Technical Support for Policy Research, Documentation and Coordination assistance for UN Women Philippines

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.

In 2015, on 25 September, the United Nations General Assembly adopted unanimously the Resolution 70/1 Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Gender equality and women’s empowerment is at the heart of the agenda, as numerous goals and targets address structural barriers to achieve equal rights and opportunities between women and men, girls and boys.

There are key areas of concern as the Philippines grapple with the impact of the pandemic which is seen to continue to affect women and girls’ lives differently. Further slipping into the global gender equality ranking from 17th to 19th, with so far the lowest recorded since WEF started reporting on it in 2006, clearer and stronger actions are needed to address ongoing barriers.

Women continue to be underrepresented in parliaments, critical ministries, police and security forces, in business and private sector top management roles, with numbers far from meeting minimum figure of 30%, said to be the number that could make a transformative difference in the space. We still see a wide gap in women’s labour force participation, often taking on vulnerable work here and abroad, and still receive unequal pay for equal work or value.

They continue to be highly vulnerable to gender-based violence and suffer disproportionately in conflict areas as well as communities vulnerable to various disasters and humanitarian crises.

But, beyond challenges, risks, and vulnerabilities that they face, women continue to play significant roles across the different economic, social, cultural, and political spheres as caregivers, workers, frontliners, first responders, organizers, leaders, peacebuilders among many other roles and tasks.

When given an enabling and empowering environment, we know that women will be able to realize their fullest potential and transform lives and communities towards an inclusive, progressive, resilient, and sustainable Philippines. This is where UN Women would like to ensure that these critical areas of concerns are reflected, articulated, and tackled in key documents within the UN and addressed in various programming, policies and operational work.

And, with the ongoing efforts to consolidate work and enhance programme delivery of UN Women Philippines Programme Office, it hopes to continue to engage with key stakeholders and strengthen relationships within and outside the UN structures through regular contributions of technical inputs as well as provision of support on various initiatives that would promote achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment. This will be done guided by the new UN Women Strategic Note for 2022 – 2025.

It is in this regard, that UN Women hopes to continue to host dialogues and consultations, conduct policy research, develop gender snapshots, provide technical support via capacity building, gender assessments and co-create programmes and projects too.

Objective

Given the UN Women’s overall mandate to promote policies and standards, deliver programmes and ensure that women and girls’ rights are upheld to ensure they all live up to their fullest potential, UN Women PPO would like to secure that critical contributions are recorded and articulated in key documents for the Philippines. This we hope to do through:

Making available platforms for conversations and dialogues that would surface issues affecting women and girls and identify key actions and recommendations to tackle them;
Contributing to various research, profiling/assessments, as well as analytical pieces to ensure that women and girls’ lives and realities are incorporated within the broader context of development work and agenda in the country and region;
Developing, co-creating and implementing programmes and projects that would deliver and support promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment, including campaigns, communications, advocacy work and awareness raising linked to this.

In line with this, UN Women Philippines Presence office needs a technical support consultant to help and assist in preparing, organizing, and documenting high level meetings and dialogues, reviewing technical documents and related literature in the preparation of briefing and policy notes; support in drafting reports and agreed actions/conclusions in high level meetings.

These would include:

Planning, preparation and coordinating weeklong engagement of UN Women Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific (please see details below) which includes:
Drafting invitations and concept notes linked to the dialogues;
Coordinating invitation and confirmation of attendance
Documentation and reporting (photo/video, process and substance)
Participation in debriefing sessions as needed
Reviewing technical documents, reports and papers that would substantiate discussions for above as well as help build a gender responsive common country analysis and country development framework and other related documents;
Assist in drafting policy notes and gender snapshots to support and contribute to the development of gender inclusive Philippine Development Plan and framework.

The technical consultant is expected to leverage on existing work, expertise and networks and adding to it the resources and groups already identified and working with the UN Women.

Duties and Responsibilities

To prepare, document and submit reports linked to dialogues, meetings and consultations to be conducted by UN Women PPO as well as support in reviewing technical documents to support the development of common country analysis and country development framework.

Specifically, the consultant will undertake the following:

Plan and prepare for several dialogues as we launch UN Women’s consultation to contribute to the gender assessments, CCA and UNSCDF;
Draft invitations, develop programme flow and help prepare concept and briefing notes;
Identify list of resource persons, invitees and support in the registration;
Document and prepare report including photo documentation/video highlights.
Assist in drafting policy notes and gender snapshots to support and contribute to the development of gender inclusive Philippine Development Plan and framework.
Technical support and reports linked to CCA and gender assessments. Draft report/information to contribute to the CCA and Philippine’s gender profiling/assessment
Updated Philippines gender profile and collated information for CCA, UNSCDF, end of year report and debriefing meeting

Activities

Deliverables

Target Date of completion

Payment

Develop programme flow and facilitate discussion;
Identify list of resource persons, invitees and registration;

Approved programme flow and concept note
Timeline of preparation and activities
List of resource person/s to be invited
List of participants to be invited

18 October 2022

30%

Planning, preparation and hosting of dialogue/s/RTDs (19 – 21 October 2022)

Dialogue/high-level meetings/consultation series

19 – 21 October 2022

Documentation and Report

Substance, Photo and Video documentation with captions / narratives
End of consultation/ dialogue report, debrief and planning

30 November 2022

50%

Technical support and reports linked to CCA and gender assessments

Draft report/information to contribute to the CCA and Philippine’s gender profiling/assessment

15 December 2022

10%

Updated Philippines gender profile and collated information for CCA, UNSCDF

End of year report
Debriefing meeting

30 December 2022

10%

Contract period and work location

The consultancy is expected to be completed in 20 days within the period of 17 October 2022 – 30 December 2022. The consultant will be based in Metro Manila, Philippines.

Contract Supervision

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Country Programme Coordinator of UN Women Philippines Presence Office who will be responsible for the quality assurance of the deliverables.

Payments

Payments for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed. Payment will not be based on the number of days worked but on the completion of each stated deliverable within the indicated timeframes on satisfactory completion of task.

Competencies

Values

Respect for Diversity
Integrity
Professionalism

Functional Competencies:

Excellent analytical skills
Strong knowledge of UN Women processes and systems
Strong networking skills
Strong inter-personal skills, communicate effectively with staff at all levels of the organization
Ability to work in highly pressured environment

Core Competencies

Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
Accountability
Creative Problem Solving
Effective Communication
Inclusive Collaboration
Stakeholder Engagement
Leading by Example

Link here:

https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree or equivalent in social science, gender studies, research and policy development or other related fields.
Applicants with a bachelor’s degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the master’s degree.

Experience and skills:

Minimum 2 years of experience working on gender, gender equality, women’s empowerment, policy research and development, documentation and report writing/publication.
Demonstrated experience in conducting research in areas of women’s empowerment and gender equality, social, political, economic and cultural development issues and concerns, gender and development, preferably in the Philippines.
Strong understanding of issues related to gender equality in the context of governance, leadership, access to justice, violence against women, economic empowerment, peace and security, preferably in the Philippines.
Previous working experience with Philippines women’s rights and/or socio, civic, political rights’ organizations.
Experience in planning, organizing, and supporting high level meetings and/or dialogues.

Language Requirement:

Strong written and communication skills in English and in Filipino based on sample written work.

Evaluation

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis.

Technical Qualification (100 points) weight; [70%]
Financial Proposal (100 points) weight; [30%]

A two-stage procedure is utilised in evaluating the applications, with evaluation of the technical application being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.

Applications will be evaluated based on the Technical Qualifications:

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on the following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Obtainable

Score

Education
Master’s degree or equivalent in social science, gender studies, research and policy development or other related fields.
Applicants with a Bachelor’s degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the master’s degree.

15%

Experience and skills
Minimum 2 years of experience working on gender, gender equality, women’s empowerment, policy research and development, documentation and reporting writing/publication.
Demonstrated experience in conducting research in areas of women’s empowerment and gender equality, social, political, economic and cultural development issues and concerns, gender and development, preferably in the Philippines.
Strong understanding of issues related to gender equality in the context of governance, leadership, access to justice, violence against women, economic empowerment, peace and security, preferably in the Philippines.
Previous working experience with Philippines women’s rights and/or socio, civic, political rights’ organizations.
Experience in planning, organizing, and supporting high level meetings and/or dialogues.

70%

Language and report writing skills
Strong written and communication skills in English and in Filipino based on sample written work.

15%

Total Obtainable Score

100%