Consultant – To complete an independent mapping and capacity assessment of CSOs undertaking gender work in the Pacific

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 is the global champion for gender equality, working to develop and uphold standards and create an environment in which every woman and girl can exercise her human rights and live up to her full potential.

The UN Women Multi-Country Office (MCO) based in Fiji covers 14 Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs): Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. The Fiji MCO current focus countries for programming are Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.

The UN Women Fiji MCO works to progress gender equality and women’s empowerment in the Pacific through five key programmatic areas under its Strategic Note 2018-2022:

Women’s Economic Empowerment: UN Women’s Markets for Change (M4C) Project is a multi-year initiative promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment that focuses on marketplaces in rural and urban areas in Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. The project’s goal is to ensure that marketplaces in rural and urban areas are safe, inclusive and non-discriminatory, promoting the gender, social and economic empowerment of market vendors, with specific attention to the needs and aspirations of women market vendors.

Women’s Political Empowerment and Leadership: To address the chronic under-representation of women in politics in the Pacific and to strengthen the voice of women leaders in governance issues, the Fiji MCO ensures transformative programming in the areas of women’s political empowerment and leadership through two projects, Consolidating Peace, Stability and Social Cohesion in Solomon Islands and Women in Leadership Samoa (WILS). 

Ending Violence Against Women and Girls: To address the high levels of violence against women and girls in the Pacific, the Fiji MCO has modelled its EVAW programme on the best global evidence on prevention of VAW to transform the social norms that perpetuate gender inequality and violence against women and girls, leading to a reduction in violence in intervention sites, and strengthening services for survivors of violence. The Pacific Partnership to End Violence Against Women and Girls Programme is a partnership with the Pacific Community and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and brings together governments, civil society organizations (CSOs), and communities, among other partners, to promote gender equality, prevent violence against women and girls (VAWG) and to increase access to quality VAWG response services for survivors.

Gender and Protection in Humanitarian Action, resilience and disaster risk reduction: UN Women’s Humanitarian programme focuses on two streams of work: ensuring that humanitarian planning, response frameworks and programming are gender and protection inclusive; and supporting Pacific women and women’s CSOs to lead preparedness for and response to natural disasters and resilience programming.

Normative – Advancing Gender Equality – UN Women supports PICTS to engage regionally and globally in reporting and monitoring gender equality and women’s empowerment including through CEDAW and the Commission on the Status of Women, with the support of the UN, the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS).

UN Women Fiji MCO is undertaking an exercise to identify and map civil society organizations (CSOs) working in gender equality in the Pacific to assess the capacity of CSOs working in spheres relevant to its programmatic areas as potential partners to support the development and delivery of projects under its 2018-2022 Strategic Note. UN Women Fiji MCO has issued a call for Expressions of Interest from civil society organizations to identify potential partners for the 2020-2022 programming period from all Pacific countries listed above. The call for Expressions of Interest is open to national, regional and international CSOs.  See: https://www.ungm.org/Public/Notice/95711

Duties and Responsibilities

Purpose of the Consultancy:

As UN Women will be engaging with a range of CSO partners, across all programmatic areas of work, UN Women is seeking the services of a consultant who can provide an independent mapping and comparative analysis, as well as undertaking capacity assessments of 30-35 organizations working in gender equality in Pacific countries, with an emphasis on UN Women’s programmatic countries which are: Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu with programming to commence in 2020 in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.  For the other-non-programmatic countries, a desk review, enhanced by interviews will be required. The mapping and analysis will be undertaken based on all organizations that are currently working in gender. Capacity assessments will be developed for those organizations that are selected through the EOI process as potential partners following UN Women’s guidelines for capacity assessments (see Annex C).

Methodology:

The Consultant will be expected to work with the UN Women Fiji MCO teams in Fiji, as well as UN Women staff in Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.  There will be an initial briefing with the UN Women Fiji MCO team in Suva, Fiji at the start of the assignment.

It is expected that the consultant will work in a participatory manner with the project teams, project stakeholders as well as CSOs. The approach must ensure inclusivity with a range of stakeholders including remote rural women and persons with disabilities. 

The Consultant will be expected to develop a comprehensive mapping of all CSOs working in gender equality or with the capacity to support gender mainstreaming through a desk-based review. Capacity assessments will be undertaken primarily as a desk-based exercise through interviews with selected CSOs conducted via phone/skype to collect relevant information and supporting documents. If required, travel to selected countries for face-to-face interviews/collection of information may be undertaken.

A peer review of capacity assessments will be undertaken by UN Women Fiji MCO staff.

Objectives of the Assignment:

The objective of this assignment is to undertake an independent assessment of CSOs working in gender equality in the Pacific or with the capacity for gender mainstreaming, and to undertake capacity assessments with those CSOs eligible to partner with UN Women, in key priority programmatic areas, and countries identified through UN Women’s call for Expressions of Interest.

Scope of Work/Duties and Responsibilities:

Under the overall guidance of the UN Women Representative and the Deputy Representative, and technically guided by UN Women Fiji MCO project teams, the Consultant will undertake the following tasks as outlined in the deliverable table in Section VI.

This assignment will cover drafting a report for UN Women comprising:

Mapping of CSOs currently undertaking gender equality work or with the capacity to support gender mainstreaming in the 14 Pacific Island Countries and Territories covered by UN Women’s Fiji MCO including country background with focus on civil society development, highlighting major developments over time.

Comparative analysis of CSOs (by country + regional) undertaking gender equality work or with the capacity for gender mainstreaming against UN Women’s five programmatic areas according to:

• Focus area of work;
• Technical capacity;
• Organizational capacity;
• Experience/results;
• Any capacity gaps in the five programmatic areas.

Based on the mapping and comparative analysis as well as the results of UN Women Fiji MCO’s call for Expressions of Interest for CSO partnerships, make recommendations to UN Women Fiji MCO for undertaking capacity assessment exercises with 30-35 civil society organizations with priority for current programmatic countries.

Undertake capacity assessments of agreed CSOs on behalf of UN Women Fiji MCO using the UN Women standard template for capacity assessments (see Annex C) across three key areas:

• Technical capacity;
• Governance and management structures;
• Financial and administrative management.

Duration of the Assignment:

The duration of this assignment will be up to 40 working days over a period of 2 months between October - December 2019 as per the schedule of deliverables below.

The scope of work will cover all UN Women Fiji MCO countries.

Expected Deliverable:

*** Please also refer to the FULL TOR, which can be obtained from the UNW Fiji MCO, for more information and guidance.

All the documents, including the interview tools, and transcripts, all scoping materials including images materials and reports should be submitted in written English language.

Note that all materials, including video footage and images will remain property of UN Women and cannot be used without UN Women’s permission.

Inputs:

• UN Women will provide the Consultant with background materials for the project. Specifically, any CSO documentation and studies.
• UN Women will also cover the costs of daily subsistence allowance (DSA) for mission travel per standard UN rate, as well as the costs of travel to countries other than Fiji as agreed with UN Women Fiji MCO (including traveling internally to the provinces as required). Travel to Suva, Fiji from the consultant’s home base should be included in the financial proposal.
• The consultant is expected to work remotely using her/his own computer but may access the UN Women office for printing of relevant documents or should he/she be required to work on-site at any point during the assignment.
• UN Women will also cover the costs for translation of printed materials as required throughout the duration of the assignment.  For field work translation, UN Woman may consider providing support towards these costs if required.

Performance Evaluation:

Contractor’s performance will be evaluated based on: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

Financial Arrangements:

Payments will be made in 3 (three) instalments and will be authorized upon submission and approval of deliverables and certification by the Deputy Representative that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

Competencies

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.

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to think conceptually, strategically and analytically;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Results oriented, flexible and problem-solving skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• A minimum of a postgraduate qualification in social sciences, international development with a preference for gender (or undergraduate degree plus at least 7 years relevant experience).

Experience:

• Must have a strong background in civil society engagement and gender research;
• At least 5 years of relevant Experience in CSO governance, operations and management;
• Demonstrated ability to research, analyze and write in a language that is concise, compelling and easy to understand with clear strong fact checking;
• Good understanding of local development context and challenges in the context of gender equality in the Pacific;
• Cultural sensitivity and experience working cross culturally essential;
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, IT tools, ability to use Internet and email.

Language Requirements:

• Excellent written and spoken English;
• Language skills such as Hindi, i-Taukei language or Bislama is an asset.

Evaluation Procedure:

Initially, individual consultants will be short-listed based on the following minimum qualification criteria:

• A minimum of a postgraduate qualification in social sciences, international development with a preference for gender (or undergraduate degree plus at least 7 years relevant experience).
• For postgraduate qualification - Minimum 5 years of proven experience in in CSO governance, operations and management

The short-listed individual consultants will be further evaluated based on a cumulative analysis scheme, with a total score being obtained upon the combination of weighted technical and financial attributes. Cost under this method of analysis is rendered as an award criterion, which will be 30% out of a total score of 100 points.

Technical evaluation will be represented through desk review of applications. Interviews and/or written tests will be organized if needed only, depending on the short-listed candidates’ qualifications.

Technical Qualification Evaluation Criteria: The technical part is evaluated on the basis of its responsiveness to the Terms of Reference (TOR).

Financial Qualification Evaluation Criteria: In the Second Stage, the financial proposal of candidates, who have attained minimum 70% score in the technical evaluation (at least 49 points), will be compared.

Submission of Application:

To enable you with your application submission, the requirements for the position can be accessed on the following site: http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/about-us/jobs

Interested candidates are requested to submit fully completed application electronically to:

• https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm?cur_categ_id=9  

Submission Package:

• Cover letter explaining the suitability of the consultant: applicants are encouraged to address experience and qualifications listed in the ‘criteria for technical evaluation’.
• Curriculum Vitae (CV) of Consultant including three references.
• Personal History Form (P-11 Form).

http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-p11-personal-history-form.doc?la=en&vs=2740 

• Copies of certified academic certifications.
• At least one example of recent written work
• Financial proposal with total lump sum quotation based on professional daily fees.  Payment will be made upon certification by the designated official that stated deliverables have been achieved. As noted above, travel costs to Suva, Fiji to take up the assignment should be included in the overall financial proposal.

Applications without a complete financial proposal will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.  UN Women reserves the right to accept or reject any bid.