Individual National Consultant – To support Women’s Resilience to Disasters - WRD Programme implementation, UN Women Fiji MCO

Consultant

Contract

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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.

The Fiji Multi Country Office (MCO) covers 14 Pacific countries, with field offices/presence in 6 countries, and six ‘focus countries’ (Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Tonga and Samoa). Each field presence is led by a national Country Programme Coordinator with a Programme Officer in Tonga. UN Women, in partnership with Pacific Islands Governments, regional organizations, CSOs, donors and UN agencies, focuses on delivering within four interlinked programme areas:

• Women’s Political Empowerment and Leadership (WPEL)
• Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE)
• Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG)
• Gender and Protection in Humanitarian Action (GPiHA) and Disaster Risk Reduction

Women’s Resilience to Disaster (WRD)

Disaster risks converge with critical socio-economic vulnerabilities, environmental degradation and climate change making the Pacific a disaster hotspot. Disasters and climate change are widening inequalities and undermining poverty reduction in the region. Threats such as COVID-19 are further exacerbating the inequalities and hardships faced by women and girls including those with disabilities. Women and girls face greater vulnerability and exposure to disasters, yet women remain largely ignored and their capacities unleveraged in conventional resilience building processes. As a result, women are generally absent in the development of resilience strategies and decision-making processes for prevention, preparedness, and recovery. This is compounded by significant gaps at the global, regional and country level in relation to the availability and use of sex, age and disability disaggregated data (SADDD), knowledge sharing on women’s resilience; an enabling environment for building women’s resilience (including capacities, leadership and funding); translation of commitments into action; coordination and private sector partnership; and a need for transformative change to tackle the underlying drivers of disproportionate risk.

UN Women’s WRD programme proposes a comprehensive package for building women’s resilience to disasters, climate change and threats (including COVID-19).

The aim of the WRD Programme is to render women’s and girls’ lives and livelihoods disaster-resilient, contributing to sustainable and secure communities, by promoting gender responsive prevention, preparedness, and recovery systems, plans and tools; and by enabling targeted action to help women and girls withstand hazards and threats, recover fully from disasters and increase their resilience to future risks. The expected end-of-programme outcomes (EOPOs) are:

1. Prevention, preparedness and recovery systems, plans and tools are gender-responsive through women’s leadership in DRR, women’s enhanced influence in DRR decision-making, enhanced gender capacity of DRR and climate resilience stakeholders, increased access to knowledge, guidance and expertise on gender-responsive disaster resilience, and strategic partnerships and networks for women’s agency and leadership in DRR; and
2. Women and girls are prepared to withstand natural hazards, climate change and COVID-19, recover from disasters and increase their resilience to future risks, through gender-responsive early warning systems, gender targeted and mainstreamed services for women’s resilience, women’s informal and formal climate and disaster resilient businesses, women’s increased access to climate and disaster resilient livelihoods and strategic partnerships for resilient livelihoods.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the assignment

UN Women under its WRD programme works in partnerships with three ministries of the government: the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation (MWCPA) as the lead ministry, the Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster (MRMDD) and the Ministry of Economy (Climate Change Division).

The assignment is conceived under the partnership of UN Women Fiji MCO with the MWCPA in providing support to the implementation of activities under the WRD workplan by the ministry and thereby contributing to the capacity building of the MWCPA.

For this purpose, the Consultant will be seconded to the MWCPA and work under the joint supervision of the WRD Fiji National Programme Coordinator with technical assistance from the Gender and Programme Specialist and overall coordination of the Permanent Secretary and Director responsible for the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation.

The National Consultant will also work closely to coordinate with UNDRR, local, national, regional and international organizations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) to ensure best practices and processes for social inclusion, informing all activities carried out under this consultancy.

This activity falls under the Output 1.1 of the Project Document[1] providing support to the primary partner ministry for the programme and figures under the output/sub-activity 1.1.4. of the revised workplan.

Scope of Work/Duties and Responsibilities

The National Consultant will work in the following technical areas:

• Lead and coordinate with MWCPA in the review of national policies including the development of the Gender Action Plan to ensure Gender and Social Inclusion and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is mainstreamed.

• Coordinate with MWCPA to conduct a mapping of women's resilience in Fiji to develop policy recommendations. The mapping will focus on: (1) Current projects undertaken by the CSOs. (2) Role of women in disaster risk management in Fiji (focus on community level). (3) Stock-take and track Gender & Social Inclusion (GSI) mainstreaming progress in laws, policies, standards, strategies, plans, budgets, tools, processes, projects and programmes and use the WRD Policy Tracker to identify gaps. (4) Current practices, risks and gaps in selected disaster-prone communities. (5) Recommendations on Policy enablers or entry points for further work.

• Coordinate with MWCPA to conduct information and knowledge sharing between NGOs, CSOs, FBOs on Gender Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management (GCCDRM) through focused group discussions (webinars and workshops) and ‘talanoa’ (dialogue) sessions under the generic theme of: talanoa sessions on sharing women's experiences on gender responsiveness DRR (Food preservations, food security and livelihoods), Climate change (adapting to climate change and weather) and Covid-19 resilience.

• Review with MWCPA on the recent disasters data for disaggregated information and prepare gender/risk profiles.

• Facilitate and coordinate training programmes in Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management (CCDRM) for and with women-led organizations, CSOs and NGOs, women and girls.

• Provide technical assistance on behalf of UNW Fiji MCO to MWCPA to influence social norms to enhance gender equality, advocacy and awareness to young girls and boys on importance of women's roles through community schools.

• Provide technical assistance to MWCPA for a Gender Transformative Institutional Capacity Development initiative with a focus on the Gender Analysis in Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI).

?Duration of the Assignment

The duration of this assignment will be from May 2023 i.e., 240 working days over a 12 months’ work assignment as per the schedule of deliverables.

Expected Deliverables

The Consultant is expected to deliver the following outputs:

No.

Activities and Deliverables

Approximate number of days

Deadlines

1.

To submit an Inception Report with detailed work plan of key deliverables as discussed and agreed upon by UNWOMEN Fiji MCO and Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation (MWCPA)

Up to 5 working days

May 2023

2.

To lead and coordinate with MWCPA in the review of national policies including the development of the Gender Action Plan to ensure Gender and Social Inclusion and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is mainstreamed.

Up to 30 working days

May-June 2023

3.

To conduct mapping of women's resilience in Fiji to develop policy recommendations.

Final mapping report submitted and stakeholders learning sessions organised and implemented.

Up to 29 working days

Up to 1 working day

June-July 2023

4.

To coordinate information and knowledge sharing with NGOs, CSOs, FBOs for GCCDRM through focused group discussions (webinars and workshop) and ‘talanoa’ (dialogue) sessions.

Compilation of submissions from the dialogue sessions

Up to 30 working days

July-Aug 2023

5.

Reviewed recent disasters data for disaggregated information and prepare gender risk profiles

Up to 30 working days

Aug-Sept 2023

6.

Submission of Quarterly Progress Report

30 September 2023

7.

Identified and coordinated training programmes in CCDRM for women-led organizations, CSOs and NGOs, women, and girls.

Up to 30 working days

Oct-Nov 2023

8.

Influenced social norms to enhance gender equality, advocacy and awareness to young girls and boys on importance of women's roles through community schools.

• Selection & finalisation of schools
• Prepare material for DRR clubs

Conduct orientation to club members

Up to 30 working days

Nov-Dec

9.

Submission of Quarterly Progress Report

30 December 2023

10.

Supported the Gender Transformative Institutional Capacity Development initiative with a focus on the Gender Analysis in Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI).

• Planning of capacity dev sessions for targeted beneficiaries – 2 sessions of 3 days each

Development of manual/resource material for the sessions

Up to 30 working days

Jan-Feb 2024

11.

Submission of Quarterly Progress Report

30 March 2024

12.

Draft Report on achievement of key outcomes and achievements on deliverables 1 to 10 to be presented to the National Programme Management Committee.

Up to 15 working days

April 2024

13.

Revise the report based on inputs and present and the Final Report at a launch event

Up to 10 working days

April to May 2024

Up to 240 working days

The assignment should be carried out with the incumbent being responsible for delivering the listed outputs on behalf of the MWCPA.

The payments for this assignment will be carried out based on deliverables agreed upon for each quarter. Upon receipt of the final deliverables and prior to the payment of each instalment, the deliverables, related reports, and documents will be reviewed and approved by UN Women within ten business days.

All the deliverables should be approved by UN Women and be provided in English in hard and electronic copy.

Inputs

The Consultant will be seconded to MWCPA who will provide a workstation, laptop, necessary information, materials, and logistics including access to other equipment for the fulfilment of his/her tasks such as printer, copier and office space.

• To ensure continuity, MWCPA will brief the Consultant on the existing and ongoing activities related to these initiatives.
• UN Women will provide the Consultant with background materials.
• UN Women will only cover Consultant’s travel outside of Suva should the need arises and upon prior approval by UN Women WRD team.

UN Women will cover cost of national-level workshops, site visits and mission trips related to the roll out of deliverables.

Management Arrangements:

The National Consultant will work under the overall coordination of the Permanent Secretary and Director responsible for the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation and supervision of the WRD Fiji National Programme Coordinator with technical assistance from the Gender and Programme Specialist.

Performance evaluation

The Consultant’s performance will be evaluated based on timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

Financial Arrangements

Payments will be disbursed upon submission and approval of monthly deliverable reports approved by PS MWCPA and submissions of timesheets on actual days worked and certification by the UN Women WRD National Programme Coordinator that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

Travel

The position is based at the Naibati House Office, Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Suva, Fiji. The Consultant will be responsible for all administrative and travel expenses associated with undertaking this assignment to be based in Suva.

Any official travel, where necessary, will be pre-approved by UN Women and paid/arranged for by UN Women in accordance with the existing UN Women travel policies and procedures.

[1] DRR decision makers and practitioners have increased knowledge of the gender dimensions of risk and access to tools and expertise on gender responsive DRR, climate and COVID 19 resilience, including on sex, age and disability disaggregated data collection and reporting.

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:

• Good programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Good knowledge of Results Based Management
• Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings and recommendations
• Good analytical skills

Required Skills and Experience

Required experience and qualifications

The Consultant should fulfil the following requirements:

Education:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Planning, Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change, Humanitarian Response, Economics, Social Science, or another related field is required.
• A first-level University Degree in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience and Skills:

• At least 5 years (Master’s Degree) or 7 years (Bachelor’s Degree) of progressively responsible experience in M&E and Learning, Project Management, disaster risk reduction, Protection, humanitarian response, climate change, or development in the Pacific.
• Proven knowledge and skills in gender, disability and social inclusion in areas pertaining to disaster risk reduction (including women’s and persons with disabilities leadership in DRR, DRR policies, and systems, data and knowledge) in the Fijian context.
• Minimum of 3 years of work experience in working with research, data collection and analytical reviews with specific experiences in issues of gender and social inclusion and DRR.
• Demonstrated track record of working in disaster management, climate change and/or gender focused programmes in Fiji and or Pacific region context.
• Knowledge of the Pacific specifically, Fiji Government machinery and civil society organizations in Fiji
• Experience in working with an international organisation(s).

Language and other skills:

• Fluency in and command of written and spoken English is required (as assessed in the P11).

Evaluation

Initially, individual consultants will be short-listed based on the following minimum qualification criteria:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Planning, Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change, Humanitarian Response, Economics, Social Science, or other related field is required.
• A first-level University Degree in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• At least 5 years (Masters Degree) or 7 years (Bachelors Degree) of progressively responsible experience in M&E and Learning, Project Management, disaster risk reduction, Protection, humanitarian response, climate change, or development in the Pacific.

The short-listed individual consultants will be further evaluated based on a cumulative analysis scheme, with a total score being obtained upon the combination of weighted technical and financial attributes. Cost under this method of analysis is rendered as an award criterion, which will be 30% out of a total score of 100 points.

Evaluation of submitted offers will be done based on the following formula:

where:

T

is the total technical score awarded to the evaluated proposal (only to those proposals that pass 70% of 70 points obtainable under technical evaluation);

C

is the price of the evaluated proposal;

Clow

is the lowest of all evaluated proposal prices among responsive proposals; and

X

is the maximum financial points obtainable (30 points)

Technical evaluation will be represented through desk review of applications. Interviews and/or written tests will be organized if needed only, depending on the short-listed candidates’ qualifications.

Technical Qualification Evaluation Criteria: The technical part is evaluated on the basis of its responsiveness to the Terms of Reference (TOR).

No.

Criteria

Maximum points

1. • Master’s degree or equivalent in Planning, Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change, Humanitarian Response, Economics, Social Science, or other related field is required.
   • A first-level University Degree in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

A first-level University Degree – 10pts, Masters or equivalent – 15pts

15

1. • At least 5 years (Masters Degree) or 7 years (Bachelors Degree) of progressively responsible experience in M&E and Learning, Project Management, disaster risk reduction, Protection, humanitarian response, climate change, or development in the Pacific.

(Masters) or (Bachelors) – 7pts,

Each year over 5 (or 7) yrs – 1pts up to a max 10pts

10

1. • Proven knowledge and skills in gender, disability and social inclusion in areas pertaining to disaster risk reduction (including women’s and persons with disabilities leadership in DRR, DRR policies, and systems, data and knowledge) in the Fijian context.

15

1. • Minimum of 3 years of work experience in working with research, data collection and analytical reviews with specific experiences in issues of gender and social inclusion and DRR.

     3 years - 3 points, each year over 3 years - 1 point each up to a max of 10 points

10

1. • Demonstrated track record of working in disaster management, climate change and/or gender focused programmes in Fiji and or Pacific region context.

10

1. • Knowledge of the Fijian Government machinery and civil society organizations in Fiji.

5

1. • Experience in working with an international organisation(s).

5

Maximum Total Technical Scoring

70

Financial Evaluation Criteria: In this Second Stage, the financial proposal of candidates, who have attained minimum 70% score in the technical evaluation (at least 49 points), will be compared.

WINNING CANDIDATE

The winning candidate will be the candidate, who has accumulated the highest aggregated score (technical scoring + financial scoring).

Submission of application

Interested candidates are requested to submit fully completed application on the UNDP Vacancy Site.

Submission Package:

1. Cover letter explaining the suitability of the consultant: applicants are encouraged to address experience and qualifications listed in the ‘criteria for technical evaluation’.
2. Duly filled Personal History Form (P11) and/or Curriculum Vitae (CV) of consultant including records of experience in similar assignments and specific outputs obtained; P11 can be downloaded at: https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment
3. Financial proposal – specifying a total lump sum amount for the tasks specified in this Terms of Reference. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (daily rate and number of anticipate working days and any other possible costs).
4. Please read, use and complete ANNEX I and ANNEX II below to provide your financial proposal.

Applications without a complete financial proposal will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment. UN Women reserves the right to accept or reject any bid.

The consultancy recruitment process will be governed by the rules and regulations of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).

UN Women Statement on Diversity and Inclusion:

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 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).

Deadline of all submission: 15th May 2023

Annex I

Price Proposal Guideline and Template

The prospective Individual Contractor should take the following explanations into account during submission of his/her price proposal.

1.Lump Sum Amount

The price proposal should indicate a "lump sum amount" which is "all-inclusive" of all costs (professional fees, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Individual Contractor needs to be factored into the proposed price.

UN Women will not withhold any amount of the payments for tax and/or social security related payments. UN Women shall have no liability for taxes, duties or other similar charges payable by the Individual Contractor in respect of any amounts paid to the Individual Contractor under this Contract, and the Contractor acknowledges that UN Women will not issue any statements of earnings to the Individual contractor in respect of any such payments.

Contract price is fixed to activities/deliverables indicated in the ToR, regardless of the changes in the cost components (such as days invested for completion of the deliverables).

2.Travel costs

Any official travel, where necessary, will be pre-approved by UN Women and paid/arranged for by UN Women in accordance with the existing UN Women travel policies and procedures.

3.Daily Subsistence Allowance

Not applicable.

4.Currency of the price proposal

The applicants are requested to submit their price proposals in FJD.

In case of proposals in other currency, these shall be converted into FJD using the official UN exchange rate for currency conversion at the date of applications’ submission deadline.

Annex II

Price Proposal Submission Form

[ Mandatory document for the Consultant to complete and submit]

To: United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

Ref: Individual National Consultant – To support Women’s Resilience to Disasters / WRD Programme implementation, UN Women Fiji MCO

Dear Sir / Madam,

I, the undersigned, offer to provide professional consulting services to UN Women within the scope of the referred Assignment. Having examined, understood, and agreed to the Terms of Reference and its annexes, the receipt of which are hereby duly acknowledged, I, the undersigned, offer to deliver professional services, in conformity with the Terms of Reference.

My maximum total price proposal for the assignment is given below:

Estimated Costs (in FJD$)

Unit of Measure (e.g. Day, Month, etc)

Unit Price

(FJD$)

No. of Units

Total Price

(FJD$)

Consultancy Fee

Daily Fee

$

Other Related Costs (please specify)

$

Total FJD$

$

*** Please be informed that for shorter assignments than a full day, the daily rate will be pro-rated into hourly rate.

I confirm that my financial proposal will remain unchanged. I also confirm that the price that I quote is gross, and is inclusive of all legal expenses, including but not limited to social security, income tax, pension, etc., which shall be required applicable laws.

I agree that my proposal shall remain binding upon me for 60 days.

I understand that you are not bound to accept any proposal you may receive.

[ Signature]

Date:

Name:

Address:

Telephone / Fax:

Email:

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Added 11 months ago - Updated 11 months ago - Source: jobs.undp.org