National Consultant to Conduct a Thematic Inquiry on Gender Mainstreaming in Governmental Policies

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 in Georgia supports state and non-state partners towards the achievement of substantive gender equality in Georgia. In line with national and international commitments, UN Women works on the levels of policy and legislation, institutions and grassroots, in order to achieve transformative results for increased gender equality and greater protection of the rights of women and girls.

In September 2019 UN Women Georgia Country Office (CO) with the generous support of the Government of Norway launched “Good Governance for Gender Equality in Georgia” (GG4GEG) project and with it launched the CO’s work in UN Women corporate thematic area of mainstreaming gender into national planning and budgeting (GNP). The GG4GEG project that is the GNP thematic area of UN Women Georgia CO’s work respond directly to gender equality and gender mainstreaming commitments undertaken by the Government of Georgia at the international and national levels and aims to strengthen governance systems for gender equality in Georgia.

Within the framework of the project, UN Women provides technical support to national partners to ensure that a gender perspective is integrated in all policy-making process at all levels. In line with these efforts, UN Women will be providing support to the Parliamentary Gender Equality Council (GEC) in conducting Parliamentary Thematic Inquiry on Gender Mainstreaming in Governmental Policies (The thematic inquiry is a dedicated tool for exercising parliamentary control over the executive branch of the government. It allows the parliament to research the issue of high public interest, hold government accountable for implementing its international and national commitments and identify new opportunities for parliamentary action).

Gender mainstreaming in all policy-making processes at all levels is an essential means for achieving gender equality. When institutions, laws, policy and programs fully integrate gender considerations into their work they produce better and more equitable results for men and women, therefore contributing to the good governance. Under the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA), Georgia took on the obligation of, inter alia, ensuring mainstreaming of a gender perspective in all policymaking processes and across a variety of sectors – from economic development, employment systems, education, health care and more. Despite progress, most notably with regards to developing stand-alone laws and action plans on gender equality and women’s empowerment, gender is not meaningfully integrated into the policy making processes, including in planning, monitoring and evaluation of sector-specific policies (Public Defender’s Special Report 2021: Gender Mainstreaming – Assessment of Georgia’s international obligations and their fullfillment status”; Available at: https://www.ombudsman.ge/geo/spetsialuri-angarishebi/genderuli-meinstrimingi-sakartvelos-mier-aghiarebuli-valdebulebebisa-da-mati-shesrulebis-statusis-mimokhilva).

The Parliamentary Thematic Inquiry on Gender Mainstreaming in Governmental Policies will be led by GEC with the technical support from UN Women with an overarching goal to strengthen gender sensitive policy making in Georgia. More specifically, the Parliamentary Thematic Inquiry will have the following objectives: a) to identify if and how gender is mainstreamed into governmental procedures, standards and methodologies on state policy development, monitoring and evaluation and b) To identify if and how gender is mainstreamed into into governmental strategies and action plans, pertaining to key development objectives of the country (more specifically areas such as social-economic development, labor and employment, education and science and public administration).

To support this initiative, UN Women will hire a national consultant. The overall objective of this consultancy is to support GEC in conducting the Parliamentary Thematic Inquiry on Gender Mainstreaming in Governmental Policies. The consultant will work with the technical support form UN Women Georgia under close coordination with the GEC and will be responsible for the tasks outlined below.

Duties and Responsibilities

Duties of National Consultant are:

• Review and analyse relevant international and national legal/policy frameworks, including Georgia’s international and national commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming, as well as international standards and methodological frameworks on integrating gender equality considerations in the national planning and policymaking.
• Develop detailed methodology for the parliamentary thematic inquiry, including defining objectives, detailed questionnaires, timeframe of activities at all.
• Support establishment of the working group comprised of representatives of the parliament, line ministries/state agencies, civil society organizations and think tanks.
• Hold and participate in thematic meetings, discussions and public hearings as required.
• Collect, process and analyse inputs from the working group, as well as other relevant stakeholders.
• In close cooperation with the GEC and the working group develop and present a thematic inquiry report with key findings and recommendations
• Develop and present final report of the parliamentary thematic inquiry.

Deliverables:

• Desk review conducted and detailed methodology for the parliamentary thematic inquiry developed and submitted to GEC and UN Women (5 working days) – by 30 September 2021.
• Based on the analysis of the desk review, outcomes of the consultation meetings and inputs from queries/confirmed positions first draft of the parliamentary thematic inquiry report developed and submitted to GEC and UN Women (13 working days) – by 05 November 2021.
• In line with the feedback received from the GEC, UN Women and the representatives of the working group revise, finalize and submit the final thematic inquiry report to GEC and UN Women (5 working days) – by 20 November 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: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• At least Master’s degree in law, human rights, gender/women’s studies, or related field

Experience:

• At least 3 years of experience working on issues related to gender, human rights, development issues and the sustainable development agenda.
• At least 2 years of experience in research and analysis, drafting policy documents, assessment reports and alike
• Familiarity with gender mainstreaming tools and methodologies will be an asset.
• Experience in working with governmental stakeholders will be an asset.

Language:

• Fluency in Georgian and English

Evaluation Procedure:

The candidates will be evaluated in three stages: according to minimum qualification criteria; technical and financial evaluation.

Evaluation criteria (including minimum qualifications):

• At least Master’s degree in law, human rights, gender/women’s studies, or related field (max 80 points)
• At least 3 years of experience working on issues related to gender, governance, human rights, development issues and the sustainable development agenda (max 90 points)
• At least 2 years of experience in research and analysis, drafting policy documents, assessment reports and alike (max 100 points)
• Familiarity with gender mainstreaming tools and methodologies will be an asset (max 30 points)
• Experience in working with governmental stakeholders will be an asset (max 30 points)
• Fluency in Georgian and English (max 20 points)

Maximum total technical score amounts to 350 points. Only candidates who have passed over the minimum qualification criteria and have accumulated at least 245 points out of maximum 350 under technical evaluation will qualify for the next stage i.e. evaluation of their financial proposals.

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 150

S – score received on financial evaluation;

Fmin – the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round;

F – financial offer under consideration.

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

Management arrangements:

The contractor will report to and work under direct supervision of UN Women GNP Programme Analyst.

Financial arrangements:

Payment will be disbursed upon submission and approval of deliverables and certification by UN Women Programme Analyst that the services have been satisfactorily performed as specified below:

• Deliverables 1, 2, 3 – 100 %

Application submission package:

• Duly filled in Personal History Form PHF11 that can be downloaded from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi6r4rrz-TxAhX-_7sIHT4PBFYQFjAAegQIAxAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.unwomen.org%2F-%2Fmedia%2Fheadquarters%2Fattachments%2Fsections%2Fabout%2520us%2Femployment%2Fun-women-p11-personal-history-form.doc%3Fla%3Den%26vs%3D2740&usg=AOvVaw0wb8LEBgzBKNhq24ugtVuE
• CV;
• Financial Proposal - lump sum proposal/offer* in USD (including breakdown of this lump sum amount, indicating all necessary costs to complete this assignment).

*The applicants are required to submit an aggregated financial offer: “aggregated financial offer” is the total sum of all financial claims of the candidate, including travel costs (ticket, DSA etc.) for accomplishment of all tasks spelled out in this ToR.

How to Submit the Application:

• Download and complete the UN Women Personal History Form (P11)- https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi6r4rrz-TxAhX-_7sIHT4PBFYQFjAAegQIAxAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.unwomen.org%2F-%2Fmedia%2Fheadquarters%2Fattachments%2Fsections%2Fabout%2520us%2Femployment%2Fun-women-p11-personal-history-form.doc%3Fla%3Den%26vs%3D2740&usg=AOvVaw0wb8LEBgzBKNhq24ugtVuE
• Merge your UN Women Personal History Form (P11), CV and the Financial Proposal into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded.
• Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement).
• Click 'Apply Now' button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click 'Submit Application;'
• Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above).
• You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.

Notes:

• UN Women retains the right to contact references directly. Due to the large numbers of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.
• Applications without the financial offer will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.
• The individual consultants should take the mandatory learning security course prior to commencement of assignment– details will follow before the issuance of contract.