Gender and Health Consultant

Background

UN Women (UNW), 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, the UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system 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, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women plays an innovative and catalytic role in the State of Palestine since its inception in 1997. UN Women Palestine Office focuses its activities on one overarching goal, namely, to support the implementation at the national level of existing international commitments to advance gender equality in line with the national priorities. In support of this goal, and thoroughly taking into consideration the specificities of the Palestinian context, UN Women concentrates its efforts and interventions toward the realisation of following strategic goals:  Mainstreaming gender in governance, peace and security; supporting women's economic security and rights; and Promoting women’s rights and protection against violence.

Under the current COVID-19 crisis, gender inequalities are not only increasing, but roles of women, girls, men and boys are also shifting and creating new dynamics which are being shaped by a series of overlapping economic, social and political factors. Based on preliminary data collection and meetings that UN Women had with more than 30 women led organizations and women’s leaders  in the West Bank and Gaza, the ongoing COVID-19 crisis is expected to create and exacerbate gender-specific risks and vulnerabilities.

Currently, women represent nearly 60 per cent of workers in the care sector in Palestine. Women comprise 70 per cent of frontline health workers (12,558 nurses and medics in the West Bank and Gaza Strip). This raises the question of exposure and the necessary mitigation for all workers in this field. According to UN Women recent rapid gender analysis of COVID-19,  as the outbreak evolves, this will imply a heavier load of treatment and care as, particularly for women frontline healthcare and social workers.  It also implies that they may face greater exposure to COVID-19. Stigmatization is also influencing health workers. Both male and female frontline health workers are increasingly exposed to isolation and ill-treatment in some cases.  However, for female health workers, there is the added consideration of potential deterioration of health becoming a justification for patriarchal norms of remaining in the household. Palestinian women who are pregnant or new mothers are at increased risk of not being able to access proper healthcare, especially with the current lockdown measures and the severe reduction in medical referrals to hospitals in Jerusalem and Israel. Moreover, Palestinian women must not only navigate Palestinian-sanctioned closures, but also Israeli checkpoints in traveling (even for medical reasons) (UN Women Rapid gender Analysis, 2020).

UN Women is committed to ensuring equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of humanitarian action. UN Women’s work in humanitarian action is guided by global norms and standards. As an emerging crisis, the COVID-19 crisis is expected to affect women, girls, boys and men differently. As a result, their needs and interests will differ, as do their resources, capacities and coping strategies. Women are often the first responders to a crisis, and they play a central role in the survival and resilience of families and communities. Understanding how the crisis has a gendered impact on the population is key to ensuring that the response of humanitarian partners guarantee the protection of all members of the affected population and contribute to addressing the needs and priorities of women, men, girls, and boys equitably and effectively. 

Against this background, UN Women in Palestine is seeking to hire a Gender and Health Consultant who will be seconded to the Health Cluster for a period of six months, from 1 June 2020 until 30 November 2020. 

Under the overall guidance of UN Women Special Representative and the direct supervision of the UN Women Programme Management Specialist and the Health Cluster Coordinator(s), the consultant will be responsible for providing technical support on gender mainstreaming in the Health Cluster COVID-19 response  in the West Bank and Gaza, including through data collection, capacity development, knowledge management, and policy guidance.

Duties and Responsibilities

The objective of this consultancy is to strengthen gender mainstreaming and gender focus in the Health Cluster COVID-19 preparedness, planning, response, data generation and advocacy,  in the West Bank and Gaza.

Duties and Responsibilities:

The Gender and Health consultant will work on the following:

• Regularly review and input to the Health cluster analysis documents (i.e. sitreps, reports, ICCG briefs, etc.) to ensure that gender content and Sex and Age Disaggregated Data (SAAD) are systematically included.
• Provide technical support on gender mainstreaming to the health cluster members to ensure the content of their response plans highlight and address gender concerns and that members have increased capacity to respond to emerging gender gaps  in health priorities.
• Organize two online training sessions to the Health cluster members in the West Bank and Gaza on gender and COVID-19 health response
• Develop three policy briefs on gender and health highlighting the gendered impact of COVID-19 outbreak on the affected population’s health, particularly the impact on the most vulnerable groups of women such as pregnant and lactating women, women with serious health conditions/immunocompromised,  women with the disabilities and the elderly.
• Review the 2021 Humanitarian Response Plans, the Interagency COVID-19 response plan and the Humanitarian Fund (HF) health cluster planning notes from a gender lens and provide actionable recommendations to cluster members.
• Provide guidance and coordinate with relevant actors to increase the participation of women’s organizations in the health cluster coordination meetings and response. At least wo online meetings/workshops with women’s organizations and cluster members on gender and health should be organized.
• Ensure the systematic collection of qualitative and quantitative data and analysis and share with cluster partners to inform their COVID-19 response.  At least two exercises of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis should be undertaken to address gender related data gaps and inform the health cluster response
• Provide analytical feedback on inclusion of SAAD and gender content in cluster analysis and advocacy messages and ensure that gender is included in the Health Cluster assessments and interagency assessments.
• Support the cluster gender focal point in the assessment of the Gender with Age Marker (GAM) codes during vetting panels and provide feedback on the GAM scoring in the online system.
• Ensure coordination of health cluster gender targeted responses with other clusters’ and inter-cluster responses  to ensure that the affected female-headed households, widows, elderly women, women with disabilities, women who have chronic diseases, women breast cancer survivors and pregnant and nursing women are prioritized in the provision of medical supplies, food, care, social protection measures and gender-based violence (GBV) services. 
• Produce final report with recommendations for UN Women, OCHA and Health cluster members

Deliverables 

• Monthly update reports with supporting documents on key s duties and responsibilities as listed above will be used to process payments. 

Time frame:

• The assignment is expected to start in 1 June 2020 and to be finalized by 30 November 2020

Competencies

Core Value/Guiding Principles:

• Integrity
• Professionalism
• Respect for Diversity

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/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Functional competencies

• Sound knowledge of gender and women’s human rights’ national and international frameworks and policies.
• Strong dialogue and communication skills.
• Establishes, builds and sustains effective relationships with clients, demonstrating understanding of client’s perspective; anticipates client needs and addresses them promptly.
• Excellent organization and planning skills and high attention to detail.
• Ability to meet deadlines and respond positively to feedback.
• Ability to complete multiple tasks by establishing priorities.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Language Requirements

• Professional fluency of English is required
• Knowledge of Arabic is desirable

Application procedure:

This SSA modality is governed by UN Women General Terms and Conditions. UN Women will only be able to respond to applicants who meet the minimum requirements.

Candidates should clearly indicate how they meet the above-mentioned criteria in their applications.

The following documents should be submitted as part of the application. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials:

• P11 including experience in similar assignments; the P11 form can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment, a signed copy should be submitted.
• Letter of Interest containing the statement on candidate’s experience and qualification against required qualification, experience and competencies.
• 2 pages proposal outlining understanding of the assignment and proposed workplan with a timeline.

Note: Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Please upload as one attachment of the documents as mentioned above online through this website. CVs are not accepted and only P11 form submissions will be considered for further evaluation.

Candidates should have the ability to quickly submit degree certificates, medical certification (of good health) expression of Interest (EoI) and sample of previous work assignment related to gender equality and health should they be short-listed in consideration of this consultancy.

Evaluation of applicants:

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications mentioned above, and financial proposal. A 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 50 points in the technical evaluation will be considered for financial evaluation.

Technical Evaluation (70%) – max. 70 points:

• Required degree and qualification (10 points)
• Practical experience of work the field of Gender equality and Health programming, research and capacity building. (25 Points)
• Experience in gender emergency planning and response within a conflict humanitarian settings. And working experience in the Palestinian context (10 Points)
• Quality of proposal/ writing sample (25 points)

Financial Evaluation (30%) – max. 30 points.

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

Only long-listed candidates will be contacted.

Financial proposal. Shortlisted consultant will be requested to submit a financial proposal. The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount breaking down a monthly fee, proposed number of working days and any related expenses