Background

UN Women (the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of 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.

In Turkey, in line with the overall UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework and with  the UN Women Country Strategic Note (2019-2022), UN Women works towards three overarching goals:  1) Women lead, participate in, and benefit equally from governance systems;  2) All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence; 3) Women and girls contribute to and have greater influence in building sustainable peace and resilience and benefit equally from the prevention of natural disasters and conflicts and humanitarian action. In line with the first goal of the Country Strategic Note, UN Women supports the application of gender responsive budgeting at the central and local level. 

Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) is a well-recognized strategy and powerful tool to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment. It enables governments to effectively reduce gender inequalities through policies, plans and budgets that address equally the specific needs and priorities of women and men, including the most excluded.  It improves the effectiveness of public spending and strengthens accountability by urging for the creation of transparent budgets. UN Women has spearheaded and supported GRB interventions in more than 75 countries and has recognized global, regional and country-level technical expertise in this area.

In Turkey, in the past years, UN Women has partnered with the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) on GRB to integrate gender equality into the strategic plan, budget processes and ultimately to the budget of the TGNA. In addition, UN Women has supported the development of a pool of trainers on gender equality to increase the institutional capacity of the TGNA on gender equality as well as to increase the sustainability of the efforts on gender equality and GRB. At the local level, jointly with UNDP, it has supported the integration of gender perspective into strategic plans and budgets in selected municipalities and the establishment of specific units dedicated to the advancement of women’s rights.

Building on these initiatives, UN Women embarked on a three-year project “Implementing Gender-Responsive Planning and Budgeting in Turkey” as of December 2020, funded by the European Union and the main beneficiary of which is the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services (MoFLSS) - General Directorate on the Status of Women (GDSW) whereas the co-beneficiary is Presidency of Turkey - Presidency of Strategy and Budget (PSB). The project aims to increase financing for GEWE through strategic partnerships, providing tailored technical assistance and guidance, and building institutional capacity and knowledge. It consists of three components; awareness raising for national and local authorities, capacity building for national and local authorities, capacity building for gender advocates and women’s groups. The Project is designed to support selected line Ministries as well as four selected pilot municipalities (Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, Eskisehir Metropolitan Municipality, Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, Edirne Municipality). The project will benefit from international expertise and close linkages with UN Women’s Regional Programme “Transformative Financing for Gender Equality in the Western Balkans” as well as other relevant initiatives.

In this regard, UN Women is looking for a International Consultant for providing technical support on gender responsive planning and budgeting to the Project team during the planning and implementation of the “Implementing Gender-Responsive Planning and Budgeting in Turkey” project.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Programme Specialist – Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting, the International Consultant will be mainly responsible for the below tasks:

• Providing technical support to the project team and the project partners on gender responsive planning and budgeting (GRB);
• Provide inputs to conceptualization and content development of knowledge products and advocacy material.;
• Contribute to development, delivery and monitoring of the capacity development activities including awareness raising seminars, trainings and experience exchange meetings on GRB;
• Analysing the key strategic policy documents in accordance with international standards in coordination with the National Consultants 
• Supporting the development of policy documents on institutionalization of GRB in line with the regional and global practices;
• Facilitating exchange of international good practices and lessons learned among policy and budget makers by participating and facilitating thematic events on GRB;
• Actively participate in regular and ad hoc meetings organised by UN Women Turkey and its partners both at the local, regional and global level.
• Providing the Programme Specialist with regular updates on the progress with implementation of the assignment; 
• Supporting the setting up an online knowledge management platform to create a training hub on GRB which will constitute an infrastructure in the context of Covid-19 measures;
• Keeping up-to date with recent international developments on GRB arena and informing the project team and the partners regularly;
• Supporting the development of a socio-economic response framework to COVID-19 within project activities;
• Providing technical inputs to communications and advocacy materials on informing the general public, stakeholders, national, local and online media on GRB and its impacts on enhancing gender equality;
• Supporting the high-level advocacy efforts for scaling up GRB central and local level;
• Working closely with the National Consultants to deliver for results;
• Submit monthly time sheets for recording the time spent on each activity;

The Consultant is expected to provide services when required with advance notice from UN Women Turkey Office.

The abovementioned tasks are are indicative and subject to further detailing through specific service requests to be made by UN Women Turkey Office during the course of the contract duration.

Deliverables and Payment Schedule

Duration of the assignment is from 02 August 2021 -  30 December 2022. The Consultant is expected to spend up to 200 working days on a non - consecutive basis throughout the assignment. The consultant will use his/her own equipment. 

The Assignment will include quarterly reports on the ToR deliverables, which are defined in the specific service requests to be made by UN Women to the consultant, along with a time sheet.

Note: Within the consultancy, 82 days are estimated to be spent in 2021 whereas 118 days are estimated to be spent in 2022.

The mentioned number of working days has been estimated as being sufficient/feasible for the envisaged volume of work to be completed successfully and is proposed as a guideline for the duration of assignment. It cannot and shall not be used as criteria for completion of work/assignment. The provision of envisaged deliverables and submitted timesheets approved by the UN Women Programme Specialist shall be the only criteria for international consultants’ work being completed and eligible for payment/s.

International Consultant shall be paid upon on a quarterly basis based on the quarterly report including the deliverables produced within that quarter in addition to the timesheet indicating the days allocated for the specific deliverables produced in that quarter. Payment shall be affected only if the quarterly report and the timesheet   are submitted to and approved by the Programme Specialist.

During assignment’s related missions, the International Consultant may use the facilities of the office (i.e. internet access, printing, copying, local phone calls, etc.). However, s/he is expected to use his/her own personal computer.

Travel:

This is a home-based assignment with no travel foreseen. In case of an unforeseen travel, UN Women Turkey Office will cover the organization and the costs of the consultant’s travel as per UN Women’s rules and regulations. UN Women will not cover transportation cost within duty station including the taxi costs.

Mandatory Courses:

The Consultant shall complete all the mandatory and further required UN courses, training and modules on time. Their certificates shall be submitted to the Hiring Manager during the contract preparation process. Please note that the required training courses could vary based on contract content and duration, the nature of the work and inclusion of travel. Hence, the Consultant is obliged to follow the instructions of his/her Hiring Manager upon which training modules to complete and when to complete them.

Key Performance Indicators

• Timeliness, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered,
• Willingness to shares knowledge and experience,
• Demonstration of excellent written and oral communication skills and communicating sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies,
• Ability to perform a variety of standard specialized and non-specialized tasks and work processes that are fully documented, researched, recorded and reported,
• Ability to review a variety of data, identify and adjust discrepancies, identify and resolve operational problems,
• Uses Information Technology effectively as a tool and resource,
• Adherence to UN Women standards and rules.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies

• Ability to communicate sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies;
• Knowledge of local administrations in Turkey;
• Knowledge of gender equality and women’s empowerment issues;
• Focuses on impact and results for client;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

UN Women does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Required Skills and Experience

Application Procedure:

The following documents should be submitted as part of the application:

• Cover letter to include a brief overview about which of your previous experiences makes you the most suitable candidate for the advertised position.
• P11 including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment
• Financial proposal (with breakdown of fee on a per day basis. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount. Financial proposal to be sent via e-mail to turkey.procurement@unwomen.org  indicating the name of the position applied in the subject line of the e-mail no later than the application deadline. Please see Annex I: Price Proposal Guideline and Template and Annex II: Price Proposal Submission Form.

When applying; the Cover Letter, CV and the signed P11 Form should be merged into one (1) single PDF document since the system will allow only to upload maximum one document. Therefore, please combine these forms and documents into one (1) single PDF document and upload them to the system.

As for the Financial Proposal, please send it separately via e-mail to turkey.procurement@unwomen.org indicating the name of the position applied in the subject line of the e-mail.  Since it is to be submitted separately via e-mail, the Financial Proposal should not be uploaded to the system or be included in the merged PDF which shall consist of the applicant’s Cover Letter, CV and Signed P11 Form. Please make sure not to include the Financial Proposal in the merged PDF document.

Candidates should have the ability to quickly submit degree certificates , medical certification and any other requested documentshould they be short-listed in consideration of the consultancy post.

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.

Evaluation of Applicants

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal. Contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer receives the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria. Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

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 suggested formula is as follows:

p = 30 (µ/z)

Using the following values:

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

µ = price of the lowest priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated

An interview/practical test may also be used for the selection of best candidates.

Annex I: Price Proposal Guideline and Template

The prospective Individual Consultant should take the following explanations into account during submission of his/her price proposal.

1.Daily fee

The daily price proposal should indicate a "lump sum amount" which is "all-inclusive"; All costs (professional fees, communications, consumables during field related missions, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor needs to be factored into the proposed price.

UN Women will not withhold any amount of the payments for tax and/or social security related payments. UN Women shall have no liability for taxes, duties or other similar charges payable by the Individual Contractor in respect of any amounts paid to the Individual Contractor under this Contract, and the Contractor acknowledges that UN Women will not issue any statements of earnings to the Individual contractor in respect of any such payments.

2.Travel costs

This is a home-based assignment with no travel foreseen. In case of an unforeseen travel, UN Women Turkey Office will cover the organization and the costs of the consultant’s travel as per UN Women’s rules and regulations. UN Women will not cover transportation cost within duty station including the taxi costs.

3.Currency of the price proposal

The applicants are requested to submit their price proposals in USD

Annex II: Price Proposal Submission Form

To: United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

Ref:  International Consultant for Providing Technical Support to “Implementing Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting in Turkey” Project

Dear  Madam/Sir,

I, the undersigned, offer to provide professional consulting services to UN Women within the scope of the referred Assignment.

Having examined, understood and agreed to the Terms of Reference and its annexes, the receipt of which are hereby duly acknowledged, I, the undersigned, offer to deliver professional services, in conformity with the Terms of Reference.

Based on the deliverables and estimated working days summarized in the ToR, my maximum total price proposal for the assignment is given below:

I confirm that my financial proposal will remain unchanged. I also confirm that the price that I quote is gross, and is inclusive of all legal expenses, including but not limited to social security, income tax, pension, etc., which shall be required applicable laws.

I agree that my proposal shall remain binding upon me for 90 days.

I understand that you are not bound to accept any proposal you may receive.

[Signature]

Date:

Name:

Address:

Telephone/Fax:

Email: