Background

I. Organizational Context

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.

In Türkiye, in line with its global Strategic Plan 2022-2025 and Country Strategic Note (2022-2025), and the overall UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Türkiye (UNSDCF) (2021-2025), UN Women works in four thematic areas: (i) governance and participation in public life; (ii) women’s economic empowerment; (iii) ending violence against women and girls; and (iv) women, peace and security, humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction. UN Women contributes to three UNSDCF outcomes: 1) Women and girls have improved and equal access to resources, opportunities, and rights, and enjoy a life without violence and discrimination; 2) By 2025, Persons under the Law on Foreigners and International Protection are supported towards self-reliance. 3) By 2025, governance systems are more transparent, accountable, inclusive and rights-based with the participation of civil society, and quality of judicial services is improved.

Towards these goals, UN Women Türkiye has actively been implementing programmes and projects since 2012 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. In particular, UN Women Türkiye focuses on initiatives in 1) Women’s leadership and political participation 2) Ending violence against women and girls 3) Gender-sensitive refugee response 4) Gender-responsive planning and budgeting 5) Private sector partnerships and male engagement and 6) UN System coordination. UN Women Türkiye collaborates with numerous partners – central and local level government authorities, civil society organizations, including women’s organizations and platforms, opinion-makers and activists from different sectors, academia, private sector companies, media, development partners and 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.

To address persistent gender gaps and in line with the country’s national and international commitments, in the past years the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment

of Women (UN Women) in Türkiye, has prioritized support to increase women’s participation in political decision-making as well as women’s leadership and gender equality in the private sector. This support has taken place under several projects and programmatic frameworks, and in line with UN Women flagship global initiatives, under the framework of UN Women’s global Strategic Plan and Country Strategic Note for Türkiye.

Building on the achievements and lessons learnt over the previous year, the project “Advancing gender equality and women’s leadership in political and business life” has an overall objective to advance women’s leadership and participation in decision-making in Türkiye by focusing on key stakeholders and actors in the fields of politics and business life under three specific outcomes:

• Outcome 1: Legislative frameworks and arrangements promote gender balance in elections and decision-making bodies in line with the international normative framework.
• Outcome 2: A cadre of interested, diverse and capable women political and business leaders is formed and supported to exercise leadership.
• Outcome 3. Local level authorities with multi-stakeholder engagement, implement new and existing international commitments on gender equality and women’s empowerment through gender responsive plans and budgets.

The project targets as direct beneficiaries Equal Opportunities Committee at the Turkish Grand National Assembly, women aspirants and candidates at local level, CSO representatives, academics and activists /defenders working for women’s rights and gender equality, media outlets and private sector companies.

Within the framework of the project, UN Women Türkiye supports local governments to have enhanced awareness and capacity to develop and apply gender responsive plans and budgets and based on its ongoing cooperation with Adana Metropolitan Municipality, UN Women Türkiye plans to support the development of a Local Equality Action Plan for Adana Mettropolitan Municipality which will serve as a basis for gender responsive strategic planning, budgeting and service provision. 

In line with the context, reporting to the Programme Specialist (Women Lead), the National Consultant for Developing Local Equality Action Plan will be responsible for the whole process to prepare and finalize the Local Equality Action Plan for Adana Metropolitan Municipality. 

Duties and Responsibilities

II. Functions

Under supervision of Programme Specialist (Women Lead) National Consultant for Developing Local Equality Action Plan Consultant will undertake the following tasks:

1. Situation and gap analysis of Adana Province from the perspective of gender equality and women’s empowerment with a participatory approac

•  Review and analysis of demographic information,
• Desk review of previous and current strategic plan objectives, indicators and activities of Adana Metropolitan Municipality pertaining to gender equality and women’s empowerment in addition to the campaigns and projects conducted,
• Analysis of the complaints and petitions received by the Municipality;
•  Identification of the groups that have not been involved in previous stakeholder meetings and conducting focus group meetings with these relevant stakeholder groups.

2. Needs Assessment of Adana Metropolitan Municipality through technical meetings with municipality staff and development of the first draft of the Local Equality Action Plan

• Organising initial meetings with heads of departments and unit managers,
• Conducting a 3-day information sharing meeting/workshop on local equality action plans for heads of departments by grouping departments under the same secretary general,
• Identification of the units which will be responsible for conducting the activities and other responsible and collaboration units together with the unit managers,
• Identification of the timeline, monitoring frequency and external stakeholders for the local equality action plan,
• Development of gender responsive indicators,
• Development of the draft local equality action plan.

3. Finalization and Launch of the Local Equality Action Plan

• Organising meetings with the heads of departments and unit managers to present the draft local equality action plan, activities and indicators,
• Integrating the inputs of the meetings to the local equality action plan and finalization of the plan,
• Launch of the local equality action plan to external stakeholders.

The above mentioned tasks are indicative and subject to further detailing through specific service requests to be made by UN Women Türkiye Office during the course of the contract duration.

The consultant is expected to work closely and in coordination with the project team.

III. Deliverables and Payment Schedule

Duration of the assignment is from 24 October 2022 – 31 December 2022. The Consultant is expected to spend up to 40 working days on a non - consecutive basis throughout the assignment. The consultant will use his/her own equipment to perform the tasks associated with this assignment.

IV. Key Performance Indicators

• Timeliness, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered,
• Willingness to shares knowledge and experience,
• Demonstration of excellent written and oral communication skills and communicating sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies,
• 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,
• Adherence to UN Women standards and rules.

Competencies

V. Competencies

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:

• Strong interpersonal, teamwork and communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and proactively solve problem;
• Capacity to plan, priorities and deliver tasks on times;
• Capacity to engage with national and international staffs, to provide clear feedback and maintain effective rapport with different kinds of people;
• Actively works towards continuing learning and share with other to support local capacity development;
• Ability to research, analyze and present complex information.

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

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.)

Required Skills and Experience

VI. Required Skills and Experience

VIII. Application Procedure

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

This is a home-based assignment with no travel foreseen. In case of an unforeseen travel, UN Women Turkey Office will cover the organization and the costs of the consultant’s travel as per UN Women’s rules and regulations. UN Women will not cover transportation cost within duty station including the taxi costs.

3.Currency of the price proposal

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

Annex II: Price Proposal Submission Form

To: United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

Ref:  National Consultant for Developing Local Equality Action Plan

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 ToR, 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:

Email: