Vetted Experts Roster: Support implementation of UN Women Bangladesh Country Office’s Strategic Note 2022-26

Contract

This is a International Consultant contract. More about International 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 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. UN Women provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women in Bangladesh supports the government to implement commitments to international normative standards on gender equality and women’s human rights. The new UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for 2022-2026 was launched in 2021 and the corresponding UN Women Bangladesh Strategic Note (2022-2026), defining UN Women’s strategic engagement in Bangladesh, has also been finalized. The country strategy focuses on strengthening the national structures and mechanisms for gender mainstreaming in policies, plans and budgets; supporting efforts to prevent and eliminate violence against women; promoting women’s access to decent and safe work; promoting policies and government investment in women’s empowerment and resilience building in the context of climate change, humanitarian crisis as well as other threats to peace and security. UN Women works with a range of stakeholders in Bangladesh including the government, civil society and women’s organisations, youth, UN agencies and donors, to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.

In line with the UN Women Bangladesh Strategic Note 2022-2026, the office is inviting experienced international experts (individual consultants) to be included in a vetted expert roster to assist in the implementation of its Strategic Note 2022-26 and Biannual Work Plan 2022-2023.

Objectives:

Consultants play an important role in contributing to implementation of activities of the UN Women and they form significant part of capacities of the organizations. In order to increase effectiveness of the contracting process and enable instant contracting to fit a range of different contexts UN Women Bangladesh Country Office is calling for international experts to deliver work across different thematic areas.

Duties and Responsibilities

Duties and Responsibilities:

Scope of Work and responsibilities will be addressed appropriately when work assignments are identified.

Duration and Work Location:

Will be based on work assignment. The consultant will be home-based with a possibility of travel to Dhaka, Bangladesh if required. If unforeseen travel to Dhaka or elsewhere is required for this assignment, upon prior agreement/approval from UN Women such travel expenses shall be borne by UN Women and the individual contractor/SSA shall receive a per-diem not to exceed United Nations daily subsistence allowance rate in such other location(s) and actual travel cost.

Travel and DSA:

DSA and travel will be followed as per standard procedure of UN Women principle and policy.

Thematic Area:

• Gender based violence, including but not limited to, gender responsive policing; social norm change and addressing gender stereotypes; prevention of violence against women and girls
• Gender and governance, including but not limited to, political economy analysis; gender responsive budgeting; policy development and analysis; gender and macroeconomics; women, peace and security
• Gender and human rights, including but not limited to, access to justice; CEDAW and normative commitments; public policy advocacy; women and girls with disabilities
• Gender in humanitarian action, including but not limited to, mainstreaming gender in humanitarian settings and the across the humanitarian, peace and development nexus; climate change; disaster risk reduction
• Women’s economic empowerment, including women’s entrepreneurship; gender responsive procurement; private sector engagement; skills development; social protection; migration

Supervision and Performance Evaluation:

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of Deputy Country Representative/ or Any programme Manager of UN Women Bangladesh Office.

Timeframe and deadlines:

The Individual Consultant Vetted Roster, is expected to be maintained for a period of 02 years and may be reviewed and updated yearly based on performance & UNWomen needs.

Competencies

Core Values and Guiding Principles

• Integrity: Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
• Professionalism: Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
• Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity: Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Functional Competencies

• Ethics and Values: Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.
• Organizational Awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.
• Development and Innovation: Take charge of self-development and take initiative.
• Work in teams: Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
• Communicating and Information Sharing: Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.
• Self-management and Emotional Intelligence: Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others.
• Conflict Management: Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.
• Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing: Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.
• Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making: Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

Required Skills and Experience

Required qualification:

Educational Qualification:

• Advance university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Gender studies, Gender and Development, Social Science, International Cooperation, Gender Politics and Economics or related field with specialization.

Required Skills and Experince:

At least 15 years’ experience working in gender and development in at least one of the following areas:

• Gender based violence, including but not limited to, gender responsive policing; social norm change and addressing gender stereotypes; prevention of violence against women and girls
• Gender and governance, including but not limited to, political economy analysis; gender responsive budgeting; policy development and analysis; gender and macroeconomics; women, peace and security
• Gender and human rights, including but not limited to, access to justice; CEDAW and normative commitments; public policy advocacy; women and girls with disabilities
• Gender in humanitarian action, including but not limited to, mainstreaming gender in humanitarian settings and the across the humanitarian, peace and development nexus; climate change; disaster risk reduction

• Women’s economic empowerment, including women’s entrepreneurship; gender responsive procurement; private sector engagement; skills development; social protection; migration

• Extensive technical knowledge relevant to the thematic area;

• Experience with programme design, development, implementation, monitoring or evaluation of development projects;
• Experience in research and analysis on the relevant thematic area
• Experience in Bangladesh or the South Asian region would be considered an asset;
• Previous professional experience with the United Nations or similar organizations in this or related field would be considered an asset;
• Excellent command of written and oral English;

Language

Excellent communications, analytical and writing skills in English.

Evaluation

All applicants will be reviewed and go through a selection and assessment process to demonstrate their technical and organizational capabilities. Successful applicants will be considered for individual engagement with UN Women Bangladesh Country Office in diverse areas of work. Please specify the area of expertise you are applying for. An expert can apply no more than two (2) listed areas in the call.

Contracting Arrangements

• Successful candidates will be included in the relevant thematic area of the UN Women Roster of Experts for the maximum period of 2 years. Membership beyond the 2 year period must be renewed though a new application process.
• Entry into the roster system does not necessarily mean a guaranteed contract with UN Women. This will depend on forthcoming needs.
• When a request for services arises, pertinent UN Women will contact the most appropriate consultant from the roster. While a formal direct selection process will not be conducted, there may be some selection procedures (i.e. verification interview).
• A specific Terms of Reference outlining the outputs for each assignment will be provided and a Special Service Agreement (SSA) contract will be issued to the consultant, detailing the timeframe and deadlines for the position. Conditions of an assignment may be negotiable; however, daily rate quoted in the initial application cannot be exceeded.
• Only applicants who pass all screening procedures will be included in the roster.

Submission of application

Applications (for each roster) should contain:

• A brief cover letter (not exceeding one page), clearly indicating

1. Experience in the sub-areas of interest and expertise.
2. Examples of previous work in relevant area of interest.
3. Financial Proposal - maximum all-inclusive daily fee in US Dollars

• A current completed and signed P11 form/UN Personal History Form in English (blank form can be downloaded from: UN Women Personal History Form (P11) https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process
• Updated Curriculum Vitae
• Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you provide all requested materials
• Ensure you scan all your submissions as one document as the portal does not allow multiple uploads.
• Please title the application documents with the relevant thematic area as per below

1. Gender Based Violence- Documents Saved as GBV_First Name of Candidate
2. Gender and Governance -Documents Saved as GRG_First Name of Candidate
3. Gender and Human Rights- Documents Saved as GHR_First Name of Candidate
4. Womens’ Economic Empowerment- Documents Saved as WEE_First Name of Candidate

NOTE: Documents required before contract signing:

• UN Personal History Form;
• Full medical examination and Statement of Fitness to work and travel for consultants with travel involved. (This is not a requirement for RLA contracts);
• Security Certificate BSAFE: EN: https://agora.unicef.org/course/info.php?id=17891
• Individual subscribers over 65 years of age are required to undergo a full medical examination including x-rays at their own cost and obtaining medical clearance from the UN Medical Director prior to taking up their assignment;
• Release letter in case the selected consultant is government official.

Only applications will all items mentioned above will be considered

Note: The individual consultant who does not meet the above eligibility criteria shall not be considered for further evaluation. Necessary documentation must be submitted to substantiate the above eligibility criteria