National Consultant to support an International Consultant to develop a gender statis-tics mapping report, within a COVID environment

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, UN Women leads and coor-dinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality (GE) and gender main-streaming 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.

Since 2010, the European Union and UN Women have developed a close partnership. Working in concert, the European Union and UN Women have made great strides to promote gender equality through shared dialogue, advocacy, and cooperation programs.

The European Union Gender Equality Facility (GEF) in BiH is based on the Action Document for the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA II) for the year 2018 “EU Gender Equality Facility”. The project is funded and jointly implemented by the European Union and UN Women, through the Project Team.

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’s 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 quo-tas, 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.

As the Government of BiH prepares to align with the broader European Union acquis in a wide range of sectors, it is prioritizing investment in particular sectors with specific areas of social and economic reform, providing for the adoption of a comprehensive sector-based approach to development. BiH’s accession to the European union is structured on the Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP), the implementation of which is monitored by the European Commission. Bosnia and Herzegovina applied for EU membership in February 2016. The Commission adopted its Opinion (Avis) on the EU membership application of the country in May 2019, identifying 14 key priorities for the country to fulfill in view of opening EU accession negotiations out of which one priority is targeting gender equality.

GEF aims to strengthen the effective implementation of domestic and international legal frameworks concerning gender equality and women’s rights; mainstreaming gender into European Union integration and planning pro-cesses for pre-accession assistance; and strengthen institutional mechanisms for gender equality in line with the European union standards. Furthermore, GEF will support institutions in correctly aligning with the European Union Gender Equality acquis. The focus of the project intervention, funded and implemented jointly by the European Union and UN Women, is on the role and functioning of institutional mechanisms for gender equality and their engagement in all aspects of European Union integration and planning and implementation of pre-accession assistance. Support includes strengthening the gender institutional mechanisms; the Gender Action Plan (GAPs) Coordination Committees and civil servants tasked with providing gender expertise in sectoral areas (gender focal points in ministries); and also the enhancement of capacities for implementing and monitoring GAPs and other relevant policies at the state and entity level. The intervention will address challenges in the implementation of laws and gender equality policies through support to the institutions mandated for gender equality and between coordination and monitoring of gender equality policies and measures.

Pursuant to the Gender Equality Law of BiH, the Agency for Gender Equality of Bosnia and Herzegovina (AGE) is entrusted with monitoring the enforcement of the law. Furthermore, the Agency, along with the Gender Center of the Federation of BiH (GC FBiH) and the Gender Centre of Republika Srpska (GC RS) (collectively referred to as the “gender institutional mechanisms”) are key institutional mechanisms for gender equality in the BiH Council of Ministers, Government of the Federation of BiH and the Government of Republika Srpska, in charge of directing efforts towards fighting discrimination and achieving gender equality in BiH by developing strategic documents and action plans.

There are three statistical institutions in BiH. In line with the Law on Statistics, the competent authority for BiH level is the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHAS), and for the entity level Institute for Statistics of Federation of BiH (FIS), and Institute for Statistics of Republika Srpska (RSIS). Central Bank of BiH (CBBiH) is responsible for monetary statistics, the balance of payment and other financial statistics in BiH.

The UN Women Country Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina is seeking to recruit a National Consultant who will support the International Consultant in developing a gender responsive statistic mapping re-port and enriching and updating the Women and Men in BiH statistical bulletin. The National Consultant will sup-port the International Consultant with specific local knowledge of gender equality issues and gender statistics in BiH.

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall objective of this consultancy is to enhance the implementation and monitoring of the selected areas of the Gender Action Plan.

IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVE

The specific objectives of the assignment are:

1. Under the supervision of the UN Women GEF Project Manager and guidance of the International Con-sultant, provide inputs for preparing a mapping report on gender-related indicators and statistics in BiH with recommendations, considering the UN Minimum Set of Gender Indicators, UNECE Gender Equality Indicators, EU relevant Acquis and gender-related indicators from SDGs, CEDWA, CRPD, B+25 and other international commitments;
2. Under the supervision of the UN Women GEF Project Manager and guidance of the International Con-sultant, provide inputs for a proposal on how to enrich and update the Women and Men in BiH statisti-cal bulletin 2021;
3. Support validation and launching events for the publications.

SCOPE OF WORK

Under the direct supervision of the UN Women GEF Project Manager, the overall supervision of UN Women Programme Specialist and guidance of the International Consultant, the EUD Program Manager and in close co-ordination with statistical institutions in BiH and other relevant partners, the National Consultant will perform the following tasks:

• Conduct consultations with the UN Women GEF Project team including the EUD BiH Program Manager, International Consultant, the gender institutional mechanisms and the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHAS), Institute for Statistics of Federation of BiH (FIS) and Institute for Statistics of Republika Srpska (RSIS) (collectively referred to as “statistical institutions in BiH”), to establish a joint understanding of the project context, tasks, and requirements.
• After initial consultations, provide inputs, in English, for drafting the methodology and workplan that will include an outline of the type of inputs needed, and the timeline of when consultations and inputs will be needed from the gender institutional mechanisms and statistical institutions in BiH.
  • Submit inputs to the International Consultant for incorporation.
• Coordinate and engage in the collection of inputs from all relevant institutions in BiH.
• Provide respective inputs, in English, for a mapping report on gender-related indicators and statistics in BiH with recommendations.
  • Submit inputs to the International Consultant for verification/incorporation;
  • Collect feedback, comments and the results of validation with partners;
• In close collaboration with the International Consultant, review the Women and Men in BiH and provide inputs, in English, for a proposal on how to enrich and update the publication. In the first year of im-plementation, the GEF Project will focus on the a) agricultural, b) rule of law, and c) competitiveness and innovation sectors. Hence, the proposal should focus on integrating gender statistics in these sec-tors into the publication and providing a blueprint for integrating other sectors in the future.
  • Submit inputs to the International Consultant for verification/incorporation.
  • Collect feedback, comments and the results of validation with partners;
• Participate in launching events for the mapping report and Women and Men in BiH statistical bulletin 2021, in consultation with the UN Women GEF Project Manager, the EUD BiH Program Manager, Inter-national Consultant and media company conducting the campaign.

Throughout the assignment, the National Consultant is expected to:

• Keep continuous contact and exchange with the International Consultant
• Maintain communication and good working relations with designated staff of governmental statistics in-stitutions
• Attend weekly briefings with the International Consultant and the UN Women GEF Project Manager to provide status updates/reports.

To facilitate the delivery of the above outputs, UN Women will provide the National Consultant with the follow-ing:

• Project related documents and contacts;
• Other documents as necessary.

DELIVERABLES AND TIMEFRAME

The consultant will be expected to submit the following deliverables within the indicative timeframe:

Deliverables	Indicative Days	Timeline and due dates
Provide written comments for notes or minutes of meetings (including participants’ lists) held with International Consultant, the EUD BiH, the gender institutional mechanisms and the statistical institutions in BiH to understand the project context and requirements. Submit to UN Women for approval upon review of the International Consultant.	5	By 07 April 2021
Provide initial written comments, in English, for a methodology and workplan. Submit to UN Women for approval upon review of the International Consultant.	1	By 12 April 2021
Provide initial written report, in English, for a mapping report on gender-related indicators and statistics in BiH with recommendations. Submit to UN Women for approval upon review of the International Consultant.	9	By 12 May 2021
Provide initial written report for a proposal on how to enrich and update the Women and Men in BiH statistical bulletin 2021. Submit to UN Women for approval upon review of the International Consultant.	8	By 28 May 2021
Total	23

 

The consultancy will last 23 days in the period from 01 April 2021 to 30 July 2021. The assignment will not re-quire presence on UN Women premises. The assignment will require in-country travel. The Consultant shall be responsible for organizing their in-country travel. In that respect three (3) trips to Banja Luka and three (3) trips to Sarajevo should be expected and included in the financial proposal

 REPORTING

All deliverables should be submitted to the UN Women GEF Project Manager in English.  Final written report for the mapping report should be delivered at the latest by 12 May 2021 and final written report for the pro-posal for Women and Men in BiH, in English, should be delivered at the latest by 28 May  2021. Approval time required to review the deliverables before authorizing payments is 7 days. All deliverables must satisfy the EU/UN Women visibility requirements.

 

 

 

Competencies

CORE VALUES:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism 

CORE COMPETENCIES:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem SolvingEffective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholders Engagement
• Leading by Example

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Functional Competencies:Knowledge Management and Learning

• Shares knowledge and experience
• Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside UN Women
• 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 statistics, gender statistics, mathematics, economics, gender/women studies, demography, or other related fields and development related disciplines.
• Master’s Degree in these or similar fields are considered an asset.

Work Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of experience in gender analysis, gender statistics and social research, prefera-bly in the context of the BiH statistical system;
• Demonstrated work experience in developing gender statistics;
• Based on previous work (such as e.g. participation in producing reports), good knowledge of EU and in-ternational standards and strong understanding of the BiH context on gender equality and the legal and policy framework related to gender statistics;
• Proven experience in conducting research and assessments on women’s empowerment and gender equality using statistical methods;
• Based on previous work (such as e.g. participation in producing reports), knowledge of stakeholders in the country, including statistical institutions and those working in the field of gender mainstreaming and development;
• Track record of producing high-quality written reports;
• Working experience with the EU, international organizations and/or UN System would be desirable.

Language requirement:

• Fluency in English (written and spoken)
• Fluency in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 

Other skills:

• Good computer skills in Windows environment, knowledge of internet communication and command of MS Office applications (Word, Excel, Power Point), Zoom and MS Teams

 

EVALUATION OF OFFERS

UN Women applies a fair and transparent selection process that takes into account both the technical qualifica-tion 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 com-bination of applicant experience, qualifications and a financial proposal. The contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:• responsive/compliant/acceptable, andhaving received the highest score out of technical and financial criteria defined below.Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 50 points in the technical evaluation will be considered for an inter-view. Top 3 candidates (with highest number of points in the technical evaluation) will be interviewed. The max-imum number of points assigned to the financial proposal will be allocated to the lowest price proposal among those candidates who have reached at least 5 points in the interview. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion.

Criteria:Technical Evaluation (70%) – 70 points

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent in statistics, gender statistics, mathematics, economics, gender/women studies, demography, or other related fields and development related disciplines. - 10 points
• Master’s Degree in these or similar fields is considered an asset. -2.5 points
• A minimum of 5 years of experience in gender analysis, gender statistics and social research, prefera-bly in the context of the BiH statistical system – 10 points
• Demonstrated work experience in developing gender statistics – 10 points
• Based on previous work (such as e.g. participation in producing reports), good knowledge of the EU and international standards and strong understanding of the BiH context on gender equality and the legal and policy framework related to gender statistics – 10 points
• Proven experience in conducting research and assessments on women’s empowerment and gender equality using statistical methods – 10 points
• Based on previous work (such as e.g. participation in producing reports), knowledge of stakeholders in the country, including statistical institutions and those working in the field of gender mainstreaming and development – 5 points
• Track record of producing high-quality written reports – 10 points
•  Working experience with the EU, international organizations and/or UN System would be desirable – 2.5 points

  Financial Evaluation (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

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 in BAM (which includes consultancy fees, travel, accommodation, subsist-ence etc. in the form of a lump-sum)
3. Completed UN Women Personal History (P11) form, that can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment

Please note that incomplete applications will not be considered (all documents indicated above need to be up-loaded).

For any additional information, please contact unwomen.bih@unwomen.org

How to Submit the Application: To submit your application online, please follow the steps below:

• Download and complete the UN Women Personal History Form (P11)- http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment 
• Merge your UN Women Personal History Form (P11), the Financial Proposal, and Expression of Interest into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded;
• Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement);
• Click 'Apply Now' button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click 'Submit Applica-tion;'
• Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above);
• You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the sys-tem.

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