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 Nepal’s Strategic Note (SN) for the period 2018-2022 lays out the agency’s unique role and comparative advantage in supporting national stakeholders in advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women in line with internationally agreed normative standards. The SN is aligned with and contributes to Nepal’s national priorities as described in Nepal’s Fourteenth Three-year Periodic Plan, its gender equality commitments, the needs of women’s organizations, and the UNDAF 2018-2022 with a commitment of leaving no one behind. UN Women will advance its efforts in Nepal in accordance with its unique role and triple mandate (normative, operational and coordination) and lessons learned to “achieve gender equality and social inclusion and empower women and girls in Nepal to realize their human rights” (Nepal Country Office SN Goal Statement). In Nepal, UN Women focuses on strengthening women’s voice, agency and leadership across sectors to advance women’s rights, provide space for women’s meaningful participation, and contribute to tangible differences in their lives. Under the overarching SN 2018-2022, UN Women focuses on two programmatic areas, inclusive governance, and women’s economic empowerment.

In prioritizing inclusive governance UN Women Nepal seeks to advance women’s political empowerment and leadership and enhance women’s access to justice in Nepal’s federal structure. Towards this goal UN Women will work with elected officials, civil servants and citizens at all levels. The approach will extend beyond policy and law reform, to implementation and monitoring of policies, supporting the development of plans and budgets, enhancing the capacity of key government officials, and promoting gender equality and social inclusion in local governance. In addition, UN Women will work together with excluded groups to support their active participation and enable their voices to be heard. Throughout this work, UN Women seeks to contribute to transforming discriminatory social norms and eliminating harmful practices and behaviours, including violence against women. All of the above contribute to fulfilling Nepal's obligations to international treaties and commitments, including regular reporting on progress related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Beijing Platform for Action and to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Women’s economic empowerment seeks to ensure income security, better jobs and economic independence of women from vulnerable and excluded groups, taking into account gender dimensions of the vulnerability to disaster risk and climate change impact. This will help ensure that vulnerable women’s groups in Nepal have income generation opportunities and are resilient to climate change and disasters that affect their livelihoods by 2022 (Outcome 2). The anticipated outputs include: 1) Planet 50:50 Nepal advanced by engaging men/boys, interfaith leaders, vulnerable groups and youth networks in addressing adverse social and economic norms, structural barriers, and gender-based discrimination; 2) Key line ministries and select local governments have increased technical capacity to develop and implement gender responsive macroeconomic policies (fiscal and budgetary) and sectoral policies (agriculture, energy, labor, industry and Disaster Risk Reduction); and 3) A substantive equality approach to women's economic empowerment tested and adopted in select target sectors (agriculture, energy) for income generation, improved climate resilient livelihoods and to address safe migration with vulnerable women’s groups. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of  Representative for coordination functions and deputy representative for programme support functions the Consultant will provide coordination, implementation and reporting support services to UN Women Nepal Country Office (NCO). The detailed scope of work and responsibilities of the assignment are as follows:

Coordination Functions:

·         Coordinate workshops/meetings for inter-agency mechanisms co-chaired by UN Women, including the International Development Programme Group on Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (IDPG GESI), Gender Theme Group (GTG), United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF)  Outcome 4 working group  on Governance, Rule of Law and Human Rights, the Harmful Practices working group and the working group on the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA)

·         Prepares minutes of coordination working group meetings.

·         Follow up on the implementation of the action points agreed to by the various working groups.

·         Work closely with the Country Representative to assist in the strategic coordination of Nepal’s priorities and commitments for gender equality and women's empowerment (GEWE);

·         Monitor the implementation of the UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard Recommendations and take forward joint initiatives with other inter-agency mechanisms such as the UN Communications Group and Operations Management Team in accordance with the Scorecard Action Plan.

·         Actively participate and represent the Country Office in the UN Women Community of Practice on Interagency Coordination.

·         Contribute to strengthening strategic partnerships and coordination for GEWE within the UN

System and with external partners, including development partners;

·         Document and advocate best practices and lessons learnt for UN System-wide coordination.

·         Liaise with UN Women regional and HQ offices on developments related to UN Women's coordination mandate.

·         Contribute to joint UN and donor advocacy efforts for GEWE, including serving as the secretariat of the International Development Partners Group for GESI.

Programme Support Functions

·         Produce policy notes, briefs, and undertake gender analysis for joint UN programming across the post conflict-development-humanitarian continuum.

·         Implement NCO diversity action plan and support implementation of initiatives advancing the principle of LNOB

·         Background research and inputs for remarks/presentations on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment GE/WE for the Country Representative, UNRC, UN Country Team

• Draft concept notes for resource mobilization/programme implementation in close collaboration with the programme team
• Consolidation of inputs for three reports to the Regional Director (RD), including addressing feedback from RO and HQ, as relevant
• Consolidation of inputs for one annual report narrative, including addressing feedback from RO and HQ in collaboration with the programme team, and UNDAF reports
• Consolidation of Annual Work Plan narrative, including addressing feedback from RO and HQ in collaboration with Unit Manager

3. Expected deliverables

Expected deliverables include:

1.       Coordination:

1)      Monthly summary report on coordination activities with annexes as applicable from below list.

a)       20-30 Minutes of the coordination meetings/workshops

b)      10-15 Briefing notes on coordination efforts

c)       Substantive support provided to at least 2 activities that take forward the UNCT-SWAP  GE Scorecard Recommendations (report/minutes/presentations)

2.       Programme Support

1)           Monthly summary report on programme support activities with annexes as applicable from below list

a)       5-10 draft concept notes

b)      10-15 presentations including for Annual Work Plan

c)       5-10 inputs for remarks

d)      20-25 briefing notes/background notes

e)      Inputs for four quarterly, one annual and one UNDAF report

4. Duration of the assignment and duty station   

This is a Kathmandu based assignment for one year with a maximum of 240 working days spread over a period of 12 months. UN Women will not be committed to purchasing any minimum quantity of the Services, and purchases will be made only if there is an actual requirement upon the issuance of a Purchase Order based on this retainer contract. UN Women shall not be liable for any cost in the event that no purchases are made under this retainer contract

5. Schedule of payments

Payment for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of each deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed on a monthly basis. Payment will not be based on the number of days worked but on the completion of each stated deliverable.

6. Inputs  

·         UN Women will cover the travel costs and DSA as per standard UN rate for authorized official travels.

·         UN Women will provide the consultant with background materials for the project. Specifically, project documents and access to the relevant training materials, reports, research and data.

·         It is mandatory for the consultant to participate in a UN security briefing and to follow UN security rules and guidance.

·         It is the Consultant’s responsibility to arrange private insurance.

·         The Consultant will be required to provide a Statement of Good Health, endorsed by a certified Medical Practitioner.

Competencies

Core Values and Guiding Principles

Integrity: Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Professionalism: Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity: Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Functional Competencies

Ethics and Values: Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.

Organizational Awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Development and Innovation: Take charge of self-development and take initiative.

Work in teams: Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Communicating and Information Sharing: Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence: Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others.

Conflict Management: Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing: Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making: Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

·         Master’s degree in Gender and Development Studies, Political Science, Social Science, management or any other related field of studies.

Experience

·         At least two year of progressively responsible work experience in development programme/project implementation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation, donor reporting and capacity building with a strong focus in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

·         Previous experience of working with different levels of government, civil society and development partners preferably on gender and local governance will be an asset.

·         Experience working with the UN system is an asset.  

·         Field based experience working with multi-cultural teams.

·         Knowledge of data collection and ability to write high quality, clear and concise reports in English.

·         Ability to multi-task and operate effectively in demanding situations.

·         Ability to handle documents and the information contained therein with strictest confidentiality is a non-negotiable requirement.

Language skills

·         Fluency in written and oral English is required.

Evaluation and Selection Criteria

A two-stage procedure is utilized 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.

1)      Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

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

·         Required degree and qualification (20 points);

·         Experience relevant to the assignment (60 points);

·         Written sample (20 points)

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically qualified candidate.

2)    Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

The financial proposal of candidates who meet the technical assessment threshold will be evaluated. The financial assessment will count as 30% of the total points.  In this methodology, the maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion.

A formula is as follows:

p = y (µ/z)

Where:

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal

µ = price of the lowest priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated

How to Apply?

Interested applicants should apply to this announcement through UNDP jobs site: jobs.undp.org

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

1)      Expression of interest.

2)      Completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) of all the team members which can be downloaded:  http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment

3)      A sample of original writing with minimum 1000 words produced within the last twelve months where the applicant is the lead author

The financial proposal shall specify a lump sum amount breaking down the professional fee for each deliverable and travel related cost. The financial proposal must be submitted in a separate page using the following template.

Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment, please combine all your documents into one single PDF document. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form and written sample will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Note:

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.

‘UN Women is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individual especially women are highly encouraged to apply’.