Background

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; and the achievement of equality for women as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action, peace, and security. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations (UN) system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world.

The UN has been a strong partner of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in advancing Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) since 2017. Under the ASEAN-United Nations Plan of Action 2021- 2025,[1] UN Women leads on Women, Peace, and Security in close collaboration with other UN agencies leveraging its coordination mandate to ensure the UN system delivers on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

UN Women Indonesia Country Office (CO) hosts the ASEAN liaison office, which extends support to ASEAN and its Member States in advancing the WPS agenda in line with global normative frameworks. In 2021, UN Women Indonesia in partnership with ASEAN launched a five-year project, ‘Empowering Women for Sustainable Peace: Preventing Violence and Promoting Social Cohesion in ASEAN’ (the Regional Project). This Regional Project funded by the Governments of Canada and the Republic of Korea supports efforts by ASEAN and its ten Member States to promote women's participation and leadership in conflict prevention, resolution and recovery. Although the Project largely focuses on advancing normative frameworks, capacity building, and exchange of knowledge and good practices at the regional level, it also includes a country-level component in support of the national implementation of the WPS agenda. The project also recognizes the significance of addressing the humanitarian-peace-development nexus in the ASEAN region, given the overlapping challenges of conflicts and crises at the sub-national level. The project was launched on 24 February 2021 with a planned implementation period from October 2021 to 30 June 2025.

In the framework of this project,  in 2022 UN Women in partnership with the USAID-funded PROSPECT project supported ASEAN to develop the first-ever Regional Plan of Action on Women Peace and Security (RPA WPS).[2]. The ASEAN Advisory Group on WPS led by the ASEAN Committee on Women (ACW) and the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) in close consultation and collaboration with the ASEAN sectoral bodies and institutions across all three ASEAN Community Pillars shepherded the development of the ASEAN RPA WPS.  

Against this backdrop, UN Women Indonesia is seeking to recruit an International Consultant (IC) to support ASEAN to conduct the baseline study of the RPA WPS and establish a monitoring, coordination and reporting mechanism. In addition, the IC will conduct the mid-term review (MTR)[3] of the Regional Project and provide technical assistance in monitoring the country component in the Philippines.

[1] Plan of Action to Implement the Joint Declaration on Comprehensive Partnership between ASEAN and the United Nations (2021-2025) - ASEAN Main Portal

[2] ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on Women, Peace and Security - WPS-ASEAN

[3] The project midterm review is formative with UN Women and project stakeholders looking to learn and integrate findings from the review into project implementation.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the assignment 

The main objectives of this consultancy are the following:

1.        Conduct a baseline study for the implementation of the ASEAN RPA WPS and develop a gender-sensitive monitoring and reporting mechanism for the RPA WPS to be approved and endorsed by ASEAN.

2.       Strengthen the capacity of UN Women Philippines involved in the implementation of the regional project.

3.       Conduct a midterm review of the regional project, which objectives are the following:

• Assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the project towards the achievement of results.
• Assess the sustainability and coherence of the project.
• Identify and validate important lessons learned, best practices and, strategies for replication and provide actionable recommendations.
• Offer concrete recommendations on how the intervention can be strengthened from a Result Based Management perspective concerning components such as the Theory of Change, intervention logic, results chain, monitoring plan and performance measurement framework.
• Identify and validate innovative approaches in all aspects of the project.
• Assess the adequacy of risk management and mitigation strategy.

Given that this is the first-ever UN Women-managed ASEAN cooperation project, the mid-term review should have a formative nature and is expected to provide recommendations to improve programme performance during the implementation of the intervention.

The selected candidate will be provided with detailed terms of reference for the mid-term review.

Scope of work and tasks

Under the overall guidance and management of the ASEAN Governance, Peace and Security Specialist/ Project lead and supervision from the UN Women Project Coordination Specialist, the IC will perform the following tasks:

Task 1. Desk Review and development of a consultancy work Plan and inception reports that describe the methodology for the baseline study.

§  Conduct a desk review of existing relevant documents;

§  Conduct preliminary consultations with members of the project team and stakeholders.

§  Develop a consultancy work plan.

§  Submission of the inception report for the baseline study and establishment of a monitoring and reporting mechanism for the RPA WPS

§  Submission of the inception report for the mid-term review

Task 2. Assess and review the indicators of the RPA WPS and develop necessary monitoring tools.

·       Assess and review the indicators for implementation of the RPA WPS in coordination with UN Women ROAP Gender Statistics Team

·       Submit a report providing recommendations for strengthening outcome-level indicators and recommending new indicators including at the output level as needed. Proposed changes should be justified.

·       Develop monitoring and reporting tools for the RPA WPS.

Task 3. Undertake a baseline report.

·       Develop the conceptual framework and methodology including data collection and analysis for the baseline study.

·       Develop a well-structured report that comprehensively describes the findings of the research. The report may be structured as follows:

-          Executive summary

-          Acronyms

-          Introduction

-          Table of Contents 

-          Background Information

-          Methodology (baseline data, analysis)

-          Findings

-          Conclusion and Recommendations

-          Annexes

Task 4. Facilitate a debrief session and present the draft baseline study to the ASEAN Secretariat and the ASEAN-WPS Technical Working Group under the guidance of the ASEAN Advisory Group.

·       Develop a concept note, a presentation, and an agenda

·       Debrief ASEAN Secretariat, UN Women, and WPS Technical Working Group.

·       Collect additional information from stakeholders to ensure the finalization of the baseline study report and submission.

Task 5. Strengthen the capacity of the UN Women Philippines team on gender-responsive and results-based reporting.

• Support the UN Women Philippines team to write the 2023 corporate bi-annually reports and 2022 donor reports.
• Coordinate closely with the ASEAN-WPS team based in Jakarta to ensure overall coherent result reporting on complementary activities/results in the Regional Project.
• Develop and submit a capacity-building report which will describe the support provided and the results achieved.

Task 6.  Conduct the mid-term review of the project as per the detailed terms of reference.

• Design the conceptual framework and methodology for the mid-term review of the Regional Project.
• Conduct data collection and analysis.
• Share and validate preliminary findings and recommendations with the Reference Group.
• Share initial findings and recommendations with UN Women
• Submit a draft report to UN Women.
• Address comments and inputs from UN Women and finalize the report.

Expected deliverables and timeframe.

The International Consultant will produce the following deliverables:

All the deliverables, including annexes, notes and reports should be submitted in writing in English.

Upon receipt of the deliverables and before the payment of the first instalment, the deliverables and related reports and documents will be reviewed and approved by UN Women. The period of review is one week after receipt.

All data collected by the consultant must be submitted to the supervisor in Word, PowerPoint or Excel formats and is the property of UN Women. Proper storage of data is essential for ensuring confidentiality and should be in line with UN Women Policy on data management and security. Final reports will follow the United Nations Editorial Manual, which can be found here.

Inputs

• UN Women will provide the Consultant with background information and documents, and a list of stakeholders relevant to the assignment;
• The Consultant is expected to work using his/ her computer;
• UN Women will directly cover travel costs as per UN Women’s rules and regulations
• UN Women will cover translation/interpretation costs.

Scope of bid price and schedule of payments

The contract price is a fixed deliverable-based price regardless of the extension of the contract duration. Payment will be done once deliverables detailed in section II are submitted and approved by UN Women.

The lump sum costs should include a consultancy fee, administration costs, communication costs, and expenses related to the consultancy. All prices/rates quoted must be exclusive of all taxes. The lump sum costs must be accompanied by a detailed breakdown of costs calculation using the template in Annex 1.

Performance evaluation:

Consultant’s performance will be evaluated based on timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

Competencies

Competencies

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

Required Skills and Experience

Required experience and qualifications

The Consultant should fulfil the following requirements:

Education

• Master’s degree in Political Science or Social Science, Gender Studies, International Development or in Monitoring and Evaluation.

Experience:

• At least 7 years of  relevant  experience   in monitoring  and evaluation and research  at the national or international level
• Minimum five years of relevant work experience undertaking evaluations, assessments, or reviews of programmes relating to gender equality.
• The candidate should have a minimum of two years of experience in programme development and or implementation with particular attention to developing indicators for monitoring results with at least one year of that time in women peace and security.
• Previous experience in conducting baseline studies and mid-term reviews.
• Proven experience in facilitating workshops on results-based monitoring and reporting;
• Experience in the United Nations systems and/or UN Women would be an advantage;
• Knowledge of the WPS agenda would be preferable.
• Previous work experience with ASEAN and/or the UN in Southeast Asia is strongly preferred.

Language and other skills:

• Proficiency in oral and written English
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, Internet and email. 
• Excellent facilitation skills

Submission package

1. Cover letter.
2. Curriculum vitae including contact information of at least 3 referees.
3. A financial proposal. The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount per each deliverable, including any administrative fees, based on the template in Annex 1. The lump sum costs must be accompanied by a detailed breakdown of costs calculation.

The documents detailed above should be submitted in one PDF document.

Applications without any of the items listed above will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further processing.

Please note that only short-listed candidates will be invited to the interview.

Selected candidates will need to submit before the commencement of work:

1. A copy of the latest academic certificate
2. UN Women P-11 form, available via  http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment

Evaluation

Applications will be evaluated based on the Cumulative analysis.

• Technical Qualification (100 points) weight; [70%]
• Financial Proposal (100 points) weight; [30%]

A two-stage procedure is utilised in evaluating the proposals, with an evaluation of the technical proposal being completed before any price proposal is compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

The total number of points allotted for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on the following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Only the candidates who meet the minimum requirements will be longlisted, and additional documentation may be requested. Candidates with a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered technically qualified candidates and will be shortlisted for interviews.

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points allotted for the price component is 100.

The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technically qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

Annex I: Financial Proposal

BREAKDOWN OF COSTS

Breakdown of Cost by Components:

The lump sum costs should include administration costs and expenses related to the consultancy. All prices/rates quoted must be exclusive of all taxes. The lump sum costs must be accompanied by a detailed breakdown of costs calculation.