Background
UN Women is 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.
The Regional Office for the Arab States (ROAS) was established in Cairo, Egypt, in 2012. The regional office covers 17 countries in the Arab States region and provides direct support to UN Women country offices in Egypt, Iraq, occupied Palestinian territories (oPt), Jordan and the Morocco Multicounty Office (MCO) covering Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. In addition, UN Women has programme presence in Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Libya. In 2014, UN Women started working in Kuwait as a non-resident agency and will pursue this modality in countries where there is no programme or office presence, including in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The regional office supports country offices in assisting national governments to fulfill their gender equality commitments under the applicable national and international laws. The regional office works with country offices in strengthening areas of programmatic interventions under the six thematic areas identified in the organization’s Strategic plan for 2014–2017, including:
- Expanding women’s voice, leadership and participation;
- Enhancing women’s economic empowerment;
- Ending violence against women and girls;
- Implementing the women’s peace and security agenda;
- Enhancing governance and national planning to improve accountability for gender equality commitments and priorities; and
- Strengthening and implementing the global and normative policy framework for gender equality and the empowerment of women.
To this end the Regional Office is supporting the work of its country offices on the Syria refugee response, including through the implementation of a workstream focused on policy, research and advocacy, with generous funding from the Government of Japan. To support this work, UN Women is commissioning the development of a set of three practice notes on gender and protection and civic participation:
These are:
- Protection: Develop a practice note identifying the best practices on psychosocial support (PSS), as it relates to community mobilization, engagement, dialogue and support, in humanitarian settings, providing best practice, case studies and a menu of options for UN Women PSS programming. UN Women will provide feedback on its current work in this area and the practice note should speak to areas of UN Women’s current engagement, to seek to unify and strengthen it.
- Protection: Develop a practice note on awareness raising and gender-based violence in humanitarian settings. The note should set out best practice for effective awareness raising (for behavioral change and legislative change, targeting a range of stakeholders - both women and men), and methodologies for monitoring the impact of these interventions. Indicators and data collection tools.
- Civic Participation: Develop a practice note on strategies to support leadership/engagement work for refugee populations living in displacement. The note should emphasis do no harm approaches and utilize case studies.
Duties and Responsibilities
Under the overall guidance and direct supervision of the Advisor, Peace, Security and Humanitarian Action in the Arab States regional office – the consultant will:
Develop of a set of three practice notes on gender and protection and civic participation:
- Protection: Develop a practice note identifying the best practices on psychosocial support (PSS), as it relates to community mobilization, engagement, dialogue and support, in humanitarian settings, providing best practice, case studies and a menu of options for UN Women PSS programming. UN Women will provide feedback on its current work in this area and the practice note should speak to areas of UN Women’s current engagement, to seek to unify and strengthen it.
- Protection: Develop a practice note on awareness raising and gender-based violence in humanitarian settings. The note should set out best practice for effective awareness raising (for behavioral change and legislative change, targeting a range of stakeholders - both women and men), and methodologies for monitoring the impact of these interventions. Indicators and data collection tools.
- Civic Participation: Develop a practice note on strategies to support leadership/engagement work for refugee populations living in displacement. The note should emphasis do no harm approaches and utilize case studies.
UN Women will agree on a common structure for all practice notes. Practice notes should be short (10 pages max) and include easy to use tools (including ‘how to’ checklists) and information synthesized in a manner in which it can be grasped and digested easily.
Deliverables:
- Agreed structure/table of contents for practice notes (2 weeks);
- Three draft practice notes (6 weeks);
- Revised draft practice notes (3 months).
Inputs:
- This will be a homebased assignment. UN Women will provide support in facilitating contact with partners and identification of relevant resource persons for all components of the assignment; - UN Women will cover costs of travel as needed, related to the assignment.
Performance Evaluation:
- Consultant’s performance will be evaluated based on: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.
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.
Functional Competencies:
- Excellent technical expertise and research skills on substantive women, peace and security issues;
- Demonstrable experience in women, peace and security issues in Arab region with expertise on National Action Plans on Women, Peace and Security in the region;
- Excellent writing skills;
- Ability and willingness to work as part of a team to meet tight deadlines and produce high quality work.
Required Skills and Experience
The Consultant should fulfill the following requirements:
Education:
- Master Degree or equivalent in conflict or development related disciplines, gender issues, economics, public policy, law, international relations or other social science fields.
Experience:
- 5 years of increasingly responsible professional experience in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment in humanitarian contexts;
- Demonstrable knowledge in programming for services on gender equality, women’s rights, gender based violence and civic participation in humanitarian response programming;
- Familiarity with gender equality and women’s rights issues in humanitarian emergency settings in the Arab States region;
- Past experience with UN Women or the UN system would be an asset.
Language and other skills:
- Proficiency in oral and written in English essential.
Evaluation Criteria:
Contract will be awarded to the technically qualified consultant who obtains the highest combines score (financial and technical). The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula:
(Lowest Bid Offered*) / (Bid of the Consultant) x 30?*"Lowest Bid Offered" refers to the lowest price offered by Offerors scoring at least 49 points in technical evaluation.
The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:
Technical Evaluation Criteria Obtainable Score
- 5 years of increasingly responsible professional experience in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment in humanitarian contexts (30 points);
- knowledge in programming for services on gender equality, women’s rights, gender based violence and civic participation in humanitarian response programming (30 points);
- Familiarity with gender equality and women’s rights issues in humanitarian emergency settings in the Arab States region (30 points);
- Past experience with UN Women or the UN system would be an asset (10 points).
Total Obtainable Score 100 points.
Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70 total points will be considered as technically-qualified candidate.
Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:
- Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70 points score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated;
- The total number of points allocated 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 technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70 points score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.
Submission of Application:
Interested candidates are requested to submit the following documents:
- Cover letter;
- CV, including contact information for 3 references;
- Financial proposal.
The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount per each deliverable, including any travel, per diem and administrative fees.
The above-mentioned documents (Cover letter, Methodology, UN Women P11, Personal CV and financial proposal) should be merged in a standalone file including all them, since the online application submission does only permit to upload one file per application. Incomplete submission can be a ground for disqualification.
Selected candidates will need to submit prior to commencement of work:
- 1. Copy of the latest academic certificate
- 2. UN Women P-11 form, available from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment
- 3. A statement from a medical doctor of ‘good health and fit for travel’