Republic of Moldova

International Consultant on gender equality in parliamentary and electoral development issues

Vacancy Number: Pr15/00904

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	20 Apr 2015, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	05 May 2015
Reference to the project:	Programme for Improving the Quality of Moldovan Democracy through Parliamentary Support
Expected Duration of Assignment:	May - October, 2015
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted online by pressing the "Apply Now" button no later than 20 April 2015. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: victoria.muntean@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. This vacancy announcement is also published on http://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=55372
Supporting Documents: Terms of Reference Individual Consultant Procurement Notice Personal History Form (P11) UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Ms. Victoria Muntean.

victoria.muntean@undp.org

Background

UNDP Moldova Programme “Improving the Quality of Moldovan Democracy through Electoral and Parliamentary Support” (further referred to as “Programme”) is a multi-year institutional development project that aims to support the institutional consolidation of the Moldovan Parliament and Moldovan Central Electoral Commission (CEC) towards their increased transparency, accountability and efficiency.

As regards Parliamentary component, the Programme is focusing on improving of the legislative, oversight and representation functions of the Parliament. The Programme also assists the Parliament to increase the participation of civil society and citizens in policy making and oversight processes. It also builds the capacities of Members of Parliament in budget understanding, development and monitoring of its implementation.

In relation to the Electoral support, the overarching goal of the electoral component of the Programme is improvement of the democratic and governance processes in the Republic of Moldova through organization and conduct of democratic elections, conducted in line with best international standards and practices, fully representing the will of Moldovan people. Among the Programme objectives is to support the CEC and the electoral administration at regional and local levels to deliver inclusive and professional elections, gender and human rights mainstreamed.

Scope of work

The assignment shall be implemented under auspices of the programme identifying synergies between Parliamentary and Electoral components wherever possible. At the same time the assignment shall include specific objectives for each of programme’s components.

Joint issues for Democracy Programme

The consultant will be required to provide recommendations to the Programme on further improvement of gender mainstreaming in programme document, LogFrame and Programme work plan.

Parliamentary Component

In relation to the parliamentary development, during the last three years the Parliament of Moldova has been very active in reforming its institutional structure and ensuring the capacity building of its staff. With support of the Programme, the Members of Parliament and parliamentary staff were trained in different areas like regulatory impact assessment, communication, performance appraisal and gender equality etc.

The Law on Gender Equality states that the Parliament will (a) adopt gender sensitive laws and regulations, (b) monitor gender impact of the adopted regulation and (c) will hold other state institutions accountable to promote and implement gender equality in their activity. In order to increase its efficiency and effectiveness, the Parliament requires a combination of greater numbers of women, stronger gender-sensitive infrastructure and stronger policy and legislation on gender equality. It is also important that parliament has the ability to consider and address how its work – especially in terms of legislation and national budget – affect women in society. Placing gender equality issues at the heart of policy decisions, institutional structures and resource allocation through a process of gender mainstreaming can address these issues.  

For its further development and modernization, parliament needs to assess how it responds to the needs and interests of both men and women in its own structures, operations, methods and in its work as a core legislative institution. Therefore, the first step is to carry out the internal assessment of parliament’s capacity to mainstream gender issue. This process will take the shape of an internal audit, which is an exercise aimed at providing evidence on the status of gender mainstreaming efforts, thus allowing the Parliament to plan accurately and effectively to fill capacity gaps with regard to gender mainstreaming.

The expected output for the consultant’ assignment is to carry out an internal assessment of parliament’s capacity to mainstream gender, conducting an auditing on how it responds to the needs and interests of both men and women in the Parliament’s structures, operations, methods and in its work as a core legislative institution. The consultant will gather primary information and provide recommendations on the ways in which parliament can best become a gender-sensitive institution and effectively mainstream gender into its work.

Electoral Component

CEC has been one of the first public institutions in Moldova to conduct a Gender Audit and adopt Gender Action Plan. Implementation of this Action Plan has started in 2013 and has allowed CEC to amend and improve some of the key internal policies in regards to gender equality on, inter alia, human resources management. Further CEC required the Programme assistance in implementation of the Action Plan through, among others, support in increasing CEC staff capacity on completion of the mid-term gender assessment and mainstreaming of further internal policies in line with gender equality principles.

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

Requirements for experience

I.    Academic Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in humanities, law or any other relevant field; Ph.D. degree is a strong advantage;

II.  Years of experience:

• At least 7 years of relevant professional experience in the field of gender equality and women’s rights;

• At least 3 years of proven experience in organizing, facilitating and conducting seminars, trainings and round tables with state institutions/agencies/organizations, on gender related issues;
• Experience of advisory work on parliamentary development or practical experience as Member of Parliament or parliamentary staffer is a strong advantage;

• Previous experience in conducting gender audits is an asset;

• Practical experience in mainstreaming gender in electoral field;
• Working experience with the international inter-governmental organizations is a strong advantage;

III.  Competencies:

• Extensive knowledge of international gender standards and experience in best practices in promoting women’s rights;
• Solid knowledge and understanding of conducting participatory gender audits;
• Strong analytical and drafting skills;
• Availability to work with the Programme during the indicated /approved period;
• Demonstrated interpersonal and diplomatic skills, as well as the ability to communicate effectively with all stakeholders and to present ideas clearly and effectively;
• Knowledge of UN system and UNDP;
• Availability to work during the indicated /approved period;
• Fluency in English. Knowledge of Romanian and/or Russian will be considered as an asset;
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, IT tools.

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 candidate for the work including past experience in similar Projects (please provide brief information on each of the above qualifications, item by item);
2. Financial proposal (in USD), specifying a fee per day and total requested amount including all related costs, e.g. fees, per diems, travel costs, phone calls etc.;
3. Duly completed and signed P11 Form and at least 3 reference persons.

We reserve the right to reject incomplete applications.

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 travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).

 

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 case of unforeseeable travel for the business purpose, 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.

Up to 3 travel missions are envisaged under this assignment, with about 45 days of work in Moldova.

 

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