Background

Context

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. In Nepal, UN Women focuses on strengthening women’s voice, agency, and leadership across sectors to advance women’s rights, provide space for women’s meaningful participation, and contribute to tangible differences in their lives. Under the overarching Nepal Country Office’s Strategic Note (SN) for the period 2018-2022, UN Women focuses on two programmatic areas, inclusive governance, and women’s economic empowerment.

Through its work, UN Women seeks to contribute to transforming discriminatory social norms and eliminating harmful practices and behaviours, including violence against women. All of the above contribute to fulfilling Nepal's obligations to international treaties and commitments, including regular reporting on progress related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Beijing Platform for Action, and to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

To enhance its efforts, UN Women Nepal is seeking to engage an International Consultant on a retainer basis to support the Country Office’s programming on inclusive governance with a specific focus on access to justice, rule of law, and EVAW. Reporting to the Head of Programmes, and in close collaboration with the programme team, the International Consultant will be responsible for providing high quality technical support to NCO’s strategic and programmatic interventions; policy and public advisory support; support to knowledge management and capacity building of Government counterparts, civil society, development partners and other relevant stakeholders; and contributing to strategic partnership and resource mobilization efforts.

In the past year, people’s lives in Nepal have been drastically worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. UN Women’s participation in a series of joint UN missions to assess the impacts of COVID-19 in the provinces unraveled a highly distressing humanitarian situation, with more severe consequences being borne by women, vulnerable, and excluded groups. UN Women’s targeted intervention to provide cash support to female-headed households as part of the comprehensive relief package enabled most vulnerable and excluded households to cope with immediate survival needs, achieve financial autonomy while physical distancing and mobility restrictions impair their income-generating ability, and respond to the specific needs of women and excluded groups, especially persons with disabilities, including through the provision of legal aid and psycho-social and mental health services to GBV survivors. Further, the UN in Nepal will initiate the drafting of the next UN Sustainable Development Framework (UNSDCF) for 2023-2027.

In this context, the International Consultant is also expected to provide COVID-related technical oversight and quality assurance to the NCO, in addition to the robust analysis and technical advisory services to UN Women for its annual/strategic planning processes as well as the UNSDCF.

Duties and Responsibilities

Responsibilities

The International Consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

Task 1: High quality technical and advisory support to NCO’s initiatives on inclusive governance with a specific focus on access to justice, rule of law, and EVAW

• Contribute to the drafting or finalization of strategic and/or programmatic documents of NCO or its implementing partners on access to justice, rule of law, and EVAW, including expert review, technical inputs, and drafting, to strengthen NCO’s strategic and programmatic interventions. The documents may include donor reports, partner reports, TORs, and others (minimum 6).
• Provide technical accompaniment support at both strategic and programmatic level, including by participating in relevant meetings with NCO’s staff and/or implementing partners, for the implementation of its programmatic interventions. 
• Contribute to knowledge and evidence building of NCO on access to justice, rule of law, and EVAW by providing technical reviews and quality assurance of knowledge products, including by sharing best practices and lessons learned from global and regional experiences (minimum 2).
• Collect, analyze and synthesize relevant data and information on access to justice, rule of law, and EVAW in Nepal, and provide technical inputs to UN Women’s annual work plan, strategic plan, as well as the upcoming UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF).  

Task 2: Policy advisory and public advisory support on access to justice, rule of law, and EVAW

• Design and participate in expert group meetings/workshops or policy dialogues on relevant issues on access to justice, rule of law, and EVAW.
• Provide policy advisory support by drafting or finalizing policy briefs, preparing briefing material for NCO and select partners, on access to justice, rule of law, and EVAW (minimum 2).

Task 3: Support to knowledge management and capacity development of Government counterparts, civil society, development partners and other relevant stakeholders

• Provide technical inputs and quality assurance support for UN Women’s research reports/studies, including drafting and copy editing, and review of key deliverables such as inception report, methodology/sampling note, data collection tools, draft, and final study reports.
• Design and conduct capacity development initiatives (including trainings and workshops) for government officials, civil society, and development partners, or NCO staff, on access to justice, rule of law, and EVAW.

Task 4: Contribution to strategic partnership and resource mobilization efforts

• Lead the drafting and development of concept notes or programme documents of NCO’s interventions on access to justice, rule of law, and EVAW (minimum 2).
• Develop substantive briefs on possible areas of resource mobilization on access to justice, rule of law, and EVAW (minimum 2).
• Provide expert accompaniment support in relevant external meetings pertaining to NCO’s ongoing or future interventions on inclusive governance.

Deliverables

Expected deliverables include:

• Final drafts and/or evidence of contribution to the finalization of strategic and/or programmatic documents such as donor reports, partner reports, and TORs (minimum 6)
• Evidence of technical accompaniment support
• Final drafts and/or evidence of technical review or quality assurance of knowledge and evidence building products (minimum 2)
• Evidence of analysis or technical inputs to UN Women’s annual work plan, strategic plan, or the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF)
• PPT presentations and/or meeting summaries from expert group meetings/workshops or policy dialogues
• Final drafts and/or evidence of drafting or finalization of policy briefs (minimum 2)
• Evidence of technical inputs and quality assurance support for UN Women’s research studies/reports
• Training materials for capacity development initiatives
• Final drafts of concept notes or programme documents (minimum 2)
• Final drafts of substantive briefs for resource mobilization (minimum 2)
• Evidence of expert accompaniment support

Inputs

• UN Women will provide reference materials and facilitate coordination with key stakeholders.
• The consultant is expected to work remotely.
• It is the Consultant’s responsibility to arrange private insurance.
• It is mandatory for the consultant to participate in a UN security briefing and to follow UN security rules and guidance.
• The Consultant will be required to provide a Statement of Good Health, endorsed by a certified Medical Practitioner.

Duration of the assignment and duty station

This is a home-based assignment for one year (1 October 2021 – 30 September 2022) on retainer basis (as and when required) with a maximum of 70 working days. The assignment may also include travel to Kathmandu, Nepal, as required. UN Women will not be committed to purchasing any minimum quantity of the Services, and purchases will be made only if there is an actual requirement upon the issuance of a Purchase Order based on this retainer contract. UN Women shall not be liable for any cost in the event that no purchases are made under this retainer contract.

Schedule of payments

Payment will be made on the basis of quality of the work actually delivered upon certification of satisfactory performance by the supervisor. The exact deliverables and workplan will be agreed upon on needs basis in close consultation with the NCO. The contractor’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communications, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

Travel and Accommodation expenses

UN Women will bear the full cost of travel and accommodations for official missions as per the UN Women standard guidelines.

Competencies

Values and Competencies

Core Values and Guiding Principles:

• Integrity: Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
• Professionalism: Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
• Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity: Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

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

Functional Competencies:

• Strong knowledge of gender equality and women’s rights issues and specifically access to justice, rule of law, and EVAW;
• Good coordination, resource mobilization and donor relation skills;
• Good knowledge of Results Based Management and Human Rights Based Approach;
• Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings and recommendations;
• Strong analytical and communication skills;
• Good organizational skills and ability to pay close attention to detail;
• Excellent writing and editing skills;
• Excellent interpersonal and networking skills, and ability to work in multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary environments; and
• Ability to work under pressure on multiple projects whilst maintaining high-quality and timeliness.

Required Skills and Experience

Required Qualifications, Experience and Skills

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Gender and Development Studies, Political Science, Law, Economics, Social Science, or any other related field of studies.
• A minimum of 15 years of professional experience in working on gender equality and women’s rights.
• Proven expertise in the area of inclusive governance specifically access to justice, rule of law, and EVAW.   
• Previous experience working at the strategic/ policy advisory levels with government, civil society and development partners.  Experience working with the UN system is a considerable asset.  
• Excellent writing and editing skills.
• Ability to handle documents and the information contained therein with strictest confidentiality is a non-negotiable requirement.

Language

Fluency in oral and written English is required. Knowledge of another official United Nations language is desirable.

Evaluation and Selection Criteria

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. Only the price proposal of the applicants who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.

1. Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100 which will be later converted into 70 points out of total obtainable (technical and financial) score of 100 points. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

• Required degree and qualification (10 points);
• A minimum of 15 years of professional experience in working with gender equality and women’s rights (15 points);
• Proven expertise in the area of inclusive governance, specifically access to justice, rule of law, and EVAW (15 points);
• Experience  working at the strategic/policy advisory level with donors, international organizations or the UN (20 points); and
• Writing sample (20 points).
• Interview score (20 points) with those who score 56 points or more in the above evaluation criteria.  

Only the applicants who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically qualified applicant.

1. Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

The financial proposal of only those applicants who meet the technical assessment threshold will be evaluated. The financial assessment will count as 30% of the total points. In this methodology, 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.

The formula is as follows:

p = y (µ/z)

Where:

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal

µ = price of the lowest priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated

How to Apply?

Interested applicants should apply to this announcement through UNDP jobs site: jobs.undp.org

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

• Expression of interest;
• Completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) of all the team members which can be downloaded:  http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment; and
• A sample of original writing produced within the last twelve months where the applicant is the lead author.

The financial proposal shall specify a lump sum amount breaking down the professional fee for each deliverable and travel related cost. The financial proposal must be submitted in a separate page using the following template.

You will be able to upload only one attachment. Please combine your all documents into one single PDF document. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form and the writing sample will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

UN Women is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals especially women are highly encouraged to apply.

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.

[1] The exact deliverables and workplan will be agreed upon on needs basis in close consultation with the NCO.