Development of two case studies on gender and reconstruction in Iraq and Yemen

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EG Home-based; Egypt

Application deadline 3 years ago: Sunday 18 Oct 2020 at 23:59 UTC

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Contract

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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 is mandated by the UN Security Council to lead on UN system-wide coordination on Women, Peace, and Security, and to this end, UN Women has been working with governments, UN partners, and civil society through the region to support women’s participation and influence at all levels of decision-making to prevent and resolve conflict and to address issues of extremism.

In the Middle East and North Africa region, the UN Women Regional Office for the Arab States, with support from the Government of Germany, is contributing toward building sustainable peace by strengthening women’s leadership and participation in high-level peace and transition processes. This is being done through the transfer of evidence-based knowledge and skills to empower institutions and key actors, includ­ing women in the region themselves, to engage in and influence peace processes.

Within the scope of the project, UN Women is partnering with the World Bank to integrate women, peace, and security priorities in reconstruction planning processes and to promote inclusive reconstruction by informing political, financial, and other decision-making of high-level partners on the reconstruction processes.

Context overview and rationale

Women are key actors in the implementation of peace agreements and have been active in the region and all over the world in monitoring these and preventing relapses into conflict. Linked to this, research over the past twenty years has shown that women’s participation builds more sustainable peace and that their leadership needs to be harnessed when engaging in reconstruction and recovery efforts. During armed conflicts, women and girls are exposed to physical, psychological, and sexual violence, making them vulnerable to marginalization, poverty, and suffering. These experiences are key to take into account when rebuilding countries.

Following the devastating ongoing civil wars that have taken place in the Middle East, reconstruction is becoming a pressing issue on the international agenda. In Iraq, after years of conflict and occupation by the Islamic State, the liberation of territories had an important human and infrastructural impact, and women have experienced the conflict firsthand and have borne the brunt of the insecurity and occupation. The country remains fragile, with a fractured society and challenging security and humanitarian environment.

In Yemen, the complete destruction of the infrastructures generated by the conflict has led to the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, leaving a high percentage of the population at risk of famine, violence, and death. While the conflict is still ongoing, challenges around reconciliation and reconstruction have emerged and required urgent attention from international actors.

To ensure reconstruction efforts in both countries include women’s perspective at their core, a timely assessment and inclusion of women’s needs are essential. Without gender issues included in their analysis and planning stages, reconstruction initiatives could take the risk to be gender-blind and potentially create more harm. In this context, UN Women and the World Bank are commissioning two case studies on gender and reconstruction in Iraq and Yemen to inform the analysis and planning stages of reconstruction processes in both countries.

The objective of the Assignment:

In partnership with the World Bank, UN Women is recruiting a consultant to elaborate two case studies including recommendations for gender-responsive reconstruction. Reporting to the WPS-HA Regional Advisor and working closely with the WPS Program Analyst and the UN Women and World Bank teams in Iraq and Yemen, the consultant will support the development of two case studies on gender-responsive reconstruction in Iraq (1) and Yemen (1). Looking at, amongst other priorities, women’s contribution to the economic growth and women's post-war livelihoods, women’s participation in governance, and women’s access to justice in the context of reconstruction in both countries, the case studies will aim to deepen the understanding of what women’s meaningful inclusion means in reconstruction processes, in particular in areas mentioned above, and to develop a strategic and long-term perspective on gender and reconstruction in Iraq and Yemen (including by giving recommendations based on good practices from other countries).

The case studies will be presented during an expert group meeting in the first quarter of 2021 (TBC).

Duties and Responsibilities

  • Develop the structure and format for the case studies in agreement with UN Women and the World Bank and as per the objectives of the assignment, collaborate with relevant World Bank and UN Women teams to leverage synergies in doing so;
  • Research information for the case studies. This will include desk-based research, interviews, consultations with various stakeholders and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) to be held in Arabic and Kurdish;
  • Submit a preliminary outline and overview of the case studies for discussion with UN Women;
  • Develop the case studies (from 10 to 15 pages for each country) and revise the documents as per feedback discussion with the UN Women and World Bank teams, and collaborate with the relevant World Bank and UN Women teams in finalizing the case studies;
  • Develop a set of recommendations for different stakeholders as part of each case study;
  • Produce an overview of the case studies, highlighting patterns, emerging themes, and opportunities going forward.
  • Present the findings of the two case studies in an expert group meeting to be held jointly with the World Bank with stakeholders involved in the reconstruction process in both countries in January 2021 ( date TBC). This will include experts in this area including the government stakeholders and representatives of the UN, INGOs and NGOs, and academia.

Deliverables

Timelines

1 Case Study on Gender and Reconstruction in Iraq, including a set of recommendations, as well as a brief overview of the main findings

December 2020

1 Case Study on Gender and Reconstruction in Yemen, including a set of recommendations, as well as a brief overview of the main findings

December 2020

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/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Functional Competencies:

  • Strong Knowledge of women, peace, and security issues, with expertise in understanding gender-specific concerns in reconstruction;
  • Proven ability to draft reports and research;
  • Good leadership skills;
  • Ability to engage in substantive technical discussion with diverse stakeholders;
  • Strong communication skills;
  • Excellent analytical capacity.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

  • Advanced University Degree (master’s or equivalent) preferably in gender, political science, international relations, law or equivalent;
  • 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

  • At least 10 years of experience working on women, peace and security, gender equality, and women’s empowerment;
  • Experience working in post-conflict settings is an asset;
  • Previous experience conducting stakeholders dialogue and FGDs is an asset;
  • Working experience in the MENA region and knowledge of the context of Iraq and Yemen is an asset;
  • Experience working with the UN and international organizations is an asset.

Language Requirements

  • Fluency in spoken and written English is required;
  • Fluency in Arabic and/or Kurdish is an asset.

Evaluation Criteria:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology: Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for the financial evaluation.

Criteria Weight Technical: 70% (70 points)

  • Education: 15%
  • Language Skills: 15%
  • Professional Experience & background: 40%; specifically experience which is relevant to the consultancy requirements indicated above;

Financial: Lowest Financial Proposal: 30% (30 points)

The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula:

  • The contract will be awarded to the technically qualified consultant who obtains the highest combined score (financial and technical);
  • The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula: (Lowest Bid Offered*)/ (Bid of the Consultant) x 30;
  • 'Lowest Bid Offered' refers to the lowest price offered by Offerors scoring at least 49 points in the technical evaluation.

Application:

Interested Individual Consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

  • A cover letter with a brief presentation of your consultancy explaining your suitability for the work and link to the portfolio of work;
  • UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment;
  • Personal CV; and Financial proposal; Proposed inclusive daily rate.

The above-mentioned documents should be merged in a standalone file including all them since the online application submission does only permit to upload one file per application. Incomplete submission can be a ground for disqualification.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW, and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Added 3 years ago - Updated 3 years ago - Source: jobs.undp.org