Background

Violence against women and girls continues to be a widespread social problem in BiH, and a serious violation of fundamental human rights. This type of violence is still tolerated and considered socially acceptable behaviour, and is justified by traditional and patriarchal conceptions of the role and status of women in BiH society.
The entry into force of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) in August 2014 has marked an important milestone in the BiH efforts to curb violence against women and girls, in addition to new legislation on protection from family violence that was adopted in 2012 in both of BiH’s entities. However, there is still a need to harmonize these laws at all levels and implement their necessary provisions to ensure legal protection, equal treatment and respecting the rights of women and children, who are recognized as the most frequent victims of gender-based violence.

 “Standards and Engagement for Ending Violence against Women and Domestic Violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, is a three-year programme (2016-2019) developed by the UN Women Country Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and financially supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). The programme aims to strengthen the institutional and social response mechanisms to violence against women (VAW) and domestic violence (DV) in BiH by contributing to the implementation of the Istanbul Convention. Furthermore, the proposed activities of the programme build upon the initiatives identified in the entity strategies on combating violence against women and domestic violence. The programme presents a comprehensive, transformative approach towards gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The programme builds on the previous work of UN Women and other UN agencies in BiH at the policy level as well as the support provided to improve services for survivors and to prevent violence against women and girls since 2008. The activities are being implemented in several locations: municipalities of Central Bosnia Canton and Canton 10, Bijeljina, Bratunac, Brcko District, East Sarajevo, Foca, Lopare, Milici, Rogatica, Srebrenica, Visegrad, Vlasenica and Zvornik. The programme has two main components that are focusing on protection of survivors and prevention of gender-based violence (GBV).

Component 1. Improvement of the availability, accessibility and quality of services to survivors of violence against women and domestic violence.
Under this component, UN Women is working on improvement of availability, access and quality of services utilizing a multi-sectorial approach to address violence against women and domestic violence in BiH through the partnerships with institutions and NGOs.

• FBiH Gender Center and RS Gender Center work on enhancement of accessibility of services for survivors of gender-based violence at cantonal and local level trough coordination bodies and referral mechanisms.
• Foundation Lara Bijeljina is implementing the project with the aim of building capacities of local institutions working on violence against women and DV, harmonization of standards from Istanbul Convention on local level, and empowerment of women and girls survivors of violence through self-help groups.
• In Brcko District the non-governmental organization United Women Banja Luka works on strengthening the multi-sectoral approach in protection and prevention of violence against women and DV in all relevant institutions.
• Work with perpetrators is focused on recognition and establishment of the most efficient model, and institutionalization of the method for better implementation of protective measures prescribed by entity laws. In this area two non-governmental organizations implement their projects -Buducnost Modrica (Milici, Bratunac, Srebrenica, Sokolac, Rogatica, Visegrad) and Zena BiH (Canton 10).

Component 2. Promotion of favourable social attitudes and behaviours towards ending violence against women and domestic violence among men, women and young people.
Under this component, UN Women together with implementing partners is working on prevention of violence by engaging youth and media:
• The Association XY and the organization Medica Zenica work on engagement of men, women and young people in promoting gender equality, eliminating gender stereotypes, facilitating community-based discussion, and supporting action groups to end violence against women. Special focus is on high school students and teachers.
• Using media analysis and training of media representatives and public relations professionals the focus is on encouraging responsible reporting on gender-based violence and raising awareness of the criminal nature and extent of GBV and promoting the responsiveness and use of services.

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall objective of this consultancy is to produce a brief mid-term review of the above-mentioned programme, including some key lessons learnt, generated knowledge, synergies, the main results achieved so far, unexpected results, challenges and some recommendations on the directions the Programme should take in its second half and towards the preparation of a second phase of the programme. 

The review should help answering to the following questions:

• What are going to be the key achievements, outputs, lessons learnt and success factors of the programme to be achieved through different strategies and implementing partners? 
• What are the main gaps in the programme implementation and what are the programme areas with accelerating potential to focus on the future?
• How well positioned is UN Women to achieve the objectives that were set at the beginning of the programme implementation? Is there a need to revise the programme’s results framework and, if so, in what direction?
• Are there any external or internal factors that challenge the achievement of these objectives?
• What is the added value of UN Women in BIH in comparison to other players in the field?
• What are the main recommendations for the future work in the field of EVAW in BiH?

3. OUTPUTS

The selected consultant shall be responsible for the following deliverables:
a. Detailed Methodology to conduct the mid-term analysis. Detailed methodology should include:
• Desk review of the programme documents, progress and donor reports and other documents relevant to the programme development and implementation; the team will provide the consultant with the relevant material at the beginning of the engagement.
• Filed work where at least six (6) field visits should be planned in order to hold interviews with beneficiaries/implementing partners/other stakeholders in the field. The exact locations will be discussed with UN Women programme team. The programme team, together with the selected implementing partners, will facilitate the organization of the field visits and meetings. 
b. Final report of the mid-term analysis, including a proposal for future strategic directions. The consultant is expected to produce a 15-20 pages report answering to the above listed questions based on a) desk review of documentation provided by the programme team; b) interviews with implementing partners and beneficiaries, and; c) the fair and impartial judgement of the consultant. The consultant may be also requested to conduct a brief presentation of the report to the implementing partners, donor and UN Women team in Sarajevo.

4. ACTIVITIES AND TIMEFRAME

The Consultant will be expected to complete the tasks within the indicative timeframe:

Tasks Days Delivery date
First meeting with the programme team to discuss the objective of the consultancy, methodology and timeline. 0.5
 October 2nd
Draft methodology for the analysis 3 October 6th
Final methodology for the analysis 0.5 October 13th 
Desk review    2 October 20th 
Field visits 12 November 20th 
Draft of the final report 5 November 27th 
Final report (including a presentation) 3 December 5th 
Total  26 

5. REPORTING

The language of the report should be English. All main documentation provided to the consultant will be in English and the languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Interviews with stakeholders will be mostly in the languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina. All travel costs are to be borne by the consultant and should be included in the financial offer.
Throughout the process, the consultant will be reporting to the EVAW Manager. He/She is expected to timely communicate progress on the work and any issue that may arise. The EVAW Team in parallel, will ensure communication with and support to the consultant from all implementing partners and their beneficiaries and stakeholders.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity;
• Integrity;
• Professionalism.

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

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

• Bachelor degree in gender studies, political sciences, social sciences, economics, international relations, human rights or related field;
• Master degree will be considered an asset. 

Experience:

• Minimum of five years of professional experience with the international standards related to the Project Cycle Management and Monitoring and Evaluation of Projects is required;
• Previous experience in the areas of women rights or gender-based violence;
• Track record of similar assignments;
• Excellent writing and speaking of the official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
• Fluency in English;
• Previous experience working /consulting for UN agencies will be considered an asset.

Knowledge:

• Excellent substantive knowledge on gender-based violence and the situation in Republika Sprska and Federation BiH;
• Demonstrated knowledge of M&E in the context of complex projects and programmes, preferably implemented by any UN Agency;
• Strong background in complex projects' development and management;
• Good understanding of BIH administrative structure and functioning;
• Display a high level of knowledge of human rights and gender issues.

NOTE: Both nation and international consultant are eligible to apply.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• Cover letter explaining the applicant’s interest in applying for the position;
• Detailed financial proposal - specifying a total lump sum amount 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);
• UN P11 form.

Please note: All documents have to be uploaded as one file.

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 a financial proposal. The contract will be awarded, based on the desk review, 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, interview and financial criteria.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 50 points in the technical evaluation will be considered as qualified and evaluated further. Only top 3 candidates (with highest number of points in the technical evaluation- documents based) will be interviewed. The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal will be allocated to the lowest price proposal among those top 3 qualified candidates. All other price proposals will receive points in reverse order.

Criteria:

• Technical Evaluation – documents and interviewed based (80%);
• Financial Evaluation- based on submitted offer (20%).

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 20
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.

Please note that travel costs and accommodation cost should be covered by the consultant and included in the financial offer.

Qualified women 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.
Due to the large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.
For any additional information, please contact unwomen.bih@unwomen.org.