Background

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; the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development; human rights; as well as 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 strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women Programme Presence Office in the Republic of North Macedonia in line with the priorities set in the UN Women Strategic Plan 2022-2025 and the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2021-2025), is supporting the country to fulfil National and International commitments to gender equality and empowerment of women.

Over the past years, UN Women has provided extensive support to national and local stakeholders to strengthen democratic governance and advance women’s rights through initiatives aimed at mainstreaming gender in key strategic and policy documents. In the frames of its ongoing programme for

In 2021, the Government of North Macedonia initiated the preparation for the development of 2021-2041 National Development Strategy (hereinafter: NDS), supported by a project implemented by the UNDP in coordination with UN Resident Coordination Office (RCO) North Macedonia. The objective of the Project is to support the key national stakeholders to formulate and potentially roll-out the North Macedonia National Development Strategy for the period 2021-2041 and embed an inclusive system for implementation and monitoring of the NDS within the national administrative framework. UK GGF funding was secured to prepare a methodology for the development of the NDS, the background baseline data and assessment of strategic documents and processes, proposals for the institutional structure to manage and implement the project, as well as the communications and engagement strategy.

In the ongoing Phase II of the project, the actual process of formulating the NDS will be carried, focused on embedding the NDS priorities within the national strategic plans and the future planning documents, and leveraging the EU accession reforms and Agenda2030 for sustainable development.

National institutions, as the stakeholders in the NDS process, will be the principal beneficiaries of the expert support engaged for the analysis of the baseline data in each of the NDS thematic areas and the final outline of the NDS that integrates inputs from the stakeholders.  Throughout the process of baseline data collection and formulation of the NDS, close coordination will be maintained with the main institutions responsible for the NDS, including the data holders, as well as wider public (including civil society, business sector, academia, general public including vulnerable and marginalized groups).

To facilitate the process of mainstreaming a gender perspective in the 16 thematic areas of the NDS, UN Women is seeking to recruit a national consultant to extend expert support to a team of national consultants tasked to draft the NDS 2021-2041. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work

The main objective of the assignment is to introduce a gender perspective in the NDS 2021-2041. More specifically, the aim is to ensure that relevant sex-disaggregated data and gender specific evidence is collected as part of the 16 thematic baselines for the preparation of the Strategy, and to provide concrete recommendations and inputs to the development of the NDS.

For achieving this goal, the national consultant will work in close coordination with the team of local consultants and a team leader engaged for the preparation of the NDS, and the UNDP project manager and will refer and coordinate with the programme team at UN Women Skopje office. The local consultant will be responsible for regularly informing UN Women on the progress and submitting the required deliverables.

Tasks and Responsibilities

Based on the above-described objectives of the assignment, under the supervision of the UN Women Programme Analyst and programme team, and in close coordination with the UNDP project team and lead National expert, the consultant will undertake the following tasks and responsibilities: 

• Develop solid understanding of  the methodology for developing the NDS prepared in the first phase of this project by:

• Review of all relevant documentation and materials prepared in the first phase of the process (Methodological approach and institutional structure, mapping of strategies and stakeholders etc.)
• Participating in the trainings on the methodological approach designed for the process of preparation of the NDS 2021 – 2041.

• Conduct desk review of relevant literature, studies and key National policy and strategic documents in the field of gender equality, to identify entry points for mainstreaming gender perspective in the NDS.
• Collect key gender data and analyse the gender differential implications as relevant for each baseline thematic area for the NDS;
• Provide inputs for mainstreaming gender equality into NDS thematic areas, including recommendations for gender indicators under the monitoring and evaluation frame.
• Participate in stakeholders’ consultative meetings and events for consolidation of the Strategy, as needed.
• Prepare final report on the assignment. 

Note: During this assignment, the consultant will ensure to apply:

• Evidence-based approach, the highest standard of work and timely deliverables at every stage of this assignment.
• Clarity of objectives and process during different types of consultations, including countercheck of all facts and figures from established sources;
• Cross-checking key findings and recommendations with the wider group of stakeholders (quadruple helix structure) before finalizing the thematic inputs.

Key deliverables, activities and timeframe

The Local consultant will be expected to complete the below tasks within the indicative timeframe:

Reporting

Under the overall supervision of the Programme Analyst and the programme team at UN Women Skopje Office, and in close coordination with the UNDP project team, the National consultant will develop and deliver the above listed deliverables in accordance with the indicative timeframe.

All deliverables of an acceptable standard and quality should be submitted to the UN Women and in languages as specified above.

Competencies

Core Values/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 Consultant knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
• Cultural sensitivity and respect for diversity - Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Additionally, the individual should have an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Planning & Organizing – Develops clear goals in line with agreed strategies, identifies priorities, foresees risks and makes allowances accordingly.
• Organizational Awareness - Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.
• Teamwork - Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
• Accountability – Takes ownership of all responsibilities and delivers outputs in accordance with agreed time, cost and quality standards.

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

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning

• Shares knowledge and experience
• Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside UN Women
•  Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more practice areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills
• Development and Operational Effectiveness
• Demonstrates excellent written and oral communication skills. Communicates sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies
• Demonstrates very good understanding of and experience in communications and outreach/advocacy
• Ability to perform a variety of standard specialized and non-specialized tasks and work processes that are fully documented, researched, recorded and reported
• Ability to review a variety of data, identify and adjust discrepancies, identify and resolve operational problems
• Uses Information Technology effectively as a tool and resource

Leadership and Self-Management

•     Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback
•     Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
•     Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure
•     Proven networking skills and ability to generate interest in UN Women’s mandate
•     Identifies opportunities and builds strong partnerships with clients and partners

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

• A university degree in social studies, gender studies, sustainable development, or any other degree relevant to the requirements of the ToR. A Master’s degree is considered a strong asset.

Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of demonstrated professional experience in the area of public policy development or implementation, with focus on gender equality policies;
• Previous experience in conducting gender analyses, research or development and implementation of programmes in the area of gender equality and empowerment of women; 
• Previous work experience working with governmental institutions is considered an asset; 
• Previous experience working with international organizations is considered an asset. 

Language

Fluency in Macedonian and English is required.

Evaluation of applicants:

UN Women applies a fair and transparent selection process. Applicants will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications/skills and their financial proposal. Contract will be awarded to the individual consultants whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive to and compliant with the requirements of the ToR; and
• Having received the highest score out of below combined technical and financial criteria.

The candidate needs to obtain a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation to be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Duration and remuneration:

The national consultant will be engaged for a total of 30 working days during the period of 7 February until 31 May 2022. Deliverables from the consultant will be reviewed and approved by UN Women before they are considered final. UN Women will process the payment of consultancy fee in two instalments:

I instalment - 40% upon submission and approval of deliverable 1 and 2

II instalment - 60% upon satisfactory completion of all tasks in the assignment, submission and approval of final report by UN Women

Application:

Interested individual consultants are requested to apply electronically through the following link: http://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm  no later than 27 January 2022 and to submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• Short Letter of interest, including financial proposal in local currency (MKD), indicating a total lump sum for the delivery as per above description. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (consultancy fee, travel and any other possible costs).
• Completed UN Women Personal History (P11) form, that can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment
• 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.

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided?on the basis of?qualifications, competence, integrity, and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women?has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination.? All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)