Gender Equality Strategy – PSPD (3 vacancies)

Contract

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

Background

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

Today, Lebanon is facing the long term structural challenges as well as the profound effects that the subsequent crises are having on its economy (the Syrian crisis since 2011 and more recently the monetary and economic crisis), and there is ongoing need to support job creation and inclusive economic growth especially for the most vulnerable in the most disadvantaged areas. These adverse conditions coupled with the recent financial crisis and the rising unemployment make supporting job creation and economic opportunities a top priority. In particular, women face disproportionately high levels of unemployment and vulnerability. Without serious efforts to support the economic empowerment of women, high levels of unemployment and poverty are likely to persist and even worsen, thus further reducing the resilience of communities and their ability to withstand the shocks and stresses caused by local and regional crises.

Under Lebanon Recovery Fund, UN Women is supporting a joint UN program in Lebanon, namely Productive Sectors Development Program (PSDP). The purpose of the joint program is to support gender-responsive job creation and economic opportunities in the agriculture and agro-food sectors, prioritizing women, and female youth in disadvantaged areas. Considering the wide array of challenges that particularly women and girls are facing in the agriculture and agro-food sectors–ranging from a poor policy environment to high cost of doing business and shortage of skills– a comprehensive approach is needed in order to tackle those challenges and create an enabling environment for inclusive and sustainable job creation. In the PSDP, UN Women is one of six participating UN agencies responsible for a set of activities/outcomes as part of the overall program.

Objective of the Assignment:

Given the importance of gender equality approach of the program and UN Women’s expertise in this area, UN Women is seeking to contract 3 national consultants: 2 Senior Researchers and one Junior Associate. The consultants, while hired separately, will support the PSDP in the development of a Gender Equality Strategy. While the consultants may not know each other prior to the assignment, they will work in close partnership with each other and with all participating UN Agencies, under the overall coordination and supervision of UN Women.

Once the consultant team is assembled, UN Women will work with them to determine who is responsible for delivering which parts of the assignment, and for the overall drafting.

The Gender Equality Strategy should cover:

1. How gender mainstreaming will be undertaken concretely in the program.
2. the gender mainstreaming minimum standards, outputs, outcomes, and indicators of the whole program and its activities.
3. Confirming the women-specific targeted interventions and identified indicators per productive sector.

The work of the consultancy is expected to start as soon as possible and end by the 15th of February 2021.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultants will work under the direct supervision of the UN Women Program Manager to deliver a program Gender Equality Strategy.

Deliverables:

1. Submission of a proposal and timeline for delivering this assignment, with an outline of the necessary preparatory work (2 working days)
2. Draft gender equality strategy (18 working days)
3. Final Gender Equality Strategy, revised based on comments received from partners (3 working days)

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

Functional Competencies

• Substantive experience and record of accomplishment in gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• Good knowledge of UN Women and the UN system.
• Demonstrated analytical and technical skills in developing strategies.
• Ability to introduce new approaches and strategic innovations.

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications for t****he Senior Researchers (2):

Education:

• Master’s degree in Human Rights, International Affairs/Development, Sociology, Public Administration, Economics, Gender and Women’s Studies or related field.
• 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 7 years of progressively responsible professional experience in issues related to economic growth and gender equality.
• Experience developing strategies for program implementation, including on women’s rights.
• Experience working in the agriculture and agro-food sectors in the Middle East region in general, and Lebanon in particular, is an asset.
• Computer skills, internet communication and command of MS Office.

Language Requirements:

• Proficient in written and oral English and Arabic is a must.

Qualifications for t****he junior associate (1):

Education:

• Master’s degree in Human Rights, International Affairs/Development, Sociology, Public Administration, Economics, Gender and Women’s Studies or related field.
• 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 5 years of progressively responsible professional experience in issues related to economic growth and gender equality.
• Experience developing strategies for program implementation, including on women’s rights.
• Experience working in the agriculture and agro-food sectors in the Middle East region in general, and Lebanon in particular, is an asset.
• Computer skills, internet communication and command of MS Office

Language Requirements:

• Proficient in written and oral English and Arabic is a must.

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: (10 points)
• Experience: Experience in Economic growth and gender equality in the region, and in Lebanon (30 points)
• Experience in developing program strategies (30 points)

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

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

• 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.

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

• A cover letter explaining your suitability for the work and previous work portfolio, and ability to meet the requirements, method of engagement and other relevant information, and detailing which post you are applying for.
• 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 and lump-sum rate.
• The above-mentioned documents should be submitted together, incomplete submission can be a ground for disqualification