Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination and violence 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 supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programs and services needed to implement these standards.
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has made progress in creating preconditions for achieving gender equality by adopting relevant legislative and policy framework. However, women remain seriously under-represented in the country’s political institutions. In order to create a genuinely encouraging environment work on several fronts is required, including 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 processes across board.
During the last general elections in 2014 political parties were obliged to observe candidate lists gender quotas stipulated by the Elections Law but this has not resulted in greater numbers in women elected. Women are under-represented in the legislative power at all levels, at 17.1%, which is in an obvious breach of the Gender Equality Law. Similarly, in the executive bodies, out of 152 ministerial positions in BiH at all levels, there are only 23 women. Only two women are represented at the Council of Ministers, and the members of tripartite BiH Presidency are (and always have been) men. Of the 183 registered political parties in BiH, not a single one is headed by a woman. The discrepancy between the lists and mandates, and the praxis of side-lining women by the political parties in which they should become visible and responsible in political life has caused much damage and discouraged women from engaging actively in politics . At local level, the numbers of women elected are even lower. After the 2016 local elections, the number of women candidates stood at only 6.8%, which represented a decrease from previous elections in 2012
This project is funded by the Government of Sweden and implemented by UNDP BiH and UN Women BiH, in partnership with local governments (Agency for Gender Equality BiH, Central Election Commission BiH, Parliamentary Assembly of BiH - Committee on Gender Equality)
The overall objective of the Women in Elections Project is to strengthen women’s leadership and participation in political life, vertically by making 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 and increased democratic participation and accountability. Guided by the strict observance of the highest standards of political neutrality, the project will apply the UNs Gender Equality in Elected Office approach (6 steps approach) to insure an encouraging environment for having more women elected across board, in all spheres of decision-making in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In order to create encouraging environment for this social transformation, the project activities would have to be based on the relevant data. It is therefore crucial to conduct a thorough and rigorous research and analysis of the current situation in the country with regards to women participation in the country’s public life including political sphere.  In order to address the parliamentary strengthening step, UN Women is seeking to engage a national consultant to develop Toolkit for Gender Mainstreaming in Policy Development. The Toolkit will be used to ensure gender equality is adequately addressed in draft laws and policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Toolkit will closely follow the Findings and recommendations of the “Baseline Study on Barriers to Political Participation of Women in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, which UN Women conducted in 2018, as one of the main baseline documents for tis project. Based on consultations with Agency for Gender Equality Bosnia and Herzegovina and UN Women Country Office, to develop Toolkit for Gender Mainstreaming in Policy Development.
Although there are similar guidelines in existence, the need for the more comprehensive and user-friendly Toolkit, was identified. The Toolkit should contain not only a guideline but also a training syllabus containing a practical and easy to follow examples and exercises that could be used across board, by a variety of stakeholders who are working in capacity building and towards a greater and more substantive role of women in political and public life in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
 

Duties and Responsibilities

Outputs:
1. The consultant is expected to deliver a Toolkit as well as to conduct a workshop with the main partners in the project in order to practically demonstrate the use of the Toolkit.

2. The Toolkit should address, but not be limited to the following issues:

• What are the obligations and advantages of gender mainstreaming in consideration and adoption of legislative solutions, specific to the context of Bosnia and Herzegovina?
• Development of a multipurpose accessible tool and guidelines for both civil servants and politicians involved directly in legislative harmonization;
• The special attention should be paid to the importance of development of the consultative process and public discussions in accordance with best practices;
• The Toolkit should offer a quick and efficient guidance through gender mainstreaming in the processes of writing up the rules, regulations and policies;
• It should emphasise the importance of the legislative bodies, such as parliaments and parliamentary procedures in gender mainstreaming in policy making and in what situations the need for changes in gender equality legislation should be brought up;
• It should be made in a way that would be also friendly for use both in decision-making and relevant trainings.

ACTIVITIES, DELIVERABLES AND TIMEFRAME

The consultant will be expected to complete the following tasks within the indicative timeframe:

Tasks / Deliverables Days estimate

• Provide a Methodology and approach to work to be used in the development of the consultancy tasks incorporating detailed assignment workplan and timelines (May 16) 1;
• Draft of the Outline of the Toolkit and Table of Contents to be sent to UN Women (21 May) 5;
• Final draft incorporating UN Women and UNDP comments and final Table of Contents sent to UN Women (27 May) 4;
• Presentation of the first draft of the Toolkit/Guidelines to UN Women, UNDP and partners (30 May) 3;
• First draft of the Toolkit/Guidelines to be sent UN Women (3 June) 3;
• Final Draft and a demonstration Workshop to be held for UN Women, UNDP and project partners (8 June) 4;
• The consultancy will last for 20 working days in the period 15 May 2019 to 15 June 2019

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

Academic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent in Law, Social Sciences, Gender Studies, Development Studies, Public Policy, or related fields;
•  Master’s Degree in similar field would be considered an asset

Skills and Experience:

• At least 7 years of experience in the area of gender mainstreaming, gender policies formulation and implementation in legislative processes
• Knowledge of international and national legal, policy frameworks regarding gender Equality and Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Knowledge of stakeholders in the country, including the national institutions, CSOs, and the international organizations working in the field of gender mainstreaming and development is an asset
• Track record of work relevant to the assignment.
• Excellent verbal and writing skills in English and BiH languages

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents:

1. Expression of interest
2. Detailed financial proposal inclusive of all costs (which includes consultancy fees, travel, accommodation, subsistence etc.)
3. UN P11 form

Please note: All documents have to be uploaded in 1 single file.

EVALUATION OF OFFERS

UN Women applies a fair and transparent selection process that takes into account both the technical qualification of potential consultants as well as the financial proposals submitted in support of consultant applications. Candidate applications will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of applicant qualifications and financial proposal. The contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
• having received the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

Criteria:
Technical Evaluation (80%),
Financial Evaluation (20%)
Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 20
S - score received on financial evaluation;
Fmin - the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round;
F - financial offer under the consideration.

Please note that travel costs should be covered by the consultant.

Qualified women and men and members of minorities are encouraged to apply. 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.

Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.