A rapid mapping of organizations who conducted Gender Audits in Palestine

Contract

This is a National Consultant contract. More about National Consultant contracts.

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.

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 towards the realization 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.

Building on UN Women’s goal in Palestine to ensure women have income security, decent work and economic autonomy, and ILO’s Decent Work strategy in Palestine, and within the framework of the regional joint programme “Promoting Productive Employment and Decent Work For Women” that is implemented by UN Women and ILO in Palestine, Jordan and Egypt, funded by Sweden, which aims to promote productive employment and decent work for women in Palestine by promoting equitable laws and policies, engaging public, private and community actors, and reducing the uneven burden of unpaid care work, UN Women is seeking to recruit a national consultant to conduct a mapping of Gender Audits conducted across Palestine for different organizations, since 2010, including governmental, private sector corporations, cooperatives, associations, unions, etc. This entails any gender audits conducted through using the ILO Participatory Gender Audit methodology (PGA) and other similar gender mainstreaming tools.

This rapid mapping will serve as a guiding and assessment tool for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace, marketplace and the community, and will inform national programmatic women’s economic empowerment actions for 2021 and beyond.

Purpose of the assignment:

This assignment is part of a learning exercise which aims to create an environment for reflection, analysis and open discussions on the effectiveness of gender audits in mainstreaming gender through the work of organizations and institutions. The assignment will identify all organizations and institutions who underwent a gender audit, since 2010 onwards, using the ILO PGA tool and other gender mainstreaming tools, if any, in Palestine and generate preliminary understanding on the effectiveness of the gender audits in relation to mainstreaming gender into the processes, policies, practices, products, and services of these organizations and institutions.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of UN Women Special Representative in the State of Palestine and the direct supervision of UN Women Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme Manager, the consultant will undertake the following duties and responsibilities:

1) Inception phase:

• Propose a detailed workplan and a detailed methodology for the assessment, in close cooperation with UN Women. The methodology will vary based on the institutions.
• Prepare a list of organizations who have conducted the mapping, including governmental, private sector corporations, cooperatives, associations, unions, etc.

2) Data collection:

• Conduct desk reviews and meetings/interviews with various stakeholders to collect data on the institutions who conducted gender audits in Palestine, including information about the focal points assigned and/or internal gender teams established within these institutions for follow up and implementation actions for commitments.
• Use other data collection tools and methodologies as relevant.

3) Assessment report development:

• Develop a detailed mapping of institutions, including government institutions, private sector corporations, cooperatives, associations, unions, etc. who conducted the audits.
• Develop a verification list, within the report, whether any action plans, assessments or case studies were developed as a result of the audits for the mapped organizations.
• Develop a comprehensive list of organizations who have conducted the mapping, including governmental, private sector corporations, cooperatives, associations, unions, etc. including listing detailed relevant actions that were taken by these organizations following the audits’ findings and recommendations; and analyze why in some cases, no actions were taken, where applicable.
• Draft an analysis section in the report on how these organizations were/were not able to plan and respond to the emerging needs of both women and men, including during the current COVID-19 labour crisis from a gender perspective and indicate how their actions, if any, will help mitigating the adversities stemming out of it.

The detailed list of institutions should be disaggregated by, but not limited to:

• Type of organization
• Sector/scope/location
• Year of conducting the gender audit
• By whom the audit was done/sponsored
• Size of organization (staffing disaggregated by M/F), including women in leadership positions.
• Location of the organizations.
• Other categories to be added as needed.

Deliverables:

• Deliverable 1: A detailed workplan for the assignment, including the methodology, with key deliverables in line with the detailed tasks with timeframe in English. (expected delivery date: January 2021)
• Deliverable 2: A draft mapping report in Arabic and English on the institutions in Palestine who conducted the gender audit, with relevant action plans, lessons learned, good practices and recommendations. (expected delivery date: February 2021)
• Deliverable 3: A final approved mapping report in Arabic and English on the organizations in Palestine who conducted the gender audit with actions conducted, lessons learned, good practices and recommendations along with a list of related annexes including a list of stakeholders’ interviews, tools developed and used and a summary table/list disaggregated using all the information collected. (expected delivery date: March 2021)

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: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Functional Competencies

• Strong knowledge of international standards on women economic security and rights and related instruments, including the ILO PGA and other audit tools.
• Ability to liaise with a variety of stakeholders and partners, including government and international organizations.
• Strong analytical, dialogue, consultation and communication skills.
• Maturity, ability to take decisions under pressure and ability to deal with matters that are politically and culturally sensitive.
• Ability to work as a member of a team.
• Demonstrated experience in timely delivering of quality products, including knowledge products, and in contributing to complex processes within the women’s economic empowerment area of work.
• Demonstrated coordination, training, facilitation and presentation skills.
• Results oriented, flexible and problem-solving skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• A Master’s degree in socio-economic studies, gender studies or any related development fields.

Experience:

• 5 years of extensive experience in research and analytical work in gender equality and women’s economic empowerment, including data collection, conducting mappings, studies and surveys.
• 5 years of relevant working knowledge of gender audit methodologies.
• At least 8 years of working experience in the domain of gender and development issues
• At least two years of experience working with the private sector in Palestine.
• Previous experience in working with Palestinian governmental and UN organizations.

Language Requirements:

• Excellent writing, editing and oral communications skills in English and Arabic languages.

Evaluation Criteria:

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.

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

Candidates should have the ability to quickly submit degree certificates, medical certification (of good health) expression of Interest (EoI).

Long listed candidates should provide at least two samples of previous research, analyses, assessments or studies related to women’s economic empowerment, gender audits, gender equality and private sector development.

Evaluation of applicants

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications mentioned above, and a 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:

• A Master degree in socio-economic studies, gender studies or any related development fields. (5 points max)
• 5 years of extensive experience in research and analytical work in gender equality and women’s economic empowerment, including data collection, conducting mappings, studies and surveys. (15 points max)
• 5 years of relevant working knowledge of gender audit methodologies. (10 points max)
• At least 8 years of working experience in the domain of gender and development issues (15 points max)
• At least two years of experience working with the private sector in Palestine for at least two years (10 points max)
• Previous experience in working with Palestinian governmental and UN organizations. (5 points max)
• At least two relevant samples of researches, analysis, assessments or studies related to women’s economic empowerment, gender audits, gender equality and private sector development (10 points max)

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. The shortlisted candidate will be requested to submit a financial proposal. The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount breaking down a daily professional fee, proposed number of working days and any related expenses, i.e. travel and communications expenses in USD.