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Political Participation and Leadership Consultancy

(home-based and office-based when required by un women)

  • Organization: UNWOMEN - United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
  • Location: (home-based and office-based when required by un women)
  • Grade: Consultancy - National Consultant - Locally recruited Contractors Agreement
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Social Affairs
    • International Relations
    • Political Affairs
    • Democratic Governance
    • Women's Empowerment and Gender Mainstreaming
    • Civil Society and Local governance
  • Closing Date: Closed

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 centre of all its efforts, UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women plays an innovative and catalytic role in the State of Palestine since its inception in 1997. UN Women Palestine Office focuses its activities on one overarching goal, namely, to support the implementation at the national level of existing international commitments to advance gender equality in line with the national priorities. In support of this goal, and thoroughly taking into consideration the specificities of the Palestinian context, UN Women concentrates its efforts and interventions toward the realization of following strategic goals:  Mainstreaming gender in governance, peace and security; Supporting women's economic security and rights; and Promoting women’s rights and protection against violence.  The Palestine UN Women office’s (PALCO) programme of work is set out in the Strategic Note 2018 – 2021, which is aligned with the global UN Women Strategic Plan and key international frameworks such as Agenda 2030, Beijing Platform for Action, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and other international norms and standards.

Globally, women’s leadership and political participation is one of UN Women’s primary areas of work as mandated in its inception, recognizing the integral role of women in strong and stable democratic processes. UN Women in Palestine works to implement in a cross-cutting manner Output 4: More women if all ages fully participate, lead and engage in political institutions and processes of the Strategic Plan 2018-2021.  To promote the leadership and participation of women in all levels of decision-making processes, UN Women works with a range of stakeholders including women leaders and aspiring candidates, national parliaments and parliamentarians, political parties, media, civil society organizations, youth groups, and electoral management bodies, in coordination with UN partner Entities, through a wide range of interventions which include: i) support gender responsive legal reforms, and institutional processes to advance women’s participation and representation (including initiatives to address violence against women in politics); ii) build capacities of women leaders and aspiring candidates; iii) promote change of gender norms through advocacy and outreach initiatives targeting communities, political leaders and the media; iv) and support women leaders in gender responsive political institutions.

For the first time since 2006, Palewtin will be holding legislative elections (scheduled on 22 May 2021)  Presidential elections (31 July 2021) and election of the Palestinian National Council no later than 31 August as well as the Local Elections (21 November 2021).  In order to contribute to  women’s leadership in the political decision-making process at the local and national levels, UN Women will support actions aiming for effective participation of women in the electoral process as both candidates and voters as well as ensuring that gender equality is on the electoral agenda. The main objectives are to enhance electoral arrangements that promote gender balance in elections through lobbying with political parties for adopting voluntary measures related to women’s leadership; to increase communities understanding of the importance of women’s participation in the electoral process as both candidates and voters; and to bring the national gender equality agenda to the forefront during the electoral process.   

In this framework, UN Women is seeking the services of a national consultant, to support the implementation of this programming area of work. Under the supervision of the Special Representative and in close coordination with the UN Women programme team, the national consultant will provide the technical support and UN coordination required to effectively launch and roll-out the women’s political participation programming priorities in line with the UN NAM recommendations. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Special Representative and in close collaboration with the programme team, the national consultant will provide the technical support to the implementation of critical activities in women political participation and leadership in coordination to national stakeholders of the electoral process.

The consultant will undertake the following task:

1. Coordinated technical assistance and targeted advocacy to electoral stakeholders to promote gender balance:

  • Targeted advocacy and capacity development to stakeholders on gender and elections, particularly on gender equality in candidate nomination, including ways of identifying and supporting potential women leaders and encouraging the development of a broader range of criteria for women’s promotion as well as integrating women’s rights on the local electoral agenda.
  • Support civil society organizations, coalitions, and networks advocacy efforts for ensuring that women’s rights are on the national and local electoral agendas.
  • In coordination with UNDP provide technical support to the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) on gender mainstreaming in electoral management.

2.  Technical support on gender mainstreaming into UN electoral assistance programming:

  • Support UN coordinated advocacy, within the context of the political dialogue to promote women’s electoral and political participation and leadership, including prevention of VAWE.
  • Participate in the different coordination meetings around women political participation and leadership.
  • Participate in the formulation process of the UN electoral assistance project and other projects, and ensure specific interventions targeting women and gender equality with adequate resources.
  • Document all the activities undertaken and produce articles for communication.

3. Enhanced capacities of aspiring women leaders and candidates and elected women to apply leadership skills:

  • Support the implementation of training/mentoring programmes for aspiring women candidates and for elected women.

Technical support to MPs and parliamentary bodies to conduct a gender audit of the National Parliament on its existing policies, practices, and rules of institutions (including legislative rules and procedure) and identify areas for reform and proposals for mainstreaming gender into parliamentary structures and activities.

Delivrables:

  • Deliverable 1:A workplan with key deliverables in line with the detailed tasks with timeframe in English), expected delivery date 15 March 2021.
  • Deliverable 2:  Monthly report on deliverables (including Women political and leadership project component as integrated in the UN joint programme on electoral assistance, all tools and reports produced), expected delivery date 15 April 2021.
  • Deliverable 3:Monthly report on deliverables (including capacity development reports of the different workshops with aspiring candidates and elected women, all tools and reports produced), expected delivery date 15 May 2021.
  • Deliverable 4: Monthly report on deliverables (including capacity development reports of the different workshops with aspiring candidates and elected women, all tools and reports produced), expected delivery date 15 June 2020.
  • Deliverable 5: Monthly report on deliverables (including all tools and reports produced), expected delivery date 15 July 2021.
  • Deliverable 6:Monthly report on deliverables (including all tools and reports produced), expected delivery date 15 August 2021.
  • Deliverable 7:Monthly report on deliverables (including gender analysis on the results of the elections and reports on capacity development for MPs), expected delivery date 15 September 2021.
  • Deliverable 8:Monthly report on deliverables (including all tools and reports produced), expected delivery date 15 October 2021.
  • Deliverable 9:Monthly report on deliverables (including all tools and reports produced),  expected delivery date 15 November 2021.
  • Deliverable 10:  Monthly report on deliverables (including Gender audit report of the national assembly; overall recommendations and lessons learned on assignment), expected delivery date 15 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.
  • 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:

  • Sound practical knowledge on women’s political participation programming including on gender responsive electoral processes (i.e. sex disaggregated data collection, prevention and mitigation of violence against women in elections).
  • Sound knowledge of international standards on human rights, women’s rights, and related instruments.
  • Ability to work effectively and harmoniously with people from varied cultures and professional backgrounds, demonstrating excellent interpersonal communication skills.
  • Excellent communication skills.
  • Demonstrated experience in timely delivering of quality products, including knowledge products, and in contributing to complex processes within the women’s economic empowerment area of work.
  • Demonstrated coordination, training, facilitation, and presentation skills.
  • Results oriented, flexible and problem-solving skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) Political Science, Sociology, International Relations, or relevant field and/or equivalent practical experience.

Experience:

  • At least seven years of experience integrating gender equality and political participation and representation; including proven experience integrating gender equality and electoral cycle, women’s political participation, and gender based electoral violence mitigation.
  • Three years of experience with UN Intergovernmental processes including those related to women’s empowerment, gender mainstreaming and gender equality.
  • Three years of experience working with multi-stakeholder organizations is essential: governments, CSOs, and the UN/ multilateral/bilateral institutions. 
  • Five years of experience in programme design and results-based management.
  • Three years of experience with UN electoral assistance processes.

Language Requierements:

Professional proficiency in Arabic and English (oral and written).

This SSA modality is governed by UN Women General Terms and Conditions.

The following documents should be submitted as part of the application. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials:

  • UN Women P11 including experience in similar assignments; the P11 form can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment, a signed copy should be submitted.

Candidates should have the ability to quickly submit degree certificates, medical certification (of good health) expression of Interest (EoI).

Evaluation of applicants:

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications mentioned above, and a financial proposal. A contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer receives the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria. Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 50 points in the technical evaluation will be considered for financial evaluation.

Technical Evaluation (70%) – max. 70 points:

Education:  (max 10 points).

Experience:

  • At least seven years of experience integrating gender equality and political participation and representation; including proven experience integrating gender equality and electoral cycle, women’s political participation, and gender based electoral violence mitigation (max 15 points).
  • Three years of experience with UN Intergovernmental processes including those related to women’s empowerment, gender mainstreaming and gender equality (max 10 points).
  • Three years of experience working with multi-stakeholder organizations is essential: governments, CSOs, and the UN/ multilateral/bilateral institutions (max 10 points).
  • Five years of experience in programme design and results-based management (max 10 points).
  • Three years of experience with UN electoral assistance processes (max 10 points).
  • Professional proficiency in Arabic and English (oral and written) (max 5 points).

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.

Financial proposal. The shortlisted candidate will be requested to submit a financial proposal. The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount breaking down a daily professional fee, proposed number of working days and any related expenses, i.e. travel and communications expenses in USD.

This vacancy is now closed.
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