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.
Since 2015, UN Women, UNDP and UNICEF have been supporting IT Girls - a joint UN initiative that aims to bridge the digital gender gap and promotes equal opportunities for women and men in education and career in the information and communication technologies (ICT). Through the promotion of gender equality and equality of opportunities, adolescent girls aged 13-18 have benefited from advanced and targeted interventions aimed at acquiring digital skills and increasing their knowledge about the importance of their greater participation in the field of ICT. Young female ICT professionals have been included as role models for younger generations, and as part of ongoing awareness raising and advocacy towards increasing opportunities for girls and women in ICT.
IT Girls aims to constantly build a wide network of partnerships in the public and private sector. In this sense, apart from reaching out to schools for collaboration on making computer science closer to girls, IT Girls has made important private sector partnerships as well. IT companies are an important driver of change with their recruitment and human resource management policies, which can ultimately shape the sector’s demographic structure and dynamics. IT Girls has established strategic collaboration with the biggest association of IT companies in BiH – Bit Alliance, partnering with them on specific interventions such as the crowdfunding campaign (2018) and work in schools, building a network of successful women in ICT and behavioral insights research on women and girls’ education and career choices. Through the work on promoting equal opportunities in the IT sector, IT Girls aims to widen the scope of collaboration with IT companies and associations, developing this sector’s potential to model a business case for equalityThe Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) is a joint initiative of UN Women and the UN Global Compact, launched in 2010 following a year-long international, multi-stakeholder consultation process. The Principles present seven steps that business and other sectors can take to advance and empower women. The WEPs elaborate the gender dimension of corporate social responsibility and business' role in sustainable development and were designed for companies to review their policies on empowerment of women, to acknowledge and to start making changes. In the international community these are recognized principles for women’s equality participation. They represent the global standard that has been accepted all around the world and provide seven principles that all companies can subscribe to. Since the launch of the Women's Empowerment Principles in 2010, over 1,900 CEOs from around the world have signed the CEO Statement of Support for the WEPs, signaling their support for gender equality and the guidance provided by the Principles.
In 2020, UN Women aims to leverage the WEPs to work with several companies from the IT industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina towards promoting workplace standards which uphold equal opportunities and anti-discrimination and raising awareness about WEPs. Currently, UN Women is in the process of seeking potentially interested companies through targeted communication about WEPs and what better workplace standards can bring to businesses. The plan is to have a pool of interested companies on board, to the extent possible, in time for the expert guidance to come and take them through the process of adjusting their companies’ policies to reflect equal opportunities better.
In order to provide support to promotion and implementation of WEPs and other workplace standards in the private sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and for the purpose of supporting selected companies to adjust their workplace standards to better reflect global principles on equal opportunities and anti-discrimination, UN Women Country Office in BiH is seeking to engage a national consultant who would support this process in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Duties and Responsibilities

Development objective

The overall objective of the assignment is to identify entry points to UN Women’s work on economic empowerment of women and with the private sector on equal opportunities and decent work. The results and lessons learnt from this process will further inform strategic areas of intervention for IT Girls initiative and three supporting UN agencies (UN Women, UNDP and UNICEF) as well as UN Women’s programming and promotion of Women’s Empowerment Principles.

Immediate objective

To define and map entry points for UN Women’s work on promoting and implementing Women’s Empowerment Principles, test and pilot implementation of WEPs with the ICT sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina and produce a report on lessons learnt and recommendations. The national consultant will support and work closely with the international consultant who will lead this process. The national consultant will also provide language assistance as well as assistance in analyzing entry points, building the roadmap, organization of discussions and meetings, as well as thorough support to companies to achieve concrete results in developing/revising their human resource and other corporate practices to reflect the WEPs, under the guidance of the international consultant.

Note: Due to the current COVID19 crisis, the work is envisaged to take place online. However, in the coming months, should the circumstances permit, the national consultant will be expected to travel within Bosnia and Herzegovina. All travel related expenses should be included in the financial offer.
In line with the SSA policy, all consultants/individual contractors are required to take out adequate health, medical and travel insurance as part of the contracting process. Consultants/Individual contractors will therefore not be entitled to any additional costs beyond what is stipulated in their contract.

Outputs

Under the supervision of UN Women Programme Specialist, and in close collaboration with the IT Girls Project Officer and Women’s Empowerment Principles Specialist (to be selected), the National Consultant will be responsible for following:

Support in providing guidance to UN Women BiH CO on the process of implementation and monitoring of WEPs in general and with a focus on the IT industry

• Assist in conducting analysis of entry points for implementation of WEPs in BiH
• Support UN Women in coming up with the business case for implementation of WEPs tailored to the BiH IT industry and market
• In consultation with UN Women and, if necessary, external stakeholders (companies, relevant associations) support the development of a roadmap of the process of implementation of WEPs

Refining the roadmap and narrowing down candidates/Potential application of WEPs in other sectors

• Presentation of the roadmap which will list all steps companies need to fulfill on their path to become WEPs signatories to interested stakeholders (IT companies, other businesses);
• Facilitation of discussion with representatives of potential WEPs signatory companies to ensure their buy-in, support, interest and understanding of possible next steps with regards to WEPs implementation and engage in discussions on their needs and areas for further support in this area;
• If necessary, attend a round of meetings together with UN Women with representatives of BiH business associations to discuss application of WEPs in other industries.

Close support to up to 5 companies that would be interested in becoming WEPs signatories

• Provide support to capacity development of companies and their staff delegated to lead the process of implementation of WEPs over a period of at least 3 months;
• Support companies to develop individual company plans for implementation and monitoring of the seven WEPs (scope, concepts, indicators, areas of implementation and action plans)
• Closely follow the progress of companies and provide assistance in every step of the process.

Contribute to the review and taking stock of the process of implementation of WEPs standards by WEPs signatories

• Support the review of each of the WEPs signatory companies process to take stock of the progress, compare experiences and discuss ways forward
• Report to UN Women with recommendations on next steps

The national consultant is expected to provide language assistance to the international consultant, which includes interpretation at meetings and summarizing documents that are in local language. 

Activities/deliverables and timeframe

The following products and deliverables are expected to be completed by the National Consultant according to an agreed schedule:

Key deliverables Estimated days Tentative deadlines

Reporting

All deliverables should be submitted to the UN Women Programme Specialist. Final report on the consultancy should be delivered by 31 July 2020 in English and should not exceed 10 pages. 

• Workplan to outline the activities, milestones and timeframe of the entire consultancy
• Analysis of the entry points for implementation of WEPs in BiH
• Roadmap for the implementation of WEPs in BiH
• Final report - review of the entire process with recommendations on next steps

Competencies

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

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:

Knowledge Management and Learning

• Shares knowledge and experience
• Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside UN Women
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more practice areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills
• Development and Operational Effectiveness
• Demonstrates excellent written and oral communication skills. Communicates sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies
• Demonstrates very good understanding of and experience in communications and outreach/advocacy
• Ability to perform a variety of standard specialized and non-specialized tasks and work processes that are fully documented, researched, recorded and reported
• Ability to review a variety of data, identify and adjust discrepancies, identify and resolve operational problems
• Uses Information Technology effectively as a tool and resource

Leadership and Self-Management

• Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure
• Proven networking skills and ability to generate interest in UN Women’s mandate
• Identifies opportunities and builds strong partnerships with clients and partners

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in business administration, marketing, management or psychology with a focus on human resources management;
• Master’s degree in business administration, psychology or related science will be considered an asset.

Skills and Experience:

• At least 3 years of relevant professional experience in the field of human resources, marketing, sales, and/or Corporate Social Responsibility;
• At least 1 year of experience in providing advisory services to private sector companies in the area of human resources or similar;
• Demonstrated knowledge of management and/or developing organizational culture;
• Knowledge of gender equality or human rights is an asset.
• Fluency in written and oral English and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian are required;
• Working knowledge of one or more additional languages would be an asset.

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 (70%),
Financial Evaluation (30%)
Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 30
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.

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents:

1. Expression of interest
2. Detailed financial proposal inclusive of all costs (which includes consultancy fees, travel if applicable, accommodation)
3. Completed UN Women Personal History (P11) form, that can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment

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

How to Submit the Application: To submit your application online, please follow the steps below:

• Download and complete the UN Women Personal History Form (P11)- http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment
• Merge your UN Women Personal History Form (P11), the Financial Proposal, and Expression of Interest into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded;
• Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement);
• Click 'Apply Now' button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click 'Submit Application;'
• Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above);
• • You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.