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Local Individual Consultant on civil society to provide programmatic support to UN Women within EVA project for working with civil society from Ungheni in Cahul to become vocal advocates for gender equality.

Vacancy Number: Pr20/02130

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	02 Dec 2020, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Starting date:	14 Dec 2020
Reference to the project:	UN Women
Expected Duration of Assignment:	20 Months
Submission Instructions: Interested candidates are invited to submit their online applications by December 02, 2020 with the following documents. Duly filled Personal History Form PHF11/CV (downloadable from http://www.unwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/P_11_form_UNwomen.doc); 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 – specifying a total lump sum amount for the task specified in Terms of References. The Financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (daily rate). Please see ANNEX I .
Supporting Documents: Terms of Reference Annex 1 Annex 2 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, 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 Moldova is guided by its 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), the National Strategy for prevention and combating violence against women and domestic violence for 2018-2023 developed in line with the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention). UN Women Strategy for Moldova 2018-2022 focuses on three main areas: 1) strengthening women’s participation in politics and decision-making, 2) economic empowerment of women and 3) ending violence against women and girls. To achieve progress under these areas, UN Women works with a variety of national and international partners, as part of different national and regional initiatives.

Based on the European Commission Decision ENI/2018/041-302 regarding the Annual Action Programme 2018 in favor of the Republic of Moldova for supporting the implementation of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement, UN Women Moldova CO is implementing a three-year project under the name “Strengthened Gender Action in Cahul and Ungheni districts” (hereinafter EVA). The project is implemented in line with and in contribution to the Gender Action Plan II (GAP II) of European Commission “Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: Transforming the lives of girls and women through external relations 2016-2020”, adopted in September 2015.

The project started in January 2020, being funded by the European Union, co-founded and implemented by UN Women Moldova Country Office and in partnership with UNICEF. The overall purpose of the EVA Project is to promote gender equality, women’s empowerment through strengthened implementation of gender mainstreaming in local policies and combating gender-based and domestic violence affecting women and children in two focal regions: Ungheni and Cahul.

The principles of gender equality and women empowerment are central to the EVA Project, as women in Moldova continue to face gender inequalities when it comes to decision-making, the labor market, the gender pay gap, as the regulatory framework still impedes women to participate and have certain occupations and allows for discrimination based on age, disability, marital status, etc.

One of the expected results under EVA Project is that gender equality is promoted and mainstreamed in local policy making and decision-making. Thus, it is envisaged to integrate gender equality in local policies and budgets (or in local policy making), through training elected and appointed representatives of the LPAs on gender equality and gender mainstreaming and its implications for decisions taken by the LPAs;  supporting LPAs to contribute to the principles of the European Charter for Equality of Women and Men in Local Life; raising the awareness and capacities of local CSOs and gender advocates – as rights holders - to monitor the implementation of policies and budgets from the gender equality perspective and demand accountability of duty bearers; raising awareness of local population from selected regions on gender equality and empowering women to actively participate in local decision-making processes.

Another set of expected results under EVA project refers to a greater access to effective survivor - focused multidisciplinary services for the victims of domestic violence, including sexual violence; and violence prevention programmes piloted in local schools and communities. These should be achieved through a range of interventions, inclusively through strengthening the capacities of the multidisciplinary teams for an effective protection of women/children victims of domestic violence, empowering domestic violence survivors, and using innovative tools to raise the capacities of local civil society to change attitudes and behaviors on violence against women and gender-based violence.   

RATIONALE

To successful implement the EVA project activities related to promoting innovative approaches for engaging civil society in advancing gender equality and preventing violence against women and gender-based violence, UN Women will contract a national consultant with experience in working with civil society and/or in ending violence against women (EVAW) as short term individual programmatic consultant.

The national consultant will be working closely with the international company contracted in the framework of the project to provide liaison with the local civil society organizations, facilitation activities, and analytical work to contribute to equipping local CSOs with tools and skills to become vocal advocates for gender equality and to challenge existing norms and behaviours at local level.   

Scope of work

The UN Women within EVA project seeks to contract one Consultant on Civil Society and/or EVAW (hereinafter “the Consultant”) to provide analytical support, technical and consultancy in the implementation of the assignment in partnership with the foreign company contracted by UN Women to promote innovative approaches in engaging civil society in advancing gender equality and in preventing violence against women and gender-based violence in Cahul and Ungheni districts for up to 130 days.

The consultant is expected to work under the supervision of the EVA Programme Manager and in close collaboration with the EVA Programme Officers for effective achievement of results, anticipating and resolving complex programme-related issues and information delivery.

More specifically, the consultant will be responsible for the following main tasks:

• Liaise the foreign company with local CSOs on equipping them with tools and skills to become vocal advocates for gender equality and to challenge existing norms and behaviors at local levels advancing GE.
• Provide local specific information to the company to design activities tailored to the local needs and based on the best practices and cultural accepted norms.
• Act as local counterpart in the implementation of the institutional contract.
• Assist EVA team in coordinating the activities carried out in Cahul and Ungheni by UN Women.
• Organize any additional meetings and consultations with other stakeholders if necessary (to be decided in consultation with UN Women).
• Facilitate interaction of the foreign company with the local stakeholders, inclusively through informal interpretation upon need.
• Work closely with the foreign company contracted for promoting innovative approaches in engaging with CSOs. In this sense, the consultant will:
• Offer support in the organization of a one-day initiation session for EVA Project staff (from both UN Women and UNICEF Country offices) on innovative approaches in promoting gender equality and preventing gender-based violence.
• Provide local expert analysis in the development of a roadmap on how UN Women may include behavioral insight approaches in changing and challenging the gender norms and behaviors prevalent in the local communities in its programming.
• Provide support in designing and adapting the co-created innovative toolkits for capacity development of the CSOs on securing effective monitoring and evaluation of the local development decisions, plans and budgets in a gender sensitive manner along the entire cycle in the 12 target localities.
• Co-facilitate the organization of 5 trainings of trainers (ToT) for relevant CSOs, and relevant professionals on monitoring and evaluation of the local development plans and budgets in a gender sensitive manner from 12 target localities. Specifically, the consultant will logistically arrange the ToTs; will support the development of methodology, agenda, list of invitees; design the sessions/consultations with local stakeholders to be organized during a mission in Moldova of the international team of experts, or via online platforms.
• Support the UN Women EVA team in offering post-training support and mentorship for trained civil society.
• Ensure documentation of the trained CSOs progress in applying innovation tools process, including communication with local partner localities, monitoring of the activities organized by the foreign company contracted, compilation of feedback, observations during shadowing process.

 If the Covid19-situation keeps being an obstacle for safe physical meetings, the sessions/trainings will be conducted online using a professional online communication setup.

The assignment should be carried out within a period of 20 months, not exceeding 130 working days, with the incumbent being responsible for delivering services in agreement with the weekly workplans established, including the deliverables stated in the table below

Requirements for experience

Education:

• Master's degree or equivalent in Human Rights, Gender Equality, Law, Social Sciences, Public Administration or other development related sciences.
• A first-level university degree in combination with three additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• Additional training and certification in programme/project management would be an advantage.

Experience:

• Minimum three (3) years of relevant practical experience in working with civil society and/ or in GEWE area.
• Experience in designing/drafting policy documents. 
• Experience in programme planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation will be considered an asset.
• Proven experience in applying innovation tools and techniques in the development, including developed workshop methodology, research, developed M&E tools etc., will be considered an asset.
• Experience in conducting qualitative and quantitative social research.
• Experience in working with international organizations (successful experience in working with UN agencies is an asset).

Language requirements:

• Fluency in written and oral Romanian, Russian, English are required.