Background

Gender equality and women’s empowerment remains a critical development issue in Armenia: women comprise 52.2% of population in Armenia and 56% of those with higher education, they are still underrepresented in leadership positions in government, in policy-making institutions or the private sector in Armenia. Due that women have very little influence over policy decisions. While a 25% quota system ensures women are represented in political parties, they face distinct barriers to entering office at the local and national levels.

UNDP Armenia has been continuously working in the area of the political empowerment of women, advancing leadership of women, supporting the local governments to engender local decision-making and development processes, enabling youth to get knowledge and skills on participatory governance, advancing their potential to raise their voice in policy-making at national and local levels. UNDP’s has considerably contributed to increasing representation of women at the local level, as well as formation of dynamic group and women and youth who not only benefit from projects’ support, but also lead local initiatives on broad spectrum of aspects, including participatory governance, women empowerment, and other.

Currently, UNDP’s Women Empowerment and Gender Equality (WEGE) Programme is comprised of four parallel projects working on political leadership of women, economic empowerment of women, innovative pubic services, youth leadership advancement, strengthening gender equality in the public administration system of Armenia and other.  Projects are implemented in strong synergy and coordination with one another building on the ongoing activities, relying on the cadre of women and youth already capacitated from previous projects and joining forces to upscale number of support schemes countrywide. UNDP enjoys broad partnerships among national, regional and local governments, donor and international community, civil society organizations, media and other.

“Women and Youth for Innovative Local Development” (hereafter WYILD Project) is one of the projects of the WEGE Programme. The overarching goal of the project is to improve the accountability, effectiveness and inclusiveness of local self-government in Armenia in regionally and socially balanced manner.

WYILD project is part of four-year strategic partnership framework between GIZ, UNDP and CoE within “Improvement of the local self-governance system in Armenia” programme and is implemented in partnership with RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure (MTAI).

The objectives of the Project are: (i) piloting three innovative municipal services which will be co-designed and monitored by citizens, including vulnerable/marginalized groups; (ii) advancing youth leadership; and (iii) empowering women at the local level through building on and upscaling the results achieved during the past years.

Currently, the “Women and Youth for Innovative Local Development” project seeks an Expert on Women Empowerment (hereafter Expert) to support the project with implementation of activities under Objective 3 and provide guidance on the aspects of gender equality, relevant to the project.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Programme Manager, direct supervision of the WYILD Project Technical Task Leader, and in collaboration with other projects’ teams, the incumbent will be responsible for the following activities:

• Support the Task Leader in planning and implementation of the programmatic components of the project, including formation and capacity development of Women and Youth Advisory Councils, pre-and post-electoral work organization, the gender analysis and mainstreaming exercise monitoring; 
• Contribute to methodology design for capacity development of pre-and post-electoral work schemes; 
• Consult Women and Youth Advisory Councils as well as local self-governments on several local development thematic areas; 
• Contribute to the content and organization of project activities at the local level within components related to women empowerment, political participation, gender mainstreaming, work with political parties, work with local self-governments; components on forming and institutionalizing bottom-up policy channels;
• Support in preparation and elaboration of knowledge products and handouts for Women and Youth Advisory Councils in terms of capacity development, as well as pre-and post-electoral work; 
• Support in organization of the project virtual and field meetings and training sessions; 
• Contribute to the codification of the project progress and results of the Women and Youth Advisory Committees, pre- and pos-electoral work, and gender analysis and mainstreaming exercise monitoring; 
• Conduct quick desk reviews on women empowerment related topics and assessments among the project beneficiaries;
• Contribute to the development of visibility and communications materials; 

General deliverables:

1. Facilitated the programmatic work on local advisory youth and women councils in selected communities of Armenia, leadership advancement models and other.
2. Collected and analyzed data on ongoing trends and developments around the women empowerment and gender equality (especially on the aspects of political and civic empowerment of women),
3. Contributed to methodologies and knowledge products of the project, facilitated the work with political parties and development of bottom-up policy channels.

Payment Terms

Payments will be conducted monthly based on the actual number of days worked per month and submission of a respective report on completed works/outputs at the end of each month. In average, the work will imply up to 12 working days per month.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates commitment to UN and UNDP’s mission, vision and values;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

• A good understanding of current situation and development trends in the fields of gender equality, women political participation, community development, and participatory democracy in Armenia;
• Strong interpersonal skills with ability to establish and maintain effective work relationships with people of different social and cultural backgrounds;
• Strong track record with producing high quality research and strong data collection and analysis skills;
• Proven track-record in designing capacity development models and training modules;
• Ability to work independently and to participate effectively in a team-based information sharing; strong team player.

Knowledge Management and Learning

• Shares knowledge and experience;
• Ability to perform a variety of specialized tasks related to Results Management, including support to design, planning and implementation of programme, managing data, reporting;
• Proficiency in professional writing and reporting.

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 positive and composed even under pressure;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.

Required Skills and Experience

Eduaction 

• Advanced University degree (MA, MSc, or PhD) in social sciences, humanities, gender equality, human rights, public administration, law or other related fields.

Experience

• At least 5 years of experience in design and implementation of thematic concepts, methodological tools and knowledge products in the areas of women empowerment, gender equality, human rights, community development, participatory democracy;
• 5 years of proven experience in gender equality and women empowerment;
• Previous exposure to aspects of political participation of empowerment at the local level is an asset;
• Track record and experience with international organizations is a strong asset.

Computer skills:

• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems.

Languages:

• Fluency in English and Armenian, Russian is an asset.

INDIVIDUAL CANDIDATES WILL BE EVALUATED BASED ON THE FOLLOWING METHODOLOGY:

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants' technical qualifications, experience and financial proposal.The contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as technically responsive/compliant/acceptable to the requirements of the ToR and received the highest cumulative (technical and financial) score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

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

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation - max. 70 points

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation - max. 30 points.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE APPLICATION.

• Financial Proposal and Availability form: OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP (all-inclusive daily fee option is applicable for this assignment)
• CV shall include Education/Qualification, Processional Certification, Employment Records /Experience

General Conditions of Contract is available here: GENERAL CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT

Note: Please note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents in one single PDF file to attach).