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Specialized organization/company to provide monitoring and assessment from gender perspective of the 2021 People’s Assembly elections and capacity building activities for women leaders from ATU GagauziaVacancy Number: Pr21/02181
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. In 2018, UN Women Moldova Country Office started to implement its new Strategic Note (SN) for 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 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, young women, 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 SN 2018-2022 advances progress under the following three Impact Areas (IA): IA1: More women fully participate and lead in gender responsive governance processes and institutions, including in the security sector, 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. Rationale Women's representation in Moldovan politics and decision-making processes is below international benchmarks. Women hold 25.7 per cent of seats in the Parliament[1], including the Bashkan of UTA Gagauzia. Women are also under-represented in decision-making bodies in the private and civil society sectors. UN Women CO applies an integrated, nation-wide geographical approach in the implementation of its Strategic Notes, however having no stand-alone targeted activities in Gagauzia. The UN Women activities aim at enhancing gender equality and empowering women and girls and more women fully participate and lead in gender responsive governance processes and institutions. The Administrative-Territorial Unit of Gagauz-Yeri is an autonomous territorial unit of the Republic of Moldova, governed on the basis of the Law of the Republic of Moldova on the Special Status of Gagauzia (No. 344-XIII) of 23 December 1994. The executive power is held by the Governor (Bashkan), also a member of the Government of the Republic of Moldova, and the legislative body is the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia. Both the Bashkan and the People’s Assembly members are elected directly by the people living in the ATU Gagauzia. The population is about 160,000 and 82% declare themselves Gagauz. The ATU Gagauzia is composed of 32 localities, including the municipality of Comrat, the two towns of Ceadâr-Lunga and Vulcanesti, a locality belonging to Vulcanesti and 28 communes. The Administrative Territorial Unit is structured into three districts (dolay): Comrat, Ceadir-Lunga and Vulcanesti. [2] Women’s representation and engagement in political settings should be an indispensable piece of democratic decision-making processes. Research confirms that the active inclusion of women into political decision-making has many positive impacts on society as a whole that contributes to the improvement of citizens’ lives. The 2017-2021 National Strategy for Ensuring Equality between Women and Men approved in early addresses ten strategic areas to promote gender equality among those are participation in decision-making, the labor market and reducing the pay gap, social protection and family policies, education, health, climate change, promoting gender equality in the security and defense sector, reducing stereotypes and promoting non-violent communication, strengthening the institutional framework for gender equality and the promotion of gender-sensitive budgeting. Even if the national strategies approved by the central government are applicable to whole country, the AUT Gagauzia established its own Strategy to promote equality between women and men in ATU Gagauzia for 2019-2023 and an Action Plan for its implementation, developed by Chartered Management Institute (CMI) with Sweden support. The Strategy express that in the region, the stereotype of the impossibility of participation of women in the management process, or of the weak managerial abilities of women, continues to remain quite strong. Under its current objective related to increase number of women in decision making in the autonomy (article 8) two priority issues were identified such as (a) Insufficient representation of women in decision-making positions in political and public life; (b) The existence of cultural, economic and social structural barriers to the advancement of women to leadership positions in political and public life[3]. The main directions and areas of interventions as per 2019-2023 GE Strategy for ensuring the conditions necessary for Gender Equality mainstreaming are:
The People’s Assembly is the representative and legislative authority of the autonomy charged with: Adopting of normative regulations; Establishing the way the local public administration authorities and citizen associations are organized and work, except for parties and other social-political organizations; Participating in promotion of domestic and foreign policy of the Republic of Moldova in issues related to interests of Gagauzia; Organizing and holding elections to the People’s Assembly and approving members of the Central Election Commission, responsible for holding elections; Exercising the right of legislative initiative in the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova etc.[4] The elections for the People's Assembly and the function of governor are conducted in accordance with the Law on the Special Legal Status of Gagauzia (Gagauz-Yeri) and the Electoral Code of Gagauzia and is made up of 35 members elected for a four-year term mandate. The last elections were held in 2016. As per last elections, out of 35 members only 4 were women.[5] Since 2015, the post of Bashkan of ATU Gagauzia was occupied by a woman. Among the mayoral corps of ATU Gagauzia, two women appeared (from 26 mayoralties). Even if there is a positive dynamic, at the same time, women remain insufficiently involved in both the electoral and political and decision-making processes.[6] The next elections of the members in the People's Assembly of Gagauzia is was set for May 16, 2021[7]. The decision was taken by the deputies from the current legislature, whose mandate expires on January 20, 2021. According to the law, the mandate of deputies can be extended by three months. UN Women is strongly committed to promoting gender equality in accordance with international frameworks and local policy guidelines. Equality between women and men is a fundamental value and objective and a driver for economic growth. On 14 April 2016, the Parliament of Moldova adopted a new law that, for the first time, introduces gender quotas for party list candidates and cabinet nominees. The Law No. 71 says that women and men must make each up a minimum of 40 per cent of every political party’s candidates and of cabinet nominees and also prohibits the sexist language and images in the media and advertising. Thus, the lists of candidates for parliamentary and local elections will be drawn up in compliance with the minimum quota of 40% for both sexes, and the positioning of the candidates on the lists is done according to the formula: minimum four candidates for every 10 places. As a result of the existing framework, gender quotas, comprehensive programmes launched by UN Women and its partners, lobbying, and raised awareness campaigns of this issues, facilitated some progress in removing formal barriers to women’s participation in politics. Even so women remain underrepresented at all levels and unlike men, continue to face discrimination in the political and public spheres, largely determined by existing stereotypes and sexism. During the years, UN Women continues its work, through its programs and initiatives throughout the country, including in ATU Gagauzia, by involving local partners and organizations, stakeholders and women leaders in the field of political participation, leadership, GRB and domestic violence. Women leaders from Gagauzia - aspiring candidates and women candidates- where involved in capacity building programs to support women to run for local elections in 2019 in order to increase the number of women in decision makings. Having in mind the objectives of the 2019-2023 Gender Equality Strategy in ATU Gagauzia, lack of data and assessments of regulatory and legislative framework from gender perspective, and Violence of Women in Elections, UN WOMEN is seeking a national organization/company to provide gender equality perspective assessment of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia, including in elections.
Scope of work
Under the overall guidance and direct supervision of UN Women Programme Specialist and UN Women Programme Officer WILG, the Specialized organization/company to provide monitoring and assessment from gender perspective of the 2021 People’s Assembly elections and capacity building activities for women leaders from ATU Gagauzia and relevant institutions, by taking into consideration the existing regulatory and legislative framework, violence of women in elections, and objectives of the local GE Strategy. The assignment shall entail collaboration with state institutions from the relevant areas. Tasks: More specifically, the organization/company will be responsible of implementation of the following tasks: TASK 1: Preparatory work, including development of overall methodology and timeframe for assessing the gender perspective of the ATU Gagauzia, including the election cycle of the People’s Assembly of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia and the development of capacity building concepts for aspiring candidates and women candidates, women leaders, women in businesses from the Region, Central Electoral Commission of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia (CEC Gagauzia) and its working group. The company shall provide a list with normative laws, the list of all relevant state and local institutions, CSOs implied or could be implied in the assessment processes, list of required meetings and timeframe; The methodology will be shared with UN Women and adjusted based on feedback received. TASK 2: Organization of series of capacity building sessions for the members of the working group within the Central Electoral Commission of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia, (CEC Gagauzia), including its working Group and or other relevant authorities in the region. Proposed topics may include, but not limited to: gender equality basic notions, gender sensitive policies and elections, gender equality leadership, monitoring, sexist and hate speech in elections, Violence Against Women in Elections. etc. The company shall undertake all the required measures during COVID-19 pandemic. Meeting could be organized online. The developed agenda shall contains topics for pre and post elections period – up to 5 topics/5 days. The methodology, topics and timeframe will be shared with UN Women and adjusted based on feedback received. TASK 3: 3.1. Conduct a comprehensive monitoring and analysis of the content in electoral campaigning in local governance with focus to 2021 People’s Assembly elections from GE perspective, taking into account issues concerning social and political involvement of women in the decision-making mechanism, economic opportunities for women, prevention of Gender Based Violence etc. The monitoring shall include aspects related to women’s participation in elections as voters and candidates, women’s representation in media at local level in the context of the regional elections. The company/organization shall undertake the monitoring during a specific period, corresponding with pre-electoral and electoral period. Based on this to develop an analysis Report of the election cycle for People’s Assembly of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia from Gender perspective including findings from point 3.2. and 3.3. 3.2. Carry out a general assessment from gender perspective of the existing local regulatory and legislative framework to ensure gender equality in ATU Gagauzia, including in elections. Organize meeting with relevant authorities in the region to determine the priorities and needs in line with increasing the number of women in elections. The company shall undertake all the required measures during COVID-19 pandemic. Meeting could be organized online. The methodology, and timeframe will be shared with UN Women and adjusted based on feedback received. 3.3. Boost the usage and registration of the existence of cases of violence against women in elections, including through sexist speech using the platform gender.monitor.md. The company/organization shall inform all trainings participants about the platform and encourage to use. For small session the company shall invite members of Platform for Gender Equality for more details. It is supposed that the registered cases must be documented by the company taking into account all the relevant aspects and the findings shall be including in the Final Report under Violence Against Women in Elections paragraph. 3.4. Public presentation of the final edited version of the Report. The company/organization shall organize a public event in online format. Editing and layout of the report shall be undertaken by the company. The details shall be discussed preliminary with UN WOMEN representatives. TASK 4: Develop and deliver 2 two-days training sessions for up to 60 Women leaders from Gagauzian region - aspiring candidates and women candidates, women in decision making, women local leaders, to support women to run for local elections in May 2021 in order to increase the number of women in decision makings. The company will be responsible to identify the women using all applicable tools, including developing call for applications, contacting directly LPAs etc. The participation shall be opened to all on the basis first came first served including from vulnerable groups. Proposed topics may include, but not limited to: gender equality basic notions, gender sensitive policies, gender equality leadership, public speaking, electoral campaigning etc. Each training session should include interactive sessions and case studies and should be tailored with the personal experiences of participants as candidates. The list of participants shall contain sex-disaggregated data, age and other vulnerable group belonging. TASK 5: Develop and deliver 2 two-days training and dialogue sessions for up to 50 Women in Business, women entrepreneurs, women local producers from Gagauzian region. The session will aim at identifying specific needs of women in business during COVID 19 and faced issues. The session will aim at informing and sharing main instruments and financial opportunities women could apply, as well as create networking and exchange among women in business. Requirements for experience
The organization of the task team is of ultimate importance. The required experience of the project team shall be explicitly described in their CVs. The team must include: 1.Team Leader (Task Manager)
2. At least one team member should meet the following criteria
The Task Manager will be in charge of the coordination and administrative tasks of the assignment, as well as being responsible for contacting and informing UN Women Programme Specialist and WILG Programme Officer with regard to all aspects related to the execution of the contract. The Task Manager shall provide UN Women with frequent updates on the progress of the assignment and other relevant aspects of the work. The entire team is responsible for the content and quality of all the deliverables and making sure that they are in line with objectives set for this contract.
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