Budget Allocation Analyst to conduct an analysis of budget allocations to address violence against women in the Arab States-International and National

Background

Under its strategic plan 2022-2025, UN Women ROAS aims to support the Arab States’ response to violence against women, with particular focus on domestic violence and violence in the public space. The proposed interventions include, notably, the enhancement of member states’ accountability to financing the prevention and response to violence against women in the Arab states and strengthening the regional monitoring to follow up on the implementation of national commitments to address violence against women.

Arab countries have made remarkable progress in amending or implementing legal systems that eliminate discrimination against women, protect women and girls, and address social stereotypes based on gender discrimination, in line with their obligations under several international instruments. Constitutions in two countries, Tunisia (2014 constitution, article 46) and Egypt (2014 constitution, article 11) expressly provide for the protection of women and girls from violence. Most Arab countries have established the necessary legislative environment to address violence against women, by issuing or strengthening laws to combat violence against women. At the policy level, eight countries have developed strategies addressing violence against women, namely Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco, the State of Palestine, the Sudan and Tunisia, in addition to Egypt and Lebanon where violence against women is addressed through a national strategy to empower women.  

However, and despite the progress achieved, there is still a need to translate the commitments made into action. One of the factors slowing implementation of these commitments is the gap in financial resources, which limits investments in VAW prevention and response. National representatives of the Women’s Committee under the League of Arab States have placed the prevention and response to violence against women as one of the key priorities in the region. In the declaration issued the Arab Regional Preparatory Meeting for the 66th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, member states in the region have identified the need to follow up on the development and implementation of national legislation and policies to fill the gaps necessary to eliminate all forms of violence and discrimination against women and girls in all areas in line with international and regional conventions on human rights ratified by Arab countries, and proceed with the necessary measures to protect women and girls from all forms of violence which exacerbates during crises and pandemics in many countries, including the provision of effective monitoring and accountability mechanisms and ensuring the availability of the financial resources necessary for their implementation. 

In line with those recommendations and with monitoring the achievements under the Cairo declaration, UN Women ROAS is seeking to engage a consultant to work closely with the League of Arab States to  1) review and analyze existing policy/legislative commitments and strategies, sectoral budget allocations– in-line with strategy on EVAW (with associated planned budgets where available); 2) develop and/or refine an existing  methodology to assess budget allocations to EVAW in a sample of 4 countries; 3) conduct analysis of alignment of identified budget allocations with evidence-based prevention and programming standards (i.e. budget allocated to VAW prevention, provision of services and prosecution); 5) identify gaps and entry points and recommend changes to strengthen implementation of national strategies, based on a quantitative/qualitative analysis.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main objective of this assignment is to undertake an analysis to assess the resources allocated in Arab States for combating violence against women for the implementation of national commitments as embedded in national strategies and EVAW Frameworks' implementation at three levels: prevention, provision of services and prosecution. The assignment is intended to generate baseline data on budget allocations to EVAW in Arab State countries. The data will be used to assess whether resources are being allocated for EVAW policies/programmes and support tracking of resources over 3 years in the selected countries to identify potential changes in targeting/re-directing resources for interventions and to provide evidence for advocacy/policy action.

The consultant will work under the guidance of the ROAS EVAW programme Specialist and the League of Arab States to:

• Conduct a desk review of the most relevant EVAW strategies and frameworks, legislative and policy documents on Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) in Arab States including existing Gender Equality and Women Empowerment (GEWE) policies and GRB commitments, as well as civil society reports. The review should include reviewing the current budget system -such as budget law annual reports of 2020/2021 when available to extract budgets allocated to violence against women across the different sectors, the percentage of allocations per sector and per the general budget - and identifying the key gaps in GRB implementation from the literature.
• Identify the targeted stakeholders of public EVAW service providers to determine the programmes and budgets information to analyse, and the type of data sources available in the selected countries.
• Prepare a methodology note, potentially drawing on existing methods, and workplan detailing the proposed working modalities, the identified data sources and an analysis matrix with timelines.
• Facilitate a consultative meeting with the targeted stakeholders and representatives of national women machineries / ministries of finance/sectoral ministries to validate the accuracy of the targeted partners per country, familiarize partners with the exercise’s methodology and facilitate their buy-in.
• Prepare a questionnaire for member states to collect information to assess allocations for addressing violence against women with a guidance note to the countries on how to answer it that includes examples of what is a gender responsive intervention/set of interventions. The questionnaire could reference (as appropriate) SDG 5.c.1 indicator methodology to assess the existence of Public Financial Management (PFM) system.
• Collect data on priorities, gaps and opportunities in resource allocation to implement national and regional commitments through interviews with country budget and accounting offices, focal points within line Ministries, and civil society organizations to have a better understanding of the situation, challenges and opportunities.
• Analyze allocation data according to evidence-based prevention and response programming standards- with the possibility of facilitating a series of national/regional workshops in the analysis process.
• Prepare a draft regional report with key findings and recommendations, to include the different country experiences,  and analysis of major issues found across the region.
• Validate and present the key results and policy recommendations to member states to initiate a discussion on VAW financing and ways to improve it in the Arab States.
• Finalize recommendations to improve financing on violence against women in the region.
• Develop a snapshot for each country - including visualized materials to demonstrate the findings, key gaps and policy recommendations.

The consultant is expected to hold several follow up meetings with the ROAS EVAW team and the League of Arab States. The consultant is expected to present the data to member states as needed.

Deliverables	Number of working days	Payment	Timeline
An inception report that covers the literature review and analysis of EVAW strategies/programmes; reviewing/analyzing the current budget system of the different categories of budget allocation by different sectors that aim to support prevention of and services on VAW; and mapping the targeted stakeholders of public EVAW service providers and the data sources in the selected countries	15 days	10%	November 2022
Methodology Note and workplan detailing the proposed working modalities, the identified data sources and an analysis matrix with timelines	3 days		November 2022
Design and carryout the consultative meeting with stakeholders and member states’ representatives (virtual)	3 days		December 2022
Create and disseminate the questionnaire to member states, and the guidelines for answering; and carryout interviews with country budget and accounting offices, and focal points within line Ministries, and civil society organizations (qualitative data).	14 days	10%	December 2022 -January 2023
Analyze the collected data and assess allocations according to evidence-based prevention and response programming standards- with the possibility of facilitating a series of national/regional workshops in the analysis process	10 days		February 2023
Draft report with key regional/country findings and initial recommendations (60 pages)	10 days	30%	February- March 2023
Preparation of the meeting with member states (concept note, agenda and key outcomes of the meeting, presentation)	5 days		March 2023
Compilation of the feedback from UN Women, LAS and member states to integrate in Final report with key recommendations	10 days	50%	March 2023

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: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

• Strong knowledge and applied experience in gender responsive budgeting and/or gender budget analysis, particularly in the area of violence against women;
• Expert knowledge of the Government Planning and budgeting frameworks in the Arab States;
• knowledge of programme budgets in different sectors and methods for tracking and monitoring budget allocations and expenditures. Technical knowledge of policies and programmes on gender equality and EVAWG;
• Strong analytical, and writing skills, translating analysis into clear and action-oriented recommendations;
• Excellent in time management, demonstrated capacity of multi-tasking, and working effectively under pressure for extended periods and meet strict deadline;
• Demonstrated experience of working in challenging knowledge-based and results-based management environment;
• Ability to engage substantively with networks of professionals in Public Finance Management and others in this field;
• Ability to work independently and be able to effectively interact with various constituencies;
• A strong team player, willing to lend a hand to other team members and partners when required.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Have a minimum of a master’s or above qualification in relevant areas: Finance, Public Policy, Social Sciences, Gender Studies, Public Administration;
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• At least 7 years working on gender responsive budgeting, and/or public finance management;
• At least 5 years’ experience working on gender equality and human rights, with experience in the area of elimination of violence against women and girls (EVAWG);
• At least 5 years of progressively responsible relevant experience in public policy development and implementation, is a valuable asset;
• At least 5 years’ experience in program budgeting, costing, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting in public sector is a strong asset;
• Experience working in the Arab States region would be a valuable asset;
• Experience in conducting similar exercises in other regions would be a valuable asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency English is required (both written and oral);
• Knowledge of Arabic and French is an important asset (the consultant will be required to review and search for documents in Arabic and French);

Evaluation Criteria:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology: Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for the financial evaluation.

Criteria Weight Technical: 70% (70 points)

• Criteria 1:  At least 7 years working on gender responsive budgeting, and/or public finance management (30%);
• Criteria 2:  At least 5 years of progressively responsible relevant experience in public policy development and implementation (10%);
• Criteria 3:  At least 5 years’ experience in program budgeting, costing, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting in public sector (20%);
•  Criteria 4: Fluency English is required, with Knowledge of Arabic and French (10%).

Financial: Lowest Financial Proposal: 30% (30 points)

The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula:

• Contract will be awarded to the technically qualified consultant who obtains the highest combined score (financial and technical);
• The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula: (Lowest Bid Offered*)/ (Bid of the Consultant) x 30;
• 'Lowest Bid Offered' refers to the lowest price offered by Offerors scoring at least 49 points in the technical evaluation.

Application:

Interested Individual Consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• A cover letter with a brief presentation of your consultancy explaining your suitability for the work and link to portfolio of work;
• UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment;
• Personal CV; and Financial proposal; Proposed inclusive daily rate.

The above-mentioned documents should be merged in a standalone file including all them, since the online application submission does only permit to upload one file per application. Incomplete submission can be a ground for disqualification.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality, and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW, and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits employ, trains, compensates and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity, and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority, and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)