Republic of Moldova

Individual high-level coaching of women parliamentarians on diction and public image

Vacancy Number: Pr15/01015

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	16 Jul 2015, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	21 Jul 2015
Reference to the project:	Enhancing Women's Political Representation through Improved Capacity and Enhanced Support in Moldova
Expected Duration of Assignment:	210 working hours during July 2015– April 2016
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted online by pressing the "Apply Online" no later than 16 July 2015. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: victoria.ignat@undp.org. UNDP will respond by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants. Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.
Supporting Documents: Terms of Reference Individual Consultant Procurement Notice Personal History Form (P11) UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Ms. Victoria Ignat.

victoria.ignat@undp.org

Background

In 2014, UNDP jointly with UN Women and in partnership with the East Europe Foundation (EEF) and the Centre “Partnership for Development” (CPD) started a new programme in Moldova: “Enhancing Women’s Political Representation through improved capacity and enhanced support in Moldova” (Women in Politics). The programme aims at ensuring an increased participation of women in politics and in the decision-making process by creating an environment conducive to their meaningful participation, and providing support to capacity development of women before, during and after the elections at the central and local levels. It will also seek to promote increased public awareness of women’s contribution to political leadership. The proposed programme will support the realization of women’s rights and commitments undertaken by the Government of Moldova.

The programme purpose is to support gender equality advocates in creating a favourable environment for advancing women’s right to participate in decision making at national and local levels by influencing legal frameworks and policies to increase women’s leadership and political participation.

The programme consists of two inter-related components, and each UN Agency is responsible for the implementation of activities under particular areas of intervention. UN Women will be responsible for the overall programme implementation, and will be leading the specific parts related to the election legislation review and high-level advocacy for Temporary Special Measures (TSM), media capacity development, capacity of CSOs and women candidates, work with the communities and women on identifying their needs, among others. UNDP’s area of responsibility is related to the electoral assistance and administration, parliamentary affairs and capacity building of elected women and  builds further on the results achieved through the previous and on-going support to the institutional capacity development of the Parliament and the Central Elections Commission (CEC) with a focus on enhancing capacities of the Election Management Bodies on gender responsive electoral management and on strengthening capacities of elected women parliamentarians and councillors for performing the elected official’s duties.

A series of enhancing capacities activities has been delivered for newly elected women members of Parliament on parliamentary rules and regulations, procedures and a know-how on maneuvering inside the parliamentary sphere in order to facilitate their rapid engagement in the work of the factions and Committees, etc. In addition to the procedural and normative skills, women MPs, in particular those with no previous parliamentary experience, received trainings on effectively communication within the Parliament, including with men, women from their own, and other parties, especially on advancing gender equality issues.

The proportion of women in politics and decision-making bodies remains far below than the international targets. A series of recent efforts, such as gender mainstreaming work in the Parliament by UNDP Democracy Programme, contributed to an increase of women candidates (+3% compared to 2010 parliamentary elections), their placement on the party lists (+ 4% in top 20) and the share of women elected in the Parliament (21%, or +2, 2%) compared to 2010. Related to the Republic of Moldova commitment to have at least 30% women’s representation in the Parliament, the results obtained after Parliamentary elections held on 30 November 2015 demonstrates the lack of political will to promote more women in politics. 

One of the reason of women’s under-representation in politics represents the perception of society regarding the women as leaders. According to the public opinion poll realized by the Center “Partnership for Development”, even the neutral attitudes regarding the gender is predominant, anyway men are more preferred for the leading position.  

The society perception related to women in decision-making position can be changed as a result of improving the image of actual women MPs. Building and promoting a positive and consistent personal image, mastering eloquent speech and public speaking techniques will increase the women MPs self-confidence, as well as will make people opt for more women in politics.

Based on the previous experience of “Women in Politics” Programme in providing capacity building activities for women MPs, as well as from bilateral discussions with women MPs,  one effective way to work on more sensitive aspects of personal development is through individual training/ coaching sessions. This type of capacity building allows participants to open and to interact with the trainer/ coacher without limits and constraints.

Scope of work

The Programme indents to contract a national Consultant (“consultant”) to provide individual coaching in public speaking and communication, personal branding and public image counselling for all 21 women MPs currently in office in order to support the development of these particular skills of the women MPs.  Namely, the Consultant is expected to:

1. Analyze the personal image and public speeches  of each of  the 21 women MPs selected for the assignment by monitoring them and having a pre-coaching discussion session in order to identify the weaknesses in personal branding;
2. Develop individual high-level training and coaching programs for 21 women MPs in order to develop their personal branding, such as diction, public speaking, communication with media,  cross-party communication with men leaders of political parties, personal style, body language, ethics and protocol;
3. Develop coaching materials, including presentations, case studies, practical exercise and handouts to be delivered to each participant;
4. Make pertinent arrangements with the MPs to find suitable time for sessions;
5. Deliver individual coaching for 21 women MPs (10 hours per each woman MP);
6. Assess the participants reaction and responsiveness to the delivered sessions and make adjustments to the program of coaching depending on the achievements obtained during the assignment and the feedback provided by the trained woman MP;
7. Perform other tasks needed for the successful implementation of the assignment.

For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference.

Requirements for experience

 Academic Qualifications:

• University degree in Communications, Public Relations, Philology, Journalism or other related field.  Additional certifications in the area of diction, communications, public image will be an asset.

Experience:

• At least 3 years of experience in the field of communication and/ or public speaking is required;
• At least 2 years of experience in providing trainings and coaching in communication, public speaking and personal branding to various audiences, including public institutions/public servants, political parties, civil society organizations, etc.
• Proven experience in individual coaching of high-level officials on areas required under the assignment is required

 Competencies:

• Outstanding communication, training and coaching skills;
• Highest level of work ethics, diplomacy and discretion;
• Fluent in Romanian and Russian languages.

Documents to be included

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Proposal: explaining why they are the most suitable for the work including past experience in similar Projects (please provide brief information on each of the above qualifications, item by item);
2. Aggregated financial proposal (in USD, specifying a total requested amount per working day, including all related costs, e.g. fees, phone calls etc.);
3. Updated Curriculum Vitae (CV) and the duly filled Personal History Form (P11).

Financial proposal

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR.  In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including number of anticipated working days, daily consulting fees, phone charges, meals, etc.). 

Travel

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources. In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

 

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