Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination and violence 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 supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programs and services needed to implement these standards.
In the ten years of its existence, UN Women has firmly established itself as the global champion for women and girls. Propelled by consistent UN Women advocacy, women’s empowerment, women’s rights and gender equality have been recognized as central to the Sustainable Development Agenda and Goals. UN Women’s normative and programmatic work, guided by its Strategic Plan and supported by a consolidated organizational architecture, have been instrumental in helping to establish relevant policy frameworks and advancing change on the ground.
As the global voice and advocate for gender equality and the empowerment of women, UN Women works in areas of knowledge, partnerships, advocacy and social mobilization, publicly advocates for the fulfillment of promises made to women, and engages an ever-increasing global audience in the call for gender equality. UN Women communications and public advocacy efforts have been an integral part of the organization’s positioning. Proactive and strong expansion of its global reach through both traditional and new communications channels have established brand recognition and ensured visibility. Public campaigns such as UNiTE (and under its umbrella 16 Days of Activism) and HeForShe have driven awareness and engaged new audiences. Through its groundbreaking multigenerational global campaign Generation Equality, UN Women is bringing together the next generations of women’s rights activists with the gender equality advocates and visionaries who were instrumental in creating the Beijing Platform for Action 25 years ago.
Concurrent with these positive developments are enormous new challenges. Discriminatory gender and social norms are persistent across the region and effective advocacy to tackle the harmful attitudes and behaviours that impede progress on gender equality and prevent women and girls from unleashing their full potential is very much needed. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has exarcerbated gender inequalities and threatens to roll back decades of work on gender equality. 

Since 2010, UN Women in Bosnia and Herzegovina is dedicated to advancing gender equality, women’s rights and women’s empowerment, and improving life for women and girls in the country. Communications and advocacy are an integral part of UN Women’s work by the means of proactive and widest possible expansion of reach through traditional and new communications channels, benefiting from strategic alliances with partners, and achieving multiplied advocacy efforts and broadened communications opportunities. In the upcoming strategic period 2021 – 2025, UN Women is looking to expand its communications and advocacy efforts, based on a comprehensive Communications Strategy.
For this purpose, UN Women is seeking to engage a Senior National Communications Consultant to produce a Framework for Development of UN Women BiH Communications and  Advocacy Strategy, by developing a detailed approach to the assignment, conducting desk review and consultations with internal and external stakeholders, and validating the findings and results in a participatory manner.

Development objective

Targeted and structured communications and advocacy are a part of UN Women’s global work on women’s empowerment and gender equality. The UN Women’s global Communications and Public Advocacy Strategy is geared toward keeping up and expanding the momentum for women’s empowerment and gender equality. In the context of the overall goal, communications and advocacy are an integral element to strengthening UN Women’s position and role as the global authority to advance the gender equality agenda, and achieving concrete results in this direction.

Immediate objective

To produce a Framework for Development of UN Women BiH Communications and  Advocacy Strategy, by developing a detailed approach to the assignment, conducting desk review and consultations with internal and external stakeholders, and validating the findings and results in a participatory manner.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the UN Women Communications Associate, and the overall supervision of the UN Women Programme Specialist, the consultant is expected to deliver the following results:
- Develop methodology and workplan for the task, including plan and approach to consultations, exploring at least the following:

• UN Women’s role in advocating for gender equality, women’s empowerment and women’s rights in BiH;
• Increasing UN Women’s and its partners’ visibility in BiH in support to implementation of its strategy and resource mobilization;
• Strengthening UN Women’s strategic approach to communications and advocacy in BiH;

- Conduct desk research on communications principles and strategies of UN Women globally, in the region, and in BiH, including the assessment of existing communication and advocacy activities and capacities;
- Conduct internal consultations with UN Women team;
- Conduct external consultations with the main donors (Sweden and European Union), main partners (AGE BiH, GC FBiH, GC RS), and other relevant stakeholders as recommended (CSOs, international organizations, UN agencies that collaborate with UN Women);
- Based on methodology, workplan, desk research and consultations, produce a Framework for Development of UN Women BiH

Communications and Advocacy Strategy, that includes:
1. Introduction to cover overview of UN Women communications and public advocacy efforts on a global, regional and BiH level;
2. Overview of the methodology for the Framework for Development of UN Women BiH Communications and Advocacy Strategy;
3. Assessment of existing communications and advocacy activities and capacities, to include at least the following:

• a. results of consultations with internal and external stakeholders;
• b. identified gaps and recommendations for improvement.

4. Assessment of strategic opportunities to increase UN Women’s communications and public advocacy efforts, to include at least the following:

• a. identified strategic enablers;
• b. possible strategic partnerships and alliances;
• c. considerations for increasing investment in digital space;
• d. communications indicators;
• e. means of achievement of strategic goals for communications and advocacy;

5. Recommendations for the strategic approach to communications and advocacy for the period 2021-2025.

• Conduct validation of the Framework for Development of UN Women BiH Communications and  Advocacy Strategy with consulted internal and external stakeholders and finalize the document with approval of UN Women;
• Provide detailed weekly reports during the period of consultancy.

To facilitate delivery of the above outputs, UN Women will provide the consultant the following:

• Global and regional UN Women Communications Strategy
• Other documents as necessary

Acivities and Timeframe

The consultant will be expected to complete the following deliverables within the indicative timeframe:

The consultancy will last 20 days, in the period from November 12 2020 to January 22 2021.

REPORTING

All deliverables should be submitted to the UN Women Communications Associate. Final Framework for Development of UN Women BiH Communications and Advocacy Strategy should be delivered by January 11 2021 in English. Approval time required to review the deliverables before authorizing payments is 7 days.

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:

• University degree (BA) in communications, media, journalism, marketing, business, gender studies, development studies or other related field.
• Master’s degree in the above listed areas will be considered an asset.

Skills and Experience:

• At least 7 years of demonstrated work experience in communications;
• Experience in conceptualizing and creating communications strategies and asessments, with at least 2 communications strategies previously conceptualized and created;
• At least 3 years of experience in on-line outreach, multimedia, and use of social media platforms. Good understanding of new and evolving technologies and digital platforms will be considered an advantage;
• Experience in promotion of gender issues will be considered an advantage;
• Experience in delivering communication services to promote the activities of international development organizations will be considered an advantage;
• Previous experience within the UN System is an advantage;
• Fluency in English and B/H/S, excellent spoken and written skills.

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, and interview. 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.

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal will be allocated to the lowest price proposal among those candidates.

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

Please note that travel and accommodation costs should be covered by the consultant.

Please note that incomplete applications will not be considered (all documents indicated above need to be uploaded).

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.