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 centre of all its efforts, the UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Based on UN legislative mandates and the UNW Strategic Plan, the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific is tasked with providing strategic programme development, policy / technical advisory services and quality assurance support to Multi Country Offices and Country Offices. It undertakes or coordinates regional research and data analysis; advises on norms, policies and strategies for achieving the internationally and regionally agreed goals related to gender equality and women’s empowerment issues. It acts as a knowledge hub at the regional level, collecting evidence on progress and emerging issues and sharing knowledge on innovative approaches and lessons learned in implementation. In addition, Afghanistan, is a leading country on women, peace and security for UN Women and 2021 is expected to bring an increased leadership role for UN Women in women’s meaningful participation in peace and uncovering the gender dimensions of conflict and its impact on women. COVID-19 has also heavily impacted Afghanistan and has arrived at a critical political juncture, including the prospect of an intra-Afghan dialogue after the signing of a peace agreement between the Taliban and the United States in February 2020. As progress hastens, including with the appointment of a negotiating team by the Government of Afghanistan, COVID-19 has also sparked worldwide calls for a ceasefire to support collective responses and solidarity to combat the virus. Today, as in the past, Afghan women leaders, activists, and civil society representatives continue to consistently and courageously advocate for their voices to be heard, their priorities to be addressed, and their agency to be recognized through inclusion and meaningful participation in processes aimed at achieving peace and stability in Afghanistan. The impact of COVID-19 on their ability to continue to influence peace and security processes, including pandemic responses, is essential to ensuring that those processes and responses protect the rights of women and respond to their evolving needs.

Building on twenty years of experience in the area of governance, women, peace and security (WPS), including conflict prevention and resolution, peacebuilding, security sector reform and access to justice, the UN Women Asia Pacific Regional Office supports the development of new projects and the implementation of existing programmes at the country level in the region. The UN Women Asia Pacific Regional Office also implements four regional programmes: Preventing Violent Extremism in Asia, Enhancing women’s role in law enforcement and border security to prevent trafficking in persons, transnational organized crime and terrorism in ASEAN Countries, Promoting Women’s Peace and Security in the Digital World and Enhancing Women’s Access to Justice. ROAP also works closely with UN Women Philippines and Sri Lanka presence offices to support Women Peace and Security projects. In Afghanistan, UN Women is delivering on women, peace and security through both external and internal processes, including collaborating and supporting women and women civil society’s meaningful participation in peace, developing and deepening gendered understandings of conflict to advance the WPS agenda amongst the international and national community of actors. 

In this context, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific seeks to hire a consultant to support implementation and development of programming on Governance, Peace and Security in the Asia and Pacific Region and provide technical support to the Afghanistan Country Office.

Under the supervision and guidance of the Programme Management Specialist, Governance, Peace and Security, the consultant will undertake the following tasks:

• Support development of new areas of work on Governance, Peace and Security in the Asia Pacific Region, including through drafting of project proposals and documents, and providing support to UN Women country offices.
• Provide support to communications, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting. This includes creation of stories, online communications materials, briefs and talking points; preparation and finalization of knowledge resources; collection and analysis of data, results monitoring, drafting of programme reports, and supporting partner monitoring.
• Support implementation of programmes on Governance, Peace and Security in the Asia Pacific Region.
• Support the development and furtherance of policy and normative content, including through presenting at conferences on UN Women’s work.

• No.	Tasks & Deliverables	Target dates
  1	Support the gender sensitive conflict analysis exercise in Afghanistan.   Deliverable: A report that summarizes the inputs, framing and drafting provided to the gender sensitive conflict analysis exercise.	31 December 2020
  2	Provide support to the project on Preventing Violent Extremism in Asia implemented in ROAP, Bangladesh and the Philippines with a specific focus on supporting the Philippines component with input provided to programme proposals, concept notes, speeches, and presentations.   Deliverable: Drafts of at least one programme proposal, one concept note, one speech and one presentation related to PVE in Asia.	31 January 2021
  3	Provide support to the project on Enhancing women’s role in law enforcement and border security to prevent trafficking in persons, transnational organized crime, and terrorism in ASEAN Countries through input provided to programme proposals, concept notes, speeches, and presentations.   Deliverable: Drafts of at least one programme proposal, one concept note, one speech and one presentation related to Enhancing women’s role in law enforcement in South-East Asia.	28 February 2021
  4	Support the project on the normalization process towards peace and security in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in the Philippines through input provided to programme proposals, concept notes, speeches, and presentations. Deliverables: Drafts of at least one programme proposal, one concept note, one speech and one presentation related to the normalization process towards peace and security in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in the Philippines.	31 March 2021
  5	Support the development and finalization of an internal analysis on the gendered impacts of conflict in Afghanistan   Deliverables: Draft of the internal analysis on the gendered impacts of conflict in Afghanistan	30 April 2021
  6	Support the development and finalization of a report on the gendered impacts of conflict in Afghanistan for publication   Deliverables:  The public research on the gendered impacts of conflict in Afghanistan with track changes of suggested edits before publication	31 May 2021

  *Payment will be made upon submission of deliverables and approval of the Programme Specialist –Governance, Peace and Security

  VI. Contract period and work location

   

  The consultant will be home-based unless conditions in 2021 allow in-person activities. Travel throughout the Asia Pacific region might require. Travel related expenses for Consultant’s mission as indicated in the Terms of Reference or to and from duty station will be paid by UN Women.

Core Values and Competencies

In addition to requirements and qualifications, it is important that the intern shares the core values and core competencies of the organization.

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

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the United Nations' values and ethical standards.
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the UN and UN Women.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
• Ability and willingness to work as part of a team to meet tight deadlines and produce high quality work.

Qualification and experience

• Master’s degree in gender studies, international affairs, and/or any relevant field directly related to gender and Peace, Security and Governance.
• Minimum five years of relevant work experience with a demonstrable ability and knowledge to provide policy and programmatic support in the areas of governance, peace, and security. ?
• Experience writing project proposals and policy briefs.
• Previous experience with UN Women and other UN agencies.
• Experience in Afghanistan is an advantage.
• Knowledge of online communications platforms is essential.
• Excellent command of written English, knowledge of other UN official languages is an asset.

• 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 applications, with evaluation of the technical application 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 allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

   

  Technical Evaluation Criteria	Obtainable             Score
  1. Education Master’s degree in gender studies, international affairs, and/or any relevant field directly related to gender and Peace, Security and Governance.	20%
  2. Experience and skills   Minimum five years of relevant work experience with a demonstrable ability to provide policy and programmatic support in the areas of governance, peace and security. Experience writing project proposals and policy briefs. Previous experience with UN Women and other UN agencies an advantage.	60 %
  3. Language and report writing skills Excellent command of written English, with proven report writing experience. Other UN languages an asset. (to be assessed through writing sample)	20 %
  Total Obtainable Score	100 %

   

  Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically qualified candidates who may be contacted for validation 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 allocated 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 technical 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.

        Submission of application

• Interest candidates are encouraged to submit electronic application to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org  with cc to nichapa.athipan@unwomen.org , not later than 26 November 2020, 23:59 Bangkok time.

   

  Submission package includes:

   

• Updated CV, P11
• Writing sample
• Financial proposal: the financial proposal shall specify a lump sum total amount breaking down the daily professional fee, proposed number of working days.
• Please see the financial proposal template as below:

•  

  Items	Amount (USD)
  Lump Sum fee (equivalent to daily fee x no. of days)
  A report that summarizes the inputs, framing and drafting provided to the gender sensitive conflict analysis exercise.
  Drafts of at least one programme proposal, one concept note, one speech and one presentation related to PVE in Asia.
  Drafts of at least one programme proposal, one concept note, one speech and one presentation related to Enhancing women’s role in law enforcement in South-East Asia.
  Drafts of at least one programme proposal, one concept note, one speech and one presentation related to the normalization process towards peace and security in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in the Philippines
  Draft of the internal analysis on the gendered impacts of conflict in Afghanistan
  The public research on the gendered impacts of conflict in Afghanistan with track changes of suggested edits before publication
  2. Others (please provide details as applicable)
  Total Financial Proposal

   

  Payments

   

  Payments for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of each deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed. Payments will not be based on the number of days worked but on the completion of each stated deliverable within the indicated timeframes.