Two (2) National Consultants for Enhancing Women’s Post-Earthquake Legal Literacy - Turkish Nationals Only

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Contract

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Background

I. Organizational Context

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (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 efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides support to Member States’ efforts and priorities in meeting their gender equality goals and for building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

In Türkiye, in line with its global Strategic Plan 2022-2025 and Country Strategic Note (2022-2025), and the overall UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Turkiye (UNSDCF) (2021-2025), UN Women works towards one overarching goal “Women and girls including those at greatest risk of being left behind fully exercise their human rights, enjoy a life free from violence and discrimination, and lead, influence and benefit from sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development towards the advancement of gender equality in Türkiye”.

UN Women works in four thematic areas: (i) governance and participation in public life; (ii) women’s economic empowerment; (iii) ending violence against women and girls; and (iv) women, peace and security, humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction. UN Women contributes to three UNSDCF outcomes: 1) Women and girls have improved and equal access to resources, opportunities, and rights, and enjoy a life without violence and discrimination; 2) By 2025, Persons under the Law on Foreigners and International Protection are supported towards self-reliance. 3) By 2025, governance systems are more transparent, accountable, inclusive and rights-based with the participation of civil society, and quality of judicial services is improved.

Specifically through its previous involvement in “Implementing Norms, Changing Minds - Regional Programme on Ending Violence against Women in the Western Balkans and Türkiye”, current leading role in “UN Joint Programme for Prevention of Child, Early and Forced Marriage (CEFM) in Türkiye” and newly implemented “Strengthening Women’s Access to Justice Project”, UN Women in Türkiye has been actively building the institutional capacity to work towards ending violence against women and girls (VAWG) in Türkiye by forming in long-term partnerships with the three main line ministries which are engaged in VAWG prevention and response, namely Ministries of Interior, Justice and Family and Social Services, public institutions, civil servants, municipalities, judges, public prosecutors and non-legal personnel of the judiciary as well as civil society organisations.

On February 6th, 2023, Türkiye was struck by two significant earthquakes with magnitude of 7.7 and 7.6 that resulted in widespread devastation in the Southeast region of the country. The affected 11 provinces have a total population of around 14 million people, of which half are women and girls. 34% of the population is under the age of 18. The earthquakes resulted in a significant loss of life, with over 50.000 deaths (as of 27th March 2023) and caused widespread damage to residential areas, with millions of individuals affected and at least hundred-thousands of buildings collapsed or severely damaged. These events have had a profound impact on numerous cities throughout the affected region and a three-month state of emergency has been declared for 11 provinces directly affected by the earthquakes – Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa, and Elazig. Hatay, Adiyaman, Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras include districts which have the highest rates of damage.

Services, including legal and judicial services, in the disaster zone were significantly hampered. Courthouses and bar associations were damaged, particularly in Adiyaman and Hatay. According to Union of Turkish Bar Associations (UTBA), 1 in every 15 lawyers in the country was directly or indirectly victimized by the earthquake;1 with over 120 lawyers who lost their lives2 nearly half of whom were registered in Hatay BA. Many more have lost their families, homes and law offices. UTBA has established an Earthquake Coordination Center to follow-up evidence collection, right to access to justice for earthquake victims and reporting efforts as well as aid provision to citizens and lawyers; and has been active on all mentioned fronts.

While disasters are gender-neutral, impacts of disasters are gendered, with “women and girls experiencing bigger risks, burdens and impacts”, as crisis situations exacerbate pre-existing gendered inequalities. In post-disaster contexts women and girls are at greater risk of violence; including domestic violence, early and forced marriages, trafficking and exploitation. Women at temporary settlements are particularly at-risk. Women, particularly women heads of households are also at a higher risk of poverty.

There are “a number of obstacles and restrictions that impede women from realizing their right to access to justice on a basis of equality, including a lack of effective jurisdictional protection offered by States parties in relation to all dimensions of access to justice”. In times of disaster, women may encounter additional challenges in exercising their right to access to justice, to claim compensation and other forms of reparation to mitigate their losses. Per UTBA’s Legal Guideline for Earthquake Victims, in the aftermath of the earthquakes, it is expected that right to access to justice across a variety of legal disputes will be among the concerns of survivors. Per UN Women’s field missions conducted in April 2023, prioritized legal concerns are: violence against women and girls (VAWG), divorce, custody, determination of death and inheritance, damage assessment for properties and liability for damages, expropriation, credit debt disputes and aid provision disputes.

In the area of VAWG specifically, legal implementers expect challenges in following up pre-existing preventive and protective measures under Law No:6284 to Protect Family and Prevent Violence Against Women, and rendering new ones, as parties to disputes may have changed locations, residences, and might have additional specific needs. Measures are expected to be particularly challenging in temporary settlements, considering the establishment of law enforcement structures and feasibility of implementing restraining orders in facilities. Pre-existing VAWG case management structures established though local units of Ministries of Justice, Interior and Family and Social Services have been dismantled at different degrees by the earthquake, further increasing legal protection concerns of VAWG survivors in the region.

Considering these challenges and in line with CEDAW Committee’s recommendations on women’s access to justice in disaster contexts8 in the aftermath of Kahramanmaras earthquakes, it will be important to: (i) increase women’s awareness on available legal remedies and supporting their legal literacy; (ii) strengthen access to free legal services, including legal aid; and, (iii) avail legal mechanisms to report incidents of gender-based violence.

Building on these initiatives and changes in the Türkiye’s operational context, UN Women has initiated a collaboration with the Union of Turkish Bar Associations on “Capacity Development and Technical Assistance for Enhancing Women’s Post-Earthquake Legal Literacy”. The collaboration targets Adiyaman, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaras and Malatya provinces, and aims to:

• Analyze post-earthquake situation of women’s access to justice;
• Based on analysis, produce information dissemination materials on VAWG and prioritized earthquake-induced legal concerns of women in targeted provinces, to be disseminated by lawyers and local bar associations;
• Providing capacity development support to lawyers registered in local bar associations of target provinces on VAWG, criminal, civil and administrative law matters;
• Supporting in-person awareness raising sessions conducted by trained lawyers, targeting women who survived the earthquake in settlement areas; and,
• Conducting complementary training interventions and informative materials dissemination to VAWG response structures of Ministry of Family and Social Services (namely, violence prevention and monitoring centers at the provincial level and social service centers at the district level) which provide legal guidance to survivors.

In this regard, UN Women is looking for two (2) National Consultants to support the achievement of all aims described above, to provide technical support during capacity development and information dissemination endeavors.

Duties and Responsibilities

II. Functions

Within the scope of the assignment, under the direct supervision of the Programme Analyst, and in close collaboration with UN Women Türkiye Country Office, two (2) short-term National Consultants Enhancing Women’s Post-Earthquake Legal Literacy is expected to provide consultancy services for the below-listed tasks:

• Supervise the development of earthquake response-specific information materials on disaster-induced administrative law, civil law and criminal law concerns, under the guidance of UTBA for women’s prioritized legal concerns in targeted provinces;
• Prepare and develop training sessions for lawyers on post-earthquake administrative law, civil law and criminal law concerns, from a gender-sensitive perspective;
• Facilitate and report said training sessions for lawyers; and,
• Provide guidance on post-earthquake administrative law, civil law and criminal law concerns through the implementation of the intervention.

The consultants are expected to work closely and in coordination with the project team including other national and international consultants involved in development and delivery of all materials. The abovementioned tasks are indicative and subject to further detailing through specific service requests to be made by UN Women Türkiye Office during the course of the contract duration.

III. Deliverables and Payment Schedule

Duration of the assignment is from 01 August 2023 to 31 January 2024. The Consultants are expected to spend up to 15 working days on non-consecutive basis throughout the assignment.

Expected Deliverables and Payment Schedule:

The following table summarizes the main activities and expected deliverables against the targeted submission deadlines and indicative working days to be invested by the Consultant.

No

Activities/Tasks

Output (Deliverable)

Estimated Monthly Working days assigned (indicative)

Target Deadlines

1

Prepare and develop training sessions for lawyers on post-earthquake administrative law, civil law and criminal law concerns

Curriculum

2

1st September 2023

2

Supervise the development of legal informative materials for local bar associations

Activity Notes and Feedbacks

3

15th September 2023

3

Facilitate and report on training sessions for lawyers

Facilitation Note and Training Report

4

30th October 2023

4

Provide guidance on post-earthquake administrative law, civil law and criminal law concerns

Reports, Briefs and/or Activity Notes

6

15th January 2024

Total

15

*The number of working days are solely provided to give the National Consultant an idea on the work to be undertaken.

All deliverables shall be received and cleared by UN Women in Türkiye. All reports shall be presented in Turkish in principle, and in English upon request and need, in electronic version. All products shall be presented in Turkish.

The mentioned number of working days has been estimated as being sufficient/feasible for the envisaged volume of work to be completed successfully and is proposed as a guideline for the duration of assignment. It cannot and shall not be used as criteria for completion of work/assignment. The provision of envisaged deliverables approved by the UN Women in Türkiye shall be the only criteria for Consultants’ work being completed and eligible for payment/s.

Payment Schedule:

Payments will be made upon approval of deliverables by UN Women Türkiye, along with the Certification of Payment Form (COP) on the basis of the lump-sum price of that respective deliverable and pertaining payment documents signed by the National Consultant in addition to the timesheet indicating the days allocated for the specific deliverables and approved by the responsible Programme Analyst. While the National Consultant may invest less or more than estimated number of working days for each deliverable different than the estimated working days stipulated in the table in Section III, the amount of payment to be affected to the National consultant within the scope of this Assignment will be based on the lump-sum prices of the deliverables.

If any of the deliverables stipulated in above table are not produced and delivered by the National Consultants in due time and to the satisfaction of UN Women Türkiye, no payment will be made even if the National Consultants have invested time to produce and deliver such deliverables.

During assignment’s related missions, the National Consultant may use the facilities of the office (i.e. internet access, printing, copying, local phone calls, etc.). However, s/he is expected to use his/her own personal computer.

Mandatory Training Courses:

The Consultants shall complete all the mandatory and other required UN training courses and modules on time. The certificates shall be submitted to the supervisor. Please note that the required training courses could vary based on contract content and duration, the nature of the work and inclusion of travel. Hence, the Consultants are obliged to follow the instructions of their Hiring Manager upon which training modules to complete and when to complete them.

IV. Key Performance Indicators

• Adherence to UN Women mandate, standards and rules.
• Timely and quality delivery of the training and capacity building services and technical support as stipulated under Part II.
• Willingness to shares knowledge and experience,
• Demonstration of excellent written and oral communication skills and communicating sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies,
• Ability to perform a variety of standard specialized and non-specialized tasks and work processes that are fully documented, researched, recorded and reported,
• Ability to review a variety of data, identify and adjust discrepancies, identify and resolve operational problems,
• Uses Information Technology effectively as a tool and resource
• Provision of quality and timely monthly reports and the final report.
• Positive feedbacks from UN Women’s stakeholders regarding the substantive support provided by the Consultants.

Competencies

V. 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

• Ability to communicate sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies

• Knowledge of local administrations in Türkiye
• Knowledge of gender equality and women’s empowerment issues
• Programme formulation and implementation skills
• Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings
• Good knowledge of technical area
• Good organizational skills and ability to pay close attention to detail
• Focuses on impact and results for client
• Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf.

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.)

Required Skills and Experience

VI. Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Masters or equivalent in law is required, PhD is an asset.

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of demonstrated professional and/or academic research experience in the area of violence against women, including women’s access to justice in cross-cutting public and private law and national and international human rights law dimensions is required.
• Professional work experience in developing training materials, and facilitating/delivering trainings/seminars/workshops on national and international legal response to violence against women to legal professionals is required.
• Experience and knowledge on learning and training needs assessment methodologies are an asset.
• Experience with working with governmental and international institutions, judiciary, local administrations and civil society on enhancing justice system’s capacity or any other relevant field is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in written and spoken Turkish and English is required.

VII. Travel

There will be events / trainings / workshops to be held in 2023 under this project and additional missions may be designed upon need. UN Women Türkiye Office will cover the organization and the costs of the consultants’ travel as per UN Women’s rules and regulations. UN Women will not cover transportation cost within duty station including taxi costs.

VIII. Application Procedure

The following documents should be submitted as part of the application:

• Cover letter to include a brief overview about which of your previous experiences makes you the most suitable candidate for the advertised position.
• CV in English containing the relevant educational and professional experience.
• Signed UN Women Personal History (P11) Form including past experience in similar assignments which can be downloaded at https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process
• Financial proposal to be sent via e-mail to [email protected] indicating the name of the position applied in the subject line of the e-mail no later than the application deadline - Please see Annex I: Price Proposal Guideline and Template and Annex II: Price Proposal Submission Form.

When applying; the Cover Letter, CV and the signed P11 Form should be merged into one (1) single PDF document since the system will allow only to upload maximum one document. Therefore, please combine these forms and documents into one (1) single PDF document and upload them to the system.

As for Financial Proposal, please send them/it separately via e-mail to [email protected] indicating the name of the position applied in the subject line of the e-mail. Since they will be sent separately via e-mail, Financial Proposals should not be uploaded to the system or be included in the merged PDF which shall consist of the applicant’s Cover Letter, CV, and Signed P11 Form. Please make sure to not include the Financial Offer in the merged PDF.

Should they be short-listed in consideration of the consultancy, candidates should be able to quickly submit degree certificates, medical certifications, or any other requested document.

Incomplete applications such as applications without a financial proposal may not be considered. Applicants are responsible to make sure to have provided all the requested application materials before the deadline.

IX. Evaluation of Applicants

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal. 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 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

Criteria

Total points

Max. Points

Technical Evaluation (70%)

70

Masters or equivalent in Law is required, PhD is an asset.

(Masters - 8pts, PhD - 10 pts)

10

Minimum 5 years of demonstrated professional and/or academic research experience in the area of violence against women, including women’s access to justice in cross-cutting public and private law and national and international human rights law dimensions is required.

(5 years – 10 pts, for 5-7 years – 15 points, 7+ years 20 points)

20

Professional work experience in developing training materials, and facilitating/delivering trainings/seminars/workshops on national and international legal response to violence against women to legal professionals is required.

(0: without experience 10:Demonstrated experience)

10

Experience and knowledge on learning and training needs assessment methodologies are an asset.

(0: without experience 10:Demonstrated experience)

10

Experience with working with governmental and international institutions, judiciary, local administrations and civil society on enhancing justice system’s capacity or any other relevant field is an asset.

(0: without experience 10:Demonstrated experience)

10

Fluency in written and spoken Turkish and English is required.

10

Financial Evaluation (30%)

30

TOTAL

100

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

An interview/written test may be used as part of the evaluation procedure.

Annex I: Price Proposal Guideline and Template

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

1.Daily fee

The daily price proposal should indicate a "lump sum amount" which is "all-inclusive"; All costs (professional fees, communications, consumables during field related missions, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the 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.

2.Travel costs

There will be events / trainings / workshops to be held in 2023 under this project. UN Women Turkey Office will cover the organization and the costs of the consultant’s travel as per UN Women’s rules and regulations. UN Women will not cover transportation cost within duty station including taxi costs.

3.Currency of the price proposal

The applicants are requested to submit their price proposals in Turkish Liras.

Annex II: Price Proposal Submission Form

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

Ref:

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:

Costs

TRY

Daily Fee, all inclusive

Total Fee for the Assignment based on the Deliverables (15 working days)

I confirm that my financial proposal will remain unchanged for 120 days. 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 120 days.

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

[Signature]

Date:

Name:

Address:

Telephone/Fax:

E-mail:

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Added 9 months ago - Updated 9 months ago - Source: jobs.undp.org