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.

UN Women Ukraine implements its Country Strategy for 2018-2022, covering the following thematic areas:

• Making gender equality priorities central to national reforms, governance, planning and budgeting;
• Ending violence against women and girls; and
• Strengthening implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda

One of the key priorities for UN Women in Ukraine is to ensure that the national reforms, policies and public institutions respond equally to the rights and needs of women and men, and to address the deficit of women’s participation in the implementation and monitoring of the reforms. Decentralization reform is one of the key reforms in the national reform agenda. It is led by the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine and has been ongoing since 2014. The reform implementation in general, and in the conflict-affected regions, neglects gender equality and women’s needs. Analysis of vulnerabilities of women and men in the context of decentralization in the conflict-affected areas of Ukraine (VA) revealed that women and men from vulnerable groups such as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), persons with disabilities, people living with HIV, single heads of households, and the older people, face challenges to participation in and equally benefitting from local development. The decisions on decentralization are rarely consulted with women from the communities, thus, neglecting their concerns, needs and opportunities, while implementation of the reforms, particularly in the context of on-going conflict requires recognition of, and response to, differentiated needs of women and men, especially vulnerable, gender and human rights analysis and measures across all reform interventions.

UN Women is successfully applying community mobilization for empowerment methodology to mobilize women in the communities of the eastern conflict-affected oblasts to build their human rights awareness, as well as capacity to effectively advocate for their needs in local recovery, decentralized development planning and budgeting. UN Women also works with local and regional authorities on gender-responsive planning and budgeting and support them to analyse budgets and conduct public consultations regarding funding allocations with the local women’s groups and broader communities. This is in turn leads to increase of the allocations of local funds for gender priorities.

UN Women works closely with the Ministry of Regional Development and Construction of Ukraine to ensure that the decentralization reform is compliant with international standards on gender equality and is informed by the results of the described above gender-responsive regional and local initiatives. In January 2018, the Ministry endorsed a Code of Equal Opportunities that aims to protect all the Ministry’s employees from discrimination and unequal treatment. It also aims to support a working environment ensuring equal opportunities for women and men-employees of the Ministry in realization of their potential. In order to further support the Ministry of Regional Development in conducting a gender analysis and providing legal advice to ensure that the normative acts, released by the Ministry, are in accordance with the rights of women under the Constitution and the state commitments (including CEDAW, UNSCR 1325 and SDGs), UN Women seeks to hire a National Consultant (lawyer) to serve in the role of a Legal Advisor on Gender Equality and Non-discrimination to the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine.

Duties and Responsibilities

?Scope of Work/Duties and Responsibilities        

Under the overall guidance of the UN Women Country Programme Manager/Head of Office, in close collaboration with the UN Women Project Coordinator, under direct supervision of a designated supervisor at the Ministry of Regional Development and Construction, in cooperation with Director of a Legal Department of the Ministry and in coordination with the Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Construction, the consultant will implement a set of tasks, including, but not limited to:

• Ensure day-to-day legal support and legal advice to the Ministry of Regional Development and Construction in gender-related activities to ensure gender-responsive decentralization reform;
• Conduct a gender analysis of legislation / legal acts related, developed by the Ministry of Regional Development, with a specific focus on anti-discrimination aspects and legislative and policy areas of the on-going decentralization reform to ensure Ukrainian legislation on decentralization is in accordance with the rights of women under the Constitution and the state commitments (including CEDAW and SDGs). The exact laws / legal acts for review will be identified together with responsible staff of the Ministry; gender neutral laws included in the national reforms that fail to protect or promote the rights of women may be of special interest;
• In close coordination and collaboration with the Office of the Vice-Prime Minister on EU and Euro-Atlantic Integration and the Commissioner of Gender Equality Policy, as well as the Ministry of Justice,  to develop a manual/guidance on gender and anti-discrimination legal analysis for the Ministry of Regional Development;
• Participate in multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral and inter-ministerial meetings, consultations and interviews with the institutions of the national mechanism on gender equality, such as Office of the Vice-Prime Minister on EU and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Ministry of Social Policy, the Ministry of Justice, and other line ministries, Ombudsperson and Parliamentary Caucus on Equal Opportunities and the Commissioner on Gender Equality, with sectoral/legal experts and gender focal points, as well as oblast and local authorities, development agencies and civil society organizations in order to jointly analyze gaps and collect information on needed changes in the legal framework to ensure gender-responsive decentralization reform;
• Provide a series of recommendations for legislative and policy reform and harmonization, including explicit provisions for gender equality and/or to remove previously existing discriminatory provisions to ensure Ukrainian legislation on decentralization is in accordance with the rights of women under the Constitution and the state commitments (including CEDAW and SDGs).

Assignment Deliverables:

• All monthly reports and final report should be submitted in Ukrainian and English languages (the supporting documents, such as meeting minutes, analytical papers, workshop agendas etc. can be submitted in Ukrainian language).

• The Consultant is expected to work remotely and upon request in the Ministry of Regional Development and Construction using her/his own computer, but may access the UN Women office for printing of relevant documents or should he/she be required to work on-site at any point during the assignment.

Inputs

• UN Women and the Ministry of Regional Development and Construction of Ukraine will provide the Consultant with background materials related to the assignment
• The Ministry of Regional Development and Construction will provide the consultant with the space and access to the internal institutional documents.

Performance evaluation:

• Contractor’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered. The evaluation will be carried out and cleared by the hiring manager after receiving and accepting monthly reports which will also be the basis for payment on a monthly basis to the consultant.

Financial arrangements:  

• Payment will be disbursed on a monthly basis upon receipt of the deliverables (as per above matrix) and their certification by the Ministry of Regional Development and Construction and UN Women Project Coordinator that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

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

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications Education:

• Advanced (Masters) degree in social sciences, law, public policy/administration, economics, development studies, gender studies or similar.

Experience:

• At least 3 years of relevant experience on gender analysis of national legislation and policy documents;
• Proven knowledge of international practices and instruments on the protection of human rights/women’s rights;
• Experience with participation in high-level dialogues, consultations, including with the members of parliament, government etc.;
• Previous professional experience with development agencies and the United Nations would be considered an asset.

Languages and other skills: 

• Fluent in Ukrainian and working knowledge of English, knowledge of Russian will be an asset;
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, IT tools, ability to use Internet and email.

Evaluation of Applicants:

• Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of their qualifications and financial proposal. A two-stage procedure is utilised in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. The award of the contract should be made to the individuals whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:
• Responsive/compliant/acceptable.
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical criteria and interview, 70% of total evaluation – max 45 points for technical criteria and max 25 points for interview. Total max 70 points:

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 45. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on desk review and following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation will be further considered and evaluated.

The total number of points allocated for the financial/price component is 30.

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 50 points in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 30

(S - score received on financial evaluation; F min - the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round; F - financial offer under the consideration).

Sample of Financial Proposal

The format shown on the following tables is suggested for use as a guide in preparing the Financial Proposal

1. Cost Breakdown per Deliverables*

*Basis for payment tranches

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.