Programme Specialist, Women Peace and Security (Syria and Lebanon)

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.

This position seeks to support UN Women’s women, peace and security programming within the Arab States, with a specific focus on supporting UN Women’s peace and security programming in Lebanon and Syria.

UN Women has been working in Lebanon since 2015 to address the economic and social needs of refugees and host communities in close cooperation with the Government of Lebanon. In mid-2017 UN Women brought UN partners together under one umbrella to support the Government of Lebanon to develop its first NAP on UNSCR 1325. UN Women served as the General Secretariat for a United Nations advisory board for the development and operationalization of a NAP on UNSCR 1325 and lead all coordination and communication efforts between UN agencies and national machineries including the National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW) and the (previously named) Office of the Minister of State for Women’s Affairs (OMSWA). A draft Lebanon NAP budgeted and with indicators and timelines was finalized in November 2018 and submitted to the Government for endorsement. The Lebanon NAP 1325 complements a number of national strategies on violent extremism and violence against women and will serve as a key policy instrument to drive national action on women, peace and security. As a costed document, it will help to ensure government accountability to the WPS agenda and will drive women’s engagement in national decision making and conflict resolution.For Syria, UN Women continues to support the work of the Office of the UN Special Envoy for Syria to convene talks in Geneva under the framework of Security Council resolution 2254 (2015). This support includes technical assistance and support to the management of the Women’s Advisory Board. In addition, UN Women has been trying to support coalition building and Syrian women’s rights actors to across the country to engage in peacemaking and peacebuilding processes.

Objective of the Assignment:

UN Women is recruiting an international consultant, reporting to the regional Women, Peace and Security Advisor/Country Programme Manager for Lebanon, for a period of six months to support the implementation of UN Women’s work on women, peace and security under both of its Lebanon and Syria programmes. For the Syria programme, this will include overseeing support to partners operating within Syria, support to the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria, and the development of learning and and research products. For Lebanon, this will include supporting UN Women to development of a pooled fund mechanism to fund the NAP 1325.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Support the planning and implementation of UN Women’s Syria and Lebanon programme activities;
• Review and provide feedback to ongoing programmes on related strategies and documents, workplans, mid-term evaluation, case studies, and related knowledge products and publications;
• Provide technical and coordination support to established and ongoing partnerships;
• Provide technical support to the organization of workshops at the national and regional level;
• Lead, coordinate and monitor the submission of implementing partner financial and narrative reports ensuring Results Based Management tools and performance indicators;
• Provide substantive monthly updates to the Women, Peace and Security Advisor/Country Programme Manager for Lebanon;
• Identify lessons learned and areas of emphasis to guide programme improvements and future strategic development plans.

Deliverables and Timelines:

• Support the planning and implementation of UN Women’s Lebanon and Syria WPS activities – detailed through a monthly note; Monthly report submitted to supervisor outlining deliverables.
• Support to the OSE to undertake two Women’s Advisory Board Meetings; Delivered by end March 2020
• Partner management – overseeing of partners operating inside Syria – deliverable include quality narrative and financial reporting; Delivered by end March 2020
• Concept note setting out the ‘how to’s of the financing mechanism to support pooled funds/JP modality for NAP 1325 implementation; Delivered by end March 2020

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: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Functional Competencies: 

• Strong programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills;
• Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them;
• Ability to synthesize programme performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making;
• Strong analytical skills;
• Strong knowledge of Results Based Management;
• Good knowledge of UN programme management systems.

Required Skills and Experience

Education: Master’s degree (or equivalent) in International Development Studies, Gender/Women's Studies, or any related field is required.

Experience: 

• At least of 5 years of relevant professional experience working on women, peace and security, with a focus on programme/ project management and design is essential;
• Experience programming on women, peace and security is conflict/crisis countries essential;
• Experience undertaking project management functions is a strong asset.

Language Requirements:

• Proficiency in oral and written of English is required;
• Proficiency in Arabic 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.

Criteria Weight Technical: 70% (70 points)

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in International Development Studies, Gender/Women's Studies, or any related field is required. (10 points);
• At least of 5 years of relevant professional experience working on women, peace and security, with a focus on programme/ project management and design is essential (20 points);
• Experience programming on women, peace and security is conflict/crisis countries essential (20 points);
• Experience undertaking project management functions is a strong asset (20 points).

Financial: Lowest Financial Proposal: 30% (30 points)

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 to demonstrate their qualifications:

• A cover letter with a brief presentation of your consultancy explaining your suitability for the work and link to portfolio of work;
• UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment;
• Personal CV; and Financial proposal; Proposed inclusive daily rate.

The above-mentioned documents should be merged in a standalone file including all them, since the online application submission does only permit to upload one file per application. Incomplete submission can be a ground for disqualification.

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.

UN Women is applying a fair and transparent selection process that would take into account both the technical qualification of Consultants as well as their price proposals. The contract will be awarded to the candidate obtaining the highest combined technical and financial scores.