Consultant for the Development of Content for E-Learning Course Module on RES1325 Women Peace Security

Background

Project ‘Digital Governance Acceleration’ aims to improve the institutional resilience and enhancing the trust in institutions through support to digital governance transformation. The goal of the project is to support the transition towards an adaptive, effective and open governance to place human development at the centre of digital transformation.

The COVID-19 crisis signalled a mismatch between quality of public services and citizens’ and businesses’ expectations in that regard. Although the Government, adopted a set of measures to fight more effectively with the COVID-19, due to the lack of senior leadership and strategic guidance, majority of institutions were not able to adapt to current circumstances, leading to a shutdown/or considerable slowdown to public services provision. Those institutions with better infrastructure and human capital in place made it easier to maintain the continuity in the provision of public services and deploy the online services where possible. Meeting the expectations of new reality poses a great challenge for Government as it requires the digital transformation of government themselves.

The promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women is central to the mandate of UNDP and intrinsic to its development approach. UNDP is leading strategic process in order to advance gender equality agenda in line with international frameworks (EU & UN) and development priorities of the country. 

Women in Montenegro make half of population (50.61%) but society has not yet seen a fully accomplished overall development contribution of women, particularly not to the extent corresponding to their real potential. According to the Constitution, Montenegro is declared as a "civil, democratic, ecological and the state of social justice, based on the rule of law". However, women still represent a minority in social, economic and political life. In the Parliament of Montenegro there are 27% of women (MPs) while in the Government of Montenegro there are 4 women at the Ministerial positions.United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 – Women, Peace, Security (UNSCR 1325) in October 2000, with the principal goal of increasing women’s participation in all decisions related to peace and conflict. However, in today's context, the Resolution is viewed more broadly in the context of human security which includes since, in the contemporary concept of security, special emphasis is put on human aspects of security, which include the sense of security, access to services, knowledge, resources, equal opportunities for personal and professional development. These became particularly visible during COVID-19 crisis, as well as the existing inequalities between women and men in all areas of life. 

Montenegro has developed its first UNSCR1325 National Action Plan two years ago (NAP 2017-2018) as a part of national effort to join NATO. This Action Plan constitutes the first attempt of the government of Montenegro to implement the UNSCR 1325 and its related resolutions. Due to the recent assessment on perceptions and attitudes of PA employees involved in implementation of RES 1325 conducted by UNDP, main obstacles in the implementation of Resolution 1325  in Montenegro is insufficiently information about the Resolution and insufficient engagement of certain institutions (including Parliament) in the implementation of activities envisaged by the Resolution and a lack of professional staff in the institutions dealing with the application of the Resolution and the related training of other employees.Human Resource Management Authority (HRMA) developed a digital learning platform, which will enable the training and re-training of civil servants in different fields relevant for increasing efficiency in public administration. The platform will be upgraded with online courses, whose development is supported by UNDP, in the areas of digital governance and use of digital tools, creating and managing open data sets, and mainstream gender in public administration and service delivery. In line with the needs of the improvement of competences of civil servants, the learning platform will be expanded with new programs and it will identify gender balanced group of civil servants that will be trained and will further support digital skills building in Government. Also, UNDP organized a survey to assess the required skills of civil servants in public administration, and the results will serve as a basis for further development and improvement of the digital learning platform and for the design of specific online courses.

In order to create accountable, efficient, accessible and service-oriented public administration, the design and development of digital tools and services and their improvement should be entrusted to civil servants who have skills and knowledge to meet requirements both of the administration and of citizens, civil society and the business sector. UNDP is supporting Government in strengthening human and technical capacities for the application of digital services through creating profiles and career paths for inclusive digital transformation. Human capacities in public administration should be strengthened in terms of policy design that is gender sensitive, implementation and enforcement of digital governance framework.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the assignment:  

The objective of the assignment to deliver a content and program and develop the instructional storyboard for online course module on Resolution 1325 Women Peace Security. Specifically, the consultant is expected to provide the content for e-learning (considering learning objectives), test and deploy the online course module on the representative sample, support the creation of off-line version of the course and provide support in transmission the course into an interactive online form. 

The course module should be organized into modules (chapters) and each will involve presentations including good practices, hints and tips, practical assignments and/or exercises. The content and program of the course module should be adapted to the online form, which need to be simple, goal-oriented, interactive, and dynamic, incorporating best practices in adult learning as well as designing and developing e-learning courses and respecting the requirements of the duration up to 30 minutes and the identified needs of civil servants. 

All materials should be prepared and delivered in Montenegrin language. 

Job content: 

Under the supervision of the UNDP Project Manager, in consultation with the HRMA and the Ministry of Public Administration, Digital Society and Media, the consultant will perform the following tasks:

• Prepare a methodology and action plan, with clearly specified timeframe and tasks that should be implemented
• Map all materials and documentation necessary for the preparation of course module for content/program on S/RES/1325 Women Peace Security 
• Ensure that the content/program of the courses module is adapted to be transmitted into the online form, and simple, goal-oriented, interactive, and dynamic, incorporating best practices in adult learning as well as designing and developing e-learning courses and respecting the requirements of the duration up to 30 minutes and the identified needs of civil servants
• Test the course content and program on the representative sample
• Support the software developers in the creation of off-line version of the course and provide support in transmission the course into an interactive online form 
• Prepare the Final report on undertaken activities to the UNDP Project Manager. It should contain sufficient details and information that would allow for the appraisal of the effectiveness to date of the assignment’s activities.

The expected deliverables: Under the supervision of the Project Manager, in consultation with the HRMA and the Ministry of Public Administration, Digital Society and Media, the consultant is expected to deliver the following results:

• Methodology and action plan, with clearly specified timeframe and responsibilities
• Mapped and reviewed all materials and documentation necessary for the preparation of course modules content and program 
• Designed the content and program for e-learning
• Tested course content and program on the representative sample
• Brief report on the ensured support to the software developers in the creation of off-line version of the course and in transmission the course into an interactive online form 
• The Final Report on undertaken activities.

Timing and reporting: The local consultant will be engaged under individual contract, 20 days in the period December 10, 2021 – February 28, 2022. The consultant will work under direct supervision of UNDP Project Manager and in consultation with the HRMA and the Ministry of Public Administration, Digital Society and Media. The consultant will be responsible to prepare the Final report to the Project Manager, and it should contain sufficient details and information that would allow for the appraisal of the effectiveness to date of the assignment’s activities.

Time duration and travel: The local consultant will be engaged under individual contract, 20 days in the period December 10, 2021 – February 28, 2022. During the engagement, taking into account the epidemiological situation, the consultant will be home based and as needed in Podgorica.

Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UN/UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting;
• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Excellent communication skills, facility in working with teams and capacity to compose clear and readable narrative reports;
• Demonstrates ability to manage complexities and work under pressure, as well as conflict resolution skills;
• Excellent organizational and time management skills;
• Knowledge Management and Learning;
• Shares knowledge and experience; 
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills; 
• Ability to perform a variety of standard tasks related to Results Management, including collecting of documentation, data entering, preparation of revisions, filling, provision of information; 
• Ability to provide input to business processes re-engineering, implementation of new systems;
• Excellent inter-personal and communication skills; 
• Ability to work independently and in a team.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• University degree in Social Science;

Experience:

• Minimum five years of experience in the field of gender equality, women’s empowerment;
• Demonstrated experience in development of content related to gender equality;
• Relevant knowledge of S/RES/1325 Women Peace Security;
• Experience in developing highly interactive courses/trainings, including preparation of training materials; (offline or online) – at least 3 courses/trainings designed;
• Good knowledge in analysing and processing data and preparation of extensive reports;
• Knowledge of the public administration system in Montenegro will be considered an advantage;

Language:

• Fluency in Montenegrin language;
• English language knowledge will be considered asset. 

Criteria for selection:

Combined Scoring method will be used. When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: (i) responsive, compliant, acceptable, and (ii) having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

• Technical criteria weight - 70% (Background and education 10%; Relevant previous experience 20%; Substantial knowledge/Required competencies 30%; Required language 10%);
• Financial criteria weight - 30%.

Only offerors obtaining a minimum 490 points for technical criteria will be considered for the financial evaluation. For more information on procurement methodology for Individual Contractors, please refer to Procurement Notice.

Application procedure:

Interested applicants are requested to submit their applications by December 05, 2021 by using the Apply now button. The application should contain CV or P11 that can be downloaded at https://www.me.undp.org/content/montenegro/en/home/jobs.html. Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file.

Only the short-listed applicants will be contacted and requested to submit a letter of interest including a price quotation indicating the lump sum (in EUR) requested for the work envisaged in the section "Description of Responsibilities".