National Consultant on Design

Background

UN Women Country office (CO) in Kyrgyzstan acts as a knowledge broker and promoter of innovative approaches and technologies for accelerating the progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE). The CO works on testing new approaches aiming to create a space for state and civil society partners to ensure full engagement of rights groups with their concerns as well as solutions within the processes of planning and implementation of policies and actions on GEWE promotion:

Within the past two years the CO has piloted Design Thinking (DT) approach enabling reaching out to the wide range stakeholders following the ‘whole of a society’ mobilization principle. UN Women provided an expert support for conceptualization and adaptation of Design Thinking, which was a business tool, for the purposes of GEWE in different thematic areas, such as women’s political participation and leadership, EVAWG, women economic empowerment, climate change adaptation by ensuring interventions in those areas to be women centric and responding to their real needs. It is important that DT approach allows to consider different women’s profiles including those displaying multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination.

UN Women CO in Kyrgyzstan is seeking the services of a National Consultant conduct the workshops on Women Leadership by applying design thinking methodology.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the CO Head of Programme, and in close coordination with CO programme team, the consultant is expected to perform the following tasks:

Develop a tailored DT methodology for WiL workshops, including a detailed agenda and handout materials, and action plan for preparation, delivery, and follow-up workshops
Prepare the package of handout for the DT workshops (instructions, presentations, etc.)
Define participants for 3 DT workshops in three provinces, based on the criteria developed and agreed with UN Women CO
Conduct the series of 3 DT workshops in three provinces with the focus on factors, which are conducive and impedimental for women leadership, defined based on the experiences of women leaders themselves
Prepare transcripts, analyse and summarize key findings collected during the DT workshops, representing the voices/opinions/values of women leaders for further use it in the process of programming in support to women leadership
Conduct a national workshop aiming to develop a comprehensive programme aiming to promote women’s political participation, specifically as part of preparations to the next parliamentary elections in 2025.
Develop the Report on the national workshop including key parts of the future programme on women leadership.

Number of Design Thinking Workshops:

3 Design Thinking workshops will be conducted with participation of representatives from all provinces:

1-st Workshop – including participants from Osh, Batken and Jalal-Abad – 30 women (10 from each province), and 9 men (3 from each province)
2-d Workshop – including participants from Chui, Talas, and Bishkek – 30 women (10 from each province and Bishkek), and 9 men (3 from each province and Bishkek)
3-d Workshop – including participants from Naryn and Issy-Kul – 24 women (12 from each province), and 6 men (3 from each province)

National workshop will be conducted to develop a comprehensive programme aiming to promote women’s political participation, specifically as part of preparations to the next parliamentary elections in 2025. The process of programming will be based on the findings of the Dialogues, including the Models (prototypes) of solutions to address VAWP. These Models will be used to strategies approaches and actions by placing women leaders in the center of development processes, enabling them to drive the processes for prevention/elimination of VAWP in close collaboration with key stakeholders.

Timeframe, payments and deliverables

The payments will be made in KGS based on submitted and approved timesheet, and after all the deliverables are submitted, accepted and approved by UN Women. The Consultant shall provide a report with all necessary attachments describing the scope of work performed over the period for which the instalment is paid:

Deliverables

Target Date

The package of handout for the DT workshops (instructions, presentations, etc.)

By 17 November

2 days

Reports from 3 DT workshops

Transcript of sessions
Materials with the set of findings
List of Participants of 3 DT workshops
User-journey profiles (Prototypes) from each DT workshop

By 5 December

10 days

The package of materials for a national workshop

By 10 December

2 days

Final report including:

a summary of the findings of the workshops
models on WiL, developed during the workshop
documented chapters of the programme on WiL
recommendations

By 10th December

4 days

18 w/days

DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT

The time required for the consultancy is up to 18 working days within the period of 15 November-25 December 2022.

CONTRACT SUPERVISION

The consultant will work under the supervision of the CO Head of Programme.

Competencies

Core Values:

Respect for Diversity
Integrity
Professionalism

Core Competencies:

Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
Accountability

Functional Competencies:

Excellent knowledge of thematic area
Excellent analytical skills;
Ability to write policy papers, speeches, briefings;

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

Master’s degree or equivalent in gender studies, social sciences or any other area relevant to the requirements of the TOR.

Experience:

At least 5 years progressively responsible experience in gender, women´s leadership, women in politics
Experience in conducting training on women leadership
Experience of applying innovative tools and methodologies, such as design thinking is an asset
Experience in drafting analytical reports, policy and strategic documents;
Experience working with UN Women is an asset;

Language Requirements:

Fluence in written and spoken Russian is required, Kyrgyz and English is an asset.