Antecedentes

BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION

The UN Women Country Office in BiH has launched in May 2019 a country-wide intervention on Gender Responsive Governance – Gender Responsive Budgeting (2019-2020). The intervention is financially supported by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) in BiH. The overall goal of the intervention is to improve the lives of women and men, as well as to support the inclusion of the most vulnerable through effective, systematic and sustainable integration of gender equality at all stages of national and local policy-making and budgeting processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The intervention will respond to the immediate priorities of central and local governments towards fulfilling their national and international gender equality and women’s empowerment commitments and increase government capacities to be able to create coherence between fiscal policies and gender equality commitments.

Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) has been identified as an important tool for advancing gender equality in key national documents, in accordance with the existing BiH national policy documents on social inclusion and gender equality. In accordance with government priorities stated in the national and local plans and strategies, UN Women has been supporting government efforts in using GRB as a tool to advance gender equality and ensure that women’s needs are incorporated in policies and related budgets. The expected long-term result of these initiatives is the incorporation of gender equality principles, perspectives and priorities not only in policy making, but also in budgeting at the national and local levels, leading to greater accountability and transparency of public finances.

One of the goals of UN Women BiH Strategic Note (2015-2020) is supporting technical capacity in national planning and budgeting, as well as advocating for the implementation of gender equality commitments through increased financing for gender equality.

UN Women's work on SIDA SN Support – Gender Responsive Governance - GRB is mainly consisting in assisting the various levels of government in BiH in setting up good governance frameworks that enable implementation of gender equality goals. The Governance pillar focuses on supporting participatory and adequate financing for gender equality, which involves enhancing the leadership of public finance and influence of gender equality advocates in policy, planning and budgeting processes.

Over the past years, UN Women has provided support to national and local stakeholders in strengthening democratic governance and advancing women’s rights through initiatives aimed at mainstreaming gender in policy planning and budgeting.

Integration of GRB in policies and legislation in BiH will contribute to the implementation of measures and priorities set out in the BiH Reform Agenda.  Specifically, it means more socially responsive policies in the areas of public administration reform, public finance management reform and improvement of business climate.

• The first interventions on GRB in BiH started mid 2000 with the support of UNIFEM/UN Women and undertaken by the BiH Agency for Gender Equality, Federation BiH (FBiH) and Republika Srpska (RS) Gender Centers and CSOs.
• From 2006 – 2010 focused work with parliamentarians and MoF on integration of GRB in budgeting processes.
• From 2011 – 2013 in BiH supported introduction of GRB in the pilot institutions in FBiH and RS and implementation of the Action Plan for the Advancement of Rural Women in RS.
• From 2014 – 2016 affirmed commitments to improve the accountability and transparency of public polices, allowing integration of GRB and applying it as a public policy tool.
• From 2017 – 2019 amended bylaws to include gender indicators and gender related criteria.

DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVE

The overall objective of this consultancy is to provide direct technical assistance through mentoring and advise to BiH Ministry of Finance and Treasury, FBiH Ministry of Finance and RS Ministry of Finance, as well as selected cantonal ministries of finance, specifically the Budget Planning and Execution Departments, in adopting principles of gender equality in the public finance management system, through a direct support to the Line Ministries, aiming at improving gender equality of public revenues and expenditures through mainstreaming gender in public policies and budgetary processes.

IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVE

Working under the supervision of the Programme Specialist and GRB Coordinator at UN Women CO BiH, and in close collaboration with ministries of finance, the National Consultants are expected to conduct the following:

• Support MoF to mainstream gender in budgetary procesess and bringing gender consideration into the core of the work; Provide day-to-day technical assistance and advise the MoF on the overall implementation of gender equality commitments of public expenditures by line ministries;
• Support and coach a core team of the MoF, especially from directorates of budget planning, budget monitoring and budget execution to ensure sustainability of GRB application after programme supports end;
• Work with MoF and line ministries of developing Gender Budget Statements (GBS); and provide support to submission of GBS, within the Explanation of the Budgets, for information to the Parliament/ Assembly, including gender specific element for discussion with the parliamentary committees on Gender Equality and parliamentary committees for Budget and Finance;
• Support MoF in the development of an annual budget preparation instruction, pointing put the mandatory application of the gender equality objectives and financial targets, as well as inclusion of gender equality objective(s) and gender indicators;
• Support the MoF in coordinating and implementing the activities foreseen in the UN Women Strategic Note 2019-2021 in the context Gender Responsive Budgeting and Governance;
• Support visibility of the activities under the cooperation and partnership between UN Women and the MoF; Prepare the documentation and information necessary for reflecting GE issues and commitments in the MoF's website, press releases and/or Ministry's bulletins if available;
• Support decision-makers of the MoF in building and maintaining relationships with Members of Parliament, CSOs and academia working on public finance and gender equality;
• Support record tracking and keeping and full documentation of the work conducted and results achieved in the framework of this consultancy;
• Provide monthly reports and respective outcomes to MoF and UN Women on the implementation of activities as it will be specified in the consultancy Work-plan;

The implementation of the above-mentioned duties will expect also occasional travel within the country. The beneficiaries are ministries in FBiH, BiH and RS level of governance. FBiH and BiH institutions are located in Sarajevo, RS institutions are located in Banja Luka. If Consultant(s) reside outside of duty station, please include the travel costs in the offer.

Deberes y responsabilidades

OUTPUTS

The National consultants shall be responsible for the following deliverables:

• a) Work-plan, drafted done in close consultation with UN Women and recipient organization, with tasks, roles, responsibilities and timeline;
• b) Monthly reports on the technical assistance provided;
• c) Technical inputs and on-demand reports on specific initiatives when requested.

ACTIVITIES AND TIMEFRAME

The Consultant will be expected to complete the tasks within the indicative timeframe:

REPORTING

All deliverables, after being reviews and approved by the recipient organization, should be submitted to the UN Women BiH GRB Coordinator. The deliverables shall be delivered in English and/or Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian languages.

Competencias

Values:

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modelling UN values and ethical standards.
• Demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results.
• Displays sensitivity and adaptability to culture, gender, nationality, religion and age.

Competencies:

• Builds strong relationships with clients;
• Ability to advocate and provide policy advice;
• Focuses on impacts and results for the partners and responds positively to feedback.

The candidate should demonstrate good oral/written communication skills in both local language and English.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Academic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree degree in finance, economics or related areas; (Masters degree would be considered as an asset)

Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience with public finance management;
• Specific expertise related government public finance policies and processes - including budgetary process and gender responsive budgeting methodologies and approaches; familiarity with program based budgeting and with budget laws;
• Demonstrated interest and/or experience in gender work;
• Working/consulting experience with government institutions and international organizations/projects.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS:

Interested individuals must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Application letter stating relevant facts
2. Detailed financial proposal inclusive of all costs (which includes consultancy fees, travel, accommodation, subsistence etc.) in local currency (BAM);
3. UN P11 form

(Please note: All documents have to be uploaded in 1 single file).

EVALUATION OF OFFERS

UN Women applies a fair and transparent selection process that takes into account both the technical qualification of potential consultants as well as the financial proposals submitted in support of consultant applications. Candidate applications will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of applicant experience, qualifications and a financial proposal. The 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 technical and financial criteria defined below.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 50 points in the technical evaluation will be considered for an interview. Top 3 candidates (with highest number of points in the technical evaluation) will be interviewed. The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal will be allocated to the lowest price proposal among those candidates who have reached at least 5 points in the interview. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion.

Criteria:

Technical Evaluation – documents based (70%)

Out of which:

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, economics or related areas – 10 percentage points;
• A minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience with public finance management – 20  percentage points;
• Specific expertise related government public finance policies and processes - including budgetary process and gender responsive budgeting methodologies and approaches; familiarity with program based budgeting and with budget laws – 20 percentage points;
• Demonstrated interest and/or experience in gender work – 10 percentage points;
• Working/consulting experience with government institutions and international organizations/projects – 10 percentage points.

Financial Evaluation (30%)

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.

Please note that travel costs should be covered by the consultant.

Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply. UN Women applies fair and transparent selection process that would consider the competencies/skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals.

Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.