Training Consultant for Gender Responsive Budgeting and Planning in Turkey

In Turkey, in line with the overall UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework and with the UN Women Country Strategic Note (2019-2022), 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. In line with the first goal of the Country Strategic Note, UN Women supports the application of gender-responsive budgeting at the central and local levels.

Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) is a well-recognized strategy and powerful tool to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment. It enables governments to effectively reduce gender inequalities through policies, plans and budgets that address equally the specific needs and priorities of women and men, including the most excluded.  It improves the effectiveness of public spending and strengthens accountability by urging for the creation of transparent budgets. UN Women has spearheaded and supported GRB interventions in more than 75 countries and has recognized global, regional and country-level technical expertise in this area.

In Turkey, in the past years, UN Women has partnered with the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) on GRB to integrate gender equality into the strategic plan, budget processes and ultimately to the budget of the TGNA. In addition, UN Women has supported the development of a pool of trainers on gender equality to increase the institutional capacity of the TGNA on gender equality as well as to increase the sustainability of the efforts on gender equality and GRB. At the local level, jointly with UNDP, it has supported the integration of gender perspective into strategic plans and budgets in selected municipalities and the establishment of specific units dedicated to the advancement of women’s rights.

Building on these initiatives, UN Women embarked on a three-year project “Implementing Gender-Responsive Planning and Budgeting in Turkey” as of December 2020, funded by the European Union and the main beneficiary of which is the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services (MoFLSS) – General Directorate on the Status of Women (GDSW) whereas the co-beneficiary is Presidency of Turkey – Presidency of Strategy and Budget

(PSB). The project aims to increase financing for GEWE through strategic partnerships, providing tailored technical assistance and guidance, and building institutional capacity and knowledge. It consists of three components; awareness raising for national and local authorities, capacity building for national and local authorities, capacity building for gender advocates and women’s groups. The Project is designed to support selected line Ministries as well as four selected pilot municipalities (Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, Eskisehir Metropolitan Municipality, Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, Edirne Municipality). The project will benefit from international expertise and close linkages with UN Women’s Regional Programme “Transformative Financing for Gender Equality in the Western Balkans” as well as other relevant initiatives.

With regards to the assessment of the previous GRB project, the need for capacity building both at the central and local level especially for senior officials were clearly stated covering all the groups targeted under this project. Capacity development interventions will comprise a range of strategies including training, technical assistance, development of resources and accessibility of information, and tailored to the needs of different stakeholders:

• With public institutions, capacity development will focus on improving the instrumental, regulatory and institutional frameworks to better integrate the gender perspective into the technical and political processes of its formulation, approval, implementation and evaluation to contribute to improve the capacities of public institutions in GEWE principles.
• With local administrations, their capacities will be enhanced to adapt and validate their planning and budgeting instruments and to better use these instruments to promote eradication of gender inequalities in line with their competencies defined in Turkish legislation.
• As for the Parliament, Municipal Assemblies and CSOs, with a specific focus on women’s groups, universities and gender advocates, capacity development will focus on strengthening their abilities to advocate for gender equality investments, enhance the knowledge for monitoring budgets, plans, programmes and strategies from GRB perspective.

UN Women will follow a systematic approach towards effective and results oriented capacity development with a team consists of national and international consultants and UN Women technical staff responsible for different aspects of the capacity development activities/trainings in line with their expertise.  In this regard, UN Women is looking for a National Consultant to provide technical support on developing the content of and the delivery of the trainings to the Project team during the planning and implementation of the “Implementing Gender-Responsive Planning and Budgeting in Turkey” project.

• Prepare/contribute to the proposed modules to be developed, training design (including draft outlines of modules and training programme and training methods) and revise it in accordance with the feedback and comments of the Beneficiary and the Project Implementation Unit (PIU).
• Prepare/contribute the content and the template development of the training modules as well as identifying and developing the methods, supplementary documents (such as exercise, handouts etc.) presentations and monitoring and development tools.
• Draft a pre and post- test covering all modules to evaluate the impact of the training program,
• Participate in capacity building trainings for relevant central governmental institutions and pilot municipalities and/or deliver gender equality and gender mainstreaming trainings,
• Revise and/or finalize the training set (materials, program etc.) in accordance with the feedback and guidance obtained from the Beneficiary and the PIU Team.
•  Contribute to the training reports and coordinate the reporting among the team of consultants. Support the project team in by providing substantive inputs and feedback to the quarterly progress reports.
• Providing the Programme Specialist with regular updates on the progress with implementation of the assignment;
• Submit monthly time sheets for recording the time spent on each activity.

The consultant is expected to work closely with the other national and international consultants involved in development and delivery of training materials.

The abovementioned tasks are indicative and subject to further detailing through specific service requests to be made by UN Women Turkey Office during the course of the contract duration.

Duration of the assignment is from 17 January 2022 to 30 December 2022. The Consultant is expected to dedicate approximately 8 working days per month on average for this assignment and to spend up to 100 working days on a non-consecutive basis throughout the assignment.

Expected Deliverables and Payment Schedule:

The following table summarizes the main activities and expected deliverables against the targeted submission deadlines and indicative working days to be invested by the Consultant.

All deliverables shall be received and cleared by UN Women in Turkey. All reports shall be presented in English, in electronic version.

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 the 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 in Turkey shall be the only criteria for the Consultant’s work being completed and eligible for payment/s.

Payment Schedule:

The amount paid to the Consultant shall be gross and inclusive of all associated costs such as travel, social security, pension and income tax etc. Payments will be made upon submission and approval of deliverables above and certification by the UN Women supervisor that the services have been satisfactorily completed.

The Consultant’s payments will be carried out on the basis of monthly timesheets presented to and approved by the supervisor. Payment shall be affected only if monthly time sheets and all the deliverables in this TOR are submitted to UN Women within the timeframes stipulated in the TOR and they are approved by the supervisor. Without submission and approval of the deliverables, the Consultant shall not receive any payment even if s/he invests time for this assignment.

During assignment’s related missions, the National Consultant 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.

Travel:

Indicatively there will be events / trainings / workshops to be held in 2022 under this project. In this case, UN Women Turkey Office will cover all accommodation and travel and related organization costs of the consultant through the Long Term Agreement (LTA), signed with the service provider and UN Women will not cover transportation cost within duty station including the taxi costs.

Mandatory Training Courses:

The Consultant shall complete all the mandatory and other required UN training courses and modules on time. The certificates shall be submitted to the supervisor. 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 Consultant is obliged to follow the instructions of his/her Hiring Manager upon which training modules to complete and when to complete them.

Key Performance Indicators

• Adherence to UN Women mandate, standards and rules.
• Timely and quality delivery of the training and capacity building services and technical support as stipulated under Part II.
• Willingness to shares knowledge and experience,
• Demonstration of excellent written and oral communication skills and communicating sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies,
• Ability to perform a variety of standard specialized and non-specialized tasks and work processes that are fully documented, researched, recorded and reported,
• Ability to review a variety of data, identify and adjust discrepancies, identify and resolve operational problems,
• Uses Information Technology effectively as a tool and resource
• Provision of quality and timely monthly reports and the final report.
• Positive feedbacks from UN Women’s stakeholders regarding the substantive support provided by the Consultant.

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

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

Functional Competencies

• Ability to communicate sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies;
• Knowledge of local administrations in Turkey
• Knowledge of gender equality and women’s empowerment issues
• Programme formulation and implementation skills
• Knowledge of Results Based Management
• Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings
• Good knowledge of technical area
• Good organizational skills and ability to pay close attention to detail
• Focuses on impact and results for client;
• Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.
• Ability to communicate sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf (unwomen.org).

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.  

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application. 

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)  

Application Procedure:

• 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 assignment.
• CV in English containing the relevant educational and professional experience.
• Signed UN Women Personal History (P11) Form including past experience in similar assignments which can be downloaded at https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc

• 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.

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. The contract will be awarded to the 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.

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion. A suggested formula is as follows:

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/written test may be used as part of the evaluation procedure.

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

This is a home-based assignment with no travel foreseen. In case of an unforeseen travel, UN Women Turkey Office will cover the organization and the costs of the consultant’s travel as per UN Women’s rules and regulations. UN Women will not cover transportation cost within duty station including the taxi costs.

3.Currency of the price proposal

The applicants are requested to submit their price proposals in Turkish Liras.

Annex II: Price Proposal Submission Form

To: United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

Ref:

Dear Sir / Madam,

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.

My maximum total price proposal for the assignment is given below:

I confirm that my financial proposal will remain unchanged for 90 days. 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: