National Consultant to support the implementation of AFD and UN Women partnership on Gender Smart Investments

Background

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. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Only through mainstreaming gender equality into public policies and continuous capacitating relevant policy makers to introduce gender sensitive measures in their policies, projects and budgets development can be made on a sustainable manner. Ensuring that both men and women have equal access to resources and opportunities, and that neither gender is discriminated against. Policies and budgets that are designed with a gender aspect in mind are often more efficient and effective. This is because they take into account the diverse needs of different groups, which can result in more targeted interventions and better use of resources. Including a gender aspect in policy and budgeting can enhance transparency and accountability by making it clear how resources are being allocated and what outcomes are expected. In summary, including a gender aspect in policy and budgeting is essential for promoting gender equality, addressing gender-based inequalities, increasing efficiency and effectiveness, and enhancing transparency and accountability.

To further strengthen gender mainstreaming and integration of the gender perspective into different sectors and leverage co-benefits between gender equality and investment funding for sustainable development UN Women will implement the project “Gender Responsive Investments” funded by Agence Française de Développement (AFD).

The project’s objective is to contribute to mainstreaming of gender equality across policy reforms and major investment programs conducted in the Western Balkans, in connection with the EU integration process, and focusing on Serbia as a pilot country. More specifically the project aims to provide a cross-cutting support to the AFD Regional Office for the Western Balkans and its relevant partners/beneficiaries to strengthen the integration of gender aspects in the investment’s projects and support to reforms programs funded by AFD in the region. The initial phase focused on operations is implemented in the Republic of Serbia.

Objective

UN Women Serbia is looking to hire a national consultant to support the implementation of the above-mentioned project implementation. The consultant will report to the UN Women Serbia Head of Office.

Duties and Responsibilities

Duties and responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Head of Office of UN Women Serbia the national consultant will be responsible to provide support towards the effective and efficient implementation of the UN Women and AFD partnership on gender responsive investments:

• Support the UN Women and AFD efforts to mainstream gender issues into investment documents, procedures, and policies, though capacity building, expert advice, and technical assistance.
• Support UN Women team in maintaining regular contacts with beneficiaries, project partners and other stakeholders to ensure relevance and quality of projects’ outputs;
• Contribute to UN Women team efforts to provide technical support and expert advice to implementing partners and key stakeholders on specific issues related to the project scope;
• Prepare substantive inputs to the project documents, which includes the analysis of data on women's position in Serbia and the opportunities for inclusive engagement of women in the investments and development processes, particularly in the area of green transition and climate change,
• Prepare substantive inputs for engaging with the gender equality advocates, both within government and non-governmental organizations, to have a stronger voice in decision-making processes that shape lives of women.
• Preparing briefs and reports on key structural reforms and investments in the field of climate change and environment in the country and providing support in ensuring that gender equality considerations are clearly reflected and mainstreamed.  
• Organize strategic and policy discussions on gender equality, and women’s empowerment issues with the key national and local stakeholders from Government, academia, civil society at the national and communal level, private sector and key international actors to build and strengthen strategic alliances and partnerships on women’s rights and gender equality investments.  

• Promote gender mainstreaming efforts of AFD and UN Women by sharing best practices, project results and lessons learned and highlighting the importance of gender-sensitive approaches to development.

Other tasks include:

• Provide support for communication strategy development.

Deliverables and Timeline:

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:

• Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, international development partners, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts, and others in line with UN Women strategy and policies.
• Demonstrated ability to interact effectively with team members and stakeholders.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to synthesize straightforward and clear content from a range of complex background documents.
• Focuses on impact and results.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

• University degree (Bachelor’s degree) in law, social studies, economy, political science or similar.  Advanced university degree (Master’s Degree or higher) would be considered an advantage.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of experience in working with policy and project development and investments,
• Minimum of 3 years of experience in working with government, international organizations and/or IFIs, in Serbia and/or in the region,
• Minimum of 2 years of experience in gender equality policies and gender mainstreaming,
• Experience in establishing networks and interacting with stakeholders across the gender, investments and development spheres.

Language:

Fluency in English and Serbian (written and oral). All deliverables to be prepared and submitted in English.

Application procedure:

The following documents should be submitted as part of the application:

• P11 with past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc, a signed copy should be submitted.
• Financial Proposal Specifying a total lump sum amount for the tasks specified in this Terms of Reference. Can be downloaded from the following link: https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2022-07/confirmation.docx.. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (daily rate and number of anticipated working days and any other possible costs).

In order to apply please merge your P11 and the financial proposal into a single PDF file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded.

Any request for clarification must be sent by standard electronic communication to the e-mail info.serbia@unwomen.org.

Evaluation of applicants:

Consultants will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of qualifications and financial proposal. Contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

1. Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
2. Having received the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

Financial Evaluation (30%) – max. 30 points:

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion. A suggested formula is as follows: p = 30 (µ/z)

Using the following values:

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

µ = price of the lowest priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated

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.)