2196 Junior Consultant for Combating Discrimination and Violence against Rural Women to the Commissioner for Protection of Equality

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.

 

In line with its Strategic Plan 2019-2021, UN Women Serbia is working under the impact area of achieving life free from violence for all women and girls, with focus on the most vulnerable groups. UN Women emphasize the prevention of VAWG through transforming negative social norms and strengthening the availability of services to women survivors of violence. UN Women Serbia partner with the government and CSOs to advocate for ending violence, increase awareness of the causes and consequences of violence, build capacity of partners and promote the need for changing norms towards advancing gender equality and women’s rights. By establishing the grounds on strengthening the capacities of professionals in protection and response to VAWG in line with the Istanbul Convention, in addition to support provided to women CSOs in enhancing legislative and policy environment on eliminating VAWG, UN Women in Serbia is promoting the zero tolerance towards VAWG policy.

 

The Commissioner for Protection of Equality is independent state authority founded in 2009, with the mandate to carry out the procedure based on complaints in cases of discrimination against persons or groups of persons connected by the same protected characteristic, to issue opinions and recommendations in concrete discrimination cases, and to stipulate measures defined by the Law. The institution is also mandated to initiate legal proceedings and file complaints for protection from discrimination, with approval of the discriminated person. 

 

Under the Project „Improved Safety of Women in Serbia”, funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UN Women Serbia invests efforts to ensure that women and girls in Serbia live in a society free from violence and that the Republic of Serbia applies new protection measures for women and girls in order to improve victim’s safety in family and intimate partner relations.

 

Under the Output 1.2. the Project will ensure that the Commissioner for Protection of Equality has capacities to raise awareness and confidence of rural women about measures and actors responsible for protection from violence and gender-based discrimination. Therefore, the UN Women is seeking Junior Consultant for Combating Discrimination and Violence against Rural Women to the Commissioner for Protection of Equality in order to support the CPE in implementation activities related to raising awareness and confidence of rural women about measures and actors responsible for protection from violence and gender-based discrimination.

 

Objective

 

The objective of this assignment is to support the Commissioner for Protection of Equality (CPE) in carrying out activities related to raising awareness and confidence of rural women about measures and actors responsible for protection from violence and gender-based discrimination in line with the CPE mandate.

Duties and Responsibilities

Working under the overall supervision of the UN Women Gender Specialist and the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, the consultant will be responsible to provide support towards the effective and efficient implementation of the activities related to raising awareness and confidence of rural women about measures and actors responsible for protection from violence and gender-based discrimination and for provision of specific deliverables: 

 

• Assist in organizing training for selected women’s civil society organizations dealing with issues relevant to rural women on the legal framework regarding protection from violence and gender-based discrimination; 
• Assist in supporting women’s CSOs to develop innovative outreach plans for informing and communication with rural women and girls on violence against women and girls and protection from violence;
• Assist in creating and distributing promotional and informative materials on prevention, available responses to and protection from violence and gender-based discrimination;
• Assist in organizing a study-visit for the representatives of CSOs and national mechanisms for gender equality to familiarize themselves with examples of good practice in the area of protection from violence and gender-based discrimination and stereotyping; 
• Assist in cooperation with media, including annual award, on promotion of anti-discrimination, tolerance, and equality; 
• Support planning and organizing events implemented and/or supported by the UN Women and the CPE regarding raising awareness and confidence of rural women about measures and actors responsible for protection from violence and gender-based discrimination;
• Provide administrative and logistic support to CPE relating to communication with the CSOs, international organizations, media and other relevant partners, through material preparation, communication with national and international stakeholders regarding raising awareness and confidence of rural women about measures and actors responsible for protection from violence and gender-based discrimination.

Deliverables and Timeline:

 

Deliverables	Timeframe
The First overview report on support   provided   in analyzing current situation of women and girls in rural areas, what their needs and disadvantages of their rural life are, based on existing stereotypes, prejudices, and gender-based discrimination and violence	30 April 2021
The Second overview report on support   provided   in   selection of NGO’s with experience in dealing with issues relevant to rural women and girls, especially in the field of gender-based discrimination and VAWG, and in preparation of round tables for selected NGOs	30 Jun 2021
The Third overview report on support   provided   in   organisation of study visits for representatives of selected NGO’s and Commissioner’s office and continuous media campaign related to violence and discrimination of rural women	31 August 2021
The Fourth overview report on   support   provided   in   conducting trainings for rural women empowerment   and newly formed NGOs from rural areas with regard to gender-based discrimination and VAWG	31 October2021
The Final overview report on overall support   provided   in   implementation   of   activities   related to raising awareness and confidence of rural women about measures and actors responsible for protection from violence and gender-based discrimination	20 December 2021

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

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:

 

• Demonstrates very well developed written and oral communication skills;
• 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;
• Good report writing skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

• University degree in the area of law, gender studies, international relations, political sciences, social sciences, or an area relevant to the requirements of the TOR. Master degree will be taken as advantage.

Experience:

• At least 1 year of the professional experience in providing technical, administrative and logistic support to the implementation of programmes and projects;
• Professional experience in area of human rights;
• Experience in working with the government institution or non- governmental organization or international organization;
• Ability to work in an independent manner and organize the workflow efficiently;
• Previous experience in the field of gender equality considered an asset;
• Previous experience with the UN system is considered an asset.

Language:

• Fluency in English and Serbian (written and oral).

Application procedure:

 

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

• P11 with past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment, 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: http://www.undp.org.rs/download/ic/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). The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum on a monthly basis. 

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 vacancy.rs@undp.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:

 

a) Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) 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.

 

	Evaluation Criteria	Max points
TECHNICAL EVALUATION (70%)
Language Requirements	Fluency in written and spoken English and Serbian	REQUIRED
Education	University degree in the area of law, gender studies, international relations, political sciences, social sciences, or an area relevant to the requirements of the TOR. Master degree will be taken as advantage.	20 0: without relevant university degree 20: faculty degree master degree advantage
Professional experience	Experience in providing technical, administrative and logistic support to the implementation of programmes and projects	20 0: without 1 year of experience 10: 1 year of experience 20: more than 1 year of experience
	Professional experience in area of human rights	15 0: without experience 15: experience in area of human rights
	Experience in working with the government institution or non-governmental organisation or international organisation	15 0: without the experience 15:        experience         in providing technical, administrative and logistic support to the implementation of                   programmes and projects
Total technical		70

 

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

 

Additional Information:

 

• Individual Contract (IC) will be applicable for individual consultants applying in their own capacity.??
• Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) will be applicable for applicants employed by any legal entity. Template of RLA with General Terms and Conditions could be found on:?http://www.undp.org.rs/download/RLA%20with%20General%20Terms%20and%20Conditions.doc. In the case of engagement of Civil servants under IC contract modality a no-objection letter should be provided by the Government entity. The ‘no-objection’ letter must also state that the employer formally certifies that their employees are allowed to receive short-term consultancy assignment from another entity without being on “leave-without-pay” status (if applicable), and include any conditions and restrictions on granting such permission, if any. If the previous is not applicable ‘leave-without-pay’ confirmation should be submitted.

Engagement of Government Officials and Employees

 

• Government Officials or Employees are civil servants of UN Member States.? As such, if they will be engaged by UNDP under an IC which they will be signing in their individual capacity (i.e., engagement is not done through RLA signed by their Government employer), the following conditions must be met prior to the award of contract:?

“No-objection” letter in respect of the individual is received from the Government employing him/her, and;?

The individual must provide an official documentation from his/her employer formally certifying his or her status as being on “official leave without pay” for the duration of the IC.?

• The above requirements are also applicable to Government-owned and controlled enterprises and well as other semi/partially or fully owned Government entities, whether or not the Government ownership is of majority or minority status.? ?
• UNDP recognizes the possibility that there are situations when the Government entity employing the individual that UNDP wishes to engage is one that allows its employees to receive external short-term consultancy assignments (including but not limited to research institutions, state-owned colleges/universities, etc.), whereby a status of “on-leave-without-pay” is not required.? Under such circumstance, the individual entering into an IC with UNDP must still provide a “No-objection” letter from the Government employing him/her.? The “no objection” letter required under (i) above must also state that the employer formally certifies that their employees are allowed to receive short-term consultancy assignment from another entity without being on “leave-without-pay” status, and include any conditions and restrictions on granting such permission, if any.? The said document may be obtained by, and put on record of, UNDP, in lieu of the document (ii) listed above.