National Expert – Promoting a Gender-Responsive SDGs Implementation in the State of Palestine through Strengthening a Gender-Responsive National Planning Process

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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women plays an innovative and catalytic role in the State of Palestine since its inception in 1997 (as UNIFEM). 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.

As part of its mandate to support national governments adhere to international commitments on women empowerment and gender equality, and to enhance the implementation of national commitments in line with gender equality and women’s rights international human rights and conventions, UN Women is supporting the Prime Minister’s office in Palestine, with focus on enhancing the overall implementation of a gender-responsive 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Localizing the SDGs Agenda and enhancing its gender-responsive implementation in the context of Palestine will be achieved through strengthening the responsiveness of the overall national planning process to gender equality priorities, and strengthening the strategic analysis and gender-responsive planning and policy development capacities of the strategic planning focal points.

Objective of the Assignment:

In this framework, UN Women is interested to hire a national expert to support the PMO in strengthening gender-responsive national planning and policy development processes and localizing the SDGs Agenda in the context of Palestine from a gender perspective, with focus on the priority groups of women and girls per the Leave no One Behind (LNOB) principle.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the UN Women Special Representative in the State of Palestine, and the direct supervision of the UN Women Programme Coordinator, and in close collaboration with the PMO focal person, the consultant will undertake the following duties and responsibilities:

• Develop a comprehensive inception report including the context, workplan, methodology, tools to be used and proposed benchmarks for the assignment with specific actions and timelines, for the review and approval of UN Women and the PMO, at the onset of the assignment.
• Maintain ongoing coordination and flow of information with the PMO and UN Women focal points for carrying out the work-plan with the different stakeholders.
• Review all available reports and information provided by PMO and UN Women in background for this assignment, namely on the status of Palestinian women, national planning, the sustainable development agenda, strategic plans, and available reporting in the different sectors.
• Design and deliver a practical training (at least 3 days) for planning officials in government ministries on gender equality to guide them on gender mainstreaming in national planning and policy making processes. The training plan, agenda and training materials package shall be submitted by the consultant for the approval of PMO and UN Women ahead of the training for approval.
• Develop and adapt a tool "checklist" to assist the planning teams in reviewing and evaluating sector and cross-sector strategies from a gender perspective.
• Organize a dedicated workshop (one full day) for the planning teams to apply the tool and propose revised strategies, and ne dedicated training (one full day) for the gender units’ teams/ gender focal points in government ministries to use the tool. The workshops’ agendas and workshop materials’ package shall be submitted by the consultant for the approval of PMO and UN Women ahead of the workshops for approval.
• Provide a final designed and edited tool “Checklist” for wider dissemination.
• Conduct field focus group discussions at local level (at least 3 localities) on gender and women empowerment priorities crossing the SDGs. To do that, the consultant shall prepare and deliver the focus group discussions and share the plan with the proposed questions with UN Women and PMO for approval.
• Document the field discussions through the utilization of photography and audio-visual materials and prepare a report of the field visits that can be used for latter reporting and advocacy efforts by UN Women and the PMO in different national report, mainstream media and social media platforms.
• Prepare a documentation package for the field visits including high quality photography, audio-visual materials, quotes from interviewed women in the form of social media cards and a field visits’ comprehensive report.
• Design and facilitate policy dialogue on the results with selected 3-5 government institutions/ ministries, and at least 3 SDGs groups on gender and women empowerment priorities.
• Prepare a final assignment report in English, that will include all delivered tasks, policy recommendations and actions for future work, all relevant materials and annexes including training materials, the designed “checklist” tool, the photography, social media and audio-visual materials, and other annexes including interviews documentations, lists of participants, etc.

Delivrables:

• Deliverable 1: A final draft checklist to assist the planning teams in reviewing and evaluating sector and cross-sector strategies from a gender perspective. (by 15 November).
• Deliverable 2: A training report indicating the successful delivery of the training for planning teams and gender units, including training materials delivered and training outcome and relevant annexes. (by 15 December).

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

• Knowledge and understanding of international standards on and related instruments, including gender equality tools and frameworks.
• Ability to liaise with a variety of stakeholders and partners.
• Strong analytical, dialogue, consultation and communication skills.
• 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.
• Good knowledge of Arabic and English languages: reading, writing and speaking.
• Sharing values with PMO and UN Women on core values and principles towards women rights and gender issues.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

A Master’s Degree in Gender Studies, Socio-economic Studies, or any other relevant development fields.

Expeirence:

• At least 5 years of extensive development experience on gender issues including women empowerment, gender mainstreaming and gender equality.
• At least five years of experience in conducting gender strategic planning, policy papers, analysis, assessments and/or studies related to women empowerment and gender equality.
• At least five years of experience in training and capacity building focusing on gender.
• Previous experience in working with Governments, and UN agencies is a strong asset.

Language Requierements:

Excellent writing, editing and oral communications skills in Arabic and English

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. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials:

• UN Women 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;
• One sample of previous research, analyses, assessments or strategies related to women’s empowerment and gender equality.

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).

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:

Education:

A Master’s Degree in Gender Studies, Statistics, socio-economic or any other relevant development fields. (max 10 points).

Experience:

• At least 5 years of extensive development experience on gender issues including women empowerment, gender mainstreaming and gender equality (max 15 points)
• At least five years of experience in conducting gender strategic planning, policy papers, analysis, assessments and/or studies related to women empowerment and gender equality (max 15 points)
• At least five years of experience in training and capacity building focusing on gender (max 15 points)
• Previous experience in working with Governments, and UN agencies is a strong asset (max 5 points)
• A sample of previous policy papers, strategies, training plans and report related to women empowerment and gender equality written entirely by the expert (max 10 points).

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.