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 is mandated by the UN Security Council to lead on UN system-wide coordination on Women, Peace, and Security, and to this end, UN Women has been working with governments, UN partners and civil society through the region to support women’s participation and influence at all levels of decision-making to prevent and resolve conflict and to address issues of extremism.

There is a growing realization that non-inclusive peace processes are insufficient to gain political leverage and maintain stability. The Global Study on Women, Peace & Security (2015) highlighted in its findings that peace processes inclusive of civil society have a greater chance of success, while societies with higher gender equality markers were proven to be more stable and less at risk of conflict.

In the Arab States, peace processes have mostly been based on elite bargains between warring parties and have stalled and continue to face many challenges. Meanwhile, women have been excused from efforts to resolve the conflicts. This is despite evidence that women’s participation in peace talks increases their chances of success.

Women play a critical role in rebuilding social cohesion and reconciliation across generations, as well as in the (re)building of state-society relations. They are also crucial actors in the implementation of peace agreements. Across the world and in the region, women have been active played a crucial role in mobilizing actors for inclusive peacebuilding through collective action and mediation at the formal and informal levels. While, women have, in the past years, gained access to actors in track 1 peace processes, for example in Syria and Yemen, greater attention and investment are required to synchronize and link bottom-up and top-down approaches, including from track 1 to track 3 in peace processes, and to ensure women get a seat at the table of peace processes.

With support from the Government of Germany, UN Women Regional Office for the Arab States, in partnership with Wilton Park, the Elders, and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office is planning to mark the 20th anniversary of UNSCR 1325 by organizing a high-level meeting on women in mediation and peacemaking in the Arab world. The high-level virtual gathering will bring together around 60 experienced mediators, experts, peacebuilders, and national and multilateral officials to promote women’s meaningful participation mediators in peace processes in the Arab world. The meeting will aim to look at strategies to increase women’s participation in the senior policy circles of peacemaking, where women are still under-represented.

The objective of the Assignment:

In the context of the high-level meeting, UN Women is looking to hire an international consultant to provide support and expert advice on women in mediation. Reporting to the WPS-HA Regional Advisor, the international consultant will provide technical expertise on women in mediation in the context of the preparations for the high-level meeting, in order to ensure the achievement of the meeting’s objectives.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide expert advice in the preparations ahead of the high-level meeting on Women in Mediation in the Arab World;
• Review and provide technical support in framing the meeting’s program for the achievement of the highlighted objectives. This will include providing expert advice on the agenda and specific sessions;
• Contribute to the technical review of two framing papers exploring new models for women’s participation in peacemaking: the model of co-mediation (two-person mediation team: one man, one woman) and the model of formalized civil society/human rights mechanisms;
• Working closely with the consultant drafting the two papers, provide technical contributions to the papers, to ensure that the papers trigger concrete exchanges on the two proposed models and their operationalization in the Arab region.

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:https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent analytical and research skills;
• Strong understanding of and commitment to gender equality and women's empowerment and its policy implications;
• Strong understanding of the mediation frameworks and women’s participation in peace processes;
• Excellent writing skills;
• Excellent organizational skills;
• Excellent interpersonal and networking skills, and ability to work in multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary environments;
• Ability to work under pressure on multiple projects whilst maintaining high-quality and timeliness;
• Self-management;
• Continuous Learning and awareness of political sensitivity.

Required Skills and Experience

Evaluation criteria

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of 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 and financial criteria.

Technical Evaluation (70%, 70 points) split such as:

• Education: 15 points;
• At least 10 years of relevant experience working on issues of women, peace and security, peace processes and mediation: 30 points;
• Experience providing advice and technical expertise on mediation issues: 25 points.

Financial Evaluation (30%, 30 points): The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula:

• The contract will be awarded to the technically qualified consultant who obtains the highest combined score (financial and technical);
• The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula: (Lowest Bid Offered*)/ (Bid of the Consultant) x 30;
• 'Lowest Bid Offered' refers to the lowest price offered by Offerors scoring at least 49 points in the technical evaluation.

Application:

Interested Individual Consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• A cover letter with a brief presentation of your consultancy explaining your suitability for the work and link to a portfolio of work;
• UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment; applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment;

• Writing sample of previous research assignment;
• Financial proposal; Proposed Lumpsum on completion of all mentioned deliverables.

The above-mentioned documents should be merged in a standalone file including all documents mentioned above since the online application submission does only permit to upload one file per application. Incomplete submission can be a ground for disqualification.

Note:

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.