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.

The regional programme “Ending Violence against Women in the Western Balkans and Turkey: Implementing Norms, Changing Minds” aims to end gender-based discrimination and violence against women (EVAW) in the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia and Serbia) and Turkey, with a particular focus on the most disadvantaged groups of women.

The programme is anchored in the normative frameworks of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (also known as the Istanbul Convention), and is also in alignment with European Union (EU) accession standards. The programme is funded by the European Commission within the Instrument for Pre- Accession Assistance (IPA) II.

The programme supports the development of an enabling legislative and policy environment on eliminating VAW and all forms of discrimination; promotes favourable social norms and attitudes to prevent gender discrimination and VAW; and pursues the empowerment of women and girls (including those from disadvantaged groups) who have experienced discrimination or violence to advocate for and use available, accessible, and quality services. The programme channels its interventions through and for civil society organizations (CSOs), and in particular to women’s CSOs, with an emphasis on those working and representing women from minorities and disadvantaged groups.

The programme also provides an avenue for exchanges between CSOs working on achieving gender equality, encouraged by the “partnership” principle of EU programmes, and promotes cooperation among women's CSOs. In this regard, the programme supports the work of well-established organizations, and aims to strengthen CSOs’ capacities in terms of programming, networking, behavioural science, strategic communications and advocacy.

Addressing gender-based discrimination and violence against women requires comprehensive, coordinated, and sustained actions in different areas, including legislation, service provision, awareness-raising, and attitudinal and behavioral change. Gender-based discrimination and violence against women are complex phenomena that can only be understood within the wider social context, including the social and cultural norms that permeate it. Community attitudes and reactions regarding violence against women reflect these norms and play an important role in shaping the social climate in which discrimination and violence occur. Comprehending attitudes towards gender inequality and violence against women is key to better understanding its root causes and, therefore, developing more effective intervention measures to eliminate it.

In order to address this issue, the regional programme created the “Gender Lab” to develop and test innovative strategies and solutions that contribute to the promotion of gender equality and the prevention of violence against women in selected communities. Thus, the programme seeks to design, test, implement, and measure small-scale interventions aimed at inducing specific behavioural change within targeted communities.

With a view to increase CSOs’ and policy makers’ knowledge to develop, implement and measure interventions to address harmful gender stereotypes and contribute to behavioral change towards the elimination of violence against women and girls, UN Women is seeking to engage an international consultant. The international consultant will be responsible to build CSOs’ and policy makers capacities on behavioral science and applying it to prevent and end violence against women and girls.

Duties and Responsibilities

2. Objectives of the Consultancy

The Consultant will develop and implement a Behavioural Science capacity building programme to be delivered remotely. Specifically, she/he will develop and deliver at least six sessions for programme CSOs partners and policy makers to understand behavioural science fundamentals and apply behavioural insights while designing and implementing interventions aiming to EVAW in the region. The consultant is also expected to present good practices with behaviourally informed policy work, with a special focus on gender equality and violence against women.

The anticipated outcomes are:

• Strengthened programme CSOs partners’ and selected policymakers’ understanding of behavioural science and its application in EVAW programming.
• Enhanced capacity building programme participants’ knowledge and capabilities in applying behavioural insights in EVAW programming – particularly through support to CSOs, and implementation of policies at local and community levels.
• Increased knowledge on the effectiveness of behavioural insights in EVAW programming at a regional scale, through analysis and extraction of learning and examples of failure and success.
• Strengthened programme CSOs partners’ capacities in developing and implementing behavioural change communications campaigns and tools to measure them.

3. Supervision

The Consultant will work under the direct supervision of UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office’s Regional EVAW Specialist/Programme Manager and in close cooperation with the programme Communications and Advocacy Expert.

4. Key Functions and Activities

The selected Consultant will:

• Develop 6 sessions on behavioural change towards EVAW and gender equality for CSOs partners and selected policy-makers. This will inter alia include:
  • Develop a training material on behavioural change fundamentals, tools, and methods, including measurement tools, how they can improve an EVAW intervention and what we can learn from it.
  • Conduct 6 participatory on-line sessions on implementing behavioural change initiatives.

• Conduct a rapid assessment that will include key findings and recommendations to inform further work.

5. Key Deliverables and Timeline

The following key deliverables will be required in the tentative timeline below.

Notes:

• All above deliverables will be submitted in English
• Most of this consultancy is expected to be home-based. Consultant is expected to provide written and verbal technical support using Skype/email/phone as needed, including calls for advice and training; written feedback on documents; and provision of relevant tools and materials to the grantee.

Competencies

6. Competencies

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent oral and written skills in English
• Able to communicate effectively with and relate to people of different cultures, demonstrating an ability to see issues from other perspectives
• Ability to use critical thinking, conceptualize ideas, and articulate relevant subject matter in a clear and concise way
• Good inter-personal and diplomacy skills
• Able to lead, manage, work independently and in a team
• Good planning, goal setting and prioritization skills
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities
• Adheres to a human rights approach in engaging with all persons
• Strong ability to adapt and manage challenges and changes as they arise
• Proven track record of delivering on commitments

Core values and Guiding principles

Integrity:

• Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct

Professionalism:

• Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:

• Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff and stakeholders
• Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

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

Required Skills and Experience

7. Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s Degree or equivalent professional experience in Psychology, Sociology, Economics, Political Science, International Development Studies, Gender/Women's Studies or a related fields.

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of relevant professional experience in behavioural insights;
• Minimum 5 years of relevant professional experience in capacity building interventions;
• Minimum 5 years of expertise in programme or policy design, implementation of gender equality interventions;
• Experience working with civil society organizations;
• Experience in working on gender and women’s issues, particularly in the area of economic empowerment is an asset; and
• Experience in working with the United Nations/UN Women on similar type projects considered an advantage.

Languages:

Fluency in written and spoken English is required.

8. Application procedure:

The following documents should be submitted as part of the application:

• UN Women P11 form with past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment. A signed copy should be submitted.
• Financial Proposal Specify a total lump sum amount for the deliverables specified in this Terms of Reference. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount by deliverables indicated in this ToR.

9. Evaluation of applicants:

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:

1. Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
2. 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.

Financial Evaluation (30%) – max. 30 points:

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