National Consultant for Women’s Leadership Development

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. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. UN Women provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

In line with its global Strategic Plan 2022-2025 and contributing to SDG 5 on Gender Equality and SDG 17 on Partnerships, UN Women has integrated one outcome in its Country Strategic Note 2022-2026 focused on the response to the Rohingya refugee crisis in Cox’s Bazar: “By 2026 more Rohingya and host community women and girls are empowered by a gender-responsive enabling environment, to exercise their agency and decision-making with improved access to protection, education, and socio-economic opportunities”. UN Women implements three major programmatic interventions under this outcome, including one focused on “increasing the advocacy and leadership capacities of Rohingya and host community women-led organizations”. Under this intervention area, UN Women is supporting women-led organisations (WLOs) in Cox’s Bazar with the aim of increasing and expanding the role that WLOs and women play, ensuring that women are better served in the humanitarian response to the refugee crisis and bolstering access of WLOs to humanitarian decision-making platforms and their meaningful participation in decision-making and in community-based solutions to the crisis.

 

Against this background, UN Women is seeking to deploy a National Consultant to support strengthening the capacities of WLOs and women leaders in Cox’s Bazar to promote women’s leadership and advocate for changing social norms related to gender. The consultant will undertake the assignment in collaboration with WLOs supported by UN Women in Cox’s Bazar, and in consultation with relevant stakeholders, including members of the Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group and of the Gender-Based Violence Sub-Sector. The consultant will be supervised by and will report to UN Women Gender Analyst, who will provide technical support to the consultant under the leadership of the UN Women Head of Sub-Office; and will seek feedback and guidance from other UN Women Sub-Office staff as relevant, including UN Women Monitoring and Reporting Analyst and Communications Specialist.

Duties and Responsibilities

Responsibilities:

• Prepare an Inception Report related to the scope of work as identified below, with key milestones, based on consultations with UN Women.
• Develop the methodology for a standardized survey to measure community perceptions on women’s leadership to be utilized by WLOs supported by UN Women, and train minimum 3 WLOs to implement the survey.
• Based on the survey findings generated by the WLOs, disaggregated by gender, age, and location, develop a report on community perceptions toward women’s leadership, with recommendations.
• Through a consultative process and based on a desk review of JRP and GBV-SS documents and other relevant documents identified in consultation with UN Women sub-office, prepare a situational analysis report on the role of women leaders and WLOs in the Rohingya refugee response in Cox’s Bazar. 
• Prepare a tool for and mapping of the organizational profiles (including priority sectors and organizational priorities); trainings received by minimum 3 WLOs and related training materials; as well as capacity development needs of minimum 3 WLOs and Community-Based Organizations and Women’s Networks supported by them. Prepare a related report with recommendations (minimum 6 pages).
• Informed by the mapping exercise and assessment of role of women leaders and WLOs in the GBV response (above):

1. Develop standardized outreach tools (2 flipcharts) and training tool (1 Facilitator Guide) that WLOs and CBOs can use in advocating for women’s leadership and related social norm change, and introduce the tools to WLOs involved, providing guidance on their implementation. The tools should cover:

1. Capacity development and social norm change related to women’s leadership, including the role of women in leadership and decision-making, and key communication and negotiation skills (Flipchart 1).
2. Key frameworks and available services in the Rohingya refugee camps and host community in Cox’s Bazar related to GBV, legal protection, livelihoods and education, and health including family planning (Flipchart 2).

ii) Facilitator Guide to be used for TOT events for WLO staff.

 

2) Prepare and facilitate training sessions for the key personnel of minimum 3 WLOs on how to use the tools developed.

 

Deliverables:

• Inception report.
• Survey report on community perceptions toward women’s leadership.
• Tool for, and report on mapping of WLOs, inclusive of their organizational profiles, capacity development support received and capacity development needs – and related recommendations.
• Minimum 3 standardized tools for WLOs to use in advocating for women’s leadership and related social norm change.
• Training sessions delivered for minimum 3 WLOs on international norms and standards (as identified above); and communication and negotiation skills.
• Minimum 3 WLOs trained on results-based reporting and coaching and mentoring provided to them for the preparation of progress reports.

Nr.	Deliverables	Required Number of Days	% of payment
1	Inception report (minimum 3 pages). Survey tool developed to measure community perceptions on women’s leadership, and summary report on training delivered to minimum 3 WLOs (2-3 pages). Report on the survey findings generated by the WLOs on community perceptions toward women’s leadership, with analysis disaggregated by gender, age, and location, inclusive of recommendations. (6-8 pages). Situational analysis report on the role of women leaders and WLOs in the Rohingya refugee response in Cox’s Bazar, based on desk review.  (3 pages).	15.5	30% of total amount shall be paid upon submission and approval of deliverables (4), as certified by the UN Women contract administrator
2	Mapping report, inclusive of recommendations, of minimum 3 WLOs and of the Community-Based Organizations and Women’s Networks supported by them, inclusive of their organizational profiles, capacity development support received and capacity development needs. (Minimum 6 pages). Finalized content for outreach tools (2 flipcharts in PPT form) and training tool (1 Facilitator Guide as Word document; minimum 25 pages), incorporating adjustments based on feedback from UN Women. End of consultancy report, summarizing key deliverables, lessons learned and recommendations. Report to include as annex finalized training event reports.	36.5	70% of total amount shall be paid upon submission and approval of deliverables (3), as certified by the UN Women contract administrator

 

Duration Timeline:  52 days over a period of 4 months starting from May to August 2023.

 

Supervision and Performance Evaluation: The consultant will be supervised by UN Women Gender Analyst, with a matrix reporting line to the UN Women GBV Specialist in Cox’s Bazar

 

Travel and DSA:

The consultant will have to travel to Cox’s Bazar for completion of certain activities, meetings and consultations. Upon prior agreement/approval from UN Women, such travel expenses shall be borne by UN Women: the individual contractor/SSA shall receive a per-diem not to exceed the United Nations daily subsistence allowance (DSA) rate in such other location(s), and actual travel costs to and from Cox’s Bazar.

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

Required Skills and Experience

Required Educational Qualifications 

• Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/ women’s studies, refugee studies, international development, or a related field is required.

 

Experience and skills:

• At least 10 years of specific experience in the field of gender equality and/or women’s empowerment, including experience of work with women’s CSOs and gender in humanitarian action.
• At least 5 years of relevant experience in capacity development.  
• Previous experience in gender analysis and in the design of surveys and/or assessments.
• Knowledge of Rohingya refugee response is a strong asset.

 

Language:

Language and report writing skills, including excellent command of Bangla and English (oral and written), with knowledge of Chittagonian and/or Rohingya a significant asset.

 

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

Consultant must send a financial proposal based on Lump Sum Amount. The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include allcosts components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, only  and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the SSA in completing the assignment.The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done uponcompletion of the deliverables/outputs and as per below percentages

 

Evaluation Method and Criteria:Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.

Cumulative analysis-

The award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant up on Cumulative Analysis/evaluation and determined as:1. Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and2. Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to thesolicitation;

Only candidates obtaining a 49 mark in technical evaluation will be considered eligible for financial evaluation.Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 49 points out of 70)

Criteria-01; Educational Qualification  - Max Point 10

Criteria-02; Number years of specific experience in the field of gender equality and/or women’s empowerment, including experience of work with women’s CSOs and gender in humanitarian action and capacity development, gender analysis and in the design of surveys - Max Point 50Criteria-03; Language and other skills. Max Point 10

 

The total number of points allocated for the weighted qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points (49) will be considered as technically-qualified candidate.

Interested candidates will submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications.

 

To be included as part of the proposal: Only applications including all items mentioned above will be considered.

 

To be included as part of the proposal:

• A brief expression of interest: a brief narrative presenting your suitability for this assignment ·• UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from: http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment• A writing sample with a list/links of publications
• Financial proposal shall specify a daily rate and total fees in BDT for the 52 working days. No other expenses will be borne by UN Women except the travel as mentioned above under the Travel and DSA-section.

 

NOTE: Documents required before contract signing:

UN Personal History Form;Full medical examination and Statement of Fitness to work and travel for consultants with travel involved. (This is not a requirement for RLA contracts);

Security Certificate BSAFE: EN: https://agora.unicef.org/course/info.php?id=17891Individual subscribers over 65 years of age are required to undergo a full medical examination including x-rays at their own cost and obtaining medical clearance from the UN Medical Director prior to taking up their assignment;Release letter in case the selected consultant is government official.

Only applications will all items mentioned above will be considered

Note: The individual consultant who does not meet the above eligibility criteria shall not be considered for further evaluation. Necessary documentation must be submitted to substantiate the above eligibility criteria

 

At 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, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided based on 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. (Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check).