Background

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is a middle-income country which is still recovering from the 1992-1995 war which had a devastating impact on its human, social and economic resources, leading to enormous challenges of the post-war reconstruction and economic and social recovery. This challenge has been further compounded by the transition towards market economy requiring structural reforms and improved governance. The slow rate of the post-war economic recovery of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been compounded by the negative impacts of climate change on key sectors such as agriculture, energy (hydropower), the environment and, in particular, the frequency and magnitude of flood disasters, which have tripled in frequency in the last decade.  BiH is significantly exposed to the threats of climate change but has very limited capacity to address and adapt to its negative impacts, in particular the frequency and magnitude of floods from its major rivers.   The Vrbas River basin is characterized by a large rural population comprised of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in BiH, including war returnees and displaced people, with high exposure to flooding and its devastating impacts.

The purpose of this project is to transfer technologies for climate resilient flood management in Vrbas River Basin, UNDP, Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) to enable the communities of the Vrbas basin to adapt to flood risk through the transfer of adaptation technologies for climate resilient flood management,   upgrade and rehabilitate of the hydrometric monitoring network, develop of a flood forecasting system and early warning system, develop of emergency response plans, and provide training in flood-specific civil protection.  The project will work closely with affected communities to introduce climate resilient community-based non-structural measures and provide training to local communities in climate resilient FRM. This will include the introduction of agro-forestry, community-based early warning systems, reforestation and introduction of financial instruments such as index-based flood/natural disasters insurance and credit deference schemes as a means of compensating for flood damages for agriculture.

However, climate change is not only one of the greatest environmental and development challenges facing the world today, it is one that will have critical impacts on human rights and inequalities, including gender inequality.

UNDP is guided in its work by its Gender Equality Strategy 2014-2017 which details how UNDP works towards gender equality in each of the goals and key results set out in the UNDP Strategic Plan 2014-2017.

In this context, UNDP's BiH Project 'Technology Transfer for Climate Resilient Flood Management in Vrbas River Basin' is engaging an national expert to ensure gender mainstreaming for climate change adaptation project focused on flood risk reduction in BiH. The incumbent will work under the overall guidance of the Project Manager (and/or his designate).

Objective of the assignment

The main objective of the consultancy is to conduct gender assessment and gender action plan for the  climate change adaptation project focused on climate resilient flood risk management in BiH.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant’s main responsibilities are as follows:

  1. To liaise with the relevant experts in Government, NGOs, CSOs, Private Sector, Development Partners to obtain critical input, including expert advice, information from relevant documents that can feed into the preparation of a gender assessment and action plan;
  2. To organize and collate information based on a series of consultations with stakeholders in BiH;
  3. To conduct desk research and field visits and synthesize key information from existing documents of relevance including UNDP BiH gender assessment reports, within the given scope of the Project;
  4. To propose gender related project indicators and targets to be included in the logic framework of the Project;
  5. To identify project entry points for gender mainstreaming and conduct comprehensive gender assessment and gender action plan in line with the UNDP methodological guidance and requirements;
  6. To support with substantive inputs towards addressing comments from UNDP.

Deliverables/outputs:

  • Draft gender assessment and action plan - 10 days,  October 2018, 70%;
  • Finalized gender assessment and action plan - 5 days,  10 December 2018, 30%.

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

  • Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modeling UN values and ethical standards;
  • Demonstrates professional competence and its conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
  • Results-Orientation: Plans and produces quality results to meet established goals, generates innovative, practical solutions to challenging situations;
  • Quality of Work: Consistently ensures timeliness and quality of work;
  • Communication: Excellent communication skills, including the ability to convey complex concepts and recommendations, both orally and in writing, in a clear and persuasive style tailored to match different audiences;
  • Client orientation: Ability to establish and maintain productive partnerships with national partners and stakeholder. Ability to identify beneficiaries’ needs, and to match them with appropriate solutions;
  • Teamwork: Ability to interact, establish and maintain effective working relations with a culturally diverse team, both as a team member and as a team leader, to build trust, and to manage in a deliberate, transparent and predictable way;
  • Building trust: Deals openly, honestly and transparently with issues, resources and people.

Functional competencies:

  • Strong interpersonal skills, communication and diplomatic skills, ability to work in a team;
  • Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
  • Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations;
  • Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities;
  • Excellent public speaking and presentation skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications/Education:

  • Master’s degree in social science or other relevant for the assignment area;

Experience:

  • At least eight (8) years of professional experience working on gender responsive programming in development settings;
  • Proven experience combining formal expertise on gender mainstreaming and gender equality with experience of applying these concretely to specific programmes sectors, plans, policies and business processes;
  • Relevant experience in conducting research and mainstream gender issues in project proposal (insurance that project design is adequately covering gender issues);
  • UN experience would be an asset.

Languages Requirements:

  • Excellent writing, editing, and oral communication skills in English.

EVALUATION

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:
a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
b) Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

  • * Technical Criteria weight-70%
  • * Financial Criteria weight- 30%

Applicants are required to submit an application including:

Please scan all above mentioned documents and upload as one attachment only online through this website.

Note:

  • For an assignment requiring travel, consultants of 62 years or more require full medical examination and statement of fitness to work to engage in the consultancy.
  • Due to large number of potential applicants, only competitively selected candidates will be contacted for remaining steps of the service procurement process.

Criteria:

  • Rating based on Qualifications - Mximum points: 20;
  • Methodology - approach to research and mainstreaming gender - Maximum points: 35;
  • Interview: Understanding of relevant policies/documents of  gender mainstreaming and gender equality; ability to apply these concretely to specific programmes sectors, plans, policies and business processes; Plans and produces quality results to meet established goals, generates innovative, practical solutions to challenging situations; Ability to establish and maintain productive partnerships with national partners and stakeholder. Ability to identify beneficiaries’ needs, and to match them with appropriate solutions - Maximum points: 45;