Antecedentes

In Bangladesh, the next parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place anytime between December 2018 and January 2019. In this context, UNDP and UN Women, with support of Department of Political Affairs (DPA), have developed a project to jointly provide assistance to the Bangladesh Election Commission (BEC) for the next parliamentary elections.

The overall goal of the project is to strengthen capacity of BEC for training, capacity building and outreach for an inclusive, efficient and cost-effective election process. UN Women will specifically focus on

  1. Strengthening BEC’s ability to promote inclusive participation in the electoral process, focusing on women and other underrepresented groups, and
  2. Supporting BEC develop and implement a strategy to prevent monitor and mitigate violence against women in election (VAWE) for BEC to promote a more peaceful electoral process.

UN Women is seeking the services of a highly qualified international consultant to support the project team to achieve the specific gender equality objectives of UNDP/UN Women’s electoral assistance to Bangladesh.

 Objectives and scope of the Consultancy:

The overall objective of the consultancy is to deliver the gender specific activities that will be directly implemented by UN Women, as per the agreed project document and work plan.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Specific scope of work:

The international consultant will closely work with one national consultant. The scope of work will include:

  •  Conducting a gender assessment of the BEC to review its operational effectiveness in organizing and administering a gender inclusive electoral process using the joint UNDP-UN Women “Inclusive Electoral Processes: a guide for electoral management bodies on promoting gender equality and women’s participation” 1  as a guide;
  • Develop a gender policy and an action plan for BEC for gender-responsive management of the upcoming election based on the above gender assessment;
  • Provide technical advice to the BEC to produce sex disaggregated data by sex in all aspects of its work to identify gender gaps in electoral and political participation by looking at data on candidate, voter turnout, or staffing levels;
  • Develop a strategy to prevent monitor and mitigate violence against women in elections (VAWE) using UNDP/UN Women Guidebook on Preventing Violence Against Women in Elections as a guide 2;
  • Develop a BEC Code of Conduct for political parties on zero tolerance to violence against women in election.

Expected Deliverables and Time Frame:

Four key deliverables:

  • A work plan with proposed methodologies for the assignment - 01 day
  • BEC Gender Assessment Report-10 days;
  • Gender Policy and Action plan for gender-responsive management of the upcoming election, including strengthening sex disaggregated data collection-05 days;
  • Draft strategy to minimize VAW in election-10 days;
  • Draft code of conduct on zero tolerance to violence against women in election for political parties-04 days.

Duration of Assignment and Duty Station:

The assignment is based in Dhaka with some home-based work. Total number of working days is 30 days within the contract duration from 1 May 2018 to 30 September 2018.  

UN Women will bear the travel and accommodations costs beyond commuting distance from the consultant’s usual place of residence for UN Women authorized travel as per the UN Women standard guidelines.

Supervisor:

Country Representative, Bangladesh in close consultation with Programme Management Specialist.

[1] Available here: http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2015/7/inclusive-electoral-processes;

[2] http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2017/11/preventing-violence-against-women-in-elections.

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

Education and certification:

  • Master degree (or equivalent) in development related disciplines, gender, economics, statistics, development or other social science fields.

Experience:

  • A minimum of 10 years of experience in the field of gender and elections at the national and/or international level;
  • Experience conducting gender assessment of election processes and developing strategies to mainstream gender equality approach in elections;
  • Experience addressing VAW in elections.;
  • Experience advising government institutions in a development context.

Language Requirements:

  • Excellent command of English.

Application:

  • Professionally written cover letter and a resume clearly demonstrating the required qualifications as mentioned in the TOR

    Please use ‘International Consultant-Gender and Election as the subject heading of your application.

    All applicants must include (as an attachment) a CV, P11 and a financial proposal. The financial proposal should include professional fees, living cost in Dhaka, travel and other anticipated costs. Applications without financial proposal will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment. “Personal History Form - P 11” which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment