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National Consultant to support Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection to undertake a mid-term review of the implementation of the Strategy to ensure equality between women and men for 2017-2021.

Vacancy Number: Pr20/02060

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	07 Aug 2020, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	13 Aug 2020, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	20 Aug 2020, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Starting date:	17 Aug 2020
Reference to the project:	UN Women
Expected Duration of Assignment:	Up to 25 working days during August - October 2020
Submission Instructions: Interested candidates are invited to submit their online applications by 7 August 2020 with the following documents. Duly filled Personal HistoryForm (P-11 form) - including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment, a signed copy should be submitted; 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 (in MDL) - specifying an all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs as per template provided.
Supporting Documents: Annex I Price Proposal Guideline and Template.docx Annex II Price Proposal Submission Form.docx ToR midtermreview GE Strategy.docx 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. Placing women's rights at the center of all its efforts, the UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. 

The work of UN Women in the Republic of Moldova is guided by its new Country Strategic Note for 2018-2022, aligned with the Republic of Moldova–United Nations Partnership Framework for Sustainable Development 2018–2022, the Global Strategic Plan of UN Women for 2018-2021, the National Strategy on Gender Equality for 2017-2021 (NSGE), and aims to contribute to the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.  

The UN Women Strategy for Moldova 2018-2022 focuses on three main areas where gender equality gaps are still present: 1) strengthening women’s participation in politics and decision making, 2) advancing the economic empowerment of women and 3) preventing and combating violence against women and girls. To achieve progress under these areas, UN Women works with variety of national and international partners and as part of different national and regional initiatives.

Through its programmes, UN Women is providing technical assistance to national partners (governmental and non-governmental) in the implementation of existing international and national commitments to women’s rights and gender equality, it facilitates networking and exchange of good practices and advocates for women’s rights and gender equality in all areas of life.

Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Protection is one of the key UN Women’s national partners, collaborating and cooperating in the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding, singed between parties at the beginning of 2018 year. One of the common objectives of the strategic partnership is to contribute to the implementation of the Strategy to ensure equality between women and men for 2017-2021 (GE Strategy) and its associated Action Plan, approved in early 2017. The GE Strategy focuses on ten areas of interventions such as: women’s participation in decision-making, labor market and gender pay gap, social protection and family policies, health, education, climate. The actual status of the GE Strategy is under implementation till the end of 2021 and is a subject for mid-term evaluation.

According to the provisions of the Government Decision nr.259/2017, The Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Protection has the overall responsibility for the coordination of the GE Strategy’s implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the results achieved and envisaged a mid-term revision and a final evaluation of the implementation of the strategy (p.86).

Since the GE Strategy reached the middle of the implementation period, MHLSP has planned to undertake a mid-term review with the aim to update the content and realign the future interventions in accordance with the current national context and taking into consideration the 2020 CEDAW’s Committee Concluding Observations along with the key challenges deriving from COVID-19 pandemic.

Therefore, following the MHLSP request to support the process of mid-term revision of the GE Strategy, UN Women intends to hire a national consultant to support in undertaking this exercise.

Scope of work

The national consultant is expected to support the Department of policies for ensuring equality between women and men within the MHLSP to undertake the mid-term review of the GE Strategy and of the results obtained during three years of implementation. Based on them and on identified constraints and challenges, the national consultant shall provide concrete recommendations on updating the policy document, at the level of objectives and potential areas of interventions.

The overall purpose of the mid-term revision is to assess the progress (and challenges) at the overall objectives level, with measurement of the achievement (and non-achievement) of GE Strategy’s specific objectives, including identification of factors that affected the implementation. Gaps and lessons learnt will be assessed and also recommendations will be provided to guide future GE Strategy amendments and update by MHLSP.

The mid-term review will primarily address the criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and potential for sustainability, in correspondence with the provisions of the Government Decision nr.386/2020 and the Methodological Guidelines on midterm and ex-post policies evaluations, placed on the State Chancellery website[1].  

The specific mid-term review objectives are:

1. To assess the relevance of the GE Strategy in regard to consistency, ownership and congruency, technical adequacy, and complementarity with other sectoral policy documents.
2. To determine the effectiveness of the GE Strategy in achievement of results, highlighting reasons for achievement and non-achievement of results and factors contributing/hindering achievement of the results.
3. To assess the sustainability of the GE Strategy including the participation of key stakeholders in planning and implementation of interventions, as well as assessing the measures taken to ensure that activities initiated will be completed and continued on cessation of donor support.
4. Document good practices, innovations and lessons learnt and provide concrete and actionable recommendations for future programming.
5. To provide recommendations and practical suggestions on how to revise the GE Strategy’s results framework particularly focusing on indicators, baseline and targets document where necessary and enhance its ability to gauge change for the rest of the Strategy’s implementation period.
6. Analyze how human rights approach and gender equality principles were integrated in implementation.

Tasks and responsibilities

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the UN Women Monitoring and Reporting Analyst, the consultant will be responsible for following tasks:

• Desk review of key documents, including:
• Annual GE Strategy’s implementation reports (2017, 2018, 2019).
• Statistical data provided by the ministries and other central government authorities and local government authorities
• Performance indicators of the strategic document for general and specific objectives
• Analyses, studies, research in the field.
• Periodical national reports on the implementation of key International Human Right Treaties, including CEDAW.
• Other relevant information.
• Design a detailed plan of work, including data collection tools and instruments.
• Undertake the data collections via identified tools and instruments (in case of the one-to-one online consultations/sessions with key stakeholders and partners UN Women could provide logistical support in offering Zoom connection, if needed).
• Develop the first draft of the mid-term review report outlining relevance of the GE Strategy’s objectives and key findings challenges, gaps and recommendations.
• Capture the main findings and issues identified in a PowerPoint presentation and brief the DEO and UN Women CO team.
• Presentation and validation of revision findings to stakeholders and collect feedback (potential participants: DEO, representative of gender coordination groups, UN GTG, civil society, etc.).
• Preparation of final mid-term review report structured according to the provisions of the Government Decision nr.386/2020.

While undertaking this assignment, the consultant should consider the limitations and risks for implementation imposed by COVID19 pandemic and reflect them in the proposed work plan.

Expected deliverables

Duration of the assignment

The total duration of the contract is planned for up to 25 days during August - October 2020.

Management arrangements

The National Consultant will work under overall guidance and supervision  with the Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Protection (MHLSP) / the Department of policies on ensuring equality between women and men (DEO) and in close cooperation of the UN Women Monitoring and Reporting Analyst.

Travel

No travels are envisaged under the current assignment. In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UN Women and the National Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Performance evaluation

National Consultant’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

 Financial arrangements

Payment will be disbursed in 2 instalments, upon submission and approval of deliverables by the UN Women Monitoring and Reporting Analyst that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

Competences

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.

Requirements for experience

Education: 

• Master’s degree or advanced university degree in social science, gender/women’s studies, programme management, or other related fields.

University degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the Master`s Degree

Experience: 

• Minimum 7 years of professional work experience in public policies development and implementation, including monitoring and evaluation activities.

• Minimum 3 years of proven work experience in the field public policies monitoring and evaluation.  
• Experience of carrying out consultative research and in producing out analytical reports.  
• Minimum 2 years of experience in working with international organizations (successful experience in working with UN agencies is an asset).

Language skills: 

• Excellent verbal and written Romanian. Working knowledge of English and Russian will be considered an advantage. 

Documents to be included

Interested candidates are invited to submit their online applications by 7 August 2020 with the following documents.

• Duly filled Personal HistoryForm (P-11 form) - including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment, a signed copy should be submitted;
• 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 (in MDL) - specifying an all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs as per template provided.

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.

The United Nations in Moldova is committed to workforce diversity. Women, persons with disabilities, Roma and other ethnic or religious minorities, persons living with HIV, as well as refugees and other non-citizens legally entitled to work in the Republic of Moldova, are particularly encouraged to apply.