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, 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.

UN Women launched its Regional Office in Cairo following a series of consultations which enabled UN Women to identify a number of sectors and issues as priority programmes for the next years. As per the Arab States regional strategy, the priority areas of work are (i) expanding women’s leadership and participation; (ii) enhancing women’s economic empowerment; (iii) ending violence against women; and (iv) Institutionalizing gender in Governance with a focus on gender responsive budgeting and planning.  In addition to the above, UN Women also actively participates and contributes to various UN inter-agency processes and collaborates with U.N. organizations around specific programme areas. 

The scope of work of the Political Participation and Programme Consultant requires experience and in-depth understanding of gender equality and women’s political empowerment issues, to translate UN Women`s strategic plans in political participation into effective programmes and results.  It also requires developing.

Under the supervision of the Arab States Deputy Regional Director, the Political Participation and Programme Consultant based at the Regional Office in Cairo is expected to engage proactively on women's leadership and political participation issues with local and regional figures to help advance women political participation in the Arab Region.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective of the Assignment

The consultant is expected to support the development of programmes/projects in the field of Women Political Participation and Leadership. In doing this, the consultant will ensure to support knowledge building and sharing for women´s leadership and political participation. The Consultant will also liaise with regional networks, in country networks of women leaders as needed.

Provision of Support Services:

Office space:                     Yes

Equipment (laptop etc):    Yes

Secretarial/Logistical Services:   Yes

The Political Participation Policy and Programme Consultant is expected to: 

Develop programmes/project on Women´s Leadership and Political Participation in the Arab States, more specifically:

• Develop one regional flagship programme on Women´s leadership and political participation;
• Provide technical inputs to Country Offices’ programme proposals upon request;
• Develop and maintain thematic analysis pertaining to gender equality and Women’s leadership;
• Provide advice on contextualizing/ localizing programme documents, country strategies, global policies, and knowledge products; 
• Coordinate monitoring and reporting in collaboration with programme teams on women leadership and political participation.

Provide capacity building support to country offices, teams and partners.

• Provide substantive technical and policy support to the regional and country teams in developing and strengthening projects/ programmes to support the implementation of global norms and standards;
• Provide technical support to partners on implementation of women´s political participation and leadership upon request;

Contribute to the resource mobilization strategy for women´s political participation in the region.

• Participate in the implementation, monitoring and periodic updating of the resource mobilization strategy on women´s political participation in the region;
• Research and analyze information on donors; prepare substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation.

Oversee knowledge building and sharing for women´s leadership and political participation.

• Provide policy recommendations and guidance to strategic planning and positioning on women´s leadership and political participation;
• Produce periodic updates and briefs on regional/country development situation to be used by stakeholders, CO and HQ;
• Research, develop and present analytical reports, research papers, briefing notes, background papers, summaries, correspondence, and knowledge products on women´s leadership and political participation;
• Identify promising practices, technical expertise, and strategic opportunities in women´s leadership and political participation;
• Identify and disseminate lessons learnt and good practices in collaboration with country offices.

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

• Substantive experience and record of accomplishment in women political participation and leadership;
• Demonstrated People Management Skills;
• Familiarity with the Arab Region, women's rights organizations and networks in the region and globally;
• Good knowledge of UN Women and the UN system;
• Proven ability to advocate and provide policy advice;
• Ability to lead strategic planning, programme development and implementation, results-based management and reporting;
• Ability to develop and maintain strong partnerships and mobilize resources;
• Area of political participation: Contribute to the development of the regional knowledge hub and propose plans to enrich its political participation coverage;
• Ability to synthesise research and draw conclusion on the related subjects;
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing;
• Strong organisational skills;
• Strong analytical skills:
• Ability to manage and maintain relationships with different levels of stakeholders effectively and strategically;
• Proven ability to design, implement and facilitate training.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Master’s degree or equivalent in political science, social sciences, international relations, law, gender issues, or other development-related fields.

 Experience

• A minimum of 7 years of experience on political issues, and preferably including 5 years field experience in governance and political participation.
• Knowledge of specifics and trends on women’s political participation and leadership in the Arab States region.
• Experience of working with a wide range of partners including international and national civil society organisations, government counterparts, UN organisations and private sector on women’s political participation and leadership.

Language requirements

• Fluency in English and Arabic, both oral and written, is required; 
• Working knowledge of French an asset.

Scope of price proposal and schedule of payments

Remuneration - Deliverables:

The Contract is based on deliverables and shall be processed subject to successful delivery of expected results as per the schedule listed in the deliverables section.

Required Presentation of Offer:

The following documents are required to be submitted.

• Updated P11/CV (signed), indicating all relevant past experience, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate and at least three (3) professional references (P11 can be downloaded at UN Women web site: http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment)
• Financial proposal, the consultant is expected to provide a daily fee amount as a financial proposal.

Note that the DSA, terminals and round-trip economy fare tickets for the travel requested by UN Women as part of completing this assignment will be compensated separately.  

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer:

Evaluation Criteria:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology: Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for the financial evaluation.

Criteria Weight Technical: 70%

• Criterion 1: Master’s degree or equivalent in political science, social sciences, international relations, law, gender issues, or other development-related fields (15 points)
• Criterion 2: A minimum of 7 years of experience on political issues, and preferably including 5 years field experience in governance and political participation. (20 points)
• Criterion 3: Knowledge of specifics and trends on women’s political participation and leadership in the Arab States region (20 points)
• Criterion 4: Experience of working with a wide range of partners including international and national civil society organisations, government counterparts, UN organisations and private sector on women’s political participation and leadership (15 points)

Financial: Lowest Financial Proposal: 30%

• Contract will be awarded to the technically qualified consultant who obtains the highest combined 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 the technical evaluation.

UN Women is applying fair and transparent selection process that would take into account both the technical qualification of Consultants as well as their price proposals. The contract will be awarded to the candidate obtaining the highest combined technical and financial scores.

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.
 
Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.