Background

The main purpose of this consultancy is to support the strengthening of women’s leadership and participation in political life –through the development of the comprehensive methodology including selection criteria for identifying of women leaders as the beneficiaries of capacity-building project component while applying 6 Steps in Elected Office as a holistic approach aiming to bring in, and to keep, more women in politics and the decision-making arena.

Political sensitivities ingrained in the nature of the Women in Elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina project itself call for strict observation of neutrality and adoption of non-partisan approach at all stages of project implementation - strictly assuring that no parties would either be deliberately excluded or treated with favoritism. This especially refers to paying particular attention to the selection of women who will benefit from the capacity building component to be provided by the project. In this respect, a comprehensive selection criteria will be carefully crafted - based on the principles of political neutrality, while taking into account a fair geographic, entity, and ethnic coverage. Close cooperation and sharing of responsibility in this regard will be done with the Gender Equality Agency, BiH Gender Parliamentary Commission, entity Gender Centers and BiH Central Election Commission.

The main objective of the consultancy is to develop a comprehensive methodology and selection criteria for identification of current and potential women leaders from public, private and civic sector, as the beneficiaries of capacity-building project component used to strengthen and grow women leaders and support their civic engagement and involvement in public decision-making process.
In order to maximize the benefits of project activities across project target groups the consultancy will align the selection criteria with the project activities by developing a set of recommendations and principles for effective matching of women leaders with capacity building activities across project.
The task will be performed through desk review of project related documentation, stakeholders interviews, discussions with WiE project team and other similar projects while taking into consideration findings from already conducted research and comparable best practices in  the field.
The Methodology and selection criteria, as well as, a set of recommendations and principles for effective matching of women leaders with capacity building activities will be based on the principles of political neutrality, geographic, entity, and ethnic coverage, while applying 6 Steps in Elected Office as a holistic approach aiming to bring in, and to keep, more women in politics and the decision-making arena.

When it comes to gender equality, BiH has set up the legislative and policy frameworks for gender equality and has become a regional leader in that area. Important legal steps have been taken with Conventions, Laws and Gender Action Plans promoting gender equality, strategies adopted to reduce domestic violence, and institutional  mechanisms set up to mainstream gender. However, a genuinely enabling environment requires work on several fronts, these being: a sharper focus on implementation of all policy instruments and a corresponding shift of paradigm from equality of rights to equality of results, promotion of institutional processes that ensure women’s equal participation in political parties and parliament, and consistent efforts to capacitate and include women in BiH in decision-making positions across board.
There are 3.282.581 registered voters in BiH (2.039.316 in FBiH and 1.243.265 in RS) out of which 50,8% are women . Yet, women continue to be underrepresented at all levels of political and public life. During the last general elections in 2014- in line with the standard praxis - the political parties abided by the Elections Law in terms of quota compliance when it comes to the candidate lists, but not with the mandates allocated to women. To illustrate, out of more than 300 women candidates enlisted for the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, only 10 were assigned with the mandates. Out of total 152 ministerial positions in BiH at all levels, there are only 23 women, while less than 20% women are represented in parliaments. Only two women are represented at the Council of Ministers (there were none in the previous mandate), and all the three BiH Presidency positions are (and have always been) held by men representing the three constitutive people. Out of 183 registered political parties in BiH, not a single one is headed by a woman. Women are also under-represented in the legislative power at all levels, at 17.1%, which is in an obvious breach of the Gender Equality Law.

At the community level gender equality issues are even more closely related to development, and every aspect of community life is necessarily gendered, but this is still not recognized in Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially in the less developed and rural areas. In 2016 local elections, out of 417 candidates only 26 (or 6.8%) were women, which represents a decrease comparing to the last local elections in 2012 . Six have become municipality mayors. A recent study  has shown that investments in women-run municipalities have significantly increased, the unemployment rates have shrunk, special measures targeting employment of women and youth have been taken, and significant investments into local community development were made. Therefore, mobilising the next generation of leaders locally, and activating women as social agents in communities can be the most effective strategy to promote transformational change towards more developed and inclusive society.

The main objective of the project is to strengthen women’s leadership and participation in political life. Guided by the strict observance of the highest standards of political neutrality, the project will apply the UNs Gender Equality in Elected Office approach to help secure an enabling environment for getting more women elected across board, in all spheres of decision-making in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It will look into enhancing the women’s engagement in public life and their position in the decision-making and ensure they are given a realistic and equal chance as their men counterparts in the forthcoming general elections (2018), and in the longer term, the next local elections in 2020 by advocacy for women’s equal rights and political participation.
Strengthening women’s leadership and participation in political life will apply the two-pronged approach- vertically by proposing structural adjustments to accommodate greater numbers of women in politics, as well as horizontally by nourishing the next generation of women leaders in communities through tailored networking and capacity building initiatives.
To this end, the project will utilise the “entry points”, contextual enablers, and programming opportunities to open up spaces for women’s leadership and strengthening their participation in political life. UN support will be provided equally across the political spectrum with no political favouritism.
The following outputs/project components are foreseen within this project:

• Output 1: Strengthening Women’s Leadership. This output support building the new generation of capable women leaders, by strengthening women’s leadership and participation in political life, specifically through empowerment women leaders, and increase in women’s political participation in partner LGs.
• Output 2: Fostering Political Participation of Women. The work under this output will be based on contextualising and applying the UNs Gender Equality in Elected Office approach, with the aim of getting more women elected across board, in all spheres of decision-making in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Consultant is expected to develop, in a consultative process, the comprehensive Methodology and selection criteria aimed at identifying the women leaders for capacity building activities based on the principles of political neutrality, geographic, entity, and ethnic coverage, as a basis for identification and mapping of current and aspiring women leaders from public, private and civic sector, their ambitions, capacities, capabilities, skills and project specific training needs for the purpose of their capacity building. This will include alignment of the selection criteria with the project activities through the development of a set of recommendations and principles for effective matching of women leaders with every capacity building activity across all project target groups while applying 6 Steps in Elected Office as a holistic approach to bring in, and to keep, more women in politics and the decision-making arena.
The capacity building intervention that will follow afterwards will be carefully designed and would include: Tailored training packages aimed at strengthening political competencies, soft skills, campaigning and crowdfunding skills of women leaders; Establishing On-job mentoring and coaching directed at connecting women to more experienced politicians, in person and via technologies- in order to crowdsource ideas and provide hands-on advice on how to resolve specific issues; Creation of women leaders’ network called Women Forum for Development - an engaging platform focused on providing and enabling mutual networking and support mechanism between women leaders.

On a parallel track, a close cooperation with the BiH Gender Agency, entity Gender Centers and Municipal Gender Commissions is anticipated in order to define Local Strategies and Action Plans for women’s leadership. Capacities of Gender Commissions will be strengthened by delivery of training on integrating gender equality perspectives into local development plans, local policies and gender sensitive budgeting, as well as about the gender equality law and its implications. In addition, Project will work with the political parties to promote gender sensitive practices, candidacy of women, greater inclusion of women in decision making positions within parties, as well as amending their manifestos and internal rules to accommodate the principles of inclusiveness and gender equality (institutionalizing gender equality in the political processes and institutions).
The work will look at all-encompassing women empowerment framework,  and  will be done in collaboration with all relevant project partners, stakeholders, WiE project team and other similar projects to ensure that all current and/or potential synergies between institutional, governmental and non-governmental and private stakeholders are investigated  while considering the political complexities and sensitivities that were contextualized in the Roadmap for Gender Equality in Elected Office: 6 Step Action Plan.

The Consultant will have the following three key tasks:

Task 1: Desk review and Methodology outline

• Review project related documentation such as: WiE project document, Roadmap for Gender Equality in Elected Office: 6 Step Action Plan, Gender Study: Towards a Barrier Free Community and any other relevant literature suggested by the WiE project team;
• Have a briefing meeting with the WiE project team and relevant UNDP specialists via Skype;
• Provide a Methodology outline to be used in the development of the consultancy outputs;
• Provide detailed assignment workplan and timeline;

It is envisaged that this task will not exceed 3 expert days.

Task 2: Field visits, consultations and development of the methodology, selection criteria for identification of current and aspiring women leaders and a set of recommendations and principles for effective matching of women leaders with project activities.

• Conduct consultation interviews with the representatives of Swedish Embassy, Gender Equality Agency BiH, BiH Gender Parliamentary Commission, entity Gender Centers, BiH Central Election Commission, WiE project team, other similar projects and relevant stakeholders to obtain their input in the development of the methodology including elaborate selection criteria and a set of recommendations and principles for effective matching of women leaders with project activities;
• Define the methodology for mapping out current and aspiring women leaders, key actors, man and women champions and relationships in relation to women empowerment framework that can support WiE project activities while applying 6 Steps in Elected Office as a holistic approach;
• Develop the selection criteria to identify current and aspiring women leaders, as the beneficiaries of the capacity building intervention, defining their overall ambitions, strengths, capacities, general and civic engagement, networking capabilities, project specific skills and training needs of current and aspiring women leaders;
• Develop a set of recommendations and principles for effective matching of women leaders with capacity building activities across project to enable the most effective capacity building activities across all project target groups while applying 6 Steps in Elected Office as a holistic approach;
• Based on the methodology and selection criteria and in support of effective matching of women leaders with project activities, develop user friendly form/s for capturing the ambitions, strengths, capacities, general and civic engagement, networking capabilities, project specific skills and training needs of current and aspiring women leaders, their achievements, goals and progress;
• Conduct round table discussion with the representatives of Swedish Embassy, Gender Equality Agency BiH, BiH Gender Parliamentary Commission, entity Gender Centers, BiH Central Election Commission, WiE project team to present the initial findings and outline of the requested documents in order  to obtain further inputs, suggestions and recommendations for creation of the more detail version of the documents;
• Produce draft version of the Methodology, selection criteria including the user-friendly form/s, as well as, the set of recommendations and principles for effective matching of women leaders with capacity building activities across project; and submit it for review and comments.

It is envisaged that this task will be delivered by end of September -first week of October 2018, and the level of effort will not exceed 12 expert days of which 5 in the field.

Task 3: Final version of the Methodology, selection criteria and set of recommendations and principles

• Produce final version of the Methodology, selection criteria including the user-friendly form/s to identify current and aspiring women leaders, as the beneficiaries of the capacity building intervention, as well as, the set of recommendations and principles for effective matching of women leaders with capacity building activities across project taking into consideration  suggestions and recommendations of the project stakeholders and project team. 

 It is envisaged that this task will be delivered by mid October 2018, and the level of effort will not exceed 3 expert days.

Deliverables and timline:

Desk review and Methodology outline (3 expert days September 2018)

• Review project related documentation;
• Briefing meeting with the WiE project team and relevant UNDP specialists via Skype;
• Provide a Methodology outline to be used in the development of the consultancy outputs;
• Provide detailed assignment workplan and timeline.  

Field visits, consultations and draft development of the methodology, selection criteria and a set of recommendations and principles (12 expert days September 2018)

• Consultation interviews with the project partners and other stakeholders to obtain their input in the development of the project documents conducted;
• Draft of methodology for selection of women leaders, key actors, champions and relationships, in relation to women empowerment framework developed and presented;
• Draft of selection criteria to identify current and aspiring women leaders for capacity building intervention developed and presented;
• Draft of recommendations and principles for effective matching of women leaders with capacity building activities across project developed and presented;
• Draft of friendly form/s in a word document for capturing the details of current and aspiring women leaders as per selection criteria developed and presented;
• Round table discussion with project partners to present the draft version of the documents conducted;
• Further input, suggestions and recommendations from partners for the creation of the final documents obtained and recorded.

 Final version of the Methodology, selection criteria and set of recommendations and principles (3 expert days October 2018)

• Final version of the methodology for selection of women leaders, key actors, champions and relationships, in relation to women empowerment framework developed and presented;
• Final version of the selection criteria to identify current and aspiring women leaders for capacity building intervention developed and presented;
• Final version of the  recommendations and principles for effective matching of women leaders with capacity building activities across project developed and presented;
• Final version of  the relevant form/s for capturing the details of current and aspiring women leaders as per selection criteria developed and presented.
   

Competencies

Corporate Responsibility and Teamwork:

• Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Plans, prioritizes and delivers tasks on time;
• Strives for and promotes excellence in performance continually;
• Participates effectively in a team-based, information-sharing environment, collaborating and cooperating with others;
• Generates ideas and seizes opportunities to support corporate strategic objectives.

People Skills:

• Demonstrated ability to work harmoniously with persons of different national and cultural backgrounds;
• Recognizes and responds appropriately to the ideas, interests, and concerns of others;
• Builds trust and engenders morale by displaying open, transparent and credible behaviour;
• Respects individual/cultural differences; utilizes diversity to foster teamwork;
• Ensures others’ understanding of, involvement in, and adaptation to a change process.

Partnering and Networking:

• Communicates sensitively and effectively across different constituencies;
• Ability to work as a member of a team as well as work autonomously;
• Results-Orientation;
• Plans and procedures quality results to meet established goals.

Communication:

• Technical writing skills, formulates written information clearly and persuasively;
• Strong communication skills;
• Shares information openly with co-workers and partners while using discretion to protect confidences;
• Presents information in a clear and articulate manner.

Job Knowledge and Expertise:

• Strong analytical skills;
• Proven writing credentials (List of published publications to be attached with the application) and research capacity: ability to both plan and undertake analysis and research, relying on both quantitative and qualitative methods;
• Knowledge in strategic planning and methodology development;
• Demonstrates substantive knowledge on security issues and activities with an emphasis on local communities;
• Executes day-to-day tasks systematically and efficiently;
• Initiative and sound judgment.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications/Education

• Master`s degree in political sciences or other relevant social sciences.

Experience

• Eight years of relevant experience;
• Experience in high level policy dialogue and collaborating effectively with senior government officials;
• Experience in working on similar projects in politically complex environments that require political neutrality and impartial approach;
• Experience of working on similar project in the UN;
• Experience in engaging various levels and types of stakeholders and assessing institutional and individual capacities and needs; 
• Experience in the field of gender equality and women empowerment.

Languages Requirements

• Fluency in English language.

Other Requirements

• Excellent computer skills (MS Office applications) and ability to use information technologies as a tool and resource.

Required documents:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• Provide a brief methodology for this assignment, with the focus on research methods to be used and approach to stakeholder engagement in a manner that relies on the principles of political neutrality, specific to the BiH context.
• Financial proposal - All-inclusive (The financial proposal includes daily fees, transport and accommodation costs for the assignment, and any other associated costs in USD).
• Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references; Completed and signed UNDP Personal History Form (downloadable from http://www.ba.undp.org/content/bosnia_and_herzegovina/en/home/operations/jobs.html;
• List of published publications to be attached with the application. 

Travel

• All envisaged travel, accommodation or any other cost related to this assignment must be included in the financial proposal/final lump sum.

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

Evaluation

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the Cumulative analysis. The award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical (70%) and financial (30%) criteria specific to the solicitation

Technical Evaluation Criteria:

• Rating based on Qualifications Criteria 50%
• Interview 50%

Note:

• For an assignment requiring travel, consultants of 65 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.