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. Placing women's rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It 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 line with UN Women Global Strategic Plan (2018-2021), and its Country Strategic Note (2019-2022), in Turkey UN Women works towards three overarching goals:   
 
1) Women lead, participate in, and benefit equally from governance systems,   
2) All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence,   
3) Women and girls contribute to and have greater influence in building sustainable peace and resilience and benefit equally from the prevention of natural disasters and conflicts and humanitarian action.   

Towards these goals, UN Women implements programmes and projects that aim to advance gender equality, improve women’s access to opportunities, rights and services in political, social and economic life and combat gender stereotypes, discrimination and violence, as required by international and national legal and policy commitments. UN Women collaborates with numerous partners – central and local level government authorities, civil society organizations, including women’s organizations and platforms, academia, private sector companies, other UN agencies. It commits itself to the Leaving No One Behind principle, by supporting targeted actions to remove the obstacles that marginalized and vulnerable groups of women face in accessing their rights and to promote them as agents of change.  

National legislation and international commitments set the legal framework for gender equality at country level. As part of its normative mandate, UN Women Turkey Office supports the Government in its implementation and monitoring of international conventions and the related national legislation and CSOs in their capacity to monitor and advocate for the full implementation of the international normative framework and the related national legislation in the field of gender equality and women’s rights. UN Women supports advocacy and awareness raising about the norms and principles set by international normative framework to which the country has subscribed, in particular Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) as well as other conventions such as the Convention on the Rights of Child (CRC) and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).  
 
In this regard, UN Women Turkey Office seeks to hire a National Consultant to provide legal expertise to the Office in following relevant developments and analysing the national legislation and legislative amendment initiatives from the perspective of alignment with the international gender equality normative framework, and providing updates and recommendations.  

Deberes y responsabilidades

Under the direct supervision of UN Women Programme Management Specialist, the National Consultant will be responsible for the following specific tasks:

• To provide legal expertise and support to UN Women’s work on gender equality and gender mainstreaming in different fields. The support can take the form of: analysis, advice and recommendations of legal texts/ proposed legislative amendments/new laws that have impact on women’s rights and gender equality;
• To monitor the national legislation / regulations related to women's human rights in Turkey vis-à-vis the international normative framework to which Turkey is a party, as per specific fields identified by the office; 
• To provide regular updates to the UN Women Turkey team on the context and content of draft legislation proposals and legal amendments introduced at the national level, which have bearing on women’s rights; 
• To hold consultations with women’s rights advocates, women’s groups and civil society organisations to integrate their perspective into the updates that will be presented to UN Women Turkey office;
• To support UN Women to develop action points based on legal analysis in terms of advocacy and program implementation. 
• To develop background papers, briefing notes, talking points, reports on the impacts of the legal framework and the proposed amendments on gender equality for different target groups, per specific identified needs of the office; 
• To provide information sharing and awareness-raising sessions on themes related to legal framework to UN Women Turkey team, UN agencies and partners as per UN Women Turkey office’s request;
• To attend meetings and / or workshops, at the request of the UN Women Turkey office. 

Duration of the assignment is from 1 July 2020 – 31 December 2020.  The Consultant is expected to spend up to 30 working days on a non - consecutive basis throughout the assignment. The consultant will use her/his own IT equipment for carrying out the tasks pertaining to the position. 

Expected Deliverables and Payment Schedule: 
The following table summarizes main activities and expected deliverables against targeted delivery deadlines and indicative working days to be invested by each Consultant. 

The mentioned number of working days has been estimated as being sufficient/feasible for the envisaged volume of work to be completed successfully and is proposed as a guideline for the duration of assignment. It cannot and shall not be used as criteria for completion of work/assignment. The provision of envisaged deliverables approved by the UN Women Programme Management Specialist shall be the only criteria for the Consultant’s work being completed and eligible for payment(s). 

Payment Schedule: 
 
The amount paid to the Consultant shall be gross and inclusive of all associated costs such as travel, social security, pension and income tax etc. The consultant shall be paid upon successful completion and acceptance of the monthly deliverable and timesheets submitted at the end of each month  as per the above table. The payment shall be affected only if all the deliverables in this TOR and timesheets are submitted to UN Women Programme Management Specialist within the timeframes stipulated in the TOR and they are approved by UN Women Programme Management Specialist. Without submission and approval of the deliverables and timesheets, the Consultant shall not receive any payment even if they invest time for this assignment. 
 
During assignment’s related missions, the National Consultant may use the facilities of the office (i.e. internet access, printing, copying, local phone calls, etc.). However, s/he is expected to use his/her own personal computer. All the payments to the Consultant will be processed in Turkish Lira at the end of each month. 
 
Travel:

This is a home-based assignment with no travel need is foreseen. However, if there emerges any travel need, UN Women Turkey Office will organize the logistics of the travel and the Consultant will be paid daily substance allowance and terminal fee as per the figures set by UN Women HQ and UN ICSC. The taxi fees for attending the meetings are under the responsibility of the Consultant. All the payments to the Consultant including payment for travels will be processed in Turkish Lira. 

Mandatory Courses: 
 
The Consultants shall complete all the mandatory and further required UN courses, training and modules on time. Their certificates shall be submitted to the Hiring Manager during the contract preparation process. Please note that the required training courses could vary based on contract content and duration, the nature of the work and inclusion of travel. The Hiring Manager will provide the list of mandatory courses to the Consultant. Hence, the Consultant is obliged to follow the instructions of her/his Hiring Manager upon which training modules to complete and when to complete them. 

 Key Performance Indicators:

• Timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the services and products delivered. 
• Adherence to UN Women mandate, standards and rules.
• Keeping up to date with the developments in Turkey on gender equality legislative framework.  

Competencias

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism 

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example 

Functional Competencies 

• Ability to communicate sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies;
• Ability to consolidate information from multiple sources;
• Ability to prepare and present strategic information for decision makers;
• Ability to work independently as well as in teams;
• Excellent time management and ability to produce deliverables within agreed deadlines;
• Knowledge of national legislative framework on gender equality in Turkey;
• Knowledge of gender equality and women’s empowerment issues;
• Focuses on impact and results for client;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity. 

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.

UN Women does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

• Bachelor`s Degree in in Law/International Law, Political Science, Social Science, Economics, International Relations or related field is required.
• Master`s degree or equivalent in Law/International Law is a strong asset.

Skills and Experience:

• Minimum 3 years of experience in provision of legal expertise on gender equality and women’s human rights which involved analyzing the conformity of national legislation with international norms and standards. 
• Minimum 2 years of knowledge and experience of developing legal advocacy documents such as technical reports, briefing notes, background papers and presentations on legal issues. 
• Previous professional experience with the UN and other international organisations is an asset. 

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in Turkish (written and oral) is required.
• Fluency in English is an asset  

 Application Procedure: 

The following documents should be submitted as part of the application: 

• Cover letter to include a brief overview about which of your previous experiences makes you the most suitable candidate for the advertised position.
• CV in English containing the relevant educational and professional experience.
• Signed UN Women Personal History P11 Form, including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment.
• Financial proposal with breakdown of fee on a per day basis. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount. Financial proposal to be sent via e-mail to turkey.procurement@unwomen.org, indicating the name of the position applied in the subject line of the e-mail no later than the application deadline 
• Please see Annex I: Price Proposal Guideline and Template and Annex II: Price Proposal Submission Form  

When applying; the Cover Letter, CV and the signed P11 Form should be merged into one (1) single PDF document since the system will allow only to upload maximum one document. Therefore, please combine these forms and documents into one (1) single PDF document and upload them to the system.  

As for the Financial Proposal, please send it separately via e-mail to turkey.procurement@unwomen.org indicating the name of the position applied in the subject line of the e-mail.  Since it is to be submitted separately via e-mail, the Financial Proposal should not be uploaded to the system or be included in the merged PDF which shall consist of the applicant’s Cover Letter, CV and Signed P11 Form. Please make sure not to include the Financial Proposal in the merged PDF document. 

Candidates should have the ability to quickly submit degree certificates and medical certification should they be short-listed in consideration of the consultancy post. 

Should they be short-listed in consideration of the consultancy, candidates should be able to quickly submit degree certificates, medical certifications or any other requested document. 

Incomplete applications such as applications without a financial proposal may not be considered. Applicants are responsible to make sure to have provided all the requested application materials before the deadline. 

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 receives the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria. Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 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. A suggested formula is as follows: 

p = 30 (µ/z)

Using the following values:

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

µ = price of the lowest priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated 
 
An interview/practical test may also be used for the selection of best candidates. 

Annex I: Price Proposal Guideline and Template 

The prospective Individual Consultant should take the following explanations into account during submission of his/her price proposal.  

1. Daily fee 

The daily price proposal should indicate a "lump sum amount" which is "all-inclusive"; All costs (professional fees, communications, consumables during field related missions, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor needs to be factored into the proposed price.  
UN Women will not withhold any amount of the payments for tax and/or social security related payments. UN Women shall have no liability for taxes, duties or other similar charges payable by the Individual Contractor in respect of any amounts paid to the Individual Contractor under this Contract, and the Contractor acknowledges that UN Women will not issue any statements of earnings to the Individual contractor in respect of any such payments. 

2. Travel Costs

The assignment is home based with no travel need is foreseen. However, if there emerges any travel need, UN Women Turkey Office will organize the logistics of the travel and the Consultant will be paid daily substance allowance and terminal fee as per the figures set by UN Women HQ and UN ICSC. The taxi fees for attending the meetings are under the responsibility of the Consultant. All the payments to the Consultant including payment for travels will be processed in Turkish Lira. 

3. Currency of the price proposal  

The applicants are requested to submit their price proposals in Turkish Lira. 

Annex II: Price Proposal Submission Form 
 
To: United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

Ref: National Consultant for Providing Legal Expertise within National and International Gender Equality Framewok 
 
Dear  Madam/Sir, 
 
I, the undersigned, offer to provide professional consulting services to UN Women within the scope of the referred Assignment. 
 
Having examined, understood and agreed to the Terms of Reference and its annexes,  the receipt of which are hereby duly acknowledged, I, the undersigned, offer to deliver professional services, in conformity with the Terms of Reference. 

Based on the deliverables and estimated working days summarized in the above table, my maximum total price proposal for the assignment is given below: 

I confirm that my financial proposal will remain unchanged. I also confirm that the price that I quote is gross, and is inclusive of all legal expenses, including but not limited to social security, income tax, pension, etc., which shall be required applicable laws. 

I agree that my proposal shall remain binding upon me for 90 days. 

I understand that you are not bound to accept any proposal you may receive. 

[Signature]

Date:

Name:

Address:

Telephone/Fax:

E-mail: