Background
UN Women (the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of 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.
In Turkey, in line with its global Strategic Plan 2018-2021, UN Women works towards three overarching goals: 1) Women lead, participate in, and benefit equally from governance systems; 2) All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence; 3) Women and girls contribute to and have greater influence in building sustainable peace and resilience and benefit equally from the prevention of natural disasters and conflicts and humanitarian action.
Towards these goals, UN Women implements programmes and projects that aim to advance gender equality, improve women’s access to opportunities, rights and services in political, social and economic life and combat gender stereotypes, discrimination and violence, as required by international and national legal and policy commitments. UN Women collaborates with numerous partners – central and local level government authorities, civil society organizations, including women’s organizations and platforms, academia, private sector companies, other UN agencies. It commits itself to the Leaving No One Behind principle, by supporting targeted actions to remove the obstacles that marginalized and vulnerable groups of women face in accessing their rights and to promote them as agents of change.
Globally and in Turkey, UN Women engages with and supports civil society organizations (CSOs), in particular women’s organizations, as key advocacy and knowledge partners, as well as implementing partners in operational activities in advancing women’s economic, political and social rights. UN Women’s work with civil society encompasses facilitating and expanding spaces for CSOs to come together for coordinated actions and to engage in dialogue with duty-bearers and decision-makers at local, national, regional and international levels, and in the context of inter-governmental processes. UN Women is focused on convening multi-stakeholder partnerships and engaging a wide variety of stakeholders, including men and boys and young people, to bring forth transformative change towards gender equality, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
Under this framework, UN Women embarked on a new three-year project `Strengthening civil society capacities and multi-stakeholder partnerships to advance women’s rights and gender equality in Turkey`, funded by the European Union. The overall objective of the project is to reduce gender inequalities by enhancing the ability of Civil Society Organizations in Turkey to be agents of transformative change towards gender equality and women’s rights. The specific objective is “Women's rights groups, women-led CSOs and other relevant rights based CSOs more effectively influence the gender equality and women’s empowerment agenda at the national and local levels.”
Under this project UN Women will work with civil society actors as knowledge partners, implementing partners, and advocates for normative advancements and accountability, and will support civil society through convening and networking, knowledge exchange, capacity development, funding, including through its small grants mechanisms. The intervention will address the challenges faced by CSOs and the women’s movements, especially in the context and aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic which is expected to have adverse mid- and long-term impacts on the social and economic status of women. It will seek to foster strategic and innovative partnerships between organizations and individuals working to advance women’s empowerment with a wide range of stakeholders, including men and boys advocates, youth groups, academia, disability rights activists, climate justice activists and other key constituencies, as well as across generations and sectors.
UN Women seeks to hire a long-term national consultant to provide strategic advisory services for capacity development of CSOs and fostering multi-stakeholder and multi-level partnerships on women’s rights, women’s empowerment and gender equality throughout the implementation of the aforementioned project.
Duties and Responsibilities
Within the scope of the assignment, under the supervision of the Programme Specialist, the long-term national consultant is expected to provide consultancy services for the below listed generic tasks:
- Provide substantive support during the inception phase of the project to validate the project outputs and activities through contributing to the organization, elaboration and documentation of consultations with CSOs, women’s organizations, gender equality advocates and other relevant stakeholders.
- Provide technical inputs to the continuous mapping and assessment of the capacity development needs of CSOs, women’s organizations through consultations, joining and reporting back from meetings and networking events organized by UN Women and CSOs/women’s organizations.
- Contribute to the specific identification of capacity development needs in the fields of gender-responsive disaster risk preparedness and management, climate action and crisis response, and gender data literacy.
- Support the project team in by providing substantive inputs and feedback to the quarterly progress reports submitted by at least five partner CSOs with the objective to guide the strategic direction of the projects to be implemented by the partner CSOs.
- Deliver written inputs to knowledge, policy, strategic and project/programme documents, training materials, reports and deliverables, including a youth engagement strategy, multi-stakeholder partnerships between CSOs and government entities, media and academia in the context of the project.
- Facilitate and/or participate in events and conferences hosted by UN Women and/or present the work done under the assignment during working and high level events and meetings.
- Identify innovative entry points for engaging CSOs and women’s organizations to participate in intergovernmental processes for learning, networking and advocacy purposes.
The consultant will work under the overall supervision and guidance of the UN Women Programme Specialist.
Duration of the assignment is from 1 May 2021 to 31 July 2022. The Consultant is expected to dedicate approximately 7 working days per month on average for this assignment and to spend up to 100 working days on non-consecutive basis throughout the assignment.
Expected Deliverables and Payment Schedule:
The following table summarizes the main activities and expected deliverables against the targeted submission deadlines and indicative working days to be invested by the Consultant.
| Deliverable | Target Deadline | Estimated number of working days |
| Submit monthly reports covering all the work undertaken with regards to the assignment corresponding to the generic tasks described under Part II- Functions. | At the end of every month from 31 May 2021 to 30 June 2022 | 95 days in total |
| Submit final report summarising all the work undertaken with regards to the assignment, including recommendations to UN Women and relevant annexes. | 31 July 2022 | 5 days |
| Total Working Days: Up to 100 days |
All deliverables shall be received and cleared by UN Women in Turkey. All reports shall be presented in English, in electronic version.
Note: The mentioned number of working days has been estimated as being sufficient/feasible for the envisaged volume of work to be completed successfully and is proposed as a guideline for the duration of assignment. It cannot and shall not be used as criteria for completion of work/assignment. The provision of envisaged deliverables approved by the UN Women in Turkey shall be the only criteria for the Consultant’s work being completed and eligible for payment/s.
Payment Schedule:
The amount paid to the Consultant shall be gross and inclusive of all associated costs such as travel, social security, pension and income tax etc. Payments will be made upon submission and approval of deliverables above and certification by the UN Women supervisor that the services have been satisfactorily completed.
The Consultant’s payments will be carried out on the basis of monthly timesheets presented to and approved by the supervisor. Payment shall be affected only if monthly time sheets and all the deliverables in this TOR are submitted to UN Women within the timeframes stipulated in the TOR and they are approved by the supervisor. Without submission and approval of the deliverables, the Consultant shall not receive any payment even if s/he invests time for this assignment.
Mandatory Training Courses:
Mandatory training courses for this assignment are estimated to take approximately 2 working days to complete. The Consultant shall complete all the mandatory and other required UN training courses and modules on time. The certificates shall be submitted to the supervisor.
Key Performance Indicators
- Adherence to UN Women mandate, standards and rules.
- Timely and quality delivery of the strategic advisory services and technical support as stipulated under Part II.
- Provision of quality and timely monthly reports and the final report.
- Positive feedbacks from UN Women’s partners and stakeholders regarding the substantive support provided by the Consultant.
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
Functional Competencies
- Ability to be strategic and analytical
- Knowledge of gender and human rights issues
- Programme formulation and implementation skills
- Knowledge of Results Based Management
- Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings
- Good knowledge of technical area
- Good organizational skills and ability to pay close attention to detail
- Ability to communicate sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies
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.
UN Women does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
Required Skills and Experience
| Education and certification: |
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| Experience: |
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| Language Requirements: |
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Travel:
The Consultant will be responsible for all travel arrangements and expenses and daily subsistence allowances associated with undertaking this assignment. All travels shall be coordinated with UN Women Turkey Office and shall be included in the total contract amount of the Consultant.
Indicatively 5 domestic travels are expected to take place within Turkey. Each mission is expected to last two to three days. There may be different number of days required for accommodation. The financial proposal template is explanatory in this regard. The taxi fees for attending the meetings are also under the responsibility of the Consultant. In case of unforeseeable travel exceeding the travel budget of the Consultant, such costs should be agreed upon between UN Women and the Consultant prior to the travel, and will be reimbursed, in line with the UN Women travel policy.
In the context of the assignment, wherever possible, the meetings should be carried out through online conferencing such as Skype, Zoom, MS Teams, etc.
For the all travels under this assignment, the Consultant is required to provide the relevant project staff with the requested travel documentation in a timely manner, both before and after the travels. Please note that failure to do so may result in no entitlement.
Application Procedure:
The following documents should be submitted as part of the application:
• Cover letter to include a brief overview about which of your previous experiences makes you the most suitable candidate for the advertised assignment.
• CV in English containing the relevant educational and professional experience.
• Signed UN Women Personal History (P11) Form including past experience in similar assignments which can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment
• Financial proposal to be sent via e-mail to turkey.procurement@unwomen.org indicating the name of the position applied in the subject line of the e-mail no later than the application deadline - Please see Annex I: Price Proposal Guideline and Template and Annex II: Price Proposal Submission Form.
When applying; the Cover Letter, CV and the signed P11 Form should be merged into one (1) single PDF document since the system will allow only to upload maximum one document. Therefore, please combine these forms and documents into one (1) single PDF document and upload them to the system.
As for the Financial Proposal, please send it separately via e-mail to turkey.procurement@unwomen.org indicating the name of the position applied in the subject line of the e-mail. Since it is to be submitted separately via e-mail, the Financial Proposal should not be uploaded to the system or be included in the merged PDF which shall consist of the applicant’s Cover Letter, CV and Signed P11 Form. Please make sure not to include the Financial Proposal in the merged PDF document.
Should they be short-listed in consideration of the consultancy, candidates should be able to quickly submit degree certificates, medical certifications or any other requested document.
Incomplete applications such as applications without a financial proposal may not be considered. Applicants are responsible to make sure to have provided all the requested application materials before the deadline.
Evaluation of Applicants
Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal. The contract will be awarded to the Consultant whose offer receives 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.
| Criteria | Total points | Max. Points |
| Technical Evaluation (70%) | 70 | |
| Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/women's studies, international development, or a related field is required. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. | 15 | |
| At least 5 years of professional work experience in the field of gender equality, women’s rights or women’s empowerment at the national or international level. (5- years 10, 5 - 10 years +5, more than 10 years +5 ) | 20 | |
| Minimum one year of experience in working with rights-based CSOs or women’s organizations is required. (1 years – 5 pts, for 1 – 5 years – 10 points, 5+ years – 15 points) | 15 | |
| Experience in preparing strategic documents, reports or briefs in the field of capacity development of CSOs is a strong asset. | 10 | |
| Experience in working with UN or EU funded actions is an asset. | 6 | |
| Fluency in written and spoken Turkish and English is required. | 4 | |
| Financial Evaluation (30%) | 30 | |
| TOTAL | 100 |
The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal 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
An interview/written test may be used as part of the evaluation procedure.
Annex I: Price Proposal Guideline and Template
The prospective Individual Consultant should take the following explanations into account during submission of his/her price proposal.
1. Daily fee
The daily price proposal should indicate a "lump sum amount" which is "all-inclusive"; All costs (professional fees, communications, consumables during field related missions, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor needs to be factored into the proposed price.
UN Women will not withhold any amount of the payments for tax and/or social security related payments. UN Women shall have no liability for taxes, duties or other similar charges payable by the Individual Contractor in respect of any amounts paid to the Individual Contractor under this Contract, and the Contractor acknowledges that UN Women will not issue any statements of earnings to the Individual contractor in respect of any such payments.
2. Travel costs
The Consultant will be responsible for all travel expenses associated with undertaking this assignment. All travels shall be coordinated with UN Women in Turkey Programme Specialist and shall be included in the total contract amount of the contractor. In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs should be agreed upon, between UN Women in Turkey and the Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed, in line with the UN Women travel policy.
3. Daily Subsistence Allowance
Not applicable.
4. Currency of the price proposal
The applicants are requested to submit their price proposals in Turkish Liras.
Annex II: Price Proposal Submission Form
To: United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
Ref:
Dear Sir / Madam,
I, the undersigned, offer to provide professional consulting services to UN Women within the scope of the referred Assignment.
Having examined, understood and agreed to the Terms of Reference and its annexes, the receipt of which are hereby duly acknowledged, I, the undersigned, offer to deliver professional services, in conformity with the Terms of Reference.
My maximum total price proposal for the assignment is given below:
| Costs | TRY |
| Daily Fee, all inclusive | |
| Total Fee for the Assignment based on the Deliverables | |
| Travel Fee | |
Domestic Flight Tickets and Transfer Cost x 5 (This is in line with the maximum estimated number of travels for this assignment. The domestic flight ticket will be from the city where the mission originated to other mission provinces. The price should reflect the fee of a round travel for 5 times as well as the transfers within the city where the mission originated and the city of mission. For each travel the Consultant will be paid for one item.) | |
Daily Substance Allowance (DSA) Cost x 15 (This is in line with the maximum estimated number of travels for this assignment. The missions may be for two days DSA or three days DSA based on the number of nights spent in the city of mission. As per UN Women guidelines; the DSA consists of accommodation (50%), breakfast (6%), lunch (12%), dinner (12%) and miscellaneous expenses (20%). The DSA fee of the Consultant should indicate the lump sum fee for accommodation, breakfast, lunch, dinner and miscellaneous expenses. The Consultant will receive reduced DSA for the items as per the percentages stated above covered within the organization provided by UN Women. Important notice: For each night away from the duty station, the Consultant will be paid one day DSA.) | |
| Total Travel Fee | |
| Total Fee (Deliverables + Travel) |
I confirm that my financial proposal will remain unchanged for 120 days. I also confirm that the price that I quote is gross, and is inclusive of all legal expenses, including but not limited to social security, income tax, pension, etc., which shall be required applicable laws.
I agree that my proposal shall remain binding upon me for 120 days.
I understand that you are not bound to accept any proposal you may receive.
[Signature]
Date:
Name:
Address:
Telephone/Fax:
Email: