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.

The Ukrainian Constitution, policy and legal frameworks guarantee equality for men and women in Ukraine in all sectors. The country adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), joined the ?eijing Declaration and the Platform for Action (BPfA) of the 4th World Conference for Women (1995) and ratified the main international instruments on gender equality and women’s rights, including the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and its Optional Protocol. Nevertheless, implementation and efficient mechanisms for enforcement, accountability, monitoring and evaluation are not fully in place.

UN Women provides support the consolidated efforts of the Parliament, Government, women’s groups and civil society organisations (CSOs) to meet the State commitments on gender equality and women’s rights, including CEDAW, UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (UNSCR 1325) and SDGs, through governance reforms and peace and security processes.

One of the key areas of UN Women work in Ukraine is Women, Peace and Security (WPS). UN Women provides support to the Parliament (including the Parliament Interfaction Caucus on Equal Opportunities and Parliament Committees), the Government (including the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration (DPM), Government Commissioner on Gender Equality Policy, Ministry of Social Policy, and line ministries) and women’s CSOs in implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the subsequent resolutions on WPS.

UN Women supported the state institutions with the implementation of the Revised National Action Plan for Implementation of UNSCR 1325 on WPS for 2016-2020 (NAP 1325), and the National Action Plan on the implementation of the CEDAW Committee Concluding Observations to the eighth periodic report of Ukraine on by 2021 .

In 2020, UN Women supported the development of second NAP 1325 for 2021-2025. The NAP includes several areas of responsibility of the state institutions on mainstreaming gender into peace and security agenda, including:

-           equal participation of women and men in decision-making on conflict prevention, conflict resolution, post-conflict recovery, with focus on security and defense sector;

-           gender-sensitive system for identifying, preventing and responding to security threats;

-           process of post-conflict recovery, and implementation of the transitional justice system according to the principles of equal rights and opportunities for women and men;

-           protection against gender-based violence, sexual violence (conflict-related and during peacetime);

-           development of institutional capacity for the effective implementation of the WPS agenda in accordance with international standards.

Therefore, UN Women seeks to hire a National Consultant to provide policy advice and capacity development assistance the Parliament (Parliament Interfaction Caucus on Equal Opportunities and Parliament Committees), the Government (the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Government Commissioner on Gender Equality Policy, Ministry of Social Policy, and line ministries) related to WPS agenda implementation. The National Consultant is expected to contribute to the technical assistance of UN Women on the second NAP 1325 implementation.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the Representative of UN Women in Ukraine, technical guidance by and supervision of the Programme Specialist, the Consultant will provide technical support to the Parliament and Government related to WPS agenda implementation. She/he will work in close collaboration with the programme and operations team of the Gender Equality in the Centre of Reforms, Peace and Security Project. The Consultant will implement a set of tasks, including, but not limited to: 

• Provide gender analysis of the current legislation, proposed amendments to the legislations and draft laws, current and draft policies and other documents related to the WPS Agenda implementation;
• Elaborate gender-sensitive propositions to the draft legal and normative documents, and current legislation and policies to be in line with international GEWE and WPS commitments;
• Provide expert advice on the development of sectorial action plans on WPS agenda implementation in line with NAP 1325;

• Provide expert advice and technical support with monitoring and reporting on NAP 1325 implementation;
• Organize multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral expert groups consultations with participation of women’s groups and international development partners to ensure participatory implementation and monitoring of the WPS commitments;
• Organize and facilitate capacity-development events for the Parliament, the Governmental authorities and CSOs on implementation and monitoring of the NAP 1325;
• Contribute to cooperation and facilitate engagement with the civil society, women’s groups and gender advocates;
• Provide expert support to the advocacy activities and campaigns, initiated by UN Women, on WPS Agenda promotion;
• Implement other duties as required.

Assignment /Deliverables

TOTAL – 100 DAYS

*All reports should be submitted in English language and include the full set of supporting documents, such as gender analysis of legal and policy documents, elaborated gender-responsive propositions to the legal and policy documents, analytical papers, event agendas and methodologies,  etc. The supporting documents can be submitted in Ukrainian.

Inputs

· UN Women will provide the Consultant with background materials related to the assignment.

· The Consultant is expected to work using her/his own computer.

Performance evaluation:

· Contractor’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered. The evaluation will be carried out and cleared by the hiring manager which will also be the basis for payment on a delivery by delivery basis to the consultant.

Financial arrangements:

Payments will be disbursed on monthly basis upon receipt of the deliverables (as per above matrix) and their certification by the UN Women Programme Specialist that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

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

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications and Education:

• Advanced (Masters) degree in in Human Rights, Political Science, Gender Studies, Social Science, Law or related field.

Experience:

• At least 3 years of relevant experience in human rights, gender equality and women empowerment, women, peace and security agenda implementation ;
• Proven experience in conducting gender analysis of legislation, gender-responsive research, institutional analysis of gender equality and women, peace and security policies and mechanisms;
• Previous professional experience of work with the Government and the Parliament on gender equality and women’s empowerment promotion and women, peace and security agenda implementation;
• Proven knowledge of international human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment and women, peace and security framework;
• Experience with participation in organization of high-level, multi-stakeholder consultations and capacity-building workshops, including with representatives of the Parliament, government agencies and CSOs;
• Previous professional experience with development agencies and the United Nations would be considered an asset.

Languages and other skills: 

• Fluent Ukrainian and English
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, IT tools, ability to use Internet and email

Evaluation of Applicants:

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of their qualifications and financial proposal. A two-stage procedure is utilized in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. The award of the contract should be made to the individuals whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical criteria, 70% of total evaluation – max 70 points:

• The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 70. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on desk review and following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation will be further considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points allocated for the financial/price component is 30.
• 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 49 points in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

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).

Application and submission package:

All applications must include as one attachment:  

• Completed and signed UN Women Personal History (P-11) form, which can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-p11-personal-history-form.doc?la=en&vs=558. 
• Financial proposal (sample is provided below) completed and signed.The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount with a breakdown of a daily professional rate per number of anticipated working days to include all costs (telephone, etc.). 

Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment.  

Interested candidates are requested to apply no later than 12:00 am 25 February 2021 by submitting applications to the following e-mail address: hr.ukraine@unwomen.org  with a subject “National Consultant on Technical Support on the Women, Peace and Security Agenda Implementation.

Applications without P11 and financial proposal may be treated as incomplete and may not be considered for further assessment. 

Sample of Financial Proposal 

The format shown on the following tables is suggested for use as a guide in preparing the Financial Proposal 

1. Cost Breakdown per Deliverables* 

*Basis for payment tranches 

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.