UN Women - National Gender Expert to provide expertise and support to the Albanian Parliament on Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting

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; empowerment of women; and 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 centre 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 strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

One of the priority areas of UN Women in Albania is to support the government and other stakeholders to finance adequately for gender equality. Over the past years, UN Women in Albania has provided support to national and local stakeholders in strengthening democratic governance and advancing women’s rights through initiatives aimed at mainstreaming gender in policy planning and budgeting. Gender Responsive Budgeting -GRB has been included as a legal requirement in both the Organic Budget Law (2016) and Law on Local Self-Government Finance (2017) which both paved the way for the effective inclusion of GRB in all the phases of central and local public financial management cycles (medium term and annual budget programming, monitoring & reporting, evaluation, and auditing). GRB is currently an important tool for advancing gender equality in key national documents as in accordance with existing Albanian national policy documents on social inclusion and gender equality.

In order to strengthen the work hitherto done and ensure sustainability of the interventions on GRB, UN Women is implementing a regional programme with participation of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Serbia, and North Macedonia on “Transformative Financing for Gender Equality towards more Transparent, Inclusive and Accountable Governance in the Western Balkans” (2020-2024), funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation (Sida). The main programme approach will be transformative financing as an enabler factor for policy and financing actions to accelerate implementation of existing national and international commitments on gender equality and women’s empowerment. In this context, the Albanian Parliament is one of the key partners of UN Women towards the common efforts to strengthen the oversight role in monitoring budget expenditures with gender lenses and strengthening the legal and institutional framework on GE in general, with special focus on GRB. But to do so, the parliament needs support in know-how, in tools used for analyzing public policies/programmes/budgets and monitoring their implementation from gender perspective and skills to influence decisions and demand for more efficient and equitable resource allocations. Such approach would enhance transparency, accountability, and participation by legislators in determination of spending priorities in Government policies. In this context, UN Women is seeking to engage a national Gender Consultant to provide expertise and support to the Albanian Parliament on “Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting”.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the UN Women Program Manager on National Planning and Budgeting, the national consultant will be requested to provide technical assistance to the Albanian Parliament in the area of GRB. Every assignment under the retainer contract will be guided by a specific assignment clearly stipulating the nature and scope of work, list of deliverables, timeframe, and the outcome.

Possible duties and responsibilities/Key Results Expected (non-inclusive list):

• Serve as the main focal point and facilitate the interaction of UN Women with the Parliament on Gender Equality and Women Empowerment (GEWE) and application of GRB;
• Identify and create a group of Members of Parliament from various Parliamentary committees to identify main priorities in the area of gender equality and gender responsive budgeting and develop a Work Plan, in accordance with the international and national commitments on gender equality and the Albanian legislation on GE and GRB;
• Provide technical support to the members of relevant committees on the implementation of the annual workplan, including periodic communication with central and local government;
• Planning and coordinating the visits and participation of members of relevant committees in meetings and events related to gender equality, GRB and monitoring and reporting on SDG 5.c. 1 indicator[1];
• Supporting the various committees to strengthen relations with the Ministry of Finance and Economy (MoFE), line ministries the People’s Advocate and the Supreme Audit Institution in the area of gender responsive budgeting;
• Supporting the members of committees to organize activities, hearing sessions, meetings in order to monitor application of gender responsive budgeting in public finances system at central and local level;
• Organize hearing sessions with MoFE and Line ministries for legislations and policy reviews from a gender equality and gender financing perspective;
• Supporting and facilitating the relationships and cooperation of the committee members with partners at the national and regional level;
• Identifying the needs for capacity development of members of the committee in the area of gender equality, women’s empowerment and GRB and coordinate with UN Women and other organizations to provide the necessary support;
• Participate in internal and external meetings with stakeholders at the country and regional level as requested by UN Women;
• Prepare briefings, talking points upon request and report regularly on the work conducted to the UN Women Program Manager and the designated representative from the Parliament.

[1] Sustainable Development Goal Indicator 5c1 (unwomen.org)

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• 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/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

• Proven research, analytical and drafting skills,
• Demonstrated ability to interact effectively with various public and non-public stakeholders including in the area of gender equality;
• Excellent writing skills in English and Albanian;
• Strong interpersonal skills;
• Strong initiative-taker;
• Focuses on impact and results for the partner;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications/Education

• Advanced degree in human rights, social sciences, development studies, gender studies or similar discipline.

Work Experience

• At least 7 years of relevant professional experience in the areas of policy development, implementations and/or monitoring related to gender equality, women’s empowerment, human rights;
• Previous experience or support to the work of legislators in developing and/or monitoring gender-responsive policies, strategies, legislation and plans;
• Demonstrated experience in the application of gender-responsive planning and budgeting and capacity building of state and non-state actors;
• Experience in preparation of training tools, organization of capacity building events and networking at the national, regional and international level;
• Previous experience with UN and/or other international organizations would be an advantage.

Language requirement

• Proficiency in written and spoken English and Albanian.

Schedule of Payments:

Payment will be made as per the payment schedule in the contract upon (i) satisfactory completion of tasks; (ii) provision of deliverables specified in the ToRs; (iv) submission of the respective certification of payment.

Recommended Presentation of Offer:

Qualified and interested candidates are asked to submit their application no later than 28 February.

The application should contain:

• Cover letter explaining the applicant’s interest in applying for the position.
• Filled UN Women Personal History Form (P11 form) including past experience in similar assignments and contact details of referees (blank form can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc ); please upload the P11 instead of your CV.
• Copies and/or links of relevant publications authored/co-authored by the consultant.
• Financial Proposal – specifying the daily fee in Albanian Lek. Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall consider various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g., fee and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services). Other travel costs different from the above will be covered by UN Women separately

All applicants should note that this is a retainer contract and therefore there is no guarantee by UN Women of minimum number of days the consultant will be engaged for. The contract will not exceed the total number of working days as stated above. If additional days are required from the consultant, this will be done through a separate contract extension to the parent contract.

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 has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

Applications will be assessed according to the following Technical Criteria:

• Advanced degree in human rights, social sciences, development studies, gender studies or similar discipline (10 points)
• At least 7 years of relevant professional experience in the areas of policy development, implementations and/or monitoring related to gender equality, women’s empowerment, human rights; (15 points)
• Previous experience or support to the work of legislators in developing and/or monitoring gender-responsive policies, strategies, legislation, and plans (15 points)
• Demonstrated experience in the application of gender-responsive planning and budgeting and capacity building of state and non-state actors (15 points)
• Experience in preparation of training tools, organization of capacity building events and networking at the national, regional, and international level (10 points)
• Previous experience with UN and/or other international organizations would be an advantage (5 points)

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

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. The calculation formula applied is as follow:

p = 30 (µ/z); where: p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated; µ = price of the lowest priced proposal; z = price of the proposal being evaluated.

How to Submit the Application: To submit your application online, please follow the steps below:

• Download and complete the UN Women Personal History Form (P11) https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc
• Merge your UN Women Personal History Form (P11), the Financial Proposal, and Cover Letter 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.

• The consultancy post is open to local (Albanian) individuals or foreign individuals with valid temporary or permanent residence in Albania.

• Applications without the financial offer will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

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.)