Antecedentes

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (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 provides support to Member States’ efforts and priorities in meeting their gender equality goals and for building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

 In support of this goal, UN Women Ukraine works in the following thematic areas:

• Making gender equality priorities central to national reforms, governance, planning and budgeting
• Ending violence against women and girls; and
• Strengthening implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda

In response to the expressed need and in line with the global UN Women mandate, UN Women Ukraine implements several initiatives aimed to support the justice system with a particular focus on the implementation of the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Over the last 30 years CEDAW has evolved from being just an international standard, to being a standard that is integrated into national constitutions, laws and policies. Through this process CEDAW’s provisions have become fully actionable and began to make real changes in women’s lives. As such, CEDAW has great significance as a statement of global commitment on gender equality. But its greatest importance is as a concrete, practical tool for advancing the gender equality agenda at national level. Ukraine ratified CEDAW in March 1981 and the Optional Protocol to the Convention in September 2003. The latest Eighth State Periodic Report was reviewed by the CEDAW Committee in February 2017 and since then the Government has been implementing the Concluding Observations.

UN Women Supports the process through the “CEDAW in Action!” project (2017 -2019). However, when considering CEDAW implementation and women’s access to justice it is important to look beyond the physical availability of a court but also consider:

• Access to a fair and equitable set of laws
• Access to formal and informal justice systems that provide unbiased interpretation of these laws
• Access to education about laws and legal processes; and
• Access to legal aid.

As a part of its Country Strategy, UN Women Ukraine intends to further expand its support to the Government in enhancing the gender-responsiveness of the justice system through the ongoing judiciary reform, with a particular focus on the implementation of the CEDAW Concluding Observations (2017). Therefore, the CEDAW Committee recommended that Ukraine implements measures to “(a) Continue its efforts to combat corruption and reform and strengthen the judicial system including through the provision of systematic capacity-building to judges, prosecutors, lawyers, the police and other law enforcement officials on the Convention, as well as on the Committee’s general recommendations and its jurisprudence under the Optional Protocol; (b) Remove any possible barriers to women’s access to justice, including by ensuring free legal aid and waiving court costs for women without sufficient means;  (c) Allocate sufficient resources to the legal assistance fund as well to non-governmental organizations facilitating women’s access to justice; (d) Enhance women’s awareness of their rights and their legal literacy in all areas covered by the Convention, to enable them to claim their rights.”[1]

To address the gaps, UN Women will actively seek cooperation with civil society and donor organisations supporting judiciary reform to ensure alignment with the current project and advocate for the need to reform justice sector institutions to enhance their ability to promote and protect women’s human rights and fully implement the CEDAW and the other relevant human rights treaties.

UN Women Ukraine Office seeks the services of a qualified and experienced National Consultant to provide technical assistance in gathering the background information and organizing a series of the stakeholders consultations to support the formulation of the programmatic action for the country strategy’s Output “Justice actors have increased capacity to deliver gender-responsive justice and respond to the impunity for the violations of women’s rights in Ukraine”. The Consultant will work in partnership with the International Consultant on Gender Equality and Justice, and the team of the UN Women project “CEDAW in Action!” funded by the government of Canada.

[1] Concluding observations on the eighth periodic report of Ukraine, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, CEDAW/C/UKR/CO/8, 3 March 2017

Deberes y responsabilidades

Scope of Work/Duties and Responsibilities               

Under the overall guidance of the UN Women Country Programme Manager/Head of Office and Programme Coordinator, the National Consultant will support the development of the programme action, which will include, but will not be limited to the following tasks:

• Collection of materials on the gender and justice in Ukraine, human rights treaty reports and concluding observations, Universal Periodic Review (2017) and the other related materials, as well as their analysis;
• Participate in the regular skype and face-to-face meetings with the UN Women Ukraine team to plan and coordinate the assignment-related activities (prior, during and after the mission of the international consultant to Ukraine);
• Provide suggestions for the consultations with the key national, regional and local stakeholders and facilitate organization of the meetings;
• Undertake a mission to one of the regions (up 3 days) for the meetings with the stakeholders at the regional (oblast), rayon and community level (the region to be visited will be identified jointly with the international consultant at the initial stage of the assignment);
• Participate in the meetings with the key judiciary stakeholders, national authorities, Ombudsperson, Parliament, Center/s of legal aid provision, civil society, UN Agencies and key international partners working in the area of justice;
• Provide inputs to a brief background/situation analysis for the programme action
• Submit a final report summarizing the implemented activities with an annex of stakeholders consulted.

Assignment Deliverables:

1.    A draft plan of the activities submitted – 10 days, by 22 February 2018.

2.    A draft project document and a brief summary report on the implementation of the related activities submitted – 10 days, by 1 April 2018.

TOTAL – 20 days

• The report should be submitted in English language; 
• The Consultant is expected to work remotely using her/his own computer, but may access the UN Women office for printing of relevant documents or should he/she be required to work on-site at any point during the assignment. 

Performance evaluation:

• Contractor’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered. The evaluation will be carried out and cleared by the hiring manager, which will also be the basis for payment on a delivery-by-delivery basis to the consultant.

Financial arrangements:  

• Payment will be disbursed in two instalments upon receipt of the deliverables (as detailed above) and their certification by the UN Women Programme Coordinator that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

Competencias

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: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Qualifications Education:

• Master degree (or equivalent) in law, international law, human rights, social sciences, international relations, or a related field

Experience:               

• A minimum of 3 years of experience in international law, human rights and gender equality

• Experience in policy analysis in the area of justice, human rights and gender equality

• Wrking experience with judiciary, development or government agency

• Understanding of gender equality, human rights and justice

• Familiarity with UN Women and UN system would be an asset.

Languages and other skills: 

• Proficient English and Ukrainian;

• Excellent writing skills, oral and written communications;

• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, IT tools, ability to use Internet and email.

  Evaluation of Applicants:

  Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of their qualifications and financial proposal. A two-stage procedure is utilized in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. The award of the contract should be made to the individuals whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical criteria 70% of total evaluation – max 70 points for technical criteria. Total max 70 points:

• The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 70. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on a desk review and the following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Criterion A – Relevant education:

• Master degree (or equivalent) in law, international law, human rights, social sciences, international relations, or a related field (10 pts- Master’s degree; 9 pts- Bachelor’s degree)

Criterion B – Language skills:

• Proficient knowledge of English and Ukrainian – 10 pts;

Criterion C – Relevant Experience with total for all of the following criterion (50 pts) including:

A minimum of 3 years of experience in international law, human rights and gender equality – 10 pts

Experience in policy analysis in the area of justice, human rights and gender equality – 20 pts

Working experience with judiciary, development or government agency – 10 pts

Understanding of gender equality, human rights and justice – 10 pts

Total Obtainable Score – 70 points.

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation will be further considered and evaluated.

• The total number of points allocated for the financial/price component is 30.

• 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 49 points in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

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).

The candidate’s application should include: 

• A?brief Letter of Interest containing the statement on candidate’s experience in the field of recruitment. Completed and signed UN Women Personal History (P-11) form, which can be downloaded from: http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment. 

• Proposal. The financial proposal shall specify?a total lump sum?amount with a breakdown of a daily professional rate per number of anticipated working days to include daily subsistence allowance, international and in-country travel related costs, and other costs (telephone, etc.). 

  Interested candidates are requested to apply no later than 15 February 2018, 09:00 am EET  ?by submitting 2 attachments: 1) technical (a Letter of Interest and P-11) and 2) financial proposal to the following e-mail address: procurement.ukraine@unwomen.org with a subject?“UN Women Ukraine – National Consultant on Gender Equality, Justice and Legal Aid”. 

  Applications without financial proposal may be treated as incomplete and may not be considered for further assessment.

  Sample of Financial Proposal

  The format shown on the following tables is suggested for use as a guide in preparing the Financial Proposal

• Cost Breakdown per Deliverables*

*Basis for payment tranches

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.