Two National Consultants to Develop Gender Equality Strategies and Action Plans

Two National Consultants to Develop Gender Equality Strategies and Action Plans

Organization: UN  Women

Location : Tbilisi, Georgia

Application Deadline : 14-Aug-23 (Midnight New York, USA)

Job Category : Gender Equality

Type of Contract : Individual Contract

Post Level : National Consultant

Languages Required : English  

Starting Date : (date when the selected candidate is expected to start) 01-Sep-2023

Duration of Initial Contract : 13 working days (per consultant/per entity)

Expected Duration of Assignment : 13 working days per consultant/per entity in the period of 1 September, 2023 – 11 December, 2023

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

UNDP 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.

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 in Georgia supports state and non-state partners towards the achievement of substantive gender equality in Georgia. In line with national and international commitments, UN Women works on the levels of policies and legislation, institutions, and grassroots, in order to achieve transformative results for increased gender equality and greater protection of the rights of women and girls.

UN Women Georgia is implementing the Women’s Economic Empowerment in the South Caucasus (WEESC) Project with funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC). The overarching goal of the project is to ensure that women, particularly the poor and socially excluded, in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are economically empowered and participate in relevant decision-making. To reach this goal, WEESC applies a holistic approach, enabling linked interventions at three levels: grassroots, policies and legislation, and institutions.  The chosen approach and the implementation of the WEE agenda in the South Caucasus during WEESC Phase I (2018-2021) served as a catalyst for action at all levels and supported the state and non-state partners to enhance progress towards the achievement of substantive gender equality in all three countries. In August 2021, UN Women started implementing the second main phase (2021-2024) of the WEESC project, which aims to leverage UN Women and its partners’ joint results in Phase I and further prioritize alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia with a view to improving the three countries’ progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals as well as the compliance to their international human rights commitments under CEDAW and other legal instruments, particularly in terms of equitable economic development and addressing women’s rights.

In the scope of WEESC, UN Women has been actively cooperating with government, public and non-governmental institutions to ensure that they are strengthened to develop and deliver gender-responsive programmes, policies and services for women’s economic empowerment in Armenia and Georgia. This cooperation involves partnership with the Rural Development Agency (RDA) of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture (MEPA). The long-standing cooperation of UN Women and RDA includes, but is not limited to, a Gender Impact Assessment (GIA) of RDA’s largest programme “Plant the Future”, the findings of which have influenced the first pilot state programme targeting small landowner rural women to establish greenhouses, which was launched in 2022 with UN Women support. One of the most recent activities under WEESC Phase II was launching of Participatory Gender Audit (PGA) with MEPA, which will facilitate organizational learning on gender equality and gender mainstreaming through a participatory methodology and provide tailored recommendations on how to practically and effectively mainstream gender in the Ministry.

Within the scope of partnership with MEPA around Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE), UN Women is planning to extend cooperation to two other sub-entities of MEPA – the State Laboratory of Agriculture of Georgia and the Environmental Information and Education Centre (EIEC). This cooperation envisages the provision of technical assistance to both entities in gender mainstreaming; in particular, the development of a gender equality strategy and action plan. For this purpose, UN Women intends to hire a national consultant to respond to the following objectives:

• To conduct consultations and reviews of the activities of the State Laboratory of Agriculture (SLA) of Georgia, and the Environmental Information and Education Centre (EIEC) with a focus on relevance to gender equality issues;

To develop the gender equality strategy and action plan for both the SLA and EIEC based on the findings identified through review and consultations with close coordination with the above target entities and UN Women (he strategies and action plans for both entities should consider findings of the Participatory Gender Audit (PGA) conducted by UN Women for the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture (MEPA), if available.).

Duties and Responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities of the National Consultants are:

• To conduct introductory/inception meetings with representatives of the target entities and provide presentation about gender equality and gender mainstreaming.
• To conduct a desk review of the activities of the target entities, with a focus on relevance to gender equality issues – including information on the gender responsiveness of projects/activities.
• To conduct consultations with both entities on developing a gender equality strategy and action plan, informed by the findings of the review.
• To develop a draft gender equality strategy and action plan for each entity based on the above review and consultations, in close coordination with the target entities and UN Women.
• Conduct Validation Workshop for each entity to discuss draft gender equality strategy and action plan, importantly in relation to practical execution of the proposed activities.
• To develop the final gender equality strategies and action plans for both the State Laboratory of Agriculture of Georgia (SLA) and Environmental Information and Education Centre (EIEC) based on the findings identified through desk review, consultations and inputs provided by both entities and UN Women.

Deliverables:

1. A detailed work plan in Georgian language for each target entity by 8 September, 2023 (2 working days: 1 per entity).
2. An inception meeting and presentation on gender equality and gender mainstreaming for each target entity by 22 September, 2023 (2 working days: 1 per entity).
3. A brief report for each target entity in Georgian language, reflecting findings of the review of activities, especially with relevance to gender equality issues – including information on the gender responsiveness of projects/activities by 29 September, 2023 (6 working days: 3 per entity).
4. Consultations with relevant target entity representatives (at least five consultative meetings/interviews per entity) on developing the gender equality strategy and action plan informed by above review by 13 October, 2023 (4 working days: 2 per entity).
5. Two draft gender equality strategies and action plans, one for each target entity, in Georgian language by 6 November, 2023 (8 working days: 4 per entity).
6. Two Validation Workshops to discuss draft gender equality strategy and action plan, importantly in relation to practical execution of the proposed activities by 27 November, 2023  (2 working days: 1 per entity).
7. The finalized gender equality strategies and action plans, incorporating feedback and inputs from the target entity and UN Women in Georgian language by 11 December, 2023 (2 working days: 1 per entity).

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

• Proven experience in secondary and primary research
• Familiar with human rights terminology
• IT literacy
• Flexibility 

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: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree in social sciences, economics, gender studies, public policy or in another relevant field. 

Experience: 

• At least three (3) years of relevant professional experience in the field of gender equality and women’s rights. 
• Good understanding and proven knowledge of gender mainstreaming principles.
• Excellent writing skills with demonstrated ability to write reports related to programmatic assessment, evaluation and/or economic development.

Language:

• Fluency in Georgian and good knowledge of English.

Evaluation Procedure:

The candidates will be evaluated in three stages: according to minimum qualification criteria; technical and financial evaluation.

The candidates must possess following minimum qualification criteria to be eligible for further technical evaluation:

• Master’s degree in social sciences, economics, gender studies, public policy or in another relevant field. 
• At least three years of relevant professional experience in the field of gender equality and women’s rights
• Fluency in Georgian and good knowledge of English

The candidates will be evaluated in three stages: according to minimum qualification criteria followed by technical and financial evaluation.

Technical evaluation criteria (including minimum qualifications):

• Master’s degree in social sciences, economics, gender studies, public policy or in another relevant field; (max 60 points)
• At least three years of relevant professional experience in the field of gender equality and women’s rights (max 100 points)
• Fluency in Georgian and good knowledge of English (max 30 points)
• Excellent writing skills with demonstrated ability to write the reports related to programmatic assessment, evaluation and/or economic development (max 100 points)
• Good understanding and proved knowledge of gender mainstreaming principles (max 60 points)

Maximum total technical score amounts to 350 points. Only candidates who have passed over the minimum qualification criteria and have accumulated at least 245 points out of maximum 350 under technical evaluation will qualify for the next stage i.e. evaluation of their financial proposals.

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 150

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 consideration.

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

Management arrangements:

The selected candidates will report to and work under direct supervision of the UN Women Project Analyst and/or Programme Analyst.

Financial arrangements:

Payment will be disbursed upon submission of required deliverables and the approval of deliverables by UN Women Project Analyst and/or Programme Specialist that the services have been satisfactory and timely performed, as specified below:

• Deliverables: 1,2,3,4 (7 working days per entity/per consultant) – 54%
•    Deliverables 5,6,7 (6 working days per entity/per consultant) - 46%

Application submission package:

• CV;
• Duly filled Personal History Form PHF11 that can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process
• Samples of relevant work that was published;
• Financial Proposal - lump sum proposal/offer* in GEL: (including breakdown of this lump sum amount indicating all necessary costs to complete this assignment).

*The applicants are required to submit an aggregated financial offer: “aggregated financial offer” is the total sum of all financial claims of the candidate for accomplishment of all tasks spelled out in this ToR

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

How to Submit the Application:

• Download and complete the UN Women Personal History Form (P11)- https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process
• Merge your UN Women Personal History Form (P11), CV, samples of previous work and the Financial Proposal into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded.
• Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement).
• Click 'Apply Now' button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click 'Submit Application;'
• Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above).
• You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.

Notes:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need. 

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application. 

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination.  All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.).

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