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 between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. 
 

Women’s and girls’ disproportionate responsibility for unpaid care work is a key driver of gender inequality in both the labour market and the household. Women report that care work and responsibilities are one of the main reasons they do not seek jobs and are also factors that impede job progression and further income generation. BiH has one of the highest portions of inactive women on the labour market in Europe. Based on the 2019 Labour Force Survey[1], the activity rate of women on the labour market is 32.9% (compared to 51.7% for men). Research funded by UN Women[2] has found that women in BiH reported spending on average of 1.85 times more time on care activities compared to men. Employed women spend about 5.33 hours, more than twice as much time on care work than employed men. And women in rural areas spend slightly more of their time on unpaid care activities than those in urban areas (6.5 hours per day compared to 6.2 hours).
 

When it comes to caring for the elderly, it is estimated that 46.7% of women in BiH report spending 10 hours weekly on caring for the elderly[3]. At the same time BiH is facing a shrinking and aging population that have already started putting greater pressures on existing public services, primary pension, and health services[4].  Legislation governing social protection on different levels of government in BiH allow for certain benefits when it comes to home care and assistance for the elderly, however demographic trends in BiH have affected traditional family structures, with fewer family members available to assist and care for the elderly[5]. Different NGOs in different localities have set up programs to provide for home care and home help for the elderly[6] to cover the gap in traditional family care. The need for affordable and accessible care services for the elderly is increasing, hence the need to explore different models of elderly care that could be introduced in legislation and in practice.
 

Countries in the region have over the years developed a specific type of care model for the elderly that address the need to provide assistance in the home for the elderly and, at the same time, offer employment (and potential self-employment) schemes for long-term unemployed and hard to employ women. This model is called “gerontodomacice” (loosely translated as ‘house-care for the elderly’). One example is the “gerontodomacice” program initiated in 2016 in Croatia, using funding through the European Social Fund[7] . The aim of the program was to provide jobs and education for long-term unemployed and hard to employ women. During the program these women received training for being a “gerontodomacica” (carer for the elderly). With this, the program aimed to also address the issue of providing home care services for the elderly, but also other disadvantaged populations within their communities, such as people with disabilities and special needs, chronically ill and similar, regardless of their age. Serbia has also, in some instances with the help of donor funding, implemented similar schemes through local authorities.
 

Employment bureaus in BiH, as well as NGOs and donor organisations have developed different types of employment schemes for women over the years. One of them has been employment programs for aid to elderly and others in need. These programs, in the case of the Federation BiH, have been implemented with co-funding by the Bureau for Employment of the Federation of BiH and municipal governments. The municipalities use women that are registered by the Employment Bureau as “hard to employ”, which are usually women that have been unemployed for a longer period of time, are of a certain age group or education level. These women are then provided salaries for the care services they provided for the duration of the employment programme. 
 

What is currently missing in that scheme is allowing for the women to continue to be employed after the end of the employment programme. By allowing them to gain the vocation of “gerentodomacica” and receive specialised training, including training in starting-up an NGO, small business or being self-employed, the scheme can be expanded to address the issue of long-term unemployment, as well as provide sustainable home care models for the elderly in localities where there are most needed, particularly rural areas and areas where there has been substantive depopulation.
 

In BiH there are certain localities with available and affordable elderly home care models, mostly provided by non-governmental organisations. However, the model of “gerontodomacica”, if properly piloted, can offer an additional care model for the elderly that could address the growing need for third-party elderly home care, as well as develop an employment an education scheme for women that may address some of the structural issues of long-term unemployment for women, particularly for women who are considered difficult to employ.

[1] As quoted in the Economic Institute Sarajevo, funded by UN Women „Baseline Study on Care Economy in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Overview of key denominators, policy and programming options“, December 2022.

[2] Ibid.

[3] UN Women 2021.

[4] UNFPA „The effects of population changes on the provision of public services in BiH“

[5] Economic Institute Sarajevo, funded by UN Women „Baseline Study on Care Economy in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Overview of key denominators, policy and programming options“.

[6] Ibid.

[7] The name of the program was “Zaželi – program za upošljavanje žena” (“Wish – Program for Employing Women”).

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall objective of this consultancy is to review the applicability and replicability of piloting Gerentodomacice in Bosnia and Herzegovina through an assessment of gerontodomacice programmes in the Western Balkan region and provide advice to UN Women for further gerentodomacice implementation in BiH.

The immediate objective of this consultancy is the development of the comparative analysis of gerontodomacice employment and elderly care programmes in Serbia and Croatia with an overview of rules, procedures and programmes of implementation including specific roles of national governments and local authorities, with the aim of drawing on lessons learned and good practices that could be applied within the context of BiH. 

Under the supervision of the WEE Programme Coordinator, and the overall supervision of UN Women Programme Specialist, the consultant is expected to deliver the following results:

I) Investigate the potential of women's employment in the area of elderly care based on the comparative analysis of gerontodomacica employment and elderly care programmes in Croatia and Serbia

-  Develop a document with an overview of existing similar programmes in the Western Balkan region capturing identified rules, procedures and programmes of implementation;

- Map the stakeholders including specific roles of national governments and local authorities;

- Identify advantages, disadvantages, and challenges these programmes faced with the aim of drawing on lessons learned and good practices that could be applied within the context of BiH. 

- Map existing trainings for home elderly care in the Western Balkan region, entities that implement trainings, and provide a set of recommendations on whether and how training can be expanded to more “advanced care” than what is currently provided by “gerentodomacice” schemes in the region (for instance providing limited medical care and assistance as part of elderly home care services, as is the case in some EU countries and elsewhere).
 

II) Based on the findings, develop a proposal for a “gerontodomacica” employment and elderly care program  in BiH

- Based on the comparative analysis in the region and the overview of elderly home care training and employment schemes for women in the care sector in BiH, developing a proposal for a “gerontodomacica” training and employment program

- Identify partner organization/association/entity  that can be implemented with respective local authorities and bureaus for employment.

- Final report capturing recommendations and proposed next steps to gerentodomacice implementation sent to UN Women.

The consultant will set out a weekly plan of proposed activities in line with the deliverables below, and within the indicative timeframe:

The consultant should in the development of the deliverables allow time for deliverables to be reviewed and commented by UN Women before their finalisation.

Any envisaged travel and accommodation costs should be covered by the consultant and incorporated under the received financial offer. 

All deliverables should be submitted to the UN Women WEE Programme Coordinator and WEE Programme team in English.

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:

https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values

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:

• Master degree in social studies, social care, gender studies, economics, law, psychology, or any other area relevant to the requirements of the TOR.
• Bachelor’s degree in combination with at least three additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted (minimum 8 years of experience)..

Skills and Experience:

• At least 5 years of professional development-related experience;
• At least 2 years progressively responsible experience in social rights, care, socio-economis response, gender, women´s rights, women´s economic empowerment or related area of work; 
• Minimum3 years of experience in drafting analytical reports, policy and strategic documents;
• 2 years of professional experience in supporting training or capacity development programs;
• Previous experience in working with UN agencies will be considered an advantage; 

Language requirements:

• Fluency in written and spoken English and Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian is required. Candidates to provide certificate of English knowledge or sample of a part of study conducted in English (one to two pages maximum)

EVALUATION OF OFFERS

UN Women applies a fair and transparent selection process that takes into account both the technical qualification of potential consultants as well as the financial proposals submitted in support of consultant applications. Candidate applications will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of applicant qualifications and financial proposal. The contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
• having received the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal will be allocated to the lowest price proposal among those candidates. Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

Criteria:

Technical Evaluation (70%) - Maximum Obtainable Points 70

Academic Qualifications:

• Master degree in social studies, social care, gender studies, economics, law, psychology, or any other area relevant to the requirements of the TOR.
• Bachelor’s degree in combination with at least three additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted.

Skills and Experience:

• At least 5 years of professional development-related experience; (25 points)
• At least 2 years progressively responsible experience in social rights, care, socio-economis response, gender, women´s rights, women´s economic empowerment or related area of work;  (25 points)
• Minimum3 years of experience in drafting analytical reports, policy and strategic documents; (10 points)
• 2 years of professional experience in supporting training or capacity development programs; (5 points)
• Previous experience in working with UN agencies will be considered an advantage;  (5 points)

Language requirements:

• Fluency in written and spoken English and Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian is required. Candidates to provide certificate of English knowledge or sample of a part of study conducted in English (one to two pages maximum) REQUIRED

Financial Evaluation (30%) – Based on submitted offer - Maximum Obtainable Points 30             

The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula:

• 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.

TOTAL - 100 points

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents:

1. Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position.
2. Expression of interest and confirmation of immediate availability
3. Financial Proposal*- specifying a total lump sum amount in BAM for the tasks specified in this announcement. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (number of anticipated working days, travel, per diems and any other possible costs).
4. Filled P11 form including experience in similar projects and contact details from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment
5. Candidates to provide certificate of English knowledge or sample of a part of study conducted in English (one to two pages maximum)

Please note that incomplete applications will not be considered (all documents indicated above need to be uploaded).

For any additional information, please contact unwomen.bih@unwomen.org

How to Submit the Application: To submit your application online, please follow the steps below:

• Download and complete the UN Women Personal History Form (P11)- http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment
• Merge your UN Women Personal History Form (P11), the Financial Proposal, Expression of Interest into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded;
• Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement);
• Click 'Apply Now' button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click 'Submit Application;'
• Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above);
• You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.

Qualified women and men and members of minorities are encouraged to apply. 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.)

Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.