National consultant on documenting best practices of applying innovative tools in HIV field

Background

UN Women in Kyrgyzstan is a strong advocate for improving the lives of women and girls in the country. Building on the vision of equality enshrined in the UN Charter, and in the framework of the UN Women Strategic Note for Kyrgyzstan 2023-2028, the Country Office implements a comprehensive programme with a focus to enhance women's leadership; eliminate violence against women; promote women participation in women, peace and security agenda, HIV all aspects of decision making; financing for gender equality, women economic empowerment, gender mainstreaming in humanitarian action, disaster risk management and climate change adaptation.

In line with an integrated approach, the HIV portfolio in 2022-2023 has an important focus on pilot testing / practical application / and documenting experiences on Positive Deviance in promoting changes in social norms/attitude and behaviors; and application of Design Thinking approach for ensuring more effective and inclusive strategic development planning processes that are responsive and adaptive to rapidly changing contexts. These innovative approaches will be applied throughout all outcomes and outputs, aiming to showcase the effectiveness and urgency for ‘doing development interventions differently’, allowing to make the processes to be more inclusive, providing spaces for new actors’ and left behind groups’ genuine participation in development processes. 

Within the current assignment the consultant will conduct in-depth interviews with women, families, and close circles of children, adolescents, and youth living with HIV to gain a comprehensive understanding of their experiences, challenges, and perspectives. The knowledge gained from these interviews will help develop strategies and interventions to improve the well-being and quality of life of children, adolescents, and young people living with HIV and their caregivers.

Duties and Responsibilities

UN Women is seeking to hire a National Consultant on documenting best practices in HIV field (lead expert) who will be responsible for documenting effective and efficient programme activities in HIV field at the community level, ensuring horizontal and vertical linkages and partnership between local and other stakeholders, promoting women human rights and gender equality in the areas of tackling stigma and discrimination and HIV. The consultant will work under the overall supervision of the project manager. She/He should promote a client-oriented approach consistent with UN Women rules and regulations and commits to high standards of quality, productivity and timeliness in the delivery of tasks.

Under direct supervision and guidance of the UN Women head of sub office, and indirect reporting to International Consultant to promote innovations will provide support to Programme Team in fulfilling the following tasks:

Tasks:

• Develop the detailed work plan, including the milestones for implementation of the set of tasks and deliverables;
• To conduct qualitative research ( in-depth interviews with women, families, and close circles of children, adolescents, and youth living with HIV to gain a comprehensive understanding of their experiences, challenges, and perspectives and prepare accurate transcripts of each interview while maintaining participant confidentiality.
• Produce a comprehensive report highlighting key findings, themes, and interview insights(the report should include direct quotes to illustrate participants' experiences in the areas of emotional and psychological well-being, social support, stigma and discrimination, and concerns about the future) with actionable recommendations for support organizations and policymakers based on the findings;
• Provide advisory support and ensure the quality of documents produced as part of the processes of implementation and documentation of lessons learnt and practices within the interventions at community level, by application of innovative tools, such as: Design Thinking (DT), Positive Deviance, including on documentation and sharing of their experiences on tackling stigma and discrimination.
• Undertake missions to programme sites (in Osh, Talas, Batken, Chui, Issuk-Kul provinces)  to identify and flag any implementation issues, risks and provide recommendations for addressing these in a timely manner.
• Prepare a presentation summarizing findings and recommendations for stakeholders or relevant organizations on experimentation processes, including progress on up-to-date, challenges and lessons, follow up actions.

Key deliverables and payment schedule

Payments will be made in KGS in a monthly instalment upon submission of work results in accordance with the "Work Plan" adopted and approved by UN Women Country Office. Community Development and Empowerment Advisor must submit a monthly progress report with all necessary attachments describing the amount of work performed during the period of month for which the payment is made.

Inputs/resources on behalf of UN Women

UN Women will provide the contractor with all necessary information and materials for the fulfilment of the tasks as per the TOR. UN Women can provide an office space within the Country Office premises as required for the interviews.

               Reporting requirements

Report should be provided in both in printed and electronic versions in Russian language with detailed description of the fulfilled tasks, according to the present Term of Reference and approved Workplans. Analytical documents and other materials developed by National Consultant should be attached to the report as annexes, which will serve as a justification for payment.

Competencies

Core Values:

Integrity:

• Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Professionalism:

• Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Respect for Diversity:

• Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff.
• Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Corporate competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UN Women;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality, and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Ethics and Values:

• Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.

Organizational Awareness:

• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Development and Innovation:

• Take charge of self-development and take initiative.

Work in teams:

• Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi -ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Communicating and Information Sharing:

• Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:

• Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others.

Conflict Management:

• Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

• Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

• Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

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

Required Skills and Experience

Knowledge Management and Learning

• Shares knowledge and experience;
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills;
• Ability to analyze complex situations from a position of impartiality;
• Ability to concisely and to the point document information and findings, targeting a specific audience.

Development and Operational Effectiveness

• Ability to perform a variety of specialized tasks related to Results Management, including support to design, planning and implementation of the projects, managing data and reporting;
• Good knowledge of Results Management Guide and Toolkit.

Leadership and Self-Management

• Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure, uses skills of diplomacy;
• Ability to prioritize and manage competing priorities, grasping the situation quickly;
• Ability to conduct advocacy on sensitive issues, not avoiding but processing conflict.

Professional skills and experience

• Secondary education is required
• At least 3- 5 years of relevant work experience of implementing projects in the area of with a focus on HIV, health, gender equality and women’s empowerment
• Demonstrated substantive knowledge of key populations groups and gender equality issues in Kyrgyzstan’s context, as well as key players both at the national and grassroots level;
• Excellent interpersonal, communication and presentation skills in Russian and Kyrgyz;
• Competent in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel and etc.);
• Fluency in Kyrgyz, Russian  languages is a requirement;
• Proven working experience with key populations groups is required, while experience of working with government national agencies will be considered as a strong asset;  
• Previous work experience with UN agencies and other international development partners is highly desirable.  

  Application procedure:

  Applications must be sent by 11:59 p.m. on November 4, 2023 to hr.kyrgyzstan@unwomen.org  and include the following package of documents:

• A P-11 form that includes experience in similar assignments.  This form can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment  
• A financial proposal with a total lump sum including all costs as described below. Two days travel in each oblast ( Osh, Talas, Issuk-Kul, Batken and Chui). The travel amounts will be paid only upon actual travel.

Financial Proposal Format:

Please note that the financial proposal is comprehensive and should take into account the various expenses incurred by the consultant during the term of the contract. The financial proposal must be submitted in KGS. If the proposal is submitted in any other currency, it will be converted at the UN exchange rate on the closing date.

Evaluation of applicants

The evaluation starts with shortlisting of potential candidates and received applications against the mandatory requirements. Only full applications will be considered. Shortlisted candidates will be then evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants' technical qualifications and experience, and financial proposal. The contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Technically responsive/compliant/acceptable to the requirements of the ToR; and
• Having received the highest cumulative (technical & financial) score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

The selection of candidates will be done in 3 stages:

1st stage: Prior to detailed evaluation, all applications will be thoroughly screened against eligibility criteria (minimum qualification requirements) as set in the present ToR in order to determine whether they are compliant/ non-compliant.

2nd stage: Technical Evaluation/ Desk review.

Short-listed candidates will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

3rd stage: Financial evaluation will be conducted according to the method described below:

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)

Where:

p - points for the financial proposal being evaluated;

µ - price of the lowest priced proposal;

z - price of the proposal being evaluated

The candidate achieving the highest cumulative score for both Technical and Financial evaluations will be recommended by the Evaluation Committee for contracting.

Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant during the contract period. The financial proposal should be provided in KGS. If the proposal is provided in any other currency, it would be converted as per UN exchange rate on the date of post closure.

Financial arrangements:

The payment (as indicated with a breakdown in the deliverables table) will be disbursed upon submission and approval of deliverables and certification by UN Women Programme Officer and the Head of  UN Women  sub office in Osh that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

UN Women is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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.)

Applications without the completed P-11 form are incomplete and will NOT be considered for further assessment!