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. Placing women's rights at the centre of all its efforts, the 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. 

The UN Women Turkey Program Office from an early stage involved in programming with Turkish Grand National Assembly and is implementing ‘“Gender Equality in Political Leadership and Participation in Turkey” project in partnership with TGNA, Equal Opprtunities Commision  and  Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Committee on Equal Opportunity for Women and Men of the TGNA.The project aims to support women’s political leadership and participation by focusing on the Parliament as a model institution that is uniquely placed to drive change and lead by example.  UN Women is working in the area of Gender-Responsive Budgeting (GRB) across the region as well as in Turkey with the aim to strengthen the capacity of local administrations and civil society organizations in analysing, preparing and monitoring local budgets with a gender perspective. From 2012 to 2015, UN Women implemented the GRB component of the UN Joint Programme on Promoting the Human Rights of Women in 11 pilot provinces in Turkey. UN Women is in the stage of planning for the next phase of GRB.

UN Women is working to strengthen refugee women and girls and their access to opportunities, rights and services, as required by international treaties and national legislation. UN Women has launched an assessment in six cities to determine the needs of refugee women and girls, their challenges in accessing services and the areas that need improvement. UN Women, as part of refugee response programming, will implement the “Gaziantep Women-only Centre: Providing Livelihood Support” project and establish a women-only center in Gaziantep to enhance the economic and social integration of women and girl refugees in their new communities. UN Women is planning to expand its programming for refugee women and girls across different areas of Turkey.

The UN Women programme has focused on the local implementation of Global Normative standards (CEDAW, Beijing +20, Istanbul Convention) & technical support to government to embed these principles in their service delivery in practice. The UN Women Turkey Office is also part of a regional programme on ending violence against women in the Western Balkans and Turkey, “Implementing Norms, Changing Minds.” started in 2017.

Objective of the Assignment

The UN Women Turkey Program Office is embarking on the process of developing its first Strategic Note (SN) for the period of 2018-2021, defining key development results and management/operational results for the next four years. The Strategic Note will be based on the global UN Women Strategic Plan which focuses on five thematic priorities: (1) comprehensive and dynamic set of global norms, policies and standards on gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls is strengthened; (2) Women lead, participate in and benefit equally from governance systems; (3) Women have income security, decent work and economic autonomy; (4) All women and girls live a life free from violence; (5) Women and girls contribute to building sustainable peace and resilience, and benefit equally from crisis prevention and humanitarian action. In addition, the new SN will be aligned to the United Nations Development Cooperation Strategy Turkey 2016-2020.

As a necessary part of the process of developing the new Strategic Note, the UN Women Turkey Office needs to develop a document that:

• Takes into account the national context and political developments in Turkey, such as the EU Accession process, and aligns with national strategies and development priorities;
• Is based on current and emerging trends related to GEWE;
• Reflects UN Women’s mandate towards achieving goals and objectives of the SDGs and the 2030 development agenda gender equality commitments, CEDAW, the Istanbul Convention and other relevant normative frameworks;
• Reflects/aligns with UN Women’s recent Flagship Programme Initiatives, the United Nations Development Cooperation Strategy Turkey 2016-2020, and the Combating Domestic Violence National Action Plan (2016 – 2020); 
• Presents an overview of the work of other UN agencies and international partners in Turkey in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment and key opportunities and gaps that could be addressed through strengthened coordination; 
• Summarizes key lessons learned from relevant evaluations and reviews of UN Women’s programmes in the country over the past few years. 

To this end, the UN Women Turkey Programme Office would like to bring on board a short-term national consultant to review relevant documentation (both internal and external) in order to develop a new Strategic Note for Turkey that is in line with UN Women HQ guidelines for developing country strategies. The consultant should employ a consultative and participatory approach throughout the development and drafting of the Strategic Note by involving UN Women staff, other UN agencies operating in the country, strategic partners and key donors and stakeholders in the process.

Scope of Consultancy Assignment:

The national consultant will report to the UN Women Program Office in Ankara and will work in consultation with the UN Women ECA Regional Office.

Duties and Responsibilities

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of UN Women Turkey Head of Programme and overall guidance of UN Women Turkey Representative, the Consultant will  be responsible for the following specific tasks:

1. Conduct a desk review of the current UN Women programme in Turkey, with practical and substantial recommendations for improved programme cohesion and coherence;

2. Facilitate consultations with key stakeholders to validate the preliminary findings of the desk review, obtain additional insights on key GEWE gaps, challenges and opportunities, etc;

3. Support the development of the Draftstrategy 2018-2021 and 2018 work plan for the UN Women Turkey office in line with the outcomes and programmatic areas of UN Women’s Global Strategic Plan.

To fulfill these requirements, the Consultant is expected to fulfill the tasks/activities stated in the table below:

Competencies

Required Skills and Experience

Education

Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, gender studies, public administration, international relations, international law, public policy, or a related field.

Skills and Experience

• At least 7 years of experience in the international development field. Experience is from the UN system at the country is highly desirable
• Demonstrated experience in results-based and strategic planning processes
• Demonstrated experience in project management, conducting research and writing strategic documents, and proposals preferably within the UN system
• Advanced knowledge of gender analysis preferably within the UN system
• Advanced knowledge of results-based planning, including planning of monitoring & evaluation work
• Capacity to analyze needs and formulate recommendations for appropriate responses
• Familiarity with human rights concepts and approaches
• Strong analytical and presentation skills

Language

• Fluency in Turkish and English (written and oral) is must.

Application procedure

The following documents should be submitted as part of the application:

• Cover letter to include a brief overview about which of your previous experiences makes you the most suitable candidate for the advertised position.
• Financial Proposal
• P11 including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment

Payment schedule

The Consultant shall be paid upon successful completion of the deliverables. The payment shall be effected only if the deliverables in this TOR are submitted to UN Women Project Manager within the timeframes stipulated in the TOR and they are approved by UN Women Project Manager. Without submission and approval of the deliverables, the Consultant shall not receive any payment even if he/she invests time for this assignment.

Evaluation of applicants

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