National Consultant Technical Expert - Development of a Technical Paper Assessing Women with Disabilities’ Access to Essential Services

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 line with UN Women’s Strategic Plan 2023-2027, the UN Women Egypt office is contributing to three interdependent and interconnected outcomes:

• Women lead, participate in and benefit equally from governance systems.

• Women have income security, decent work and economic autonomy.

• All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence.

With heavy focus on reaching women at greatest risk of being left behind – rural women, women at risk of poverty, women living with disabilities, and young women from these groups. UN Women Egypt Country Office (ECO) uses the following key strategies: fostering nationally owned, positive social norms including through the active and continuous engagement of men and boys; supporting all women’s equitable access to services, goods and resources, including women at risk of being left behind; advocating for women’s leadership and voice; supporting the production, analysis and use of nationally owned gender statistics, sex-disaggregated data, and knowledge.

Under the principle of “leaving no one behind”, including women with disabilities, UN Women partnered with the Egyptian National Council for Women, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, UNDP and UNFPA, to develop Egypt’s first national study on Violence Against Women with Disability launched in 2022. The national study generated a series of recommendations to enhance institutional support to women and girls living with disabilities who experience violence or harmful practices; as well as to create an overall enabling environment to empower women overall.

This gendered and intersectional experience of disability is underexamined globally andinterventions on the rights of persons with disabilities have historically neglected aspects of gender equality. Similarly, interventions and policies addressing gender equality may not address the specific needs of women and girls with disabilities. The lack of user input propagates systems and spaces that are not accessible or relevant. People with disabilities and reduced mobility are often not involved in the design, planning, and implementation process of infrastructure projects. In order to create safe, accessible and effective public spaces and services, there is a vital need for all stakeholders to understand the nature and the prevalence of this phenomenon and the needs of users. This is particularly true in the provision of essential services responding to gender-based violence against women and girls.

Building on the findings the national study on women living with disabilities who experienced violence, and specifically on the recommendations related to access to essential services in this regards, working with the National Council for Women UN Women is recruiting a Technical Expert, supported by a lead researcher, to develop a technical paper on actionable interventions to address the different kinds of barriers and discrimination that women and girls with disability face in accessing the essential services which respond to gender-based violence against women and girls.. The purpose of the technical paper is to inform future programming and policy design.

Objective of the Assignment:

Under the overall supervision of the UN Women Ending Violence Against Women Specialist and working closely with the National Council for Women, UN Women seeks to contract Technical Expert to lead the drafting of a technical paper on the accessibility of essential services to women with disabilities, present challenges and rights-based solutions for access to essential services.

Duties and Responsibilities

In consultation with the NCW and UN Women, the Technical Expert will lead a two-person team of themselves and a researcher. The Technical Advisor is responsible for the following:

Establish a workplan in coordination with the NCW which lays out the team’s deliverables and division of labour and which also lays out the main government, non-governmental and individual stakeholders will be consulted in the development of the technical paper;
Conduct a desk-review of global and national best practices in guaranteeing women with disabilities access to essential services;
Based on global best practices, propose the methodology for the drafting of the technical paper, for UN Women and NCW review and agreement;
Drawing from these global best practices, support the Researcher in developing the tools to conduct focus group discussions with women with disabilities to understand barriers and enablers of access to essential services and its effect on the well-being and access to opportunities;
In coordination with UN Women and the NCW, conduct meetings and interviews with the relevant Government and non-governmental stakeholders working with women with disabilities to identify the services and areas of support needed to support women with disabilities access essential services;
Draft a technical paper to assess the accessibility of essential services to women with disabilities and revise and finalise the draft based on the technical inputs of NCW and UN Women.

Deliverables

Timelines

Draft formative research and inception report and that includes a) Workplan, timeline and methodology of the assignment with division of labour; b) outlines the national stakeholders to be consulted in the development of the technical paper; and c) Desk review of the challenges women with disabilities face in accessing essential services.

3 Working Days

Based on global best practices, review data tools/ questionnaires to be submitted to and approved by UN Women

1 Working Day

Develop an annotated outline of the technical paper, and update based on NCW and UN Women feedback.

1 Working Day

Guide the Researcher in distilling results from FGDs and interviews conducted by the Researcher/ qualitative analysis of challenges and priorities and draft detailed outline.

2 Working Days

Draft the technical paper that synthesizes the inputs from desk top review and consultations.

5 Working Days

Revise and integrate comments and feedback and submit final report upon programme team approval.

4 Working Days

Support the NCW and UN Women in conducting a seminar and dialogue to present the findings of the paper and raise awareness to the situation of women with disabilities.

2 Working Days

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

Functional Competencies

Demonstrated knowledge of rights of women with disabilities and related human rights frameworks.
Advanced analytical problem solving.
Familiarity with statistical analysis and indicators.
Ability to self-organize research work, plan, prioritize and deliver the required tasks on time.
Capacity to engage and communicate with partners.
Knowledge and use of computer office tools.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

Masters’ degree in Social Science or equivalent, is reuired.

Experience

10 years’ work experience with persons with disabilities, is essential.
Experience in working with governmental entities, is required.
Work experience and knowledge on women’s studies, human rights, disability law and health, is required.
Excellent research and analytical skills, both oral and written, is required.

Language Requirements

Fluency in written and spoken Arabic and English is required.

Evaluation Criteria

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology: Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for the financial evaluation.

Technical Weight Criteria: 70% (70 points)

Criteria 1: Master’s degree in social science or equivalent (15 Points)
Criteria 2: 10 years’ work experience with persons with disabilitiesl (15 Points)
Criteria 3: Experience in working with governmental entities (10 Points)
Criteria 4: Work experience and knowledge on women’s studies, human rights, disability law and health (20 Points)
Criteria 5: Excellent research and analytical skills, both oral and written (10 points)

Financial Proposal

Financial Weight Criteria: 30% (30 points) – Lowest Financial Daily Rate Proposal

The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula:

Contract will be awarded to the technically qualified consultant who obtains the highest combined score (financial and technical);
The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula: (Lowest Bid Offered*)/ (Bid of the Consultant) x 30;
'Lowest Bid Offered' refers to the lowest price offered by Offerors scoring at least 49 points in the technical evaluation.

Application

Interested Individual Consultants must submit the following documents/information in English to demonstrate their qualifications:

Completed and Signed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment; make sure that you provide a valid email address for future communications, and
Financial proposal; Daily Rate in EGP inclusive of all the travel and other related costs.
Education Certificates; a copy of master’s degree certificate.

IMPORTANT: The above-mentioned documents should be merged in a standalone file including all of them, since the online application submission only permits one file upload per application. Incomplete submission can be grounds for disqualification.

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.)