Background

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 maintains a large presence throughout Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region, covering 12 countries, with programme presence in Kosovo*[1], Serbia, Tajikistan and North Macedonia; and country offices in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkey and Ukraine.

UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (the “ECARO”) has positioned GRB as one of the priority areas in which the ECARO has unique technical expertise grounded in the combined technical skills that has been cultivated with respect to budgetary processes including GRB and the overarching expertise and credibility the Office has with respect to GEWE. Furthermore, this work is in line with global Strategic Plan 2018–2021 under Outcome 2: Women lead, participate in and benefit equally from governance systems.

Over the past years, through the technical and financial support UN Women have been carried out different initiatives in Western Balkans’ countries with the goal of strengthening democratic governance and advance women’s rights aiming at mainstreaming gender in policy planning and budgeting. As result, gender responsive budgeting has increasingly been recognized as important tool for advancing de facto gender equality, support the SDGs, the 2030 Agenda and other global goals as well as contribute to the achievements of the commitments of the Western Balkans under the Gender Action Plan in the EU External Relations 2016-2020.

In order to deepen the work previously done, initiate new initiatives and ensure sustainability of the interventions on GRB, UN Women initiated a regional programme with participation of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Serbia and North Macedonia “Transformative Financing for Gender Equality towards more Transparent, Inclusive and Accountable Governance in the Western Balkans” (2020-2024). The main programme approach will be transformative financing as an enabler factor for policy and financing actions to accelerate implementation of existing national and international commitments on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the in Western Balkans.

The programme is structured around two outcomes:

• By 2024, national and local governments apply gender responsive budgeting to integrate gender equality principles in public financing processes
• By 2024 public oversight bodies[2] CSOs, women including the disadvantaged, demand transparency and accountability of public policies and budgets to gender equality processes

The programme includes activities focused on enhancing the institutionalization of GRB at central level and local level.

[1] References to Kosovo* in this document shall be understood to be in the context of Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999).

[2] Parliament, Ombudsperson, Court of Audit, Commissioner for Protection Against Discrimination

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work:

UN Women ECA RO seeks to recruit two International Consultants for development of standardised GRB training manual and facilitator’s guide for public administration at national level. The Consultants are expected to adapt GRB training manual already developed by the UN Women and other international organisations, and tailor them  to the context of the Regional GRB Project, based on the review of manuals produced locally in countries of Regional GRB Project’s implementation. The manual will be intended for capacity building of civil servants employed in line ministries including Ministry of Finance in targeted countries.

Furthermore, the Consultants will deliver  the adapted manual at the GRB Training of Trainers, to be organized by UN Women ECA Regional Office with the aim of creating a pool of GRB trainers who will be equipped with knowledge and resources to support GRB introduction and institutionalization.

1.Compile a unified Regional GRB Manual and Facilitator’s Guide

• Undertake desk research and analyse all the necessary documents/training modules, training materials on GRB with focus of GRB application at national level (including the existing UN Women GRB training manuals), in consultation with GRB Regional Project Coordinators;

• Develop a training manual including facilitator’s guide , to allow easy application of the training manual in the context of the Regional GRB Programme, specifically targeting civil servants employed in line ministries, by merging its contents with the locally developed GRB manuals;

2.Deliver a one-day TOT for the GRB Trainers

• Hold one day training session dedicated to the presentation of the adapted manual and facilitators guide to the participants UN Women GRB ToT.

Expected deliverables activities and the timeframe

Reporting

Under the overall supervision of the GRB Regional Project Manager, and in close consultation with Regional GRB Programme Coordinators, the International consultant will develop and deliver the above listed deliverables in accordance with the indicative timeframe. All deliverables of an acceptable standard and quality should be submitted to the UN Women and in languages as specified above.

Competencies

Core Values/guiding principles:

• Integrity - Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
• Professionalism - Demonstrate professional competence and Consultant knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
• Cultural sensitivity and respect for diversity - Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Additionally, the individual should have an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Planning & Organizing – Develops clear goals in line with agreed strategies, identifies priorities, foresees risks and makes allowances accordingly.
• Organizational Awareness - Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.
• Teamwork - Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
• Accountability – Takes ownership of all responsibilities and delivers outputs in accordance with agreed time, cost and quality standards.

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

Qualifications Education:
•    Master’s degree (MA, MSc, MBA) in gender, development, public policy, social studies, or closely related field.
•    University Degree (BA) with plus two years’ experience in the above field.

Experience:
•    At least 5 years of experience in design and developing gender-related participatory and interactive training programmes for practitioners,     including development of manuals and facilitators guide;
•    Proven record of experience in the field of gender equality and/or gender responsive budgeting;
•    Experience in working with civil servants employed at the central governmental levels;
•    Experience in working within the countries encompassed by the Regional GRB Programme.
•    Knowledge of Adult Learning Methodologies will be considered an asset
•    Knowledge on Public finance management will be considered an asset

Languages and other skills:  
•    Proficient in written and oral English;
•    Strong writing and communication skills

Evaluation of Applicants

UN Women applies a fair and transparent selection process. Applicants will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications/skills and their financial proposal. Contract will be awarded to the individual consultants whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:
•    Responsive to and compliant with the requirements of the ToR; and
•    Having received the highest score out of below combined technical and financial criteria.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation

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.

Duration and remuneration

The national consultant will be engaged for a total of 15 working days during the period of 26 October 2020 until 30 June 2021. Deliverables from the consultant will be reviewed and approved by UN Women before they are considered final. UN Women will process the payment of consultancy fee in two instalments:

• I instalment - 80% upon submission and approval of deliverables 1 (20 November 2020)
• II instalment - 20% upon submission and approval of deliverables 2 (by 25 April)

Application:

Interested individual consultants are requested to apply electronically through the following link: http://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm  no later than 20 October 2020 and to submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• Short Letter of interest, including financial proposal in USD, indicating a total lump sum for the delivery as per above description. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (consultancy fee, travel and any other possible costs).
• Completed UN Women Personal History (P11) form, that can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment.
• 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.
• Candidates should have the ability to quickly produce degree certificates and medical certification (of good health) should they be short-listed in consideration of the consultancy post
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for further steps.