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.

UN Women maintains a large presence throughout Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region, covering 12 countries, with program presence in Kosovo*, Serbia, Tajikistan and North Macedonia; and country offices in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkey and Ukraine.

UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (the “ECARO”) has positioned GRB (Gender Responsive Budgeting) as one of the priority areas in which the ECARO has unique technical expertise grounded in the combined technical skills that has been cultivated with respect to budgetary processes including GRB and the overarching expertise and credibility the Office has with respect to GEWE. Furthermore, this work is in line with global Strategic Plan 2018–2021 under Outcome 2: Women lead, participate in and benefit equally from governance systems.

Over the past years, through the technical and financial support UN Women different initiatives have been carried out in Western Balkans’ countries with the goal of strengthening democratic governance and advance women’s rights aiming at mainstreaming gender in policy planning and budgeting. As result, gender responsive budgeting has increasingly been recognized as important tool for advancing de facto gender equality, supporting the SDGs, the 2030 Agenda and other global goals as well as for contributing to the achievements of the commitments of the Western Balkans under the Gender Action Plan in the EU External Relations 2016-2020.

In order to deepen the work previously done, launch new initiatives and ensure sustainability of the interventions on GRB, UN Women initiated a regional program with participation of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Serbia and North Macedonia “Transformative Financing for Gender Equality towards more Transparent, Inclusive and Accountable Governance in the Western Balkans” (2020-2024). The main program approach will be transformative financing as an enabler factor for policy and financing actions to accelerate implementation of existing national and international commitments on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the in Western Balkans. The program includes activities focused on enhancing the institutionalization of GRB at central level and local level.

The program is structured around two outcomes:

• By 2024, national and local governments apply gender responsive budgeting to integrate gender equality principles in public financing processes
• By 2024 public oversight bodies CSOs, women including the disadvantaged, demand transparency and accountability of public policies and budgets to gender equality processes

Within the scope of the project, UN Women will for the first time in the region will extend the technical support on GRB not only to the National Assemblies/Parliaments, but to other oversight bodies such as The Ombudsperson, the Commissioner for Protection Against Discrimination and Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI). Awareness raising workshops on GE and GRB will be delivered to all these institutions contributing to the  goal of making them more gender sensitive and have them use gender lens while executing their duties and responsibilities.

Informed and guided by INTOSAI principles, international standards and guidance, UN Women’s support to SAIs will increase capacities of officials to apply a gender lens to audits and holding governments accountable on GE.

*For UN Women, references to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of UN Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).

For the European Union, this designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UN Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

2. Scope of work:

UN Women ECA RO seeks to recruit one International Consultant for undertaking gender auditing related tasks and responsibilities within the scope of the above-mentioned GRB Regional Project entitled “Transformative Financing for Gender Equality towards more Transparent, Inclusive and Accountable Governance in the Western Balkans”. The overall objective of the consultancy is to strengthen the capacities of the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI), in Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, in mainstreaming gender in their audit work. More specifically, the aim is to contribute to make SAIs becoming more gender responsive in conducting gender audits and audits on gender equality policies and programmes implemented by state institutions. To this end, a team of national consultants, together with the national GRB coordinators in Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo are working directly with SAIs, and will support the work of the International Consultant. The International Consultant will be working in coordination with another international consultant and is expected to take into account different types of public sector external audits such as performance, compliance, financial audits and strategize in line with the requirements of the project implementing countries.

A Practice Guide to Auditing  Gender Equality that will be drafted within the scope of the project will be made available to the International Consultant for his/her final inputs and contribution to finalization. This Practice Guide to Auditing  Gender Equality will guide the other tasks explained in this ToR.

3. Tasks and Responsibilities:

Under the supervision of the Regional GRB Programme Manager and GRB country project coordinators, the International Consultant will be responsible for the below listed tasks. The content of the work for all the tasks will take into consideration feedbacks of the country teams, international literature, International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAIs); INTOSAI Development Initiatives  gender policy and strategy documents, take into consideration different types of public sector external audits such as performance, compliance, financial audits; reflect on mainstreaming the principle of Leaving No One Behind; make connections with auditing implementation of selected  country specific SDGs where relevant and informed by the national laws, regulations and practices in project implementation countries.

It is expected that the below tasks will be conducted (a) in line with the Practice Guide to Auditing Gender Equality that will be developed within the context of the project, (b) in coordination with the other international expert and (c) with the support of the national experts.

• Contribution to the finalization of the Practice Guide to Auditing Gender Equality: The Practice Guide to Auditing Gender Equality will be prepared within the scope of the project. The International Expert is expected to provide input, revisions where necessary during the drafting period and agree on the final product
• Delivering 6 trainings for public officials in SAIs in in Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo: The International Consultant, with the support of the national experts and in coordination with the other international expert is expected to deliver 3 trainings in Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo.
  • 3 two-day-trainings on the Practice Guide to Auditing Gender Equality in each country is expected to be delivered in cooperation with the national experts. These trainings will be held virtually.
  • 3 two-day follow-up trainings on Practice Guide to Auditing Gender Equality and its application in each country is expected to be delivered in cooperation with the national experts. It is preferred to hold these trainings face-to-face.
• Mentoring of country SAIs in coordination with country experts and project teams: The International Consultant together with the national experts will provide mentoring to SAIs on gender mainstreaming and GRB work in accordance with the needs and requirements of SAIs for transforming SAIs into gender responsive institutions. This work will be in line with INTOSAI Development Initiatives gender policy and strategy documents.
• Participation to one virtual and one in-person regional workshop organized by UN Women. The international experts is expected to contribute to the discussions and facilitate sessions as needed.

4. Expected deliverables:

5. Reporting

Under direct supervision of UN Women Regional GRB Programme Manager and GRB country project coordinators, the International consultant will develop and deliver the above listed deliverables in accordance with the indicative timeframe.

All deliverables of an acceptable standard and quality should be submitted to the UN Women in English.

6. Competencies

Core Values/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 Consultant knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
• Cultural sensitivity and respect for diversity - Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Additionally, the individual should have an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Accountability – Takes ownership of all responsibilities and delivers outputs in accordance with agreed time, cost and quality standards.
• Inclusive Collaboration, Teamwork - Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
• Planning & Organizing – Develops clear goals in line with agreed strategies, identifies priorities, foresees risks, and makes allowances accordingly.
• Organizational Awareness - Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:  http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning

• Good knowledge of one or more of the following: SAIs and SAI’s work, PFM, gender mainstreaming and/or gender responsive budgeting; different type of audit experience
• Excellent level of conceptual and analytical capacity;
• Ability to write in a clear and concise manner and to communicate effectively in English;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Meets deadlines for delivery of products or services;
• Able to work virtually, using communication technologies;
• Strong analytical, communication and interpersonal skills;
• Strong IT skills, including databases, extranet and office software package.
• Ability to adapt all materials and deliver online training instead of in-person training.

Leadership and Self-Management

•     Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback
•     Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
•     Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure
•     Proven networking skills and ability to generate interest in UN Women’s mandate
•     Identifies opportunities and builds strong partnerships with clients and partners

7. Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree in gender, public policy, PFM, finance and accounting, social studies, or closely related fields relevant to the requirements of the TOR.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of experience in design and delivering gender and/or external audit and/or PFM related participatory and interactive training programs for practitioners
• Proven experience in working with SAIs and/or international expert organizations in the field of PFM and/or auditing and/or GRB.
• Proven experience in developing methodologies and/or frameworks and/or handbooks on public sector external auditing.
• Experience in working in the Western Balkan countries covered by the project will be considered as an advantage.
• Familiarity with GRB is considered an advantage

Languages and other skills: 

• Proficient in written and oral English;
• Strong writing and communication skills.

8. Evaluation of Applicants

UN Women applies a fair and transparent selection process. Applicants will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications/skills and their financial proposal. Contract will be awarded to the individual consultants whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive to and compliant with the requirements of the ToR; and
• Having received the highest score out of below combined technical and financial criteria.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 30

S - score received on financial evaluation;

Fmin - the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round;

F - financial offer under the consideration.

9. Duration and remuneration

The international consultant will be engaged for a up to 51 working days during the period of

July 2021  to 31 September 2022  (with a possibility of extension). Deliverables from the consultant will be reviewed and approved by UN Women before they are considered final. UN Women will process the payment of consultancy fee in two instalments:

• I instalment - 60% upon submission and approval of deliverables 1,2
• II instalment - 40% upon submission and approval of deliverables 3,4,5

Consultancy will be home-based and travelling is foreseen.

10. Application:

Interested individual consultants are requested to apply electronically through the following link: http://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm  no later than 19 July 2021 and to submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• Financial Proposal Specifying a total lump sum and daily rate amount for the tasks specified in this Terms of Reference). The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount. Travel (tickets, DSA etc.) should not be included in the lump sum and will be paid for separately by UN Women
• Completed UN Women Personal History (P11) form, that can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment.
• UN Women applies fair and transparent selection process that would take into account the competencies/skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals.
• Candidates should have the ability to quickly produce degree certificates and medical certification (of good health) should they be short-listed in consideration of the consultancy post
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for further steps.