days not to exceed 24, of which up to 9 days will be home-based and up to 15 days will be missions to Pacific Island Countries and Territories.  The assignment envisages missions to three Pacific countries: Kiribati, Marshall Islands, and Vanuatu.  

Expected Deliverables

The Consultant is expected to work and deliver the following results:

• All the documents, including consultation material and reports should be written in the English language.
• The Consultant will submit drafts of all reports and documents to UN Women for review and comment. UN Women will review all documents and reports within one week of submission. The Consultant will then submit final documents that incorporate and respond to UN Women feedback.
• Upon receipt of the final deliverables and prior to the payment of the installment, the deliverables, related reports and documents will be reviewed and approved by UN Women within one week.

Inputs

• UN Women will provide the Consultant with background materials for the desk assessment.
• UN Women will cover the costs for translation of printed materials as required throughout the duration of the assignment.
• UN Women will cover the costs of venue hire and catering and travel for all invited stakeholders in the in-country and regional consultations.
• UN Women will cover Consultant’s travel and DSA fees (accommodation, meals and incidentals for travel to Kiribati, Marshall Islands, and Vanuatu.
• The Consultant is expected to work remotely using her/his own computer but may access the UN Women office for printing of relevant documents or should he/she be required to work on-site at any point during the assignment.

Performance evaluation

Contractor’s performance will be evaluated based on: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

Travel

During assignment’s related missions, UN Women Fiji Multi Country office will cover travel cost for consultant for the agreed upon routing and in conformity with UN Women applicable rules and regulations.  Daily subsistence allowance will be paid to the National consultant at the applicable rate:

• Flight costs will be covered at economy class rate as per UN Women policies;
• DSA applicable for nights spent in the country of travel at UN standard rates.

Throughout the assignment, the Consultant is expected to conduct up to 3 missions to Pacific Countries, tentatively between October 2019 and March 2020: Kiribati, Marshall Islands, and Vanuatu.

Financial Arrangement

• Payment will be disbursed in tranches upon submission and approval of deliverables and certification by the project managers that the services have been satisfactorily performed as per the delivery table above.

Core Values

• Respect for Diversity;
• Integrity;
• Professionalism.

Core Competencies

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to think conceptually, strategically and analytically;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Results oriented, flexible and problem-solving skills.

Education

• Advanced degree in Social Science (International Development Studies, Gender/Women’s Studies, Sociology and/or a closely related discipline), Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change.

Experience and Skills

• At least 5 years of experience of relevant work in the field of gender equality and resilience/DRR programming;
• Proven record of at least 5 years of experience in leading /facilitating consultation meetings with various stakeholders (governmental, non-governmental and community) on gender equality and resilience/DRR at the community level in the Pacific region;
• At least 2 years’ experience in working with international organizations (successful experience in working with UN agencies is an asset);
• At least 2 years’ experience in event organization is an advantage.
• Ability to produce well written reports demonstrating analytical ability and communication skill;
• Knowledge of the Pacific context and work experience in Kiribati, Marshall Islands, and Vanuatu would be an added advantage;
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, IT tools, ability to use Internet and email.

Language Requirements

• Fluency in verbal & written English is a must.
• Working knowledge of other Pacific languages will be considered an advantage.

Evaluation

Initially, individual consultants will be short-listed based on the following minimum qualification criteria:

1. Advanced degree in social sciences (international Development Studies, Gender/Women’s Studies, Sociology and/or a closely related discipline), Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change; 
2. At least 5 years of experience of relevant work in the field of gender equality and DRR programming;
3. Proven record of at least 5 years of experience in leading /facilitating consultation meetings with various stakeholders (governmental, non-governmental and community) on gender equality and resilience/DRR at the community level in the Pacific region.

The short-listed individual consultants will be further evaluated based on a cumulative analysis scheme, with a total score being obtained upon the combination of weighted technical and financial attributes. Cost under this method of analysis is rendered as an award criterion, which will be 30% out of a total score of 500 points.

Technical evaluation will be represented through desk review of applications.

Interviews and/or written tests may be considered and/or be organized if needed only, depending on the short-listed candidates’ qualifications.

• Technical Evaluation: The technical part is evaluated on the basis of its responsiveness to the Terms of Reference (TOR).

• Financial evaluation: In the Second Stage, the financial proposal of candidates, who have attained minimum 70% score in the technical evaluation (at least 245 points), will be compared.

WINNING CANDIDATE

• The winning candidate will be the candidate, who has accumulated the highest aggregated score (technical scoring + financial scoring).
• Please note that only applicants who are short-listed will be contacted.

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.  The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.