National Consultant for Compiling Gender Equality Strategy for UNDP Bangladesh

Background

Gender equality is a fundamental human right and a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world. Gender equality is central to UNDP’s work to implement and achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals. The 2030 Agenda envisions a world “of universal respect for human rights and human dignity” in which “every woman and girl enjoys full gender equality and all legal, social and economic barriers to their empowerment have been removed.” Gender equality is an essential aspect of “leaving no one behind,” one of the guiding principles of the 2030 Agenda, as women are over-represented among those furthest behind. With the largest operational platform within the United Nations family and with expertise in areas central to achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, UNDP is well positioned as the “integrator” for helping to deliver on the Goals by “connecting the dots” on complex sustainable development issues. UNDP will convene across line ministries and development partners to address the gender dimensions of eradicating poverty, sustaining peace, accelerating structural transformation for sustainable development and building resilience to crises and shocks and to ensure that the experiences, needs and contributions of both women and men are integrated into efforts to achieve sustainable development. 

Aligning with UNDP’s gender equality strategy (2018-2021, 2022-2026, and UNDP Bangladesh’s newly drafted CPD (2022-2026), UNDP Bangladesh intends to compile a Gender Equality Strategy to strengthen its capacity for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment and integrating them in its policies, operations, and programming. Hence, a consultant needs to be recruited to facilitate the whole process of compilation of the strategy for UNDP Bangladesh.

Duties and Responsibilities

OBJECTIVES

The overall objective is to develop a Country Office Gender Equality Strategy and time-bound Action Plan, guided by the conceptual and operational framework set out in the corporate Gender Equality Strategy. The strategy should guide the action of the CO both at programming and operational levels. The specific objectives of this consultancy include the following:

• Establish structures and processes that will promote effective mainstreaming of gender aspects in projects and operations and the CO’s work.
• Improve staff member’s appreciation, understanding, awareness and capacities to integrate gender-awareness in all aspects of their work.

SCOPE

To ensure the development of a well-aligned Gender Equality Strategy and time-bound Gender Action Plan with constituent development outcomes and institutional effectiveness (e.g.) capacity development, knowledge management, communication, and advocacy plans.

The consultant will work closely with the UNDP Gender Analyst and Gender Focal Points Committee as well as Gender Equality Theme Group (GETG) if/when required. The consultant will also consult widely with UNDP Bangladesh and UNDP Partners.

Deliverables 

At the end of the assignment, the consultant will submit:

• An inception report outlining necessary consultations with different relevant stakeholders, review of relevant policies/documents and methodology for carrying out the task.
• A brief report on the preliminary findings from the consultations along with an analysis and an outline of the Strategy
• A first draft of the Strategy and time-bound Action Plan (costed) and presentation during a validation workshop with senior management, programme and operations teams and UNDP partners.
• A final version of the Strategy and Action Plan, incorporating comments on the first draft

Sl.	Deliverables:	Estimated number of working days
1	Inception report containing an analysis of providing deliverables mentioned at scope of work section, mapping tools and methodology, final report structure and detail timeline of accomplishment.	5 days
2	Draft progress report	15 days
3	Final Report	10 days
		30 days

OVERALL TASKS AND FUNCTIONS

Under the guidance of the DRR and direct supervision of the Gender Analyst and in collaboration of the Country Office Gender Focal Team, the consultant shall perform the following tasks at different phases of compiling the Gender Equality Strategy:

Preparatory phase: Assessment

1. Define areas that the strategy will cover/scope
2. Carry out an assessment/ identification of challenges
3. Develop draft outline

Consultation/validation phase

1. Collective identification of priorities/lines of action
2. Validation with senior managers/partners
3. Final Draft
4. Develop an action plan

Final endorsement and launching

Few specific activities are mentioned below which may fall under different tasks mentioned above-

• Carry out a literature review of UNDP strategies/ policies including good practice of gender strategies from other UNDP Country Offices, Gender Equality Seal Certification criteria and Bangladesh government policies relevant to gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• Develop an inception report and methodology for the strategy and action plan.
• Present the Inception report to relevant UNDP staff including Gender Focal Point team for comments and feedback.
• Finalize the Inception Report.
• Organize and facilitate consultations with various relevant government and nongovernment actors including relevant ministries, development partners, civil society actors, academia, UNDP beneficiaries etc.
• Develop first draft strategy and action plan.
• Present strategy and plan for review and discussion by Gender Focal point Team and other relevant UNDP staff.
• Incorporate comments from exercise and finalize the document.
• Present document at validation session.
• Finalize the document by incorporating comments from the validation exercise.
• Submit a well-crafted Gender Strategy and action plan.

DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT, DUTY STATION

Duration of the assignment is for 30 working days over the period of 3 months commencing from 16 August 2021 (tentative).

Duty station is Dhaka, Bangladesh. If any unforeseen travel needs to be undertaken by the consultant for a valid reason, which is not mentioned in this ToR, the cost of travel and DSA will be reimbursed as per UNDP guideline.

METHODOLGY

The following methodology is proposed to ensure the success of the assignment:

• Literature review - Review the available reference documents, including the Bangladesh Common Country Assessment (CCA) 2020 report, UNDP Gender Equality Strategy 2017-2021 and 2022-2026, global instruments on gender equality and the advancement of women; UNDAF (2017-2021) and draft United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for 2022-26; Country Programme Document (2017-2021) and draft CPD for 2022-2026; Bangladesh government’s 7th Five Year Plan and draft 8th Five Year Plan; National Women Development Policy 2011; and other relevant documents
• The consultant will have a joint briefing meeting with the Deputy Resident Representative (DRR) and Gender Analyst at the beginning of his/her assignment.  The purpose of this meeting will be to discuss the expected outcome and deliverables of the assignment.
• The consultant will prepare a work plan at the beginning of the assignment, with clear timelines and milestones to ensure that the assignment will be completed on time.
• The consultant will meet with relevant staff.
• At the end of the assignment, there will be a debriefing meeting with UN staff, to discuss the outcome of the assignment and the way forward. 

Assignment follow-up:

As proposed in the Assignment Report by the consultant and agreed upon by the CO.

SUPERVISION, REPORTING AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

The consultant will work closely with the Gender Analyst of Country Office and will report to the Gender Analyst, who will also carry out a performance evaluation at the end of the assignment.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Profound knowledge and experience on gender equality, gender mainstreaming, and woman empowerment, especially in context of Bangladesh.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct research and draw lessons from relevant international, regional, and national practices and processes.
• Previous experience of working with government and UN agencies will be an added advantage.
• Good communication and interpersonal skills and experience in working effectively in a multicultural environment.
• Ability to deliver according to a specified timeline while maintaining the quality of the output.
• Sound skills in documentation.
• knowledge of gender equality at the institutional level.

Language Requirement:

• Excellent command over written and speaking Bangla and English.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

• Minimum Master’s degree in gender studies, development studies, political science, or other related fields

Professional Experience:

• Minimum Five years of experience in programme management of gender equality, gender mainstreaming and women empowerment policies/projects/programmes; 
• Experience working with UN organization/Government/donor agencies/NGOs;
• Experience in planning/designing/compiling similar strategy for UN Agencies or development organizations;
• Experience/knowledge of understanding of the UN system, frameworks, and structures, particularly those related to gender equality and women’s empowerment, both in programme and operations.

Cumulative analysis

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual Consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

• Technical Criteria weight: 70%

• Financial Criteria weight: 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% point in technical criteria would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical Evaluation Criteria

Criteria	Weight	Max. Point
Technical	70%	70
Educational qualification [master’s in relevant subject as mentioned in the ToR-10.5 points]	15%	15
Working experiences in public/ private sector on gender equality and women’s empowerment [10 years = 14 points; 11-15 years = 18 points, 16 or more than 16 years = 20 points]	15%	15
Working experience of compiling gender equality policy/strategy for national and international development organizations [3 years = 7 points; more than 3 years = 10 points]	15%	15
Proven experience in conducting researches on gender equality and women’s empowerment issues and publications on gender related issues [3 assignments = 7 points; more than 3 assignments = 10 points]	10%	10
Proposed methodology [Not mentioned=0, Not clear=4, Moderately clear=6, Mostly clear=8, Clear=10]	10%	10
Working experience with UN agencies or bilateral donors in Bangladesh [3 assignments = 3.5 points; more than 3 assignments = 5 points]	5%	5

Financial Evaluation (Total 30 marks)

All technical qualified proposals will be scored out 30 based on the formula provided below. The maximum points (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal. All other proposals received points according to the following formula:

p = y (µ/z)

where:

• p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated;
• y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal;
• µ = price of the lowest priced proposal;
• z = price of the proposal being evaluated.

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).

Financial Milestone

Sl.	Deliverables:	Timeline and payment milestones (tentative)
1	Inception report containing an analysis of providing deliverables mentioned at scope of work section, mapping tools and methodology, final report structure and detail timeline of accomplishment.	20% payment by 31 August 2021
2	Draft progress report	50% payment by 15 October 2021
3	Final Report	30% payment by 15 November 2021
		100% payment

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

Proposal

• Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment and a methodology on how they will approach and complete the assignment highlighting the expected requirements mentioned in the ToR
• Personal CV, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
• Financial Proposal: Financial Proposal has to be submitted through a standard interest and availability template which can be downloaded from the link below:

http://www.bd.undp.org/content/dam/bangladesh/docs/Jobs/Interest%20and%20Submission%20of%20Financial%20Proposal-Template%20for%20Confirmation.docx