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. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system’s efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts towards building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
The UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325), unanimously adopted in October 2000, stressed the importance of the equal participation and full involvement of women in all efforts to maintain and promote peace and security. In the years since, seven additional resolutions on WPS have been adopted, creating a robust framework for implementing the WPS agenda and reinforcing global commitments, treaties and conventions on women’s rights, including the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. To deliver these commitments at the national level, the United Nations has encouraged Member States to adopt policies to implement the resolutions and monitor the progress of the WPS agenda, including National Action Plans on WPS (NAPs-WPS).
In Sri Lanka, the Government has committed to advancing the development of a NAP WPS and the State Ministry of Women and Child Development, Pre-schools and Primary Education, School Infrastructure and Education Services is leading its formulation with the technical support of UN Women. Parallelly, UN Women also supports the implementation of the Women Peace and Security (WPS) agenda through the increased engagement of national and local level government authorities, civil society organisations, women leaders and the development community.
Against this background and with generous support from the Government of Japan, UN Women is seeking to hire a national assistant consultant to co-facilitate multi-party dialogues (MPDs) at grassroot level to advocate for gender responsive policies and strategies on WPS, under the project “Implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda in Sri Lanka”. The MPDs are expected to engage local-level government officials, CSO representatives, religious bodies, media representatives and women leaders in North Central, Uva, Sabaragamuwa and Western provinces. 6 MPDs and the accompanied capacity building and follow-up programmmes are scheduled to take place in Anuradhapura, Badulla, Ratnapura, Gampaha, Kalutara and Colombo districts.
Similarly, under the umbrella of WPS and with the generous support of the Multi Party Trust Fund (MPTF), UN Women is also assigning the same national assistant consultant to co-facilitate a series of multi-stakeholder dialogues, capacity building programmes for women community leaders on collective leadership and conflict resolution, as well as a series of village townhalls under the project: “Promoting Women’s Engagement in Waste Management to Prevent Conflict in Sri Lanka” The project will unfold in targeted local authorities and DS divisions within the districts of Puttalam and Mannar:
1. Puttalam District (04 local authorities and 4 DS divisions):
- Puttalam Urban Council / Puttalam DS division
- Kalpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha / Kalpitiya DS division
- Chilaw Urban Council / Chilaw DS division
- Arachchikattuwa Pradeshiya Sabha / Arachchikattuwa DS division
2. Mannar District (01 local authority and 1 DS division)
- Nanattan Pradeshiya Sabha / Mannar Town DS division
This MPTF funded project takes an innovative, integrated approach to peacebuilding, tackling ethno-religious tensions by bringing communities together to provide a sustainable solution for a shared environmental issue – Solid Waste Management (SWM) – with women at the forefront for conflict prevention. The nexus of Environmental Conflicts – Gender – Communal Tensions is unique, and a new area of peacebuilding not yet explored in Sri Lanka.
The project focuses on women’s role within their communities to support conflict prevention Gendered division of household labour results in women being mostly responsible for waste management, hence they play critical roles in responding to environmental degradation at community level. Women’s community engagement results in greater responsiveness to citizens’ needs, often increasing cooperation and delivering more sustainable peace.
Despite high involvement in communities, women remain under-represented in policy and decision-making; their experiences and skills are often overlooked. Thus, any solutions related to waste management, and communal tensions therein, require women’s meaningful participation. Women are uniquely positioned within families/communities to influence motivations that drive individuals to support intolerant ideologies or violence. Their gendered roles in shaping and informing families and communities allow women to support in countering intolerant narratives, mistrust and fear, which converge to exacerbate tensions and promote violence. The project will adopt an integrated approach to achieve its overall objective: building community resilience through women’s engagement in conflict resolution and their participation within community and local governance systems; strengthening community governance systems such as Praja Mandala to better lobby with local authorities; strengthening SWM systems within target divisions, including technical support to local authorities on better managing SWM systems; and supporting different communities to coalesce around the issue of SWM via Praja Mandala - with the goal of improving inter- and intra-community relations.
Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision and guidance of the UN Women Programme Analyst, Sri Lanka, the national assistant consultant is expected to undertake the following tasks, in collaboration with the national lead consultant, the second national assistant consultant and the rapporteur. The national assistant consultant will remain accountable for the timely submission of the deliverables as per the timeline given below. The consultant’s duties and responsibilities have been defined against each project as follows:
1. Japan-funded project:
No. | Duties and Responsibilities |
1. | Support the national lead consultant with conducting bilateral discussions with local government officials, representatives of political parties, elected women officials at provincial and local levels of governance, women community leaders, religious leader, media representatives and women activists of selected project locations and identifying potential participants for the programme. |
2. | Support the national lead consultant with conducting the training needs assessment, developing training manuals and convening, co-facilitating 6 capacity building workshops (2-day residential workshops OR 4 half-day online workshop) at each project location, on advocating and implementing WPS initiatives and gender responsive policies and strategies.
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3. | Support the national lead consultant with convening and co-facilitating 6 multi-party dialogues (2-day residential workshop/ 4 half-day online workshop) at each project location, bringing together local government officials, CSO representatives, religious bodies, media representatives, women leaders and local communities to discuss common issues related to WPS.
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4. | Support the national lead consultant with convening and co-facilitating 6 district level dialogues between local government and CSOs/CBOs, at each project location, to create districts-specific annual work plans (1-day residential workshop OR 2 half-day online workshop) for the implementation of WPS initiatives.
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5. | Support the national lead consultant with convening and co-facilitating 6 follow-up assessment workshops (1-day residential workshop OR 2 half-day online workshop) at each project location, subsequent to the multi-party dialogues.
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6. | Provide technical support to the rapporteur to finalise the reports of the 6 multi-party dialogues |
7. | Record the proceedings from the dialogues and capacity building programmes, and support the national lead consultant with developing the final report, devising specific recommendations for follow-up action. |
*Considering restrictions to mobility (in light of Covid-19) at the time of implementation, there is a possibility for the sessions to be conducted online. Options for both offline and online sessions have been provided.
2. MPTF-funded project:
No. | Duties and Responsibilities |
1. | Support the national lead consultant in co-facilitating 05 one-day local-level multi-stakeholder dialogues convening cross-party elected officials, public officials, women community leaders, CSOs, women activists, religious leaders and media representatives to identify common issues (including SWM) and solutions.
- Puttalam: 04 local authorities (01 dialogue into 04 LAs) - 04 one-day dialogues = 04 days (01 day per LA) OR - 08 half-day online dialogues = 04 days (02 half-days per LA) - Mannar: 01 local authority (01 dialogue into 01 LA) - 01 one-day dialogue = 01 day (01 day per LA) OR - 02 half-day online dialogue = 01 day (02 half-days per LA) |
2. | Support the national lead consultant and rapporteur to submit final report condensing all findings, recommendations, solutions and implementation plans from the 05 local-level, multi-stakeholder dialogues convening cross-party elected officials, public officials, women community leaders, CSOs, women activists, religious leaders and media representatives. |
3. | Support the national lead consultant in developing an inception report for the execution of 05 two-day dialogues and 05 three-day capacity building sessions on collective leadership, peacebuilding and non-violent conflict resolution.
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4. | Support the national lead consultant in co-facilitating 05 two-day dialogues for women community leaders[1] to identify perceptions of collective leadership, peacebuilding and non-violent conflict resolution.
- Puttalam: 04 local authorities (01 dialogue into 04 LAs) - 04 two-day dialogues = 08 days (02 days per LA) OR - 16 half-day online dialogues = 08 days (04 half-days per LA) - Mannar: 01 local authority (01 dialogue into 01 LA) - 01 two-day dialogue = 02 days (02 days per LA) OR? - 04 half-day online dialogues = 02 days (04 half-days per LA) |
5. | Support the national lead consultant and rapporteur to submit final report condensing all findings, recommendations, solutions and implementation plans from the 05 two-day dialogues on collective leadership, peacebuilding and non-violent conflict resolution. |
6. | Support the national lead consultant in co-facilitating 05 three-day capacity building programmes for women community leaders[2] as follows: - Puttalam: 04 local authorities (01 dialogue into 04 LAs)
- Mannar: 01 local authority (01 dialogue into 01 LA)
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7. | Support the national lead consultant and rapporteur to submit final report condensing all findings, recommendations, solutions and implementation plans from the 05 three-day capacity building programmes on collective leadership, peacebuilding and non-violent conflict resolution. |
8. | Support the national lead consultant in co-facilitating 02 district-wise townhall symposiums[3] bringing together all project beneficiaries and stakeholders.
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9. | Support the national lead consultant and rapporteur to submit final outcome-based report from the 02 district-wise townhall symposiums. |
*Considering restrictions to mobility (in light of Covid-19) at the time of implementation, there is a possibility for the sessions to be conducted online. Options for both offline and online sessions have been provided.
EXPECTED DELIVERABLES[4]
1. Japan-funded project
No. | Tasks and Deliverables | Target Submission Date |
1. | Finalised training modules and co-facilitation of 6 capacity building workshops online or at selected locations
| 15 May 2021 |
2. | Co-facilitation of 6 multi-party dialogues online or at selected locations. | 15 Aug 2021 |
3. | Co-facilitation of 6 work-plan development workshops with the local government officials and CSOs/CBOs online or at selected locations | 15 Aug 2021 |
4. | Co-facilitation of 6 follow-up assessment workshops, following the multi-party dialogues, work-plan development sessions and capacity building programmes online or in selected project locations. | 15 Oct 2021 |
5. | Final report on the proceedings from dialogues and workshops, inclusive of specific follow-up recommendations.
| 15 Nov 2021
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2. MPTF-funded project:
No. | Tasks and Deliverables | Target Submission Date |
1. | Delivery of 05 one-day local-level, multi-stakeholder dialogues online or in the selected local authorities of the target districts (in consideration of Covid-19 related restrictions). | 28 February 2021 |
2. | Final report inclusive of findings, recommendations, solutions and implementation plans from the 05 local-level, multi-stakeholder dialogues.
| 15 March 2021 |
3. | Inception Report for 05 two-day dialogues and 05 three-day capacity building sessions on collective leadership, peacebuilding and non-violent conflict resolution for women community leaders. | 15 March 2021 |
4. | Delivery of 05 two-day dialogues (online or in the selected local authorities of the target districts) for women community leaders to identify perceptions of collective leadership, peacebuilding and non-violent conflict resolution. | 10 April 2021 |
5. | Final report inclusive of findings, recommendations, solutions and implementation plans from the 05 two-day dialogues identifying perceptions of collective leadership, peacebuilding and non-violent conflict resolution.
| 30 April 2021 |
6. | Delivery of 05 three-day capacity building sessions (online or in the selected local authorities of the target districts) for women community leaders on collective leadership, peacebuilding, non-violent conflict resolution. | 30 April 2021 |
7. | Final report inclusive of findings, recommendations, solutions and implementation plans from the 05 three-day capacity building sessions on collective leadership, peacebuilding, non-violent conflict resolution.
| 15 May 2021 |
8. | Delivery of 02 district-wise townhall symposiums (online or in selected local authorities of the target districts). | 15 May 2021 |
9. | Final outcome-based report from the 02 district-wise townhall symposiums.
| 30 May 2021 |
[1] The assistant consultant together with the lead consultant is requested to closely engage with the project’s CSO implementing partner for beneficiary mobilization to ensure sustainability to the project’s interventions. The women community leaders can also have linkages with Praja Mandalas established by the project’s CSO implementing partner.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Payments will be made upon installment basis upon the submission of each deliverable subjected to approval of the UN Women Programme Analyst, Sri Lanka
Competencies
Corporate Competencies:
- Demonstrates integrity by modeling the United Nations' values and ethical standards;
- Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the UN and UN Women;
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
- Ability and willingness to work as part of a team to meet tight deadlines and produce high quality work.
Required Skills and Experience
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bachelor’s degree in Conflict and Peace Studies, Gender and Development, International Relations, Public Administration, Law, Human Rights or equivalent in relevant fields of Social Science.
- At least 3 years of demonstrable experience in working on programmes on peacebuilding and reconciliation, governance and WPS.
- Previous experience in conducting training programmes for women and youth on women’s leadership in governance and peacebuilding.
- Experience of working with provincial/local levels of governments is required.
- Analytical and writing skills in English.
- Written and spoken Tamil is mandatory. Written/spoken Sinhala is an advantage.
CONTRACT PERIOD:
The consultancy is expected to be started in February 2021 and continue until November 2021 (approximately 215 days). The national assistant consultant is expected to visit the project locations to undertake the project activities, if travel is not restricted by national health authorities or UN Women due to the COVID 19 health emergency. In such cases, the cost of most economic and direct travel on mission must be pre-approved by Programme Analyst of UN Women Sri Lanka and will be reimbursed following UN Women travel guidelines. Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) and travel costs in compliant with UN Women Travel Guideline will be reimbursed to the consultant at actual amount upon submission of receipts and travel stubs.
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 applications, with evaluation of the technical application 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 allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:
Technical Evaluation Criteria | Obtainable Score |
|---|---|
Education
| 20% |
Experience and skills
| 60% |
Language and report writing skills
| 20% |
Total Obtainable Score | 100% |
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 allocated 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 technical 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.
SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION:
Interest candidates are encouraged to submit electronic application to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org and copy to Pradeepa.kulasekera@unwomen.org not later than 27 January 2021, COB.
Submission package includes:
- Updated CV
- Personal History Form(P11) of all team members. The P11 form can be downloaded from http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs
- Writing sample
- Financial proposal as template below:
1. Japan-funded project
No. | Tasks and Deliverables | Amount (LKR) |
| Lump Sum fee (equivalent to daily fee x no. of days) Number of days refers to actual days that the consultant works in order to produce deliverables as required by the ToR, NOT the number of days covering the whole period of consultancy. |
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1. | Finalised training manuals and co-facilitation of 6 capacity building workshops online or at selected locations |
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2. | Co-facilitation of 6 multi-party dialogues online or at selected locations. |
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3. | Co-facilitation of 6 work-plan development workshops with the local government officials and CSOs/CBOs online or at selected locations |
|
4. | Co-facilitation of 6 follow-up assessment workshops, following the multi-party dialogues, work-plan development sessions and capacity building programmes online or at selected project locations. |
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5. | Final report on the proceedings from dialogues and workshops, inclusive of specific follow-up recommendations. Note: Deliverable should be finalised in line with the feedback given by UN Women |
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6. | Travel, communications and miscellaneous expenses |
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| Total financial proposal |
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2. MPTF-funded project:
No. | Tasks and Deliverables | Amount (LKR) |
| Lump Sum fee (equivalent to daily fee x no. of days) Number of days refers to actual days that the consultant works in order to produce deliverables as required by the ToR, NOT the number of days covering the whole period of consultancy. |
|
1. | Delivery of 05 one-day local-level, multi-stakeholder dialogues online or in the selected local authorities of the target districts (in consideration of Covid-19 related restrictions). |
|
2. | Final report inclusive of findings, recommendations, solutions and implementation plans from the 06 local-level, multi-stakeholder dialogues. Note: Deliverable should be finalised in line with the feedback provided by UN Women |
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3. | Inception Report for 05 two-day dialogues and 06 three-day capacity building sessions on collective leadership, peacebuilding and non-violent conflict resolution. |
|
4. | Delivery of 05 two-day dialogues (online or in selected local authorities of the target districts) for women community leaders to identify perceptions of collective leadership, peacebuilding and non-violent conflict resolution for women community leaders. |
|
5. | Final report inclusive of findings, recommendations, solutions and implementation plans from the 06 two-day dialogues identifying perceptions of collective leadership, peacebuilding and non-violent conflict resolution. Note: Deliverable should be finalised in line with the feedback provided by UN Women |
|
6. | Delivery of 05 three-day capacity building sessions (online or in selected local authorities of the target districts) for women community leaders on collective leadership, peacebuilding, non-violent conflict resolution. |
|
7. | Final report inclusive of findings, recommendations, solutions and implementation plans from the 05 three-day capacity building sessions on collective leadership, peacebuilding, non-violent conflict resolution. Note: Deliverable should be finalised in line with the feedback provided by UN Women |
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8. | Delivery of 02 district-wise townhall symposiums (online or in selected local authorities of the target districts). |
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9. | Final outcome-based report from the 02 district-wise townhall symposiums. Note: Deliverable should be finalised in line with the feedback provided by UN Women. |
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10. | Travel, Communications and miscellaneous expenses |
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| Total financial proposal |
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PAYMENTS:
Payments for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of each deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed. Payments will be based on the number of days worked in correlation to the completion of each stated deliverable within the indicated timeframes. Payments will be made upon submission of deliverables with an approval of the National Programme Analyst at UN Women Sri Lanka.