Antecedentes

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.

The year 2020 is a historic year for the women’s rights and gender equality as the world marks the 25-year review and appraisal of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 20-year anniversary of the adoption of UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security; and the 5-year since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and SDGs. UN Women will leverage this year to galvanize attention and action on key issues including to support the following six priorities, as outlined in the Secretary-General’s report on women, peace and security to the Security Council, i.e. to make leadership accountable for women, peace and security, monitor and support progress through targeted data collection, joined-up analysis, strategic planning and raised visibility; Enable, facilitate and ensure women’s meaningful participation in peace processes, the implementation of peace agreements, and across all peace and security decision-making processes; Publicly condemn human rights violations and discrimination and prevent all forms of gender-based violence, including against women human rights defenders; Increase the number and influence of women in uniformed services in peacekeeping missions and national security services; Guarantee women’s economic security and access to resources; and mobilise to finance the women, peace and security agenda and invest in women peacebuilders.

In 2017, with funding from the Government of Sweden, UN Women launched the project “Enhancing accountability for gender equality and women’s empowerment in national reforms, peace and security”. The aim of this project, implemented during 2017–2021, is to support the consolidated efforts of the Ukrainian Government, Parliament, women’s groups and civil society organisations (CSOs) to meet State commitments on gender equality and women’s rights through the reforms, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security (including UNSCR 1325) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The project will also support the Government and other important stakeholders, including civil society, to establish or strengthen adequate mechanisms for financing, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of gender equality commitments.

In order to achieve these objectives, the project provides the Government technical support and capacity development to mainstream gender and women’s human rights, especially in State planning and budgeting, to ensure that policies and programmes address the conflict’s profound impact on gender relations and roles and the specific needs and priorities of women affected by the conflict.

In September 2018, the revised National Action Plan on implementation of UN SCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security and the action plan on the implementation of recommendations provided in the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to the eighth periodic report of Ukraine on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) were adopted by the Government of Ukraine.

In March 2020, the Ministry of Veteran Affairs was re-established as a separate government institution  with the mandate of being the main body in the system of central executive bodies that ensures the formation and implementation of state policy in the field of social protection of veterans and their family members. The Ministry of Veteran Affairs has demonstrated continued openness to the integration of a gender equality perspective in its day-to-day operation and specific actions targeting the concerns of women veterans. UN Women already started cooperation with the Ministry and successfully facilitated Ministry’s engagement with women veterans’ movement to increase regular communication and collaboration of the Ministry and women’s groups. UN Women also shared the "Invisible Battalion 2.0: Women Veterans Returning to Peaceful Life" evidence-based study, commissioned with participation of women veterans with the proposed roadmap to strengthen women veterans’ access to services for a quality post-military life.

With the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry demonstrated openness to conduct needs assessments of women veterans and women-family members of veterans during the time of coronavirus pandemic and beyond. The Ministry formed emergency response team to keep track of the developments, caused by pandemic and analyse the needs of most vulnerable veterans and their family members to provide timely gender-responsive assistance and support.

Based on this experience, UN Women would like to continue this collaboration by supporting the Ministry of Veteran Affairs mainstream gender in its strategies, policies, plans and budgets. UN Women, therefore, seeks to hire a National Consultant on Gender Equality to serve in the role of gender advisor to provide technical assistance, policy advice and capacity-building to ensure that gender is mainstreamed in the institutional structures, policies and mechanisms of the Ministry.

Deberes y responsabilidades

The Consultant will work under the overall guidance of the UN Women Representative and direct supervision by the Programme Specialist, and the day-to-day supervision by designated supervisor by the Deputy Minister of Veteran Affairs.

The national consultant will be responsible for implementing of a set of tasks, including, but not limited to:

• Develop work plan for the provision of advisory services, including tasks, indicators for measuring progress, and a timeline of deliverables.
• Provide day-to-day technical and policy advice to the Ministry of Veteran Affairs to ensure the Ministry’s policy and legislative framework is in line with international human rights and humanitarian standards and Ukraine’s international, regional and national commitments on gender equality and women’s human rights.
• Support the Ministry to ensure gender and the needs and priorities of women veterans and women family members of veterans are considered and responded in the implementation and monitoring of the national programmes and policies, developed by the ministry and other governmental institutions.
• Facilitate engagement with women’s groups, including women veterans and women family members of veterans, and civil society organizations to increase their understanding of international human rights and humanitarian standards and Ukraine’s international, regional and national commitments on gender equality and women’s human rights, as well as women, peace and security agenda, and facilitate their participation in the work of Public Council of the Ministry.
• Coordinate and participate in multi-stakeholder and inter-ministerial working group meetings, learning workshops to analyse, formulate and execute gender-responsive policies, reforms, plans and budgets, and support the Ministry to institutionalize these practices.
• Contribute to strengthening the Ministry’s efforts to increase social, economic and psychological reintegration of women veterans, dialogue and awareness-raising among women veterans and the Ministry. Initiatives will facilitate joint brainstorming on policies, programmes and actions that can be taken, both by women veterans and female family members of veterans and the Ministry, to ensure their rights are upheld and their needs and priorities are met.
• Provide advice and if needed, coordination, to design the development of 2nd NAP 1325, ensuring ministry’s active participation in the process;
• Provide support to the recently created emergency response team of the Ministry through technical advice and needs assessments of women veterans and women-family members of veterans during quarantine and further, caused by COVID-19 pandemic.
• Coordinate and liaise with the women veterans and women-family members of veterans at the national and regional levels to engage them in regular cooperation and communication with the Ministry, including through the work of Public Council;
• If needed, support the organization and implementation of international events, like study tours or international conferences for key representatives of the Ministry to gain hands-on learning experience, particularly on best practices of implementation of WPS agenda and on addressing the needs of women veterans.
• Take part in working groups, meetings and learning sessions on Women, Peace and Security, including those organized by UN Women.

Assignment /Deliverables

All reports should be submitted in English language and include the full set of supporting documents, such as analytical briefs, training agendas, handouts and lists of participants. The supporting documents can be submitted in Ukrainian.

Inputs

• UN Women and the Ministry of Veteran Affairs will provide the Consultant with background materials related to the assignment.
• The Ministry of Veteran Affairs will provide the consultant with the space and access to internal institutional documents.
• The consultant is expected to work using her/his own computer.

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 month by month basis to the consultant.

Financial arrangements:  

Payment will be disbursed on monthly basis upon receipt of the deliverables (as per above matrix) and their certification by the Ministry of Veterans Affairs and UN Women Programme Specialist 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: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Qualifications Education:

• Advanced (Masters) degree in Human Rights, Political Science, Gender Studies, Social Sciences, Law or related field.

Experience:

• Minimum 2 years of relevant experience in humanitarian, development, human rights, gender equality or another relevant field;
• Proven knowledge of veterans issues with the focus on different needs of women and men and experience of conducting needs assessments, policy analysis, drafting recommendations and other policy and briefing documents on gender equality, women, peace and security issues, and gender-responsive reintegration; ;
• Proven knowledge of international humanitarian, human rights, gender equality, women’s empowerment and women, peace and security frameworks;
• Proven experience with advocacy for gender equality and women’s rights with high level national stakeholders, including Members of Parliament and Governmental institutions;
• Understanding of national legislation and policy frameworks and governance systems, including Ukrainian legislative framework related to the veterans;
• Experience with participating in high-level dialogues, consultations and workshops, including with Members of Parliament, Government, CSOs, etc.;
• Previous professional experience with development agencies and the United Nations would be considered an asset.

Languages and other skills: 

• Fluent Ukrainian and English
• 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. 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 desk review and following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

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).

Application and submission package:

The candidate’s application should include:

P11 with indication of relevant experience in line with the ToR requirements.  Completed and signed UN Women Personal History (P-11) form can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-p11-personal-history-form.doc?la=en&vs=558

Financial proposal (sample is provided below): The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount with a breakdown of a daily professional rate per number of anticipated working days, travel costs (daily subsistence allowance and other in-country travel costs) and other related costs (e.g. tele-communication).

Interested candidates are requested to apply no later than 23:59 7 June 2020 by submitting applications to the following e-mail address: hr.ukraine@unwomen.org  with a subject “National Consultant on Gender Equality to the Ministry of Veterans Affairs”.

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 table is suggested for use as a guide in preparing the Financial Proposal

?

1. 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.