Background

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.

Through its Women’s Political Empowerment and Leadership Programme (WPEL), UN Women works with regional partners to address country-specific barriers to women’s full political participation.  It works with government and civil society organizations to help create an institutional and social environment that welcomes and supports women’s political participation, increasing the number of women candidates and enhancing their support networks.  The Women in Leadership in Samoa (WILS) Project is a key project under the WPEL Programme area.

The WILS Project seeks to build and reinforce progress already made on gender equality and women’s leadership in Samoa.  It is Phase II of the Increasing Political Participation of Women in Samoa (IPPWS) Project and builds on the work completed since the project began in 2015.

WILS targets the ‘leadership’ development of women as individuals and as a group, to work together to address women’s leadership and gender equality issues, and to enhance their exercise of leadership.  The Women in Leadership in Samoa (WILS) is a three-year project implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Women with funding from the Australian Government in partnership with the Government of Samoa, under the overall leadership of the WILS Steering Committee.  The Steering Committee comprises of representatives of the Samoa government’s (Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development (MWCSD), Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), community (SUNGO), DFAT), and UN agencies (UNDP and UN Women).

Under WILS Output 3.2 Strengthened leadership capacity of young women and new matai title holders seeks to ‘enhance the leadership capacity of working young women including new matai titleholders in their communities’. The aim is to bring working young women, partners and stakeholders together to discuss the challenges and how to address them; to contribute to building women’s confidence to exercise leadership and to make a contribution to a range of activities in their communities and workplaces; and how to support each other.

The focus will be to assist working young women through a mentoring programme for aspiring women leaders by using the Village Leadership Development Initiative (VLDI) as an avenue for the build up to high level leadership. By fostering these networks amongst women who are already in leadership position in Parliament and Higher level in the public and private sector, these networks will be strengthened.

In this regard UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office (MCO) seeks to hire a national consultant to design and conduct a Transformational Mentoring Programme using the approved VLDI Module for young women aspiring for leadership positions in the public service. The consultant will be responsible for development and facilitation of the training workshops. UN Women will organize workshop venue, invite participants and organize other workshop related activities.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the Assignment

The consultancy has two key objectives:

1. To design a transformational leadership programme for young women in the public sector using the VLDI.
2. To facilitate x2 5-day long transformational leadership training workshops for young women employed in the public service.
3. To conduct training for the identified young women aspiring for leadership as mentees by utilising the VLDI Module.

Scope of Work/Duties and Responsibilities        

Under overall guidance of the UN Women Fiji MCO Programme Specialist Gender Equality, Women’s Rights and Governance (GEWRG) and the direct supervision of the Joint WILS Project Manager, the consultant will perform the following task including specific tasks which are as follows:

1. Design a transformational mentoring programme for young women aspiring for leadership in the public service;
2. Facilitate x2 5-day long transformational leadership training for young women in the public service;
3. Conduct the implementation of the transformational mentoring programme for young women working in the public sector utilizing the VLDI Module;
4. To prepare End of Training report for submission to the WILS Project.

Duration of the Assignment

The total duration of the contract assignment is tentatively planned for 30 working days in a three-month period, between October – 30 December 2019.

Expected Deliverables

The Consultant is expected to work and deliver the following results:

All the documents, including consultation material and reports should be written in the English language.

Note that all materials, including video footage and images will remain property of UN Women and cannot be used without UN Women’s permission.

The Consultant will submit drafts of all reports and documents to UN Women for review and comment. UN Women will review all documents and reports within one week of submission. The Consultant will then submit final documents that incorporate and respond to UN Women feedback.

Upon receipt of the final deliverables and prior to the payment of the installment, the deliverables, related reports and documents will be reviewed and approved by UN Women within one week.

Inputs

• UN Women will provide the Consultant with background materials for the desk assessment.
• UN Women will cover the costs for translation of printed materials as required throughout the duration of the assignment.
• UN Women will cover the costs of venue hire and catering and travel for all invited stakeholders in-country
• UN Women will cover Consultant’s travel and DSA fees for travel outside of Apia.
• Consultant is expected to work remotely using her/his own computer but may access the UN Women/WILS office for printing of relevant documents or should he/she be required to work on-site at any point during the assignment.
• UN Women will cover the costs for translation of printed materials as required through the duration of the assignment.

Performance Evaluation

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

Financial Arrangement

• Payment will be disbursed in tranches upon submission and approval of deliverables and certification by the project managers that the services have been satisfactorily performed as per the delivery table above.

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.

Functional Competencies

• Ability to think conceptually, strategically and analytically;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Results oriented, flexible and problem-solving skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Gender Studies, Governance, Political Science, Community Development or other related fields.

Experience and Skills

• At least 10 years of experience of relevant work in the field of gender equality, leadership development, community/women’s leadership and other related capacity development programmes.
• Completed the Training of Trainers for the VLDI.
• Proven record of at least 5 years of experience in leading /facilitating consultation meetings with various stakeholders (governmental, non-governmental and community) on gender equality leadership development, community/women’s leadership and other related capacity development programmes.
• Proven expertise in gender equality and working on women’s rights and leadership
• Experience development and conducting mentorship programme and training programmes on leadership
• Knowledge of development context in terms of capacity development, social and community change and community development.

Language

• Fluency in verbal & written English is a must.
• Ability to write and communicate in Samoan would be an added advantage
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, IT tools, ability to use Internet and email.

Evaluation

Initially, individual consultants will be short-listed based on the following minimum qualification criteria:

1. Bachelor’s degree in Gender Studies, Governance, Political Science, Community Development or other related fields.
2. At least 10 years of experience of relevant work in the field of gender equality, leadership development, community/women’s leadership and other related capacity development programmes.
3. Proven record of at least 5 years of experience in leading /facilitating consultation meetings with various stakeholders (governmental, non-governmental and community) on gender equality leadership development, community/women’s leadership and other related capacity development programmes.

The short-listed individual consultants will be further evaluated based on a cumulative analysis scheme, with a total score being obtained upon the combination of weighted technical and financial attributes. Cost under this method of analysis is rendered as an award criterion, which will be 30% out of a total score of 100 points.

Evaluation of submitted offers will be done based on the following formula:

where:

Technical evaluation will be represented through desk review of applications. Interviews and/or written tests will be organized if needed only, depending on the short-listed candidates’ qualifications.

• Technical Qualification Evaluation Criteria: The technical part is evaluated on the basis of its responsiveness to the Terms of Reference (TOR).

• Financial Qualification Evaluation Criteria: In the Second Stage, the financial proposal of candidates, who have attained minimum 70% score in the technical evaluation (at least 49.00 points), will be compared.

WINNING CANDIDATE

The winning candidate will be the candidate, who has accumulated the highest aggregated score (technical scoring + financial scoring).

Please note that only applicants who are short-listed will be contacted.

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.  The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Submission of Application

To enable you with your application submission, the requirements for the position can be accessed on the following site: http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/about-us/jobs

Interested candidates are requested to submit fully completed application electronically to:

• https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm?cur_categ_id=9  

Submission Package

• Cover letter explaining the suitability of the consultant: applicants are encouraged to address experience and qualifications listed in the ‘criteria for technical evaluation’.
• Curriculum Vitae (CV) of Consultant including three references.
• Personal History Form (P-11 Form).

http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-p11-personal-history-form.doc?la=en&vs=2740 

• Copies of certified academic certifications.
• At least one example of recent written work
• Financial proposal with total lump sum quotation based on professional daily fees.  Payment will be made upon certification by the designated official that stated deliverables have been achieved. As noted above, travel costs to Suva, Fiji to take up the assignment should be included in the overall financial proposal.

Applications without a complete financial proposal will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.  UN Women reserves the right to accept or reject any bid.

The procurement process will be governed by the rules and regulations of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).

Deadline of all submissions: no later than Wednesday 23 October 2019 (5pm Fiji Time).