UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone.  For UNDP, creating equal opportunities for women and men is critical for equitable, sustainable development and prosperity. Hence, gender equality is in core of the UNDP mandate globally and nationally.

UNDP Armenia, within the past decade, has continuously implemented projects on women empowerment, gender equality and youth leadership in Armenia. At the same time, the local context also presents several challenges to the goal of participation, empowerment and gender equality. Various research point at political, socio-economic and cultural factors, which limit women participation, such as: insufficient mechanisms and regulations to advance gender equality at the national and local level; insufficient promotion of women within/by political parties; narrow gender identities; lack of female leadership culture and support networks; power distance; lack of confidence and skills among women; etc. All these factors limit opportunities for building a critical mass of female cadre in national and local governance. Overall, the legal framework for women political involvement is not fully conducive and additional mechanisms and affirmative actions are needed for realization of women’s rights.

Developing specific mechanisms and actions has become an imperative in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemics, escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict into a full-fledged war and significant human losses predominantly among men. This situation clearly pointed to the need to have competent and skilled women at all levels of governance and the public administration, who can enter leadership roles in stable times, but also can undertake additional duties and roles in times of crisis. In addition, engaging women at all levels of decision-making becomes a priority for ensuring, among others, full and smooth operation of the administrative machinery.

To that end, UNDP Gender Equality in Public Administration of Armenia (GEPAA), with overall contributing goal to SDG 5 and SDG 16, adjusts its activities to the emerging needs. As per agreement with the RA Deputy Prime Minister’s office the project, among others, will support the RA government in the following activities: 1) changing public perception about the role of women in the public administration; 2) involving new qualified female cadre to all levels of public administration, with special focus on the decision-making positions; 3) retaining and promoting current female staff within the public sector.

The GEPAA project is currently seeking a qualified Expert to assist the RA Government in the above-mentioned areas.

Scope of work of the Expert under this task will encompass Elaboration of an Action Plan on Women involvement, retention and promotion within the public sector. To this end, the major activities will include 1) compile and review the recent researches undertaken by UNDP on gender dimension of public administration system and on public perception of women’s and men’s role in public sector in Armenia; 2) compile and analyze the relevant data; 3) identify the stakeholders to inform the Action Plan, including through joint discussions and co-design sessions; 4) development of communication (messaging, outreach) component of the Action Plan.

The Expert will work under the overall supervision of the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Programme Manager, direct supervision of the GEPAA Project Technical Task Leader, and in collaboration with the project team.

Specifically, the expert shall:

• Get familiarized with the available reports, research, other materials on public perception of role of women within the public sector of Armenia. Specifically, research generated within the GEPAA project should be primarily consulted (“Country-wide survey of citizens perception of roles of women and men in the public sector”, “Survey on students’ perceptions, expectations and preferences in public administration”, “Legal review of the core legislation on civil service”, “Gender at the Workplace: The case of the Civil Service Office”, “Gender Equality Seal Award Assessment: the Case of the Civil Service Office”);
• Explore international sources (best practice) on attracting/involving, retaining and promoting women within the public sector;
• Explore the current “2019-2023 Strategy of Implementing Gender Equality Policy in the Republic of Armenia” (RA Government Decision N1334-L dated 19/09/2019) and the up to date Report on the Action Plan in order to synchronize the activities;
• Explore centres of excellence for women empowerment and gender equality, and their respective strategies/ action plans;
• Compile a comprehensive list of stakeholders (CSOs, international organizations, women leaders, other), dealing with the female promotion issues in Armenia and submit for the approval of the project team;
• Conduct interviews with the selected stakeholders to familiarize with their methods and mechanisms of involving, retaining and promoting female cadre in the public sector;
• Explore in depth the communication aspect to be used in targeted messaging and outreach campaign to raise awareness on the reconsidered female role in the public sector;
• Organize co-design events with GEPAA project team and selected stakeholders, which should further inform the Action Plan;
• Based on the data collected from the above-mentioned research, draft a comprehensive Action Plan for involving, retaining and promoting women in the public sector of Armenia, which shall include, among others, the key messaging and awareness raising elements aimed at changing the current perception and narrative of the role of women in the public administration system.

Expected deliverables:   

Payment mode:

Payment will be made in one  installment (lump-sum) upon final approval of the report by the UNDP Project team. 

• Ability to deliver and reach the planned targets without undermining proper operational processes;
• Strong interpersonal skills with ability to establish and maintain effective work relationships with people of different social and cultural background;
• Creativity, flexibility and an innovative approach to problem solving;
• Demonstrated initiative, tact and high sense of responsibility and discretion;
• Strong teamwork skills;
• Ability to work under the pressure and meet deadlines;
• Strong computer literacy and proficiency in MS Office (MS Word, Excel, etc.);
• Competence on research techniques and terminology;
• Strong verbal and written communication skills; strong competence in writing reports intended for diverse audiences

Education

• University Degree in Sociology, Social Sciences, Human Resources, Monitoring and Evaluation, Public Administration, Political Science or Economics, Law degree or other related field.

Experience

• Minimum 5 years of experience in qualitative and quantitative research;
• Experience (minimum 3 years) in gender (women) studies.
• Experience in conducting interviews;
• Knowledge of the Gender Equality Policy of RA and international commitments of RA in gender equality issues;
• Experience in conducting desk researches and analysis;
• Relevant experience in analyzing qualitative data and preparing sets of recommendations;
• Experience in drafting analytical reports/action plans;
• Exposure to innovative research methods and techniques.

Language Skills

• Fluency in Armenian and English is required (written and oral).

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.

1. Financial Proposal and Availability form: OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP (A total lump sum  option is applicable for this assignment)
2. Methodology of the work, research component and co-design included
3. List of the stakeholders to be included in the assignment (interviews, co-design)
4. 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 that should be included in the application in one single PDF file and upload it).