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’s goal in Timor-Leste is to promote women’s human rights and gender equality as the country works towards sustaining and furthering achievements in stability and development, including to ensure women’s right to live free from any form of violence. This works to advance decent work of women and gender responsible public spaces as the key drivers for women’s economic empowerment.

As many countries have experienced, the COVID-19 crisis is already having socio-economic impacts in Timor-Leste resulting from border closures, school and business closures and the State of Emergency. Therefore, on 20 April 2020, the government of Timor-Leste has approved the distribution of cash transfers (CT) to low-income households as an emergency response measure, with planning of the distributions underway under the leadership of the Ministry of Social Solidarity and Inclusion.

Women’s economic empowerment is one of the key pillars of UN Women’s work in Timor-Leste and establishing the proper environment for advancing their economic engagement is essential in achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment commitments.

The UN Country Team have united to support the implementation of the CT scheme, and through the support of Joint UN initiative funded by the Secretary-General's Multi-Partner Trust Fund COVID-19 Fund, UN Women will be collaborating with ILO and sister UN agencies to support  the CT to reach vulnerable groups (including women in informal employment, survivors of violence, LGBTI persons, persons with disabilities, women and child-headed households, among others).

UN Women specifically will be engaging with local civil society organizations (CSOs) to participate in municipal-level COVID-19 response teams and contribute to the monitoring efforts of the CT programme. This work builds on UN Women’s advocacy for all women to benefit from income security, and particularly during the changing context of COVID-19.

To achieve its objectives and contribute to strengthened capacity of civil society stakeholders for gender-responsive programming in the emergency cash transfer, UN Women Timor-Leste is seeking a national consultant to provide technical support to relevant government institutions (in particular the Ministry of Social Solidarity and Inclusion, State Secretary for Equality and Inclusion, as well as CSOs to assess and monitor the government cash transfer scheme and analyze its adequacy from a gender perspective.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Objectives of the assignment

UN Women is seeking a national consultant to provide technical support and accompaniment to UN Women partners, including government and CSOs, to support their efforts on gender analysis and monitoring of the cash transfer programme and to coordinate the monitoring and reporting of the UN Women’s work under the Joint UN Fund.

Under overall guidance of the UN Women Head of Office in Timor-Leste, and under the supervision of the Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme Officer, the national consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

Provide technical assistance to civil society organizations monitoring the implementation of the CT scheme:

1. Prepare and provide a briefing to identified CSOs on gender and protection issues facing vulnerable groups in the COVID-19 context and guidance on support services available, including related to addressing gender-based violence, sexual exploitation and abuse and child protection.
2. Facilitate orientation sessions (remote or in-person) for CSOs on the process for referring complaints about the CT delivery through the various channels.
3. Provide technical support to select CSOs and networks to support CSOs in contributing to the CT programme, with particular attention to communications and outreach, monitoring and evaluating the CT Programme, complementing MSSI efforts in these areas.
4. Support CSOs in the preparation of monitoring reports on the CT programme and advocacy materials for future social protection programmes.

Provide coordination support to UN Women on gender and protection issues related to the CT Programme

1. Liase with UN Women social protection experts to adapt and apply good practices to the Timor-Leste context on gender-responsive monitoring and evaluation of the CT programme and related efforts (both social protection and COVID-19).
2. Provide technical assistance to the MSSI CT Task Force and relevant government partners (including independent institutions such as the Provedor for Human Rights and Justice, National Parliament, etc.), as required, and liaise with inter-agency teams on integrating gender and inclusion considerations into the programme implementation, outreach and monitoring.
3. Document and track the inclusion and engagement of civil society in the COVID-19 response – with attention to women’s organizations, organizations of persons with disabilities, groups representing informal workers, LGBTI persons, etc, and the reach of programmes on women, girls and the other vulnerable groups
4. Provide support on integration of gender and inclusion considerations in the development and roll-out of outreach efforts and community sensitization materials so that information about CT and related programmes reach marginalized and excluded groups.

Coordinate Monitoring, Evaluation and reporting

1. Document lessons learned from the CT experience and actions taken to overcome barriers to receipt of CT (mobility, mode of transfer, security, intersectional considerations) that could be considered in future social protection schemes.
2. Contribute to the evaluation of the programme by compiling relevant materials, preparing analysis of available reports on the programme, gathering inputs from partners and providing information on UN Women’s efforts as required.
3. Prepare inputs and draft text for UN Women’s reporting of the work conducted in support of the CT programme

1. Duration of the assignment

The total duration of the assignment will be from 1 June until 30 November 2020 in Dili and will include site visits to municipalities as per condition of the agreement.

1. Expected Deliverables

All the documents, including reports, questionnaires and presentations should be submitted in English language, or if in Tetum, include an English summary.

Competencies

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:

Required Skills and Experience

Upon receipt of the deliverables and prior to the payment of the installment, the deliverables, related reports and documents will be reviewed and approved by UN Women. This will occur within one week of submission.

1. Inputs

• UN women will provide the Consultant with background materials on best practice in Cash Transfers with a gender lens, monitoring and evaluation tools in COVID-19 context, and details of collaboration and CT plans with government.
• 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.
• UN Women will cover the costs of translation of materials and interpretation as required throughout the consultancy.
• UN Women will provide transport to the municipalities and daily subsistence allowance (DSA) outside of duty station as per standard UN rate and upon issuance of Travel Authorization.

1. Performance evaluation:

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

IIX. Required experience and qualifications

The consultant should fulfill the following requirements:

Education

Master’s/Bachelor’s degree in the area of gender and development studies, economics, social sciences or other relevant fields.

Experience and skills

• At least a Masters degree with 5 years or Bachelor with 7 years of relevant progressive work experience in conducting gender-responsive monitoring and evaluation, and inter-organizational collaborative work;
• Experience in the field of gender equality, international development, especially in women’s advocacy and security;
• Demonstrated capacity in conducting mapping or baseline studies and data analysis;
• Proven experience in working with government institutions as well as civil society/private organizations;
• Proven experience in facilitating learning through remote training and supervision;
• Knowledge of gender issues in Timor-Leste or experience in the country.
• Previous experience with the United Nations would be an advantage.

Language and other skills

• Excellent command of English and Tetun, both written and oral.
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, IT tools, Internet and email.

1. Submission of application

Interested candidates are requested to submit electronic application to UNDP Job Site no later than 2 June 2020.

Submission package

1. Cover letter.
2. CV, including contact information for 3 references & copy of the latest academic certificate.
3. Financial proposal. The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount per each deliverable, including a round-trip travel from/to home country.  Costs for travels related to the deliverables will be covered by UN Women. The lump sum costs must be accompanied by a detailed breakdown of costs calculation. The actual payment will be payable based on the stated lump sum for each satisfactorily achieved deliverable.

All applications must include (as an attachment) the CV and the financial proposal. Applications without financial proposal will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further processing.

Please note that only short-listed candidates will be invited to the interview.

Selected candidates will need to submit prior to commencement of work:

1. UN Women P-11 form, available from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment.
2. A statement from a medical doctor of ‘good health and fit for travel’.
3. For any travel outside of Dili, UN Women will require the consultant to provide the certificate proving completion of basic and advanced security in the field training (see trip.dss.un.org).

1. Evaluation

Applications will be evaluated based on the Cumulative analysis.

• Technical Qualification (100 points) weight; [70%]
• Financial Proposal (100 points) weight; [30%]

A two-stage procedure is utilised in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically-qualified candidate.

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points allocated for the price component is 100.
• The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.