Technical Assistance to support the CNCW preparation of Cambodia’s 7th Periodic Report to CEDAW and support Cambodia Programme Office to document programme lessons learned

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.

The UN Women Cambodia Programme Office (CPO) Strategic Note (SN) 2019-2023 focuses on three key priorities to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE). The priority is to strengthen government capacity and accountability to integrate international norms and commitments (CEDAW, SDGs, Beijing PfA, Sendai) into national legislative and regulatory frameworks, including supporting dialogue and CSO engagement in accountability for GEWE commitments. The second area of focus is Ending Violence Against Women where CPO’s focus includes creating an enabling environment to prevent, respond to and prosecute all forms of GBV as well as ensuring that marginalized women who experience violence, including women migrant workers, access services and protections. Thirdly, CPO works to enhance gender responsiveness in climate change action and disaster risk reduction (DRR). A focus on empowerment, women’s leadership, challenging negative gender norms and leaving no one behind runs through the programme.

UN Women Cambodia Programme Office (CPO) continues to support the CNCW to monitor the implementation of CEDAW and its Concluding Observations (CoB) through a COB Action Plan, including formulation of high quality evidence based reports from the state on the implementation of CEDAW to the CEDAW Committee in accordance with CEDAW article 18 including through a meaningful participatory process involving civil society organizations (CSOs). The 7th periodic report of Cambodia on the implementation of CEDAW to the CEDAW is due November 2023. In this regards, UN Women CCO is seeking the services of an international consultant with experience in supporting state parties to develop periodic reports on CEDAW implementation to the CEDAW Committee to provide technical assistance to CNCW to develop the 7th periodic report on CEDAW implementation under article 12 of CEDAW. Under the direct supervision of the UN Women Country programme coordinator, the consultant will serve to provide technical assistance to CNCW to prepare the 7th periodic report to CEDAW, ensuring quality evidence based reporting and meaning participation of government and CSO stakeholders.

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall objective of the assignment is to provide technical assistance to CNCW to ensure a quality evidence based 7th periodic report on CEDAW implementation is produced for submission to CEDAW committee in a timely manner, and with meaningful CSO participation. The specific objectives of the assignment are as follows:

• Provide technical assistance to CNCW to support the development of the 7th periodic report to CEDAW, including participatory processes involving government (TWGG technical members and CNCW Senior members) and CSOs.
• Work with CNCW to review information collected from CNCW members and collect additional relevant information from sub-national administration if it is necessary for draft reports and provide guidance to ensure quality information that accurately corresponds to CEDAW Articles and COBs.
• Support CNCW to finalize and submit a quality informative 7th periodic report to CEDAW in a timely manner in line with CEDAW guidance.
• Support office to document programme lessons learned, including transition as well as programme integration.

The consultant will work closely with UN Women’s programme team, national consultant, who will support the process and mobilization of participation, as well as CNCW’s secretary general for delivering the results. The detail key responsibilities of the consultant will be as follows:

• Work in close cooperation with CNCW Secretary General and national consultant to prepare a work plan and guidance note for preparation of the Cambodia’s 7th periodic report to CEDAW.
• Review 6th periodic report (2018), follow up report on COBs (2022) and communications from CEDAW to Cambodia on CEDAW implementation (2019-2022) to inform preparation of 7th periodic report.
• Support CNCW Secretariat to review progress of COB action plan with CNCW TWGG members and support process to collect and review update information for 7th periodic report.
• Review draft inputs from CNCW TWGG members and provide feedback to CNCW Secretariat to ensure information accurately responds to CEDAW Articles and COB.
• Support CNCW Secretary General to involve CSOs in providing inputs to draft 7th periodic report.
• Review, edit, and support the finalization of the 7th periodic report preparation and submission to CEDAW Committee.
• Support office to document programme lessons learned, including transition as well as programme integration.
• Work closely with country programme coordinator and deputy regional director to review 2021-2023 annual workplan and programme focus to identify the lessons learned as well as challenges in operationalizing the programme as a NRA. This involves key interviews with programme team, Breakthrough founders, Loveisdiversity founders, and identified participants of Youth Leadership Academy.

1. . EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

SUPERVISION

The Consultant will work under the direct supervision of and cooperation with the UN Women Country Programme Coordinator, and in close collaboration with the Cambodia National Council for Women, specifically the CNCW Secretary General. A workstation will be provided to the consultant to ensure effective consultation and support. The Consultant will bring his own personal computer to conduct this assignment. With the facilitation of the country programme team, the consultant will also be expected to engage with external stakeholders, including civil society and government.

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

Technical Competencies:

• Good knowledge of institutional mechanisms relating to governance and women’s human rights, particularly CEDAW and considerable knowledge of the Cambodian policy and legislative framework is an asset.
• Proven experience and skills in monitoring CEDAW implementation and CEDAW report writing.
• A proven history of leadership, management and staff capacity building through a participatory approach of mutual accountability and professional development.
• Strong programming expertise on gender equality, knowledge of results-based management (RBM) principles, gender equality and human rights-based approaches.
• A proven ability to liaise and coordinate with a myriad of stakeholders and partners, including government, civil society, UN, donors, international organizations and grassroots organizations.

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent analytical skills.
• Strong knowledge of UN Women processes and systems.
• Strong interpersonal skills, communicate effectively with staff at all levels of the organization.
• Ability to work in a highly pressured environment.
• Demonstrated sensitivity, discretion, tact, and courtesy in relation to gender equality and women’s rights, development principles, implementing partners, and national and international personnel of varied nationalities and backgrounds.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree in gender, public administration, public policy, development studies, international relations, or other related disciplines

Experience:

• At least 7 years professional experience in women’s human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment, CEDAW monitoring, evaluation, report writing, and institutional capacity development.
• Minimum 7 years progressively responsible relevant experience with international organization or development project.
• Sound knowledge of international standards on human rights, women’s rights and related instruments such as CEDAW, SDGs, BfPA, etc.
• Professional experience working in women’s human rights in Cambodia, in particular on CEDAW implementation and other normative intergovernmental framework such as General Recommendation, SDGs, BPfA, with UN Women or an international organization would be a strong asset.

Language Requirements:

• Proficiency in English is required.
• Khmer language ability would be an advantage.

CONTRACT PERIOD

The consultancy is expected to be carried out on a part-time basis Between 21st August 2023 to 31st March 2024.

DUTY STATION

Home based with travel to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The consultant needs to manage their own travel and all costs should be included in the financial proposal.

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 utilized 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.

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

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

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically qualified candidates who may be contacted for validation interview.

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points allocated for the price component is 100.
• 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 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

Submission of Application:

Interested candidates are encouraged to submit an electronic application to cco.procurement@unwomen.org , with cc to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org not later than 7 August 2023 by 5 p.m. local time in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Late application submissions will not be considered.

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from Application and recruitment process | About us: Careers at UN Women | UN Women – Headquarters   Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Submission package includes: 

• Cover letter outlining relevant work experience.
• UN Women Personal History Form(P11); The P11 Form can be downloaded from the link:http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs 
• Writing sample
• Financial proposal which shall specify a total lump sum amount, breaking down in each deliverable. Please see the financial proposal template below.

Payment

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.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality, and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW, and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Inclusion Statement:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits employ, 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.)