Historique

Women and girls are differently and often disproportionally affected by disasters and crises, and have different and uneven levels of resilience and capacity to recover. The double impact of the 2019 earthquake and COVID 19 pandemic has meant that women’s economic empowerment will stagnate as they will be pushed further towards traditional roles and activities, including caretaking for children and elderly, family members with disabilities and engaging in agriculture to support their household 1. The earthquake in 2019 specifically shed light on Albania’s lack of preparation to respond to natural disasters in a manner that ensures the protection and support to the most vulnerable groups such as rural women, who face increased risks of losing their subsistence agriculture production; single mothers or women heads of households who are at risk of losing their homes and falling into homelessness and poverty; and women victims of domestic and/or intimate partner violence among other forms of violence. To address some of these needs, UN Women is implementing a project focused on gender-sensitive post-earthquake recovery and reconstruction[1].

Important for successful disaster recovery is to ‘build back better’, providing an opportunity to change society in a positive way. Disasters can be seen as an opportunity to improve pre-existing conditions, including gender equity. Reconstruction, therefore, should not be thought of simply as a process of replicating what has been lost, but also as an opportunity to remove structural barriers to gender equality, and support women (and men) to reconstruct or pivot their livelihoods.

Gender-sensitive value chain and market system development can be used as an effective framework to identify and develop post-crisis economic activities, alongside reducing gender-based barriers to women’s full economic participation. To build economic resilience, market and value chain development initiatives should routinely take into consideration women’s multiple roles and systemic disadvantage, and take advantage of opportunities for upgrading measures that actively promote transformation of gender norms and equal opportunities of women and men.

Approach:

The approach of the activity is one of capacity development for around twenty market systems development service providers. It is based on the ILO - The Strongest Links - A practical guide to mainstreaming gender analysis in value chain development, ILO 2007[2], and Women Inclusion and Value Chain Development in Albania Guide for Practitioners and Interested Stakeholders, USAID/PLGP 2020[3]. It will use a combination of classroom training, ‘on-the-job’ training through facilitated field visits, and post training (distance) mentoring.

The methodology is as participatory as possible (considering COVID-19 good practices) and will offer practical on-the-job training experience to analyse value chains for possible future project support, identify win-win solutions and develop concrete GSVC intervention scenarios.

Objective and outcomes and outputs:

The Objective of the assignment is to build the capacity of GSVCA practitioners and municipal staff in Albania, so they become technically equipped to effectively contribute to increasing women’s economic resilience in post-earthquake and pandemic recovery in the earthquake-affected areas.

The outcomes of the assignment are:

• Women benefit more and equally from economic reconstruction efforts.
• Women’s influence and power along chosen value chains is improved.
• Albanian service providers engaging in market system development initiatives are equipped to promote gender equality in conjunction with, and as an integral part of, improving the productivity of selected value chains.

[1] UN Women 2021: https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=97223

[2] https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/---emp_ent/documents/instructionalmaterial/wcms_106538.pdf

[3] https://www.plgp.al/wp-content/uploads/GSVCA-Training-Manual_05.02.2020_ENGLISH-1.pdf

Devoirs et responsabilités

Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager and in coordination with the National Senior WEE and LED expert, the international consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Develop the training methodology and materials – 4 days;
• Conduct 2-day classroom training in the basics of how to conduct gender sensitive value chain analysis (GSVCA) in Tirana, Albania – 4 days (including international travel);
• Conduct a 2-day field visit for data gathering and observation for GSVCA (Municipalities to be identified by UN Women Albania) – 2 days;
• Prepare and conduct 1-day classroom training to review field visit data and analysis for identification of win-win solutions for value chain upgrading - 2 days;
• Provide online support to the national WEE&LED expert in reviewing GSVCA reports, and contribute providing outlines of a selected number of GSVC win-win scenarios for future support - 4 days;
• Prepare a summary report of the consultancy including lessons learnt - 1 day.

Main Deliverables:

• Training agenda, presentations and materials;
• Feedback/report on the field visit data gathering and observation;
• Inputs to the draft GSVCA reports and outlines of a selected number of GSVC win-win scenarios for future support;
• Final consultancy report on the work conducted including lessons learnt.

Duration and remuneration:

Compétences

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:

• Excellent training/facilitation skills;
• Strong interpersonal skills;
• Strong initiative-taker;
• Ability to work in close coordination with other team members

Qualifications et expériences requises

Academic Qualifications/Education:

Master’s degree in economics, business administration, rural development, international development and/or any other related science.

Work Experience:

• Minimum 10 years of experience in economic development projects, including with a focus on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment;
• Proven experience in women’s entrepreneurship, social inclusion and developing related tools/guidance/manuals in support of programming;
• Track record of conducting capacity building internationally on gender sensitive value chain analyses, women’s enterprise development and private sector;
• Experience in engaging with variety of stakeholders: government, private sector, civil society, international development partners at the international and national levels;
• Previous experience or familiarity with the UN system or international organizations is considered an asset.

Language:

Fluency and proficiency in spoken and written English is required.

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

• Financial Proposal specifying the lumpsum in 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, travel 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.

Note: The application will be considered incomplete if it does not include the Financial Proposal.

Recommended Presentation of Offer:

Qualified and interested candidates are asked to submit their application no later than 23 May 2021:

• A Letter of Confirmation of Interest including a brief description explaining why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment.
• UN Women Personal History Form (P11) including past experience in similar assignment. Can be downloaded at: UN Women Personal History Form (P11)   
• Financial Proposal specifying the total lumpsum in US dollars (daily fee and other expenses including international travel) for the tasks specified in this assignment. Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall consider various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee, travel and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services).

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:

• Master’s degree in economics, business administration, rural development, international development and/or any other related science. (max 10 points)
• Minimum 10 years of experience in economic development projects, including with a focus on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment. (max 15 points)
• Proven experience in women’s entrepreneurship, social inclusion and developing related tools/guidance/manuals in support of programming; (max 15 points)
• Track record of conducting capacity building internationally on gender sensitive value chain analyses, women’s enterprise development and private sector; (max 15 points)
• Experience in engaging with variety of stakeholders: government, private sector, civil society, international development partners at the international and national levels; (max 10 points)
• Previous experience or familiarity with the UN system or international organizations is considered an asset. (max 5 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.