International Consultant – Women’s Political Participation, Retainer

Background

Duration of assignment: From 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 initially one year with a possibility of extension (Maximum 200 days of assignment period; UN Women does not warrant that the maximum of 200 days. The service will be purchased during the term of the Agreement).Type of contract: Special Service Agreement (SSA) – RetainerBackgroundUN 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.Through the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) in Bangkok and multi-country, country offices and Non-Residence Agencies (MCO/COs/NRAs) programme presence, UN Women builds on a long history of support to governments and women’s movements. UN Women’s programs in Asia and the Pacific focus on governance, women, peace and security, ending violence against women, humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction, women’s economic empowerment, and HIV/AIDS. For more information about UN Women in Asia and the Pacific, please visit the official website.The portfolio of UN Women’s work on Governance, Peace and Security (GPS) in Asia-Pacific is based on “The Regional Framework Towards Peaceful, Inclusive Societies: Advancing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and Inclusive Governance in the Asia Pacific Region (The GPS Regional Framework)” (2023-2027). The framework stands on two pillars of programming: 1) Women, Peace and Security; and 2) Inclusive Governance. It focuses on implementing the Women Peace and Security (WPS) agenda to the specific context of Asia-Pacific region, such as development and implementation of WPS national action plans; conflict prevention and building peace and resilience; prevention of violent extremism; women’s participation and leadership in emerging or non-traditional security issues such as climate change, cybersecurity and peacebuilding in the digital space. The Governance work covers women’s access to justice; gender responsive budgeting and planning; women’s leadership, including women’s political participation.UN Women’s work on women’s political participation includes enhancing capacity of women political candidates and offering voter and civic education and sensitization campaigns on gender equality. UN Women supports gender equality advocates in calling on political parties, governments and others to do their part in empowering women. Other initiatives encourage young women and men to engage in advocacy around making gender equality measures central to public policymaking. UN Women advocates for legislative and constitutional reforms to ensure women’s fair access to political spheres—as voters, candidates, elected officials and civil service members. UN Women collaborates with UN country teams and work with civil society on programmes so that elections uphold women’s rights, including to vote and campaign free from electoral violence.Reporting to the Regional Policy Advisor Governance, Peace and Security, the International Consultant – Women’s Political Participation (WPP) will be home-based with possible field missions in the Asia-Pacific region.Objectives of the assignmentConsultants play an important role in contributing to implementation of the GPS Regional Framework, and they form significant part of capacities of UN Women ROAP. In order to increase effectiveness of contracting process and enable instant contracting in emergency and urgent situations, UN Women is launching a competitive process to create a pool of qualified consultants and experts in Women’s Leadership and Political Participation.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision and guidance of the Regional Policy Advisor on Governance, Peace and Security, UN Women ROAP, candidates selected for the consultancy assignment will work with ROAP and MCO/COs/NRAs in the region in any of the following areas:

• Provide strategic and operational advice to governments, private sector and/or civil society organizations on the formulation and execution of policies.
• Provide technical support in designing, implementing, monitoring or evaluating projects in the assigned areas.
• Design and delivery of various trainings on gender analysis of legislation, policies and budgets, gender equality concepts, women’s leadership in politics, candidate training for general elections; development of training curriculum for gender responsive analysis of legal and policy frameworks.
• Support to improving legislative framework, processes and procedures; consult gender policy, strategic plan for gender equality; review legislation from a gender equality perspective; development of in-house resource kit on gender sensitive legislation and tools for monitoring the implementation of GE legislation.
• Develop a road map to increase women’s participation in parliament.
• Undertake consultations on communication and advocacy strategies on GE and general election campaigns, advocate for candidate nomination with political parties to promote GE.
• Develop toolkits, guidelines, and publications.
• Support awareness raising campaigns and advocacy efforts.
• Collect and analyse relevant documentation and consolidate knowledge, experience, good practices and lessons learned.
• Provide technical inputs to knowledge products and reports.
• Carry out research and prepare a comprehensive needs assessment report.

Expected DeliverablesThe International Consultant will produce the following deliverables. All the deliverables, including annexes, notes and reports should be submitted in writing in English. Upon receipt of the deliverables and prior to the payment of the first installment, the deliverables and related reports and documents will be reviewed and approved by UN Women. The period of the review is one week after receipt.

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

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdfFunctional Competencies:

• Strong interpersonal, teamwork and communication skills;
• Ability to work independently and proactively solve problem;
• Capacity to plan, prioritise and deliver tasks on time;
• Capacity to engage with national and international staff, provide clear feedback and maintain effective rapport with different kinds of people;
• Actively work towards continuing learning and sharing with others to support local capacity development;
• Ability to research, analyse and present complex information.

Required Skills and Experience

The Consultant should fulfil the following requirements:

Education

• Master’s degree in Gender Studies, International Law, Social Science, Political Science or other related fields.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience

• Minimum five years’ progressively responsible experience at the national or international level in inclusive governance development work with specific emphasis on gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• Experience with development, monitoring and evaluation of development projects;
• Experience in peace and security or a related field in the Asia-Pacific region would be considered an asset;
• Previous professional experience with the United Nations or similar organisations in this or a related field would be considered an asset;
• Experience developing analysis and report documents on gender-related issues would be considered an asset;
• Experience in conducting training is an asset;
• Experience in working with public officials at central and local levels is an asset;
• Experience in working with civil society and academia is an asset.

Language and other skills

• Proficiency in English is required;
• Knowledge of other UN working languages is an asset;
• Knowledge of other languages of the region is an asset.

Contracting ArrangementsEntry into the retainer system of experts does not guarantee a contract with UN Women. Should a request for services arises, the UN Women shall directly contact consultants with the most appropriate experience from the roster. Specific Terms of Reference outlining outputs for each assignment shall be provided and a Special Service Agreement (SSA) will be issued. Terms and conditions of a particular assignment may be negotiable.EvaluationApplications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis.

• Technical Qualification (100 points) weight; [70%]
• Financial Proposal (100 points) weight; [30%]

A two-stage procedure is utilised in evaluating the applications, with evaluation of the technical application being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.Submission of ApplicationInterested candidates are encouraged to submit an electronic application to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org with -cc to vanissa.limkriangkrai@unwomen.org, no later than 7 February 2023.

Submission package includes:

• Personal History Form (P11)
• Examples of previous work related to area.
• Financial proposal which shall specify the daily professional fee.

Duration and RemunerationMembership in the retainer system of experts is valid for a maximum period of three (3) years. From 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 initially one year with a possibility of extension with a maximum of 200 days of assignment period (UN Women does not warrant the maximum of 200 days and the service will be purchased during the term of the Agreement). The consultant will be engaged under a retainer contract, which facilitates direct engagement of the consultant depending on need and availability within the contract period for a pre-agreed fee.Consultant’s profileProfiles of consultants who are included in the retainer system of experts will be published on internal UN Women system and they will be accessible for UN Women ROAP and MCO/COs/NRAs.Diversity and InclusionAt UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, colour, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)