Background

1. 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.  Placing women's rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

All human development and human rights issues have gender dimensions. UN Women focuses on priority areas that are fundamental to women’s equality and that can unlock progress across the board. The UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (UN Women ECARO) was established in Istanbul, Turkey in early 2014. It provides support and oversight to Country Offices in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Ukraine. In addition, the Regional Office directly supports programme and project presence in Kosovo (under UN Security Council Resolution 1244), Serbia, North Macedonia, Tajikistan and Turkey. UN Women ECARO focuses on women´s leadership and political participation, ending violence against women, economic empowerment and peace and security. Working with national governments, civil society and international actors to promote women’s leadership and political participation in all spheres of life.

UN Women recognizes equality between women and men as a fundamental pillar of a just and democratic society and supports the promotion of equal opportunities for the full participation of women in all aspects of political, economic and public life. UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to de-sign laws, policies, programs and services needed to implement these standards. It stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on five priority areas: increasing women’s leadership and participation; ending violence against women; engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes; enhancing women’s economic empowerment; and making gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting.

The UN Secretary-General has issued an urgent call to action. The Covid-19 pandemic is one of the challenging context we have faced in our lifetime, a human crisis with severe health and socio-economic consequences. As in previous crises, women and girls have been disproportionately negatively affected. From employment losses and income insecurity to an increase in their unpaid care work. Women are also disproportionately essential workers, particularly in health care, and thus face greater exposure to COVID. Further, domestic violence, which has spiked as a result of stay-at-home orders, and increased food insecurity limit women’s bargaining power within households. In short, such a crisis threatens the hard-won progress made towards gender equality and women’s empowerment. Worse, the crisis can actually reverse gains made towards gender equality, and roll-back progress needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

UN Women supports women’s full and equal representation and participation in all levels of peace processes and security efforts. UN Women’s work on women, peace, and security is guided by 10 UN Security Council resolutions—1325, 1820, 1888, 1889, 1960, 2106, 2122, 2242, 2467, and 2493—and is bolstered by several related normative frameworks, which make up the broader women, peace, and security (WPS) agenda. UN Women leads on implementing the WPS agenda through research initiatives, data collection, learning exchanges, and documentation of good practices to inform policy and programming. Our resources and publications provide knowledge and guidance for ensuring women’s participation and inclusion in all aspects of peace processes. We support Member States’ efforts to translate the WPS agenda from policy to practice and work to build capacities and increase opportunities for women at the local, national, and regional levels.

Reflective of the above, UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia is seeking to recruit a translator from Greek to English to deliver tasks as outlined below.

2. Objective

The objective of this assignment is to provide high quality written translation and editing services from Greek to English (and vice versa) when required (retainer contract basis).

Duties and Responsibilities

3. Scope of Work and Responsibilities

Scope of Work

The Consultant will work under the direct supervision of the UN Women ECARO Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Specialist and will be responsible for the following:

• The Consultant will translate from Greek to English on the Republic of Cyprus National Action Plan to implement the UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.
• The Consultant will translate a document of minimum 40 pages.
• The Consultant must ensure accuracy of the terms and terminologies used in the document.
• The Consultant must ensure that the translation is written in a correct style applicable to that of a UN document, correct grammar, formatting and spelling.
• The Consultant will translate and edit included annexes, tables, graphics, and infographics to visualize the key statements and issues covered by the written submission where applicable.
• The Consultant will submit a draft translated research documents to the Programme Specialist for review/comments and submit final document based on the feedback provided.
• The Consultant will maintain the statistical data to support the analysis and ensure evidence-based recommendations for policy related actions as is on the original document.
• The Consultant will complete the work within the agreed timeline and submit the final draft of translation.

All work will be requested, carried out and delivered remotely without any need for travel under the scope of this TOR.

4. Expected deliverables and payment procedures

The selected Consultant will be responsible for delivering the following deliverables.

Deliverables:

Provide high quality written translation services including editing and proofreading of documents on a retainer basis from Greek to English when required.

The turnaround time for translation services will be as follows:

All deliverables should be reviewed, agreed, and cleared by the UN Women ECA RO Programme Specialist as per the set requirement. The consultant will be paid on a periodic basis (monthly) as agreed with the supervisor.

Competencies

5. Competencies:

Core Values

• Respect for Diversity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration

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  

Functional Competencies

• Possesses the ability to work independently, under pressure and meet deadlines.
• Good knowledge of technical area.
• Experience in translation and editing of research documents.

Required Skills and Experience

6. Qualifications:

Education

• Master’s degree in Linguistics, Economics Sciences, Social Science, Humanities, Gender Equality or area relevant to the requirements of the TOR.

Working Experience

• At least 5 years of professional translation experience in Greek and English in development related issues and gender equality/women’s rights.
• Demonstrated good understanding of technical terms used in areas of human development, socioeconomic aspects, statistics, gender and youth.
• Previous experience working with UN Women and UN agencies and/or international organizations is an asset.

Knowledge of languages

• Fluency in written and oral Greek and English required.

Other:

Good computer skills in Windows environment, knowledge of internet communications and command of MS Office applications (Word, Excel, Power Point).

7. Application Process 

The application should include the following:

Personal History Form (P-11 form) - including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment  a signed copy should be submitted.

Financial Proposal:  Specifying the cost of translation/editing per page (page of 2100 characters) for:

1. Ordinary translation; and
2. Urgent translation.

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.

8. Payment Schedule

Payment will be made per number of pages translated upon certification of satisfactory services and deliverables in accordance with the set requirements for each translation.

9. Evaluation process

Consultants will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of qualifications and financial proposal. 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.

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

a. Technical Evaluation Criteria:                                                                                     

TECHNICAL EVALUATION

Language Requirements:    

Proficiency in written and spoken Greek and English -   REQUIRED    

Professional Experience

-At least 3 years of professional translation experience in development related issues and gender equality and women’s rights.  

Basic experience (3 years): 1 pts

Beginner experience (4 years): 4 pts

User experience (5 years): 6 pts

Expert experience (5-10 years): 8 pts

Mastery experience (10+ years): 5 pts

-Previous experience in UN

Basic experience (1 years): 2 pts

Beginner experience (2 years): 4 pts

User experience (3 years): 6 pts

Expert experience (4 years): 8 pts

Mastery experience (5 and more years): 5 pts

-Previous experience with UN Women and/or gender

Yes: 10 pts

No: 0 pts

-Knowledge of other UN languages

Basic knowledge: 2 pts

User knowledge: 4 pts

Expert knowledge: 5 pts

Total technical 70 points Max.

b. Financial Evaluation:                                                                                                      

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is 30 points which is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion. A suggested formula is as follows.

p = 30 (µ/z)

Using the following values.

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

µ = price of the lowest priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated