National Consultant to provide analysis of the sector of democracy and rule of law

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

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BiH) progress in recent years respecting and promoting Gender Equality is highlighted in a series of international commitments and in national legal and policy frameworks. The main achievements in the field of gender equality and women’s empowerment reside in BiH institutional capacity development for the work on gender equality. Indeed, the legal provisions guaranteeing women’s rights and gender equality are largely in place – the Gender Equality Law, the Gender Action Plan, the Election Law amendment instituting quotas, the Action Plan for the implementation of UNSCR 1325, and the ratification of the Istanbul Convention are normative achievements that influence the institutional practice in promoting gender equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

However, BiH still copes with deep-rooted, patriarchal stereotypes regarding the role and responsibilities of women and men in the family and in society at large. Women in BiH face a particularly precarious reality – they are excluded from the political and decision-making processes, they have disproportionately limited access to employment and many of them are subjected to violence. Gaps in the policy development and slow implementation of the adopted legislation constitute important structural obstacles to achieving gender equality. Improvements are needed in both strengthening institutional capacities and enhancing cooperation between the gender mechanisms and the key ministries and the civil society organizations in order to increase gender mainstreaming in all aspect of government work, primarily policy development and budgeting as the means for achieving gender equality.

As the Government of BiH prepares itself to align with the broader EU Acquis in a wide range of sectors, it is prioritizing investment in particular sectors with specific areas of social and economic reform, providing for adoption of a comprehensive sector-based approach to development. BiH is currently in the very important stage of the EU candidacy. The country has been asked to fill out comprehensive questionnaire, based on which the next stages of the integration process will be crafted, IPA programming process is becoming more intensive and structured, and harmonization with the EU acquis.

UN Women Strategic Note implementation for 2015-2020 includes a range of development interventions, providing a comprehensive response through the synergy of five key functions: technical assistance, advocacy, knowledge generation and management, coordination and programming. The proposed programme is designed to support the implementation of Gender Action Plan of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2018 – 2021). In that regard, UN Women Country Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina will support the Government’s efforts and provide technical guidance in gender analysis of democracy and rule of law sector planning documents, policy, programmes and measures. The aim of the assistance is to evaluate the gender impact and provide recommendation and sectoral gender mainstreaming guidance.

To support gender mainstreaming in this context, UN Women is seeking to engage a National Consultant experienced in the sector of democracy and rule of law.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work of the assignmentThe objective of this assignment is to support the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the process of gender mainstreaming in the sector of democracy and rule of law, by providing a sector-based analysis.

Tasks and responsibilitiesUnder the overall supervision of the Country Representative, direct supervision of the Governance and Leadership Coordinator at UN Women CO BiH, in close collaboration with the Gender Equality Agency and Directorate for European Integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and with the support of International Gender Mainstreaming Consultant, the National Consultant is expected to perform the following tasks:

• Produce draft and final work plan and methodology and submit each to the UN Women CO BiH,
• Brief International Gender Mainstreaming Consultant on the sector analysis approach and provide sector guidance needed for the gender mainstreaming to be conducted by the International Gender Mainstreaming Consultant,
• Collect, review, synthetize and analyze data to produce a draft and final desk review, as well as draft and final analysis of the democracy and rule of law sector planning documents, policy, programmes and measures, and submit each to the UN Women CO BiH,
• Facilitate the validation workshop with relevant stakeholders and in collaboration with the International Gender Mainstreaming Consultant and UN Women CO BiH,
• Address the comments and requests arising from each step of the review and during the validation workshop,
• Provide inputs throughout the proofreading and editing process until the final product is ready to be printed and/or uploaded on-line,
• Prepare and deliver one-day training to relevant stakeholders in collaboration with International Gender Mainstreaming Consultant based on the finalized analysis, produce and submit to UN Women CO BiH a brief report on the training.

Key deliverables, activities and timeframe

To respond to the objectives set in the ToR, the National Consultant is expected to do the following within the indicative timeframe:

The consultancy will last up to 25 working days in the period from 20 November 2019 to 1 March 2020.

Competencies

Core Values/guiding principles:

• 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 Consultant knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
• Cultural sensitivity and respect for diversity - Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Additionally, the individual should have an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Planning & Organizing – Develops clear goals in line with agreed strategies, identifies priorities, foresees risks and makes allowances accordingly.
• Organizational Awareness - Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.
• Teamwork - Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
• Accountability – Takes ownership of all responsibilities and delivers outputs in accordance with agreed time, cost and quality standards.

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:Knowledge Management and Learning

• Shares knowledge and experience
• Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside UN Women
•  Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more practice areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills
• Development and Operational Effectiveness
• Demonstrates excellent written and oral communication skills. Communicates sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies
• Demonstrates very good understanding of and experience in communications and outreach/advocacy
• Ability to perform a variety of standard specialized and non-specialized tasks and work processes that are fully documented, researched, recorded and reported
• Ability to review a variety of data, identify and adjust discrepancies, identify and resolve operational problems
• Uses Information Technology effectively as a tool and resource

Leadership and Self-Management

• Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure
• Proven networking skills and ability to generate interest in UN Women’s mandate
• Identifies opportunities and builds strong partnerships with clients and partners

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent in Law, Development Studies, Public Policy, Economics, Gender Studies, or other related disciplines,
• Master’s Degree in the same fields as above would be considered an asset.

Skills and Experience:

• At least 5 years of experience in analysing programme formulations in the context of democracy and rule of law and experience in socio-economic analysis;
• Excellent knowledge of the key democracy and rule of law issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
• Experience (through publications) in producing written analysis of socio-economic issues;
• Prior experience in gender mainstreaming into programme formulations in the context of democracy and rule of law and experience in socio-economic and gender analysis would be an asset;
• Excellent Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian and English language skills, particularly in the preparation of written documents;
• Prior experience in conducting similar analysis with UN agencies or similar international organizations would be desirable.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents:

1. Expression of interest and confirmation of immediate availability
2. Detailed financial proposal inclusive of all costs (which includes consultancy fees, travel, accommodation, subsistence etc.)
3. Completed UN Women Personal History (P11) form, that can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment

Please note: All documents have to be uploaded in 1 single file.For any additional information, please contact unwomen.bih@unwomen.org

EVALUATION OF OFFERS

UN Women applies a fair and transparent selection process that takes into account both the technical qualification of potential consultants as well as the financial proposals submitted in support of consultant applications. Candidate applications will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of applicant qualifications and financial proposal. The contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
• having received the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

Criteria:Technical Evaluation – documents based (70%)

• At least 5 years of experience in analysing programme formulations in the context of democracy and rule of law and experience in socio-economic analysis – 20%
• Excellent knowledge of the key democracy and rule of law issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina – 20%
• Experience (through publications) in producing written analysis of socio-economic issues – 15%
• Prior experience in gender mainstreaming into programme formulations in the context of democracy and rule of law and experience in socio-economic and gender analysis would be an asset – 5%
• Excellent Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian and English language skills, particularly in the preparation of written documents – 5%
• Prior experience in conducting similar analysis with UN agencies or similar international organizations would be desirable – 5%

Financial Evaluation- based on submitted offer (30%)Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 30S - score received on financial evaluation;Fmin - the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round;F - financial offer under the consideration.

Please note that travel costs should be covered by the consultant.

Qualified women and men and members of minorities are encouraged to apply. UN Women applies fair and transparent selection process that would take into account the competencies/skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals.

Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.