Background

1. 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’s goal in Liberia is to promote women’s human rights and gender equality which are key in sustaining and furthering achievements in stability and development.  In this regard, its programming in the Country is connected to five corporate priority areas: women’s leadership and political participation; enhancing women’s economic empowerment (WEE); engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes (WPS), and advancing women’s rights to live free from violence (VAW) and Gender Responsive Governance. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s joint work in advancing gender equality.

In the framework of the Women Peace and Security corporate priority area, UN Women Liberia works with duty bearers and rights holders to facilitate implementation of women, peace and security commitments by national and local  partners and gender advocates.  In this regard, UN Women Liberia in partnership with UNDP and IOM with the  support from the Secretary General’s Fund, the Peace Building Fund (PBF), is implementing two joint projects titled ““Inclusive Security: Nothing for us without us”.

UNDP and UN Women Liberia have been providing support to the Liberian security sector to mainstream gender into their plans, tools and policies to facilitate promotion of gender equality and women’s participation and to strengthen individual and institutional capabilities.

Within the context of the Security Sector Reform, the Ministry of National Defense (MoD) and by extension the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) are taking action to embrace human rights in the execution of its mandate.  In addition, the National Security Strategy  reaffirms the mainstreaming of  gender at every level of security policy making  process.

As strong affirmation of its gender commitments, the MoD is committed to mainstreaming gender within its operations and has since established a Gender Unit in charge of  mainstreaming gender into policies and procedure within the  Ministry.   The Unit’s  strategic outcomes for gender embrace a gender perspective in all aspects including administration and operations and emphasizes equality of benefits and consideration of family needs.  This specific outcome further envisages soliciting expertise and  resources to restore public confidence in the military, and  to meet women’s and children’s protection needs and to investigate Sexual and Gemder Based Violence and related crimes.

Against this back drop, and at the request of the MoD, UN Women Liberia seeks to hire a National Consultant to develop a Gender Policy and an Action Plan for the MoD/AFL.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the assignment

The main objective of this consultancy is to develop a gender policy for the MoD/AFL and to develop a five-year participatory action plan with clear goals and targets.

Scope of work and tasks

Under the overall guidance and management of the Program Specialist on Women, Peace and Security and direct supervision from the Program Specialist on Gender and Peacebuilding and in close collaboration with the Gender Unit at the MoD/AFL, the Consultant will perform the following tasks:

Task 1. Desk Review and development of the consultancy plan

1. Conduct a desk review of existing relevant documents including National Gender Policy;
2. Conduct preliminary consultations with, UN Women, UNDP, MoD/AFL Gender Unit, relevant government Ministries and Senior Management at the MoD/AFL for development of a consultancy plan

Task 2. Conduct an institutional gender assessment or gender audit to inform the development of the Gender Policy  at  the MoD/AFL

1. Data collection:  conduct interviews to assess capacity building needs to facilitate   implementation of  the 2019-2024 Gender Policy and  Action Plan.
2.  Lead  and manage data  processing  and  analysis.    
3. Develop a well-structured report that comprehensively outlines challenges for implementation.  Ideally, the report should be structured as follows:

1. Introduction
2. Table of Contents 
3. Background information
4. Proposed research design (Description of   research methodology and research questions, research tools etc.)
5. Research findings
6. Annexes:  list of persons interviewed and workshop participants

Task 3. Develop a Gender Policy and Implementation Plan for the MoD and the AFL

1. Based on   the gender assessment results   develop a Gender Policy and a detailed action Plan (2019-2024) with clear goals and  targets. The plan should further state  roles and responsibilities and envisage a monitoring and reporting framework and an indicative budget;  
2. Develop a concept note to facilitate a validation workshop for the Gender Policy and Action Plan,
3. Facilitate a validation workshop
4. Incorporate recommendations from participants into the policy and action plan
5. Submit the Gender Policy and Action Plan for approval by Senior Management .

Task 4. Strengthen the capacity of the gender unit and the senior management to facilitate   implementation of the Gender policy,

1. Conduct two tailored trainings as per gender assessment or gender audit conducted;
2. Measure changes in knowledge and skills by pre and posttests.

Competencies

1. Expected Deliverables

 The national consultant will produce the following deliverables:

All the deliverables, including annexes, notes and reports should be submitted in English language.

Upon receipt of the deliverables and prior to the payment of the first installment, the deliverables and related reports and documents will be reviewed and approved by UN Women. The period of  review is one week after receipt.

1. Inputs

• UN Women will provide the Consultant with background materials relevant to the assignment

• The Consultant is expected to work using his/ her own computer.

1. Performance evaluation:

Consultant’s performance will be evaluated based on: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

Required Skills and Experience

1. Required experience and qualifications

The Consultant should fulfill the following requirements:

1. Education:

Master’s degree in Women Studies, Gender Studies, Law, social sciences or other related fields.

1. Experience:

• At least 4 years of proven experience in gender mainstreaming, women peace and security, or human rights;  
• Proven exposure/experience in security sector reform, including the design/development/implementation of capacity development support programmes
• Proven experience in leading and facilitating workshops;
• Previous experience  in conducting  gender audits and developing gender policies would be an asset  
• Knowledge of  Liberian context would be considered an asset;
• Familiarity with the UN system;

Language and other skills:

• Proficiency in oral and written English
• Ability to effectively utilize computer softwares (i.e. MS Excel, Access, oracle, SPSS etc.) for database development and management.
• Excellent facilitation and training skills

1. Submission of application

Interested candidates are requested to submit electronic application to liberia.procurement@unwomen.org   no later than   25 March 2019.

Submission of package            

1. Cover letter;
2. CV, including contact information of  3 referees;
3. Financial proposal. The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount per each deliverable, including any travel, per diem and administrative fees, based on the template in Annex 1. The lump sum costs must be accompanied by a detailed breakdown of costs calculation.

All applications must include (as an attachment) a CV and financial proposal. Applications without a financial proposal will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further processing.

Please note that only short-listed candidates will be invited for  the interview.

Selected candidates will need to submit prior to commencement of work:

1. A copy of the latest academic certificate
2. UN Women P-11 form, available via  http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment
3. A statement from a medical doctor of ‘good health and fit for travel’
4. Before any travel outside of Monrovia, the consultant will need to provide proof (certificate) of “Basic and Advanced Security in the Field” (which can be accessed here: undss.trip.org)
5. Evaluation

Applications will be evaluated based on the Cumulative analysis.

• Technical Qualification (100 points) weight; [70%]
• Financial Proposal (100 points) weight; [30%]

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. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

The total number of points alloted for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Only the candidates who fit the minimum requirements will be longlisted and may be requested further documentation. Candidates with a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically-qualified candidates and will be shortlisted for potential interview.

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points alloted 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 technically qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

Annex I: Financial Proposal

BREAKDOWN OF COSTS SUPPORTING THE ALL-INCLUSIVE FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

Breakdown of Cost by Components:

The lump sum costs should include all travels and administration costs and expenses related to the consultancy. All prices/rates quoted must be exclusive of all taxes. The lump sum costs must be accompanied by a detailed breakdown of costs calculation.