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. 

In this respect, UN Women in Turkey had conducted Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) within the UN Joint Program (UNJP) on Promoting the Human Rights of Women. The UNJP had been carried out in 11 pilot povinces by UNDP, UN Women and Sabanci University in cooperation with Ministry of Interior, Ministry of National Education, Ministry of Family and Social Policies and Union of Municipalities of Turkey. By UN Women’s interventions within the UNJP, strategic plans of municipalities were prepared with a more equalitarian approach, budgets allocated for women’s empowerment increased and the cooperation between municipalities and CSOs strengthened. Besides, good practices which enable women to benefit more from the municipal services have been developed. On the other hand, a legislative expert of the Committee on Equal Opportunity for Women and Men (EOC) participated a Regional Exchange Workshop on GRB in Albania, where participants exchanged experiences, challenges and lessons learned, and the EOC legislative expert presented the Republic of Turkey’s experience on GRB. The workshop enabled the EOC legislative expert to gain knowledge on GRB at the local, central and parliamentary levels, and the expert’s participation was the first step of the future activities that the Gender Equality in Political Leadership and Participation Project in Turkey has been conducting with the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TGNA) on GRB.

 “Gender Equality in Political Leadership and Participation in Turkey” Project started to be implemented by UN Women in December 2014, as a second phase of the UNJP with the partnership of EOC and Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). The Project aims to ensure that women are able to participate in all aspects of decision making within the TGNA, including in positions of leadership. Grounded in UN Women’s Strategic Plan (2014-17), the Project works to contribute:

• Legal frameworks and policies to advance gender equality and women’s right to participate in decision making are reformed/adopted and implemented,
• Women’s leadership and participation in politics is promoted by gender responsive measures (parliamentary mechanisms, processes and services),
• Legal frameworks and policies to increase women’s leadership and political participation are influenced by gender equality advocates

The Project works to operationalize legal frameworks and policies to advance gender equality and women’s right to participate in decision making by activities aimed at supporting the EOC and relevant partners within the TGNA to identify and address legislative and policy gaps. Within this context, a specific activity of the Project aims at supporting EOC in cooperation with relevant bodies of the TGNA in exploring and piloting possible measures to enhance a gender responsive parliamentary budget through providing technical expertise.

The Project organized GRB trainings in June 2016, targeting parliamentarians from EOC and Committee on Plan and Budget, along with the Secretary General of TGNA, TGNA staff and experts from the Presidency and relevant minstries.

In 2017, a study visit was organized for parliamentarians and TGNA’s Strategic Planning Department. Participants of the study visit met with their peers in Madrid and Andalusia parliaments to discuss gender responsive budgeting and gender equality issues. By these meetings they gained an understanding of the mechanisms and instruments of Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) that have been successfully implemented by the National Parliament and Andalusian Government of Spain.

For preparation of new parliamentary budget, TGNA’s Strategy Development Department issued a call to all administrative departments to submit their budgets.  In cooperation with UN Women, the Head of Strategy Development Department asked administrative departments to integrate GRB in their departmental budgets. This call followed by a GRB workshop within TGNA on 22 June 2017. The workshop supported capacities of TGNA’s administrative departments on gender responsive budgeting and provide some practical information for responding the call for departmental budgets.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the Assignment

In line with the requests of TGNA staff and parliamentarians, the Project aims to continue its support to building parliamentary capacity on GRB by delivering training and developing necessary tools for effective utilization of GRB within budgetary processes of the parliament and public sector.

This assignment consists of delivery of trainings on GRB, development of a GRB guideline for parliamentary and ministerial staff, provision of direct support to TGNA departments during budget preparation process and implementation of a pilot analysis in order to deliver below results:

1. Support TGNA’s internal technical capacity on GRB through providing knowledge and promoting exchange of information between participants;
2. Enhance internal dialogue and ownership on GRB within the TGNA and public sector, by bringing together different actors who will lead the GRB process within Turkey’s public sector;
3. Develop recommendations and guidelines for utilization of GRB within strategic plans and budgets of the TGNA and public sector; and
4. Identify gaps and priorities for future interventions on GRB.

Scope of Work

In order to achieve these results, a team of two National Consultants will be contracted. National Consultants will work together to deliver:

I. GRB Trainings for staff of TGNA’s Strategy Development Department and other administrative departments and staff of ministries who are involved in strategic planning and budgetary processes. The trainings will cover GRB concepts and principles, present case studies and best practices of GRB initiatives at national and international levels, and focus on public budgetary process and integration of GRB within strategic plans, performance monitoring and reporting of TGNA and other public agencies.  Throughout the trainings, practical information will be provided for the audience, focusing on budget preparation, implementation and accounting processes. The trainings will be organized in two sessions in order to reach out maximum number of administrative staff. Each session will be organized as a 3-day training out of Ankara, including appr. 30 participants.

II. A GRB Guideline for supporting effective utilization of GRB in planning, implementation and monitoring of parliamentary and public budgets. The guideline will be developed with the inputs received from relevant administrative staff of TGNA and ministeries. GRB guideline will provide practical information and tools for integration of GRB in strategic plans and budgets and its monitoring through performance programs, activity reports and gender responsive auditing. It will aim to provide an understandable and practical tool for relevant technical staff to use during budgetary processes.  

III. A Pilot Analysis that will show the existing situation with respect to utilization of GRB principles in TGNA’s administrative processes. The analysis will focus on a selected administrative department and find out needs and gaps that needs to be addressed by this assignment, as well as future interventions on GRB. 

IV. Direct Support to TGNA Departments during  TGNA budget preparation process. This support will help TGNA staff to integrate GRB principles into budgetary processes and practice GRB guideline developed. The nature of this direct support may require organization of workshops, meetings, desk reviews and one to one coaching, based on the needs of the relevant TGNA staff.

IV. An Assignment Report summarizing the activities undertaken within this assignment, comments and observations on the assignment’s contribution to TGNA’s capacity to utilize GRB within budgetary processes, lessons learnt and policy recommendations for future activities and interventions on GRB. The Consultants are expected to provide their own observations and comments on the assignment report, as well as collecting feedback from counterparts within TGNA and ministries.

The team of two National Consultants are expected to work together to complete this assignment and submit joint deliverables. National Consultant 1 is expected to lead the assignment, ensuring completion of deliverables and bringing in theoretiacal and practical expertise on GRB, including pilot analysis, GRB guidelines and trainings. Meanwhile National Consultant 2 will provide in depth knowledge and expertise on TGNA’s internal procedures and strategic planning and budgetary processes in public sector in general, ensuring that all interventions planned under this assignment is in line with the specific needs of the target audience. She/he will also give support to National Consultant 1 on the completion of the deliverables including but not limited to pilot analysis, GRB guidelines and trainings.

All delivearbles will be prepared in Turkish.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of UN Women Project Manager and overall guidance of UN Women Country Programme Manager, Turkey, the National Consultants will be responsible for the following specific tasks:

1. Prepare a scheduled outline for GRB Training and GRB guidelines after meeting with Project Manager and relevant stakeholders in TGNA;
2. Prepare training materials based on agreed outline;
3. Deliver two sessions of 3-day GRB trainings;
4. Conduct pilot analysis on GRB;
5. Develop GRB guidelines for TGNA’s and ministeries’ use; and
6. Prepare and assignment report to summarize activities, lessons learnt and recommendations for future steps. 

Duty Station

Duty station for this assignment is Ankara. Travel will be required for delivery of GRB trainings, for which locations will be determined.

Duration of the Assignment and Expected Deliverables against Timeframes

Duration of the assignment is from 25 September 2017 to 31 March 2018.

National Consultant 1 is expected to spend a total number of up to 58 working days on a non-consecutive basis throughout the assignment.

National Consultant 2 is expected to spend a total number of up to 30 working days on a non-consecutive basis throughout the assignment.

The following table summarizes main activities and expected deliverables against targeted delivery deadlines and indicative working days to be invested by the Consultant.

NB: The mentioned number of working days has been estimated as being sufficient/feasible for the envisaged volume of work to be completed successfully and is proposed as a guideline for the duration of assignment. It cannot and shall not be used as criteria for completion of work/assignment. The provision of envisaged deliverables approved by the UN Women Project Manager shall be the only criteria for Consultants work being completed and eligible for payment(s).

Services and facilities to be provided by UN Women 

UN Women project team will provide project documents and background information for the National Consultants. The meetings planned for the assignment will be organized by the project team.  UN Women will not provide an office space or related facilities for this assignment. Consultants are expected to use his/her own personal computers.

Travel and logistics arrangements:

For the GRB trainings which will be organized outside of Ankara, UN Women will provide National Consultants’ travel and accommodation costs. No Daily Subsidy or Termanal allowance will be paid. UN Women will undertake logistical arrangements for meetings, trainings, workshops organized under this assignment and cover associated costs.

Performance evaluation:

Contractor’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

Payment Schedule

National Consultants shall be paid upon successful completion of each deliverable. Payment shall be effected only if all 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, Consultants shall not receive any payment even if they invest time for this assignment. 

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

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

Functional Competencies

• Good knowledge of technical area
• Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings
• Strong analytical and presentation skills
• Capacity to analyze needs and formulate recommendations for appropriate responses
• Familiarity with human rights concepts and approaches;

Required Skills and Experience