Two National Legal Consultants on Gender Equality Legislation

In Turkey, in line with its global Strategic Plan 2018-2021 and Country Strategic Note (2019-2022), and the overall UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, UN Women works towards three overarching goals: 1) Women lead, participate in, and benefit equally from governance systems; 2) All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence; 3) Women and girls contribute to and have greater influence in building sustainable peace and resilience and benefit equally from the prevention of natural disasters and conflicts and humanitarian action.

Towards these goals, UN Women implements programmes and projects that aim to advance gender equality, improve women’s access to opportunities, rights and services in political, social and economic life and combat gender stereotypes, discrimination and violence, as required by international and national legal and policy commitments. UN Women collaborates with numerous partners – central and local level government authorities, civil society organizations, including women’s organizations and platforms, academia, private sector companies, other UN agencies. It commits itself to the Leaving No One Behind principle, by supporting targeted actions to remove the obstacles that marginalized and vulnerable groups of women face in accessing their rights and to promote them as agents of change.

In Turkey, despite progress made in the past decades, the participation of women in politics and in decision-making in economic and business life, remains low and below global and regional averages. Women’s representation in the Parliament has increased gradually from 14.7 per cent after the 2015 Parliamentary Elections to 17.3 per cent after the June 2018 poll, remaining well below global average of 25.1 per cent, and the OECD average of 28.7 per cent. Women’s political representation at the local level where they make up 10.7 per cent of local councils and 3 percent of local mayors is especially low. Following the 2019 local elections, there has not been progress compared to after the 2014 elections. Additionally there are no compulsory temporary measures to accelerate the gender parity in politics. In the previous years, UN Women implemented the project “Gender Equality in Political Leadership and Participation in Turkey” which worked with the Turkish Grand National Assembly, local administrations, civil society organizations (CSOs) and women leaders to advance gender responsive policies and legislation and women’s participation in decision-making processes. UN Women has also increased its partnership base and its engagement with different stakeholders, such as the private sector, media and male champions, in order to achieve larger scale impact and results.

Building on the achievements and lessons learnt over the previous years, in 2021, UN Women will start implementing the project “Advancing gender equality and women’s leadership in political and business life” with funding from The Government of Sweden, through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). The project has an overall objective to advance women’s leadership and participation in decision-making in Turkey by focusing on key stakeholders and actors in the fields of politics and private sector. Two sub objectives of the project are:
i. Provide support for increasing women’s leadership in political decision-making, establishing a cadre of interested, diverse and capable women to run for political office at local level, increasing solidarity and gender equality awareness among women from different political affiliations and with women from outside government, advancing the national and policy legal framework, strengthening gender sensitive governance at the local level.
ii. Promote women’s leadership and influence in the private sector, strengthen the engagement of men political and corporate leaders in advancing gender equality, work with media current and future professional and media outlets to advance non-stereotypical portrayal of women in media as political and business leaders and to practice gender sensitive practices internally and externally.

In this regard, to contribute to the achievement of first sub output UN Women Turkey Office seeks to hire Two National Legal Consultants on Gender Equality Legislation . National Legal Consultants are expected to review and do a gender analysis of the existing legal and policy frameworks to identify areas for improvement/reform to enable women’s equal participation in politics. Based on the analysis (including the electoral system and related campaign and fundraising regulation) The National Consultants will develop a series of recommendations that would go into a draft legal amendments package for gender balance/parity in politics and decision making in Turkey.

• To conduct peer review for gender analysis of seven pieces of law that has already been reviewed by international consultants under Gender Equality in Political Leadership and Participation in Turkey Project. The clustered seven law pieces will be divided in between consultants.
• Analysis of existing political participation related legislation and policies that will be jointly done by the consultants
  • Conducting an analysis of pertinent international and national legislation, national policies, strategies, frameworks and other related documents to identify the gaps and present an in-depth understanding of ways of overcoming issues around women’s political participation through legislative framework.
  • Holding discussions with relevant stakeholders on political finance and campaign expenditure policies and practices and their impacts on women’s participation, political party’s regulations and voluntary or mandated use of temporary special measures, preferential vote, issues around electoral violence and others.
  • Preparing a series of recommendations targeting policy makers and the political parties.
• Preparation of the draft legal amendments package for gender parity in politics that will be jointly done by the consultants
  • Based on the analysis carried out and identified gaps development of concrete proposals for legislative changes
  • Documenting international best practices on gender parity legislation and other sorts of legislation towards increasing women’s political participation.

Deliverables and Payment Schedule:

Duration of the assignment is from 15 October 2021 – 31 December 2021. The Consultants are expected to spend up to 33 working days individually on a non – consecutive basis throughout the assignment. The consultants will use their own IT equipment for carrying out the tasks pertaining to the position.

Expected Deliverables and Payment Schedule:
The following table summarizes main activities and expected deliverables against targeted delivery deadlines and indicative working days to be invested by each Consultant. The deliverables will be jointly prepared and submitted by two consultants.

The mentioned number of working days has been estimated as being sufficient/feasible for the envisaged volume of work to be completed successfully and is proposed as a guideline for the duration of assignment. It cannot and shall not be used as criteria for completion of work/assignment. The provision of envisaged deliverables approved by the UN Women Project Coordinator shall be the only criteria for the Consultants’ work being completed and eligible for payment(s).

Payment Schedule:
National Consultants shall be paid upon successful completion of the deliverables in two instalments as per the above table. Payment shall be affected only if the deliverables are submitted to and approved by the Project Coordinator.
Without submission and approval of the deliverables, Consultants shall not receive any payment even if they invest time for this assignment.
During assignment’s related missions, the National Consultants may use the facilities of the office (i.e. internet access, printing, copying, local phone calls, etc.). However, s/he is expected to use his/her own personal computer. All the payments to the Consultant will be processed in Turkish Lira.

Travel:
This is a home- based assignment with no travel need is foreseen. However, if there emerges any travel need, UN Women Turkey Office will organize the logistics of the travel and the Consultants will be paid daily substance allowance and terminal fee as per the figures set by UN Women HQ and UN ICSC. The taxi fees for attending the meetings are under the responsibility of the Consultant. All the payments to the Consultants including payment for travels will be processed in Turkish Lira.

Mandatory Courses:
The Consultants shall complete all the mandatory and further required UN courses, training and modules on time. The certificates shall be submitted to the Hiring Manager.
Please note that the required training courses could vary based on contract content and duration, the nature of the work and inclusion of travel. Hence, the Consultants are obliged to follow the instructions of his/her Hiring Manager upon which training modules to complete and when to complete them.

Key Performance Indicators:

• Timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the services and products delivered.
• Adherence to UN Women mandate, standards and rules.
•  Keeping up to date with the developments in Turkey on gender equality legislative framework.

• Respect for Diversity
•  Integrity
•  Professionalism

Core Competencies:

•  Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
•  Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies

• Ability to communicate sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies;
• Ability to consolidate information from multiple sources;
• Ability to prepare and present strategic information for decision makers;
• Ability to work independently as well as in teams;
• Excellent time management and ability to produce deliverables within agreed deadlines;
• Knowledge of national legislative framework on gender equality in Turkey;
• Knowledge of gender equality and women’s empowerment issues;
• Focuses on impact and results for client;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637.
UN Women does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Education:

• Master`s Degree in Law is required.
• PhD in Law/International Law is a strong asset.

Skills and Experience:

• Minimum 3 years of experience in provision of legal expertise and support on gender equality and women’s human rights which involved analyzing the conformity of national legislation with international standards.
• Previous professional experience in developing legal amendments package is a strong asset.
• Previous professional experience in reviewing the legislative framework through a gender perspective is a strong asset.
• Experience in working with CSOs on advocacy for legal rights and normative framework for gender equality is an asset.
• Previous professional experience with the UN and other international organisations is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in Turkish and English (written and oral) are required.

Application Procedure

HOW TO APPLY

• To apply please follow this link https://vacanciesinturkey.com/jobs
• To help us track our recruitment effort, please indicate in your email / cover letter how (vacanciesinturkey.com) you heard about this position.

The following documents should be submitted as part of the application:

• Cover letter to include a brief overview about which of your previous experiences makes you the most suitable candidate for the advertised position.
• CV in English containing the relevant educational and professional experience.
• Signed UN Women Personal History P11 Form including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment.
• Financial proposal with breakdown of fee on a per day basis. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount. Financial proposal to be sent via e-mail to [email protected] indicating the name of the position applied in the subject line of the e-mail no later than the application deadline. Please see Annex I: Price Proposal Guideline and Template and Annex II: Price Proposal Submission Form

When applying; the Cover Letter, CV and the signed P11 Form should be merged into one (1) single PDF document since the system will allow only to upload maximum one document. Therefore, please combine these forms and documents into one (1) single PDF document and upload them to the system.

As for the Financial Proposal, please send it separately via e-mail to [email protected] indicating the name of the position applied in the subject line of the e-mail. Since it is to be submitted separately via e-mail, the Financial Proposal should not be uploaded to the system or be included in the merged PDF which shall consist of the applicant’s Cover Letter, CV and Signed P11 Form. Please make sure not to include the Financial Proposal in the merged PDF document.

Candidates should have the ability to quickly submit degree certificates and medical certification should they be short-listed in consideration of the consultancy post.

Should they be short-listed in consideration of the consultancy, candidates should be able to quickly submit degree certificates, medical certifications or any other requested document.

Incomplete applications such as applications without a financial proposal may not be considered. Applicants are responsible to make sure to have provided all the requested application materials before the deadline.

Evaluation of Applicants:

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal. Contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer receives the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria. Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

p = 30 (µ/z)
Using the following values:
p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
µ = price of the lowest priced proposal
z = price of the proposal being evaluated
An interview/practical test may also be used for the selection of best candidates.

Annex I: Price Proposal Guideline and Template
The prospective Individual Consultant should take the following explanations into account during submission of his/her price proposal.

1. Daily fee
The daily price proposal should indicate a “lump sum amount” which is “all-inclusive”; All costs (professional fees, communications, consumables during field related missions, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor needs to be factored into the proposed price.
UN Women will not withhold any amount of the payments for tax and/or social security related payments. UN Women shall have no liability for taxes, duties or other similar charges payable by the Individual Contractor in respect of any amounts paid to the Individual Contractor under this Contract, and the Contractor acknowledges that UN Women will not issue any statements of earnings to the Individual contractor in respect of any such payments.

2. Travel Costs
The assignment is home based with no travel need is foreseen. However, if there emerges any travel need, UN Women Turkey Office will organize the logistics of the travel and the Consultant will be paid daily substance allowance and terminal fee as per the figures set by UN Women HQ and UN ICSC. The taxi fees for attending the meetings are under the responsibility of the Consultant. All the payments to the Consultant including payment for travels will be processed in Turkish Lira.

3. Currency of the price proposal
The applicants are requested to submit their price proposals in Turkish Lira.

Annex II: Price Proposal Submission Form

To: United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
Ref: Two National Legal Consultants on Gender Equality Legislation

Dear Madam/Sir,
I, the undersigned, offer to provide professional consulting services to UN Women within the scope of the referred Assignment.

Having examined, understood and agreed to the Terms of Reference and its annexes, the receipt of which are hereby duly acknowledged, I, the undersigned, offer to deliver professional services, in conformity with the Terms of Reference.

Based on the deliverables and estimated working days summarized in the above table, my maximum total price proposal for the assignment is given below:

I confirm that my financial proposal will remain unchanged. I also confirm that the price that I quote is gross, and is inclusive of all legal expenses, including but not limited to social security, income tax, pension, etc., which shall be required applicable laws.

I agree that my proposal shall remain binding upon me for 90 days.

I understand that you are not bound to accept any proposal you may receive.

[Signature]
Date:
Name:
Address:
Telephone/Fax:
Email: