Local Consultant on Support to the Women’s Caucus (SSAs)

Background:

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo has been actively engaged in supporting the Women’s Caucus of the Assembly of Kosovo (AoK) since its establishment. One of the activities that the Mission is implementing, as part of the project “Cultivating a Human-Centred Approach to Developing Networks of Governance Effectiveness (CHANGE III)”, is to enhance the capacities of members of the Women’s Caucus in the AoK. 

Following the 2021 General Assembly elections, 43 women MPs have been granted trust from the Kosovo electorate to represent them in the AoK. This is the largest group of women to serve within the AoK in its 20-year history. This body allows women MPs to unite around goals that transcend their political differences and steer the AoK toward decisions that better respond to the needs and interests of both women and men. To bring this progress even further, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo is committed to supporting the efforts of the Women’s Caucus in promoting and enhancing gender equality through good governance polices in Kosovo. 

The Governance Section will extend its continuous support the AoK’s Women’s Caucus in strengthening their overall functioning and enhancing the capacities of the caucus members through facilitating active participation in the legislative process, policy development, oversight activities and outreach. The activity will be implemented in close collaboration the Public Participation Section and their activities within the support to AoK’s Women’s Caucus activities. 

Objective of Assignment: 
 

Governance Section seeks to engage one local consultant to strengthen the overall function of the Women’s Caucus in the Assembly of Kosovo. The consultant will support the group to enhance the capacities of caucus members through facilitation of active participation in the legislative process, policy development, oversight activities and outreach, as well as support to the capacity building activities and the role of the Women Caucus in enhancing overall gender sensitivity of the Assembly of Kosovo

Duration of Assignment:

The consultant will be engaged for a total of 45 days.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

Under the direct supervision and guidance of the GS Activity Manager, the local consultant will:

• Provide advice and assist the caucus members in the drafting of the annual work plan; and the timely implementation of project activities in a qualitative manner; 
• Provide advisory support to WC members to review legislation from the gender perspective, in-line with international and European best practices;
• Assist the Women’s Caucus in identifying and proposing amendments to legislation, the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly, internal policies of the Assembly, and other legal-normative documents in order to ensure gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• Provide advisory support to the caucus members in initiating oversight activities; 
• Support caucus members in initiating and implementing outreach activities with a focus on engaging women and girls in political participation and public life; 
• Assist in co-ordinating the communication flow across informal caucus groups (e.g. the Women’s Caucus, Youth Caucus, and Green Caucus), Women’s Caucus members and the constituents, and  members of distinct parliamentary groups within the Women’s Caucus on shared priorities related to gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• Coordinate needs assessment(s) for enhancing the capacities of the caucus members and support to implementation of capacity building activities targeting women MPs;
• Support the caucus members in activities for the overall enhancement of gender equality in the Assembly of Kosovo;
• Assist in co-ordinating the communication between the members of the Women Caucus of the Assembly of Kosovo with women caucuses of local councils.
   

Deliverables:

After receiving information from the Governance Section activity manager on the tasks outlined above and in coordination with the Women’s Caucus, the consultant will deliver the following:

Timely submission of monthly reports covering the major tasks performed in the respective month, by the end of each month;
Final report to the activity manager, submitted at the latest ten (10) days after the completion of the assigned tasks. The report should have a maximum of 10 pages, including conclusions and recommendations.

Performance Indicators:

• Final document incorporating proposed amendments to the work plan received by the Mission and delivered in time and in an appropriate format and quality, as requested by the AoK’s Women’s Caucus and the activity manager;
• Consultancy implemented as planned;
• Submit monthly reports outlining duties performed in each respective month;
• Submit final report to the project/activity manager at the latest ten (10) days after the completion of the assigned tasks;
• Timely submission of all the deliverables and other products that are foreseen with this TOR;
• Positive feedback from beneficiaries (evaluation questionnaire).
   

Necessary Qualifications:

• University degree in, Social Sciences, Political Science, or a related discipline;
• Minimum five years of working experience in the field of gender equality and women’s empowerment issues with focus on women’s political participation;
• Strong administrative and/or policy background with emphasis on mainstreaming gender in decision making;
• Ability to maintain effective and efficient communication with the beneficiaries;
• Ability to adapt to the needs of the Women’s Caucus representatives;
• Flexibility to adjust with new instructions from the Activity Manager, if any;
• Demonstrated experience in working with assembly, civil society and government; 
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in Albanian and English, knowledge of Serbian language is an asset;Good knowledge of political environment in Kosovo and in the region.    

Remuneration Package:

Remuneration will depend on the qualifi cations and experience of individual expertsas well as the detailed work plan to be agreed upon and will be based on the current OSCE consultancy rates.

In order to apply for this position you must complete the OSCE's online application form, found under https://jobs.osce.org/vacancies.  Applicants are encouraged to use the online recruitment and only fully completedOSCEapplications will be accepted. However, if you have technical difficulties with the system you may use the offline application form found under https://jobs.osce.org/resources/document/offline-application-form and forward the completed form quoting the vacancy number by e-mail to: consultancy.omik@osce.org. In line with yourqualifications please indicate preference to one or more field of expertise listed above (while using the online application the field of expertise preference can be indicated in the cover letter part). Kindly note that applications received after the deadline, submitted in different formats than the OSCE Application Form or in other languages than the English language would not be considered. The OSCE is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious, ethnic and socialbackgrounds to apply.