UN WOMEN Jobs - 100770- International Consultant to engage in the gender m

International Consultant to engage in the gender mainstreaming of the Draft National intersectoral Strategy for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Homebased

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

08-Aug-21 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

20 working days, from August 2021 until October 2021

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP 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.

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, the UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world.

Through its programmes and projects, UN Women is providing technical assistance to national partners (governmental and non-governmental) in the implementation of existing international and national commitments to women’s rights and gender equality, it facilitates networking and exchange of good practices and advocates for women’s rights and gender equality in all areas of life. According to its mandate, UN Women works in five thematic areas, such as leadership and participation, women’s economic empowerment, ending violence against women, women peace and security and governance and national planning fully reflect accountability for gender equality commitments. UN Women is also the lead Agency in coordinating the UN Country Team on gender equality and is chairing the UN Group on gender equality.

Rural women in Albania face many challenges to their economic security, such as: lack of financial support, a weak access to secure land rights, a limited understanding of which businesses are profitable, limited availability to enter the labor force due to disproportionate engagement in unpaid activities and, high dependence from family members. Women’s contribution to agriculture in Albania is vital, with 54 percent of employed women working in this sector. However, such contribution often remains invisible because of the high levels of informality, which often leaves them without protection or social benefits.

To address some of these challenges UN Women, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Albania, and with the support of the Government of Italy, will implement the Gender Rural Equality and Tourism (GREAT) project, a three-year initiative that will contribute to rural women’s empowerment in Albania and will strengthen women’s roles and contribution to rural development. The project will contribute to sustainable economic development of rural women in three targeted regions and their communities by increasing their income and ability to obtain work.

The project aims to develop the capacities of rural women to develop their own business, to self-organize and register as local groups and to improve their access to finance. Simultaneously, GREAT will support targeted municipalities to prioritize and promote rural women’s businesses, rural tourism and value chain development. The project will promote a policy and legislative environment to strengthen women’s economic empowerment and their access to and control over productive assets.

The project GREAT was developed based on the needs identified by UN Women and FAO in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, following recommendations of different studies and country assessments undertaken these entities. Its main goals are aligned with the priorities of the Government and the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS Tirana), in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its core principle of leaving no-one behind. UN Women is the implementing agency for this project with FAO as the main responsible party that will implement specific components. UN Women will engage relevant staff and expertise to ensure overall coordination, quality assurance, monitoring, reporting and evaluation of the project.

In this context, UN Women GREAT Project is invited to provide technical expertise to ensure that gender responsiveness is established as a clear and explicit quality marker of Albania’s NISARDF.

To support the implementation of the project, UN Women Country Office Albania is seeking to hire an International Consultant to review and integrate priority gender equality elements into the draft National intersectoral Strategy for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries (NISARDF) of Albania. The International Consultant will be supported by a Local Consultant who will conduct the work in the field under the guidance of the International Consultant.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the UN Women GREAT Project Manager, and in collaboration with MOARD and the draft strategy experts, the international consultant is responsible for performing the below key activities:

Prepare a workplan in consultation with UN Women and MoARD;
Collect relevant information and conduct desk review on key international, EU and national gender equality and women’s empowerment legal framework and standards applicable to the agriculture, rural development and fisheries sectors.
Preparation of a short Technical Note in English summarizing and highlighting the key gender equality and women’s empowerment issues that need to be addressed in NSARDF and its action plan and performance monitoring framework (maximum 2 pages, bullet points encouraged).
Engage in the revision of draft versions of the Strategy and provide inputs and recommendations to ensure alignment with international and EU standards and best practice.
Prepare short briefs, presentations and inputs to be used in meetings, consultations and other fora upon request by UN Women.
Participate in meetings, working groups and consultations and provide relevant inputs as agreed with UN Women.
Scrutinizing the NSARDF and its action plan and make relevant comments/suggestions and interventions wherever considered relevant to ensure that essential and major gender equality concerns are integrated and reflected, and there is alignment with international best practice and the EU’s and Albania’s legal and policy framework on gender equality.
In alignment with international best practice, EU’s and Albania’s legal and policy framework on gender equality, prepare a set of indicators to be proposed for integration into the draft strategy, in order to monitor progress and developments.

Main expected outputs/deliverables:

Commented versions of draft NSARDF and action plan (based on format to be requested by MoARD).
Technical Note summarizing key recommendations and proposed measures, including reference to the relevant international and national documents, and legal and policy framework in support of recommendations and measures.
List of proposed indicators and revision of other proposed indicators for measuring impact and performance from a gender perspective.

Duration

The international consultant will be contracted for a maximum of 20 (twenty) working days to perform the specified tasks from August 2021 until October 2021.

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

Functional Competencies:

Strong skills in developing, designing and preparing well-structured, logically organized guidance materials, overviews, briefs, and similar knowledge products.
Strong analytical skills and ability to synthesize straightforward and clear content from a range of complex background documents.
Ability to produce knowledge and information materials tailored to the specific target-audience and fine-tuned to the purpose and country context.
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (both oral and written).
Strong organizational and time management skills.
Demonstrated ability to interact effectively with team members.
Strong initiative-taker.
Focuses on impact and results.
Consistently approaches work with energy and with a positive, constructive, problem-solving attitude.
Capacity to work under pressure and to meet strict deadlines.

Required Skills and Experience

Education/Academic qualification:

Advanced degree in agricultural/rural studies with specialization in gender studies; additional combination with a development - related field is an advantage.

Work experience:

Minimum of 10 years of experience in gender-responsive practice/consultancy in the agriculture/rural and fisheries sector with a particular emphasis on gender mainstreaming in policies, strategic planning, programme design, and reviewing and monitoring of public policies at the central level.
Experience with guiding UN, EU, The Balkans Region and Albanian frameworks on women working and living in agriculture/rural areas.
Experience/knowledge of essential EU guidance in the agriculture/rural sector, particularly applicable in the accession and enlargement context, and related expertise in goal setting and defining relevant indicators.
Experience in working with UN, EU and other similar international organizations is an asset.

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English, both oral and written. All deliverables to be prepared and submitted in English

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

Financial Proposal specifying the daily fee in US Dollars (USD) for the tasks specified above. Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services).
Payment will be made as per the payment schedule in the contract upon (i) satisfactory completion of tasks; (ii) provision of deliverables specified in the ToRs; (iii) submission of and approval by UN Women; and (iv) submission of the certification of payment.

Recommended Presentation of Offer:

Qualified and interested candidates are asked to submit their application via email to: unwomen.albania@unwomen.org no later 8 August 2021.

A Letter of Confirmation of Interest including a brief description explaining why the individual considers her/himself as the most suitable for the assignment.
Completed and signed UN Women Personal History Form (P11) that can be downloaded at link: UN Women Personal History Form (P11) or http://www.unwomen.org/en/about- us/employment
Financial Proposal specifying the total lumpsum in US Dollars (USD) for the tasks specified in this assignment, following the instructions under the above section on Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments.

Evaluation of applicants:

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ 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.

Technical Evaluation –70 points:

Advanced degree in agricultural/rural studies with specialization in gender studies; additional combination with a development - related field is an advantage. (max 15 points)
Minimum of 10 years of experience in gender-sensitive practice/consultancy in the agriculture, rural and fisheries sectors with a particular emphasis on gender mainstreaming in national policies, strategic planning, programme design, and reviewing and monitoring of public policies. (max 20 points)
Experience with guiding UN, EU, The Ballkans region and Albanian frameworks on women working and living in agriculture/rural areas. (max 10 points)
Experience/knowledge of essential EU guidance in the agriculture/rural sector, particularly applicable in the accession and enlargement context, and related expertise in goal setting and defining relevant indicators. (max 15 points)
Experience in working with UN, EU and other similar international organizations. (max 10 points)

Financial Evaluation – 30 points

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.
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. The calculation formula applied is as follow:

p = 30 (µ/z); where: p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated; µ = price of the lowest priced proposal; z = price of the proposal being evaluated.

How to Submit the Application:

To submit your application online, please follow the steps below:

Download and complete the UN Women Personal History Form (P11)- http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment
Merge your UN Women Personal History Form (P11), the Financial Proposal, and the Letter of Confirmation of Interest into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded.
Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement).
Click 'Apply Now' button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click 'Submit Application;'
Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above).
You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.

Notes:

UN Women retains the right to contact references directly. Due to the large numbers of applications, we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.
Applications without the financial offer will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.
The individual consultants should take the mandatory learning security course prior to commencement of assignment– details will follow before the issuance of contract.