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.

UN Women Indonesia Country Office (CO) includes the ASEAN liaison office function to extend support to ASEAN and its Member States in advancing Women Peace and Security (WPS) agenda in line with global normative frameworks. UN Women in partnership with Global Affairs Canada (GAC) is implementing the regional project, “Empowering Women for Sustainable Peace: preventing violence and promoting social cohesion in ASEAN” (Advancing WPS in ASEAN).  The project aims to support ASEAN Member States to advance and strengthen WPS agenda, including through preventing violence against women and girls and promoting social cohesion in the region. The programme will ultimately contribute to the achievement of gender equality through inclusive and sustainable peace and development in the region.

The WPS agenda was formally initiated by the landmark UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), which was adopted on 31 October 2000. UNSCR 1325 reaffirmed the important role of women in prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peace-building initiatives. It stresses the need for women’s equal participation and full involvement in all efforts to maintain and promote peace and security. UNSCR 1325 also urges all stakeholders to take action to increase the participation of women and calls on the UN member states to incorporate gender perspectives into all of its peace and security agenda. It also calls on stakeholders to take special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse, in situations of armed conflict.

ASEAN Member States have taken greater strides in promoting the WPS agenda as shown in the ASEAN Regional Study on Women, Peace and Security released in 2021. One of the recommendations arising from the Study is the development of the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action (RPA) on WPS to strengthen the commitment in advancing WPS among ASEAN and ASEAN Member States (AMS) following the adoption of the Joint Statement on Promotion of WPS in ASEAN (2017).

Against this backdrop, the RPA-WPS was adopted by the ASEAN Leaders at the ASEAN Summit in November 2022. It includes a number of priority actions following the four pillars of the UNSCR 1325 and contextualizes peace and security challenges in Southeast Asia with a focus on enhancing the meaningful participation and leadership of women in peace and security sectors, including the UN Peacekeeping Operation, law enforcement institutions; strengthening protection of women and girls and promoting efforts around gender-responsive conflict prevention, including building social cohesion and community resilience to face emerging security challenges, such as the pandemic, cybersecurity, violent extremism among others. The RPA-WPS also has a strong focus on relief and recovery pillar, which includes the response to non-traditional security concerns such as climate change, disasters, and pandemics.[1]

As a follow-up to the adoption of the RPA-WPS, ASEAN and AMS have demonstrated a strong commitment to implementing the RPA-WPS and its localization and complementary efforts at the national level.  The Government of Cambodia as Chair of ASEAN and the Chair of the ASEAN WPS advisory group is among the lead ASEAN Member States to shepherd the formulation of the Regional Plan of Action on WPS under the leadership of ASEAN Committee on Women (ACW) and ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women  (ACWC) in close collaboration and consultation with 11 ASEAN sectoral bodies and institutions from all three ASEAN Community Pillars. 2023 is the first year of the implementation of the RPA, Cambodia will continue to Chair the ASEAN WPS advisory group which will transform into the coordination mechanism to oversee the implementation of RPA-WPS. It will also work closely with Indonesia Chair of ASEAN in 2023 to identify regional and national flagship initiatives for the implementation of RPA in 2023 and beyond. Cambodia has requested support from UN Women to continue to provide technical support in continuing this role and to firmly establish the coordination and the baseline, monitoring and reporting mechanisms for implementation of the RPA WPS.

[1] See, ASEAN, ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on Women Peace and Security (2022), available at https://asean.org/book/asean-regional-plan-of-action-on-women-peace-and-security/

Objectives and scope of the assignment

The main objective of this consultancy is to support ACW Cambodia, the Chair of ASEAN WPS advisory group to oversee the implementation of RPA-WPS.

Under the overall guidance of ACW Cambodia in close coordination with the ASEAN Governance, Peace and Security Lead and Project Coordination Specialist ASEAN WPS, the Senior Gender Advisor will perform the following tasks in close collaboration with ASEAN Secretariat and ASEAN Advisory Group on the Implementation of RPA-WPS:

• Provide overall strategic advice on both procedural and substantive matters to ACW Cambodia for the first year of establishing the coordination mechanism to oversee the implementation of RPA-WPS to ensure consensus building and garner support across all the three ASEAN Community Pillars
• Technical support for ACW Cambodia in coordinating with the ASEAN Secretariat, UN Women, Regional Consultants/experts and related partners to ensure coherent coordination with Indonesia Chair to implement key priority actions under the RPA-WPS as per the work plan in 2023 endorsed by the ASEAN Advisory Group.
• Support ACW Cambodia’s role as a chair of the WPS advisory group,  by supporting regional coordination meetings, for the implementation of the 2023 work plan. This will include the development of talking points, presentations, identification of potential flagship initiatives, provision of inputs/comments to products expected to be developed in 2023 (baseline study, monitoring and reporting mechanism, Terms of reference of the Advisory Group),  regular communication with UN Women, the ASEAN Secretariat and partners and provision of the strategic direction of the implementation of the RPA, socialisation and advocacy plan, among others.
• Provision of strategic and technical support to ACW Cambodia to localise the RPA WPS in Cambodia by developing a roadmap
• Provide strategic and technical support to ACW Cambodia, including substantive drafting speeches, remarks and reports related to advancing WPS in ASEAN and to the RPA on WPS at various platforms as part of building momentum and advocacy for WPS agenda within the ASEAN regional inter-governmental processes and beyond.

Deliverables and Duration of Assignment

All the deliverables, including annexes, notes and reports should be submitted in writing in English.

The time required for the consultancy is estimated at a maximum of 100 working days within the period indicated.  The consultant will be engaged under a retainer contract, which facilitates direct engagement of the consultant depending on need and availability (as per the request by ACW Cambodia) within the contract period for a pre-agreed fee.

UN Women will not be committed to purchasing any minimum quantity of the Services, and purchases will be made only if there is an actual requirement upon the issuance of a Purchase Order based on this retainer contract.  UN Women shall not be liable for any cost in the event that no purchases are made under this retainer contract.

The expected number of workdays for each deliverable will be discussed between the consultant and UN Women on a case-by-case basis. Payment will be made upon satisfactory completion of a deliverable or as agreed between the consultant and UN Women. 

Expected Deliverables

The following indicative deliverables are expected from the successful candidate.

Upon receipt of the deliverables and prior to the payment, the deliverables and related reports and documents will be reviewed and approved by UN Women. The period of review is one week after receipt.

Inputs

• UN Women will provide the Consultant with background materials relevant to the assignment

• The Consultant is expected to work using his/ her computer.
• UN Women will directly cover travel costs as per UN Women’s rules and regulations

Performance evaluation:

Consultant’s performance will be evaluated as per the tasks requested by Cambodia based on timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the services and tasks delivered.

Competencies

Core Values:

Respect for Diversity

Integrity

Professionalism

Core Competencies:

Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues

Accountability

Creative Problem Solving

Effective Communication

Stakeholder Engagement

Leading by Example

Functional Competencies:

Excellent analytical skills

Strong networking skills

Strong inter-personal skills, communicate effectively with staff at all levels of the organization

Ability to work in a highly pressured environment 

Required experience and qualifications

The Consultant should fulfil the following requirements:

Education

• Master’s degree in Political Science or Social Science, Gender Studies, International Development

Experience:

• At least 10 years of experience in the field of gender and development, preferably in the Asia-Pacific region 
• Experiences in the issues of women peace and security in the context of ASEAN regional inter-governmental process is an advantage 
• Proven experience facilitating high-level consultative workshops for ASEAN government representatives, dialogue partners, institutions, and civil society organisations (CSOs) in Southeast Asia
• Experiences in providing policy advice and technical assistance on governance and women, peace and security to government institutions, preferably in the ASEAN region
• Experience in influencing the agenda setting/priorities of government in Southeast Asia related to the advancement of gender equality and empowerment of women and girls is desirable
• Knowledge of the Southeast Asia context related to WPS.
• Previous work experience working with high-level government officials in ASEAN would be a strong asset

Language and other skills:

• Proficiency in oral and written English
• Proficiency in any of the ASEAN national languages will be an advantage
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, Internet and email. 
• Excellent facilitation skills

Submission of application

Interested candidates are requested to submit an electronic application no later than 31 January 2023

Submission of package

1. Letter of Interest containing the statement on candidate’s experience in the field of recruitment
2. Updated CV.
3. P11 including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs
4. Financial proposal. The financial proposal shall specify a daily consultancy rate (inclusive of any costs as communication, administrative costs and expenses related to the consultancy). All prices/rates quoted must be exclusive of all taxes.

Applications without any of the items listed above will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further processing.

Please note that only short-listed candidates will be invited to the interview.

Selected candidates will need to submit prior to the commencement of work:

1. A copy of the latest academic certificate
2. UN Women P-11 form, available via  http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment

Evaluation

Applications will be evaluated based on the Cumulative analysis.

• Technical Qualification (100 points) weight; [70%]
• Financial Proposal (100 points) weight; [30%]

A two-stage procedure is utilised in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

The total number of points allotted for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Only the candidates who meet the minimum requirements will be longlisted, and additional documentation may be requested. Candidates with a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically qualified candidates and will be shortlisted for interview.

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points allotted for the price component is 100.
• The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technically qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.