National Consultant on Gender mainstreaming

National Consultant on Gender mainstreaming of decentralization and regional development policy/Team Leader

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 Ukraine implements its Country Strategy for 2018-2022, covering the following thematic areas:

• Making gender equality priorities central to national reforms, governance, planning and budgeting;
• Ending violence against women and girls; and
• Strengthening implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda

Striving to ensure that the national reform agenda, policies and public institutions respond equally to the rights and needs of women and men, girls and boys UN Women implements a number of projects to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment in the implementation and monitoring of the reforms.

The project “Advancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment through Decentralization Reform of Ukraine” funded by the Government of Canada supports the consolidated efforts of the national mechanism for gender equality, the Ministry of Communities and Territorial Development  of Ukraine, the National Parliament (Verkhovna Rada), the Ombudsperson Office of Ukraine, four pilot regional state administrations (RSAs) and 13 territorial communities (TCs) in Chernivtsi, Kherson, Sumy and Volyn regions, women’s groups and civil society organizations (CSOs) in the implementation of the national gender equality priorities through decentralization reform. The project contributes to an increased responsiveness of the decentralized services to the differentiated needs of women, girls, men and boys, thus achieving transformative results for gender equality and women’s empowerment in Ukraine.

The project provides policy advise and capacity development support to the national stakeholders in developing, implementing and monitoring the  gender and human-rights responsive legislation and policies framework on decentralization and sustainable regional development. These efforts support the national stakeholders in ensuring that the decentralization reform and regional and local development are  compliant with international standards on gender equality such as CEDAW, BPfA, and is in line with the national frameworks on gender equal rights and opportunities, such as the localized Sustainable Development Goals, the State Social Program on Equal Rights and Opportunities of Women and Men, the National Action Plan for the Implementation of the UNSC Resolution 1325. In 2020, the project  supported the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine (MCTD) in the gender mainstreaming of the State Strategy of Regional Development 2021-2027 (SSRD), which resulted in the formulation of Operational Goal #5 on ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men, preventing and combating domestic violence and discrimination. The project also supported NGO Poruch on conducting a comprehensive GE and HRBA institutional capacity assessment of the MCTD, four pilot RSAs and 13 TCs.

To inform policy and programmatic measures of key stakeholders and ensure recognition of women’s contribution to the crisis response, UN Women conducted Rapid Gender Assessment of the Situation and Needs of Women in the Context of COVID-19 (RGA)[1] in 2020. In addition, the project provided contribution to other UN system reports on socio-economic impact of the pandemic to women from vulnerable groups. The reports included immediate and long-term policy recommendations to the national stakeholders on ensuring gender-sensitive response to the pandemic and related socio-economic crisis at the national, regional and local level.

To provide a continuous technical and capacity building support to the national stakeholders, UN Women seeks to hire a  National Consultant on Gender mainstreaming of decentralization and regional development policy/Team Leader .

[1] UN Women. Rapid gender assessment of the situation and needs of women in the context of COVID-19 in Ukraine. Available at https://eca.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2020/05/rapid-gender-assessment-of-the-situation-and-needs-of-women

Duties and Responsibilities

The  National Consultant on gender mainstreaming of decentralization and regional development policy/Team Leader  will work under the overall guidance of the UN Women Representative in Ukraine, day-to-day guidance, coordination of the UN Women Project Manager, as well in coordination with the project team of national and international consultants and implementing partners. The consultant will implement a set of tasks, including, but not limited to:

1. Task 1: Policy advice and capacity development support to the central executive bodies, including the Ministry of Communities and Territorial Development and the Ministry of Social Policy (MoSP) on gender-responsive policy cycle of the decentralization reform and regional development.
2. Review existing analysis, assessments and monitoring reports on implementation of the national gender equality policy at regional and local levels, including Alternative/Shadow reports on CEDAW implementation in Ukraine, CEDAW Committee Concluding Observations to the Eighth Periodic report and the List of Priority Issues prior the reporting of the CEDAW Committee, OSCE/ODIHR report “Study of the Effectiveness of Regional-Level Gender Equality Mechanisms in Ukraine: The Way Forward”, the report of the institutional gender equality capacity assessment of the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, pilot RSAs and TCs prepared by NGO Poruch, UN Women RGA of COVID-19 in Ukraine and the other related documents; 
3. Substantially coordinate the work of the team of the national consultants on gender-responsive decentralization and local governance, gender-responsive budgeting as a Team Leader and provide the quality control of their deliverables.
4. Provide expert support to the Secretariat/Working Group under Directorate of Strategic planning of the MCTD in formulation, implementation and coordination of the implementation of the recommendations of GE institutional capacity development plan based on the above-mentioned capacity assessment.
5. Provide expert and facilitation support in conducting a gender analysis of the policy documents,  frameworks and work plans of the MCTD and the MoSP on decentralized services and gender-responsive regional and local planning and budgeting to ensure their compliance with the international commitments on gender equality and women’s rights, including Beijing Platform for Action, SDGs, UPR, CEDAW and the other UN Human Rights Treaties, as well as the other and the national policy and legal frameworks.
6. Provide support to the MoSP and the MCTD in drafting the policy documents on implementation of gender mainstreaming approach in local development policy cycle.
7. In cooperation with NGO Poruch and project team, provide expert support on institutionalization of the methodology of institutional capacity assessment of regional state administrations on national gender policy implementation and cooperation with CSOs working in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment.
8. Provide support to the project experts team in institutionalization of the gender-sensitive passport of TC and Gender Profiles of regions/territorial communities with standardized set of indicators aligned with the national gender equality monitoring frameworks.
9. Participate in multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral and inter-ministerial meetings, consultations and interviews with the institutions of the national mechanism on gender equality, Ombudsperson and Parliamentary Caucus on Equal Opportunities, sectoral gender focal points, as well as regional  and local authorities, development agencies and civil society organizations in order to jointly analyze gaps and collect information on needed changes in the policy framework to ensure gender-responsive decentralization reform.
10. Provide expert support to the work of Gender Cluster under the Sectoral Working Group on Decentralization and Regional Development led by the MCTD.

1. Task 2: Provide policy advise and capacity development support on gender mainstreaming of policy cycle to 4 pilot regional state administrations and 13 territorial communities.
   1. Provide expert support in development and implementation of institutional capacity building plan of four pilot RSAs and 13 TCs (based on the results of the capacity needs assessment);
   2. Conduct minimum one training for each RSAs on gender analysis of regional development (4 trainings).
   3. Provide expert support to pilot RSAs in integrating gender mainstreaming to regional policy cycle, including regional development strategies 2027, Socio-Economic Programs and Plans and monitoring framework.
   4. Analyze the good practices on gender mainstreaming and women’s empowerment in decentralization reform (international and local) and develop the toolkit/how-to-guide for the Ministry, RSA and TCS, organize TOTs and follow-up trainings to inform and teach applying the tools.
   5. Provide support with drafting concept notes of the events, knowledge products and analytical reports on gender-responsive decentralization and regional and local development. Finalize the publication on gender analysis of regional development of Ukraine.

Assignment Deliverables:

• All monthly reports and final report should be submitted in Ukrainian and English languages (the supporting documents, such as meeting minutes, analytical papers, workshop agendas etc. can be submitted in Ukrainian language).
• The Consultant is expected to work remotely but may access the UN Women office for printing of relevant documents or should he/she be required to work on-site at any point during the assignment.
• The Consultant is expected to travel to four pilot regions of Ukraine, minimum one field trip to each region. The cost of travel will be covered by UN Women separately in line with existing rules and procedures.

Inputs

• UN Women will provide the Consultant with background materials related to the assignment.

Performance evaluation:

• Contractor’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered. The evaluation will be carried out and cleared by the hiring manager after receiving and accepting monthly reports which will also be the basis for payment on a monthly basis to the consultant.

Financial arrangements:

• Payment will be disbursed on a monthly basis upon receipt of the deliverables (as per above matrix) and their certification by UN Women Project Manager that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

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

Qualifications Education:

• Advanced (Masters) degree in social sciences, law, public policy/administration, economics, development studies, gender studies or similar.

Experience:

• At least 3 years of relevant experience on gender analysis of national legislation and policy documents;
• Proven knowledge of international practices and instruments on the protection of human rights/women’s rights;
• Experience with participation in high-level dialogues, consultations, including with the members of parliament, government etc.;
• Previous professional experience with development agencies and the United Nations would be considered an asset.

Languages and other skills:  

• Fluent in Ukrainian and working knowledge of English, knowledge of Russian will be an asset;
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, IT tools, ability to use Internet and email.

Evaluation of Applicants:

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of their qualifications and financial proposal. A two-stage procedure is utilized in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. The award of the contract should be made to the individuals whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable.
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical criteria, test and interview - 70% of total evaluation:

• Technical criteria evaluation - max. 35 points
• Test evaluation – max. 15 points.
• Interview evaluation – max. 20 points

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 45. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on desk review and following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation :

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of  49  points in the technical evaluation will be further considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points allocated for the financial/price component is  30 .
• The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.
• Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 30
• (S - score received on financial evaluation; F min - the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round; F - financial offer under the consideration).