National consultant to support drafting of the Gender Brief for Bosnia and Herzegovina

Background

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is in the process of acceding to the European Union (EU) and over the past years has successfully set up the legislative and policy framework for gender equality. It is a signatory to a number of important and binding international documents, which guarantee the equality of men and women and prohibit gender-based discrimination. Yet despite the progress that has been made to establish a legal and policy framework for the advancement of women’s rights and gender equality, inequalities are pervasive. In 2016, BiH ranked 81st out of 188 countries in the Gender Inequality Index, indicating very slow and limited progress since 2010. Traditional patriarchal attitudes are prominent, gender inequalities are present in all spheres of social and economic life, and violence against women is still widespread. The current political and institutional set up of BiH society is characterized by social differentiation among citizens, such as along ethnic and religious divisions, minority status, and age, regional and rural-urban differences, including exposure to environmental risk. Inequality between women and men is most persistent, cuts across all social strata, and interlinks with other inequalities and social, political, and economic exclusion.Challenges in effectively implementing the legal and policy framework on gender equality negatively impact on real equality experienced by women and men, and on development outcomes in general. The challenges of implementation in BiH have been highlighted by all stakeholders.  Lack of human resources and institutional capacity to implement the normative framework for equality of women and men remain among the most serious challenges in BiH, as identified by recent research on the institutional capacity to implement the Gender Equality Law and the Gender Action Plan in BiH, CAHVIO, and UN Security Resolution 1325. Therefore, within the complex web of social inequalities and discrimination, reform processes need to pursue gender equality as a core element of governance, shifting from ‘equality of rights’ to the equality of results. The EU accession agenda and its profound reform of governance, procedure and contents clearly require the provision of specific and enhanced support to the governments in BiH for absorbing and effectively implementing the EU gender equality legislation and directives.Within this context, UN Women is seeking to establish the Gender Equality Facility in partnership with Gender Equality Agency and relevant institutions across the governments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, providing technical assistance in mainstreaming gender sector wide, at a policy level as well as within implementation in practice by line ministries and other institutions.

Duties and Responsibilities

DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVE:

To ensure that national and international policy and decision-makers have access to essential gender-sensitive information in future prioritization, resources allocation through the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA), and dialogue between development/integration partners and national government, UN Women is seeking an international consultant to draft comprehensive “Gender Brief for Bosnia and Herzegovina”, and to prepare abbreviated version for public dissemination.

IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVES:

Under the overall supervision of UN Women Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in close collaboration with Programme Specialist and the national consultant, the international consultant will be responsible for the following:

• Support drafting “Gender Brief for Bosnia and Herzegovina”, based on the template provided by UN Women (analysis comparing the EU GAP II targets, with the current state of affairs in the country and recommendations for priority actions to be taken);
• Support analysis of the available data as provided by UN Women and recommending the nature of the visual representation of data;
• Support revision and finalization “Gender Brief for Bosnia and Herzegovina”, including UN Women and stakeholder feedback;

ACTIVITIES AND TIMEFRAME

The consultant will be expected to complete the following tasks within the indicative timeframe:

• Draft “Gender Brief for Bosnia and Herzegovina” in English language - 15 days, by  30 November 2017;
• Final “Gender Brief for Bosnia and Herzegovina” in English language, including a brief version for wider distribution - 15 days, by 15 January 2018;

The consultancy will last 30 days over the period 01 November 2017 until 15 January 2018.

REPORTING

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the international consultant, overall supervision of UN Women Representative and Programme Specialist and be responsible for the following deliverables:

Deliverable 1 Draft “Gender Brief for Bosnia and Herzegovina”:

• Support to drafting “Gender Brief for Bosnia and Herzegovina”, based on the template provided by UN Women (analysis comparing the EU GAP II targets, with the current state of affairs in the country and recommendations for priority actions to be taken);
• Support to analyzing available data as provided by UN Women and recommending the nature of the visual representation of data;

Deliverable 2 Final “Gender Brief for Bosnia and Herzegovina”:

• Support to discussions on the priority actions in collaboration with UN Women;
• Support to finalization of “Gender Brief for Bosnia and Herzegovina”, including UN Women and stakeholder feedback.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

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

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Required Skills and Experience

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents:

• Expression of interest;
• Detailed financial proposal (broken down to demonstrate the consultancy fees and a budget for travel, accommodation, subsistence etc.);
• UN P11 form (can be downloaded at http://www.ba.undp.org/content/bosnia_and_herzegovina/en/home/operations/jobs.html).

Please note: All documents have to be uploaded in 1 single file.

EVALUATION OF OFFERS

UN Women applies a fair and transparent selection process that takes into account both the technical qualification of potential consultants as well as the financial proposals submitted in support of consultant applications. Candidate applications will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of applicant qualifications and financial proposal. The contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
• having received the highest score out of below defined technical, interview and financial criteria.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 50 points in the technical evaluation will be considered for an interview. Top 3 candidates (with highest number of points in the technical evaluation) will be interviewed. The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal will be allocated to the lowest price proposal among those candidates who have reached at least 5 points in the interview. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion.

Criteria:

• Technical evaluation (80%)
• Financial Evaluation (20%)

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 20 (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 the consideration.

Please note that travel costs and accommodation cost should be covered by the consultant and included in the financial offer.

Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply. UN Women applies fair and transparent selection process that would take into account the competencies/skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals. Due to large number of applications received, UN Women will inform only the successful candidate about the outcome or status of the selection process.