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National consultant to support Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Protection on gender/aid coordination.

Vacancy Number: Pr17/01657

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	10 Jan 2018, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	16 Jan 2018, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	22 Jan 2018
Reference to the project:	UN Women
Expected Duration of Assignment:	One year
Supporting Documents: Procurement Notice Terms of Reference Personal History Form (P11) UN Women UN Women Conditions of Service Consultants

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.

UN Women’s presence in the Republic of Moldova has evolved from being a project-based office in 2007 to a Country Office with full delegated authority as of 2015. Currently, UN Women Moldova Country Office is in its final stage of implementing its Strategic Note (SN) for 2014-2017 and a new Strategic Note has been developed and approved for the upcoming five-years period 2018-2022, which is aligned with the Republic of Moldova–United Nations Partnership Framework for Sustainable Development 2018–2022 and the Global Strategic Plan of UN Women. Under its current and upcoming SN, UN Women cooperates closely with the government, civil society, academia, private sector and the media to advance social, economic and political rights and opportunities for women and girls, placing special focus on those from marginalized, excluded and under-represented groups. These include rural women, Romani women, women with disabilities, women living with or affected by HIV, women survivors of violence, women migrants, elderly women and others. UN Women’s operation in Moldova focuses on bringing about concrete change in the lives of women and the society towards the long-term impact of achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in the country. Specifically, the SN2018-2022 will advance progress under the following three Impact Areas (IA): IA1: More women from diverse groups fully participate and lead in governance processes and institutions, IA2: Women have income security, decent work and economic autonomy, IA3: Public authorities, institutions and communities prevent violence against women and girls and deliver quality essential services. Towards these Impact Areas, UN Women works with variety of national and international partners to challenge gender-based stereotypes and towards the creation of an environment, whereby women act as key agents of change towards greater equality and development, in partnership with men and boys.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” (the 2030 Agenda) - the successor framework to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was adopted at the UN Sustainable Development Summit on 25-27 September 2015. Agenda prioritize and truly integrate gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) into the UN’s sustainable development agenda for the 21^st century. For the first time, the GEWE normative framework is integrated into specific goals and targets that governments pledge to achieve individually and together. It is an ambitious, universal and transformative agenda for sustainable development and a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity, negotiated by all Member States and applicable to all Member States. Globally agreed but nationally-owned and led, the GEWE framework within the 2030 Agenda has the best ever chance of being implemented because of its own recognized value for human rights and sustainable development, but also because of the enabler - beneficiary linkages and synergies - both horizontal and vertical - within Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 and across most other SDGs, targets and indicators.

The new National Strategy on Gender Equality for the period 2017-2021 approved by the Government (no 259, dated 28 April 2017) will serve as the basis policy framework under which the Ministry of Health, Labour and Social protection (MHLSPF) will work for promotion of GEWE agenda. The law on equal opportunity was also revised and reinforced the necessity to enhance the focal points within the public and central authorities and the gender machinery at the national level.

Therefore, UN Women is looking for a consultant/expert with expertise in the area of the gender equality and women’s human rights, to extend support to and be part of the Ministry Task Force to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of GEWE coordination at country level. This will be done through facilitation of communication and participation of stakeholders in the planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of the impact of the development policies on equal basis on men and women.

Scope of work

The selected national consultant shall support the Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Protection (MHLSP) of the Republic of Moldova in coordinating effectively and efficiently the GEWE agenda implementation and external assistance provided by development partners to the sector.

Under the direct supervision of the UN Women Programme Specialist and guidance of UN Women Monitoring and Evaluation Officer and in close cooperation with designated representative of the MHLSPF the national consultant shall be responsible to support the coordination role of the ministry in the gender equality mainstreaming and aid coordination for the sector.

More specifically, the following major tasks shall be undertaken by the national consultant:

Tasks and activities and Estimated workload (workdays)

1. Organize periodic coordination meetings with main stakeholders within the gender equality group and Social Sector Coordination Council and prepare the minutes for the meetings - Up to 15 days.
2. Undertake continuous updating of donor interventions in the area of work of the MLSPF. Coordinate the efforts with the External aid coordination unit of the State Chancellery - Up to 10 days.
3. Facilitate the work on harmonizing the development goals and commitments from international treaty bodies provided to the Republic of Moldova - Up to 10 days.
4. Collect and analyze relevant data for reports per MHLSP requirements related to the implementation of the National Strategy for Ensuring Equality between Women and Men - Up to 30 days.
5. Collect and analyze relevant data for reports per MHLSP requirements related to the implementation of the upcoming Strategy to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence - Up to 30 days.
6. Provide guidance and recommendations on gender mainstreaming of development policies under consultations and facilitate in the process of coordinating the implementation of sectorial policy documents on gender equality - Up to 20 days.
7. Initiate and organize quarterly joint meetings with the MHLSPF and UN Women CO on main developments in the field of collaboration on GEWE agenda with the Social Sector External Assistance partners - Up to 10 days.
8. Ensure the full support for Organize Development Partners conference/workshop once a year for planning and reporting purpose in the field of GEWE agenda of the MHLSP domain - Up to 10 days.
9. Coordinate above mentioned activities with the MLSPF and UN Women to ensure a smooth implementation of activities under the supported projects and providing relevant data for the progress reports. - Up to 25 days.
10. Provide full support to the MHLSP in ensuring the secretariat role to the Government Committee on Gender Equality - Up to 10 days.
11. Provide support to DEO and facilitate in the process of fostering the activity of gender coordination groups within the line ministries - Up to 25 days.
12. Provide comprehensive support in elaboration of sectorial informative/analytical notes and data compilation on areas of GEWE policies implementations - Up to 30 days.

Total: Up to 225 days

Note: The mentioned number of working days has been estimated as being sufficient/feasible for the envisaged volume of work to be completed successfully and is proposed as a guideline for the duration of assignment. It cannot and shall not be used as criteria for completion of work/assignment. The provision of envisaged deliverables approved by the UN Women National Programme Officer shall be the only criteria for National Consultant work being completed and eligible for payment/s.

Requirements for experience

Education:

• University degree in social studies, gender or development, law, or other social or economic science related to the area relevant for the assignment is required;
• Other formal education relevant for the assignment is an asset.

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of proven experience working/collaborating with Central and Local public authorities in assisting/supporting drafting policy recommendations/ policy reports or coordinating activities;
• Minimum 3 years of proven work experience in the area of social protection or gender equality, human rights and development;
• Minimum 2 years of experience in working with international organizations (successful experience in working with UN agencies is an asset)

Language skills:

Fluency in verbal & written Romanian and English. Working knowledge of Russian will be considered an asset.

Documents to be included

Interested candidates are invited to submit their online applications by 10 January 2018 with the following documents.

• Duly filled Personal History Form PHF11/CV;
• Letter of Intent to include a brief overview about which of your previous experiences makes you the most suitable candidate for the advertised position;
• Financial proposal (with breakdown of fee on a per day basis).

Financial proposal

The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of the lump sum amount (daily rate and number of anticipated working days). Please see the annexes to the Terms of Reference - Annex I: Price Proposal Guideline and Template and Annex II: Price Proposal Submission Form.