Job: NATIONAL CONSULTANT ON THE PERCEPTION OF PALESTINIAN WOMEN'S CIVIC AND POLITICAL LIFE

Location :

West Bank, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES

Application Deadline :

27-Oct-13

Additional Category

Women's Empowerment

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Post Level :

National Consultant

Languages Required :

Arabic   English  

Starting Date :
(date when the selected candidate is expected to start)

15-Nov-2013

Duration of Initial Contract :

2 months

Expected Duration of Assignment :

2 months

Background

UN Women (UNW), 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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, the UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women plays an innovative and catalytic role in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) since its inception in 1997. UN Women oPt focuses its activities on one overarching goal, namely to support the implementation at the national level of existing international commitments to advance gender equality in line with the national priorities. In support of this goal and thoroughly taking into consideration the specificities of the oPt context, UN Women concentrates its efforts and interventions toward the realization of following strategic goals: Engendering governance, peace and security; Supporting women's economic security and rights; and Promoting women’s rights and protection against violence. In response to calls for increasing need to support women’s economic empowerment and political participation, UN Women will be implementing the programme Spring Forward (2012-2015) funded by the European Commission.

The regional Women’s economic and political empowerment programme (WEPE) “Spring Forward” provides a mechanism to advance the economic empowerment of women living in the Southern Mediterranean region, including Palestine, and to assist them to reposition themselves in the political and decision making spaces so that they may have greater influence in shaping the future of their countries in the on-going democratic transition while protecting their previous gains. The programme works at multiple levels to respond to the specific support needs at the regional and country level, building on local initiatives in priority countries with the recognition that sustainable change must be locally-owned and led.

The overall objective of the programme is to promote the access and effective participation of marginalized women in economic and public life, by addressing the barriers that have impeded the access and engagement of marginalized women in these areas. The programme will pursue the following specific objectives:

•  To empower women politically in order to assure women's active engagement in decision making spaces;
•  To empower women economically;
•  To enhance regional knowledge and experience-sharing on women's political and economic rights.

As part of UN Women strategy to enhance women’s economic empowerment, and to strengthen their skills in agriculture as one of the main productive sectors across Palestine, an expert in agrobiodiversity will be contracted to design and implement a training manual and training package for women farmers.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the UN Women Special Representative and in close cooperation with “Spring Forward” Project Coordinator, the Consultant will undertake the following tasks, duties and responsibilities:

Overall objective and scope of work:

The overall objective of the assessment survey is to provide a baseline and establish bench mark indicators to inform the Monitoring and Evaluation Plan for more adequate follow up on situation of Palestinian women’s political participation and leadership:

• Conduct a baseline public opinion survey on Palestinian women’s civic engagement and political participation.

It is intended that the assessment will provide: a) baseline data for the project as benchmarks for performance evaluation; b) information that will assist in designing the project’s Monitoring and Evaluation plan; c) information that will help in the development of future advocacy and awareness raising actions.

The entity conducting the survey will be required to lead on all the tasks below under the overall supervision of the UN Women Project Coordinator of “Spring Forward” programme:

• Understanding the programme design and contextual framework, including review of key documents;
• Design tools and methodology projection for data collection of both qualitative and quantitative data. The baseline tools should be able to capture programme-level data in the following key areas: perception (sex and age disaggregated) of target communities on women’s engagement in civic and political activities. The following shoukd be taken into consideration: a) Family responsibilities: how do they hinder participation; b) Family support; c) Decision making abilities within the family and the community; d) Level of education; e) Level of income; f) Number of dependents;
• Test the baseline survey tools in the field;
• Conduct sampling, including design sampling strategy based methodology and calculate sample size agreed-upon methodologies;
• Train research assistants to ensure that standardized methodology and application of the tools are fully understood by all;
• Implement and supervise field data collection, data input and cleaning: a) Coordination with programme staff and local stakeholders; b) Preparation of questionnaires (Arabic and English versions); c) Notification to partners and communities; d) Training and deployment of research assistants to the field; e) Conduct data processing: (1) primary processing, comparison and validation of files, clean files, tabulations;
• Analyze and synthesize data; and prepare report and Program Indicator Tracking: a) Preparation of initial report; b)  Discussion with programme staff and local stakeholders on initial report; c) Revision of impact indicators as per feedback from programme staff and stakeholders; d) Report preparation (in both Arabic and English); e) Submit 5 hard copies of well bound final report and electronic copy.

Time frame:

The assignment is expected to start on 20th of November 2013 and to be finalized by 20th of January 2014.
No Activities Timeline.

•  Review of project documents and understanding the project contextual frame work (Week 1);    
•  Design of baseline assessment tools and data collection methodology (Week 1);
•  Sampling methods, interview guideline, sample size (Week 2);
•  Pre-test and review of data collection tools (Week 2);
•  English & Arabic questionnaire design (Week 2);
•  Train research assistants on filling the questionnaires with the beneficiaries (Week 3);
•  Field data collection in West Bank & Gaza Strip ( Week 4 & 5);
•  Data cleaning and analysis;
•  Presentation of results; preliminary report; feedback from UN Women;
•  Submission of final report,

  Key deliverables

•  A detailed work plan of the consultancy assignment, including detailed methodology;
• A final report on the survey results.

Competencies

Core values / Guiding Principles:

•  Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
•  Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

•  Ethics and Values: Demonstrating / Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity;
•  Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
•  Developing and Empowering People / Coaching and Mentoring: Initiative-taking; coaching and mentoring ability;
•  Working in Teams: Acting as a team player and facilitating team work;
•  Communicating Information and Ideas: Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively;
•  Self-management and Emotional intelligence: Creating synergies through self-control;
•  Conflict Management / Negotiating and Resolving Disagreements: Managing conflict;
•  Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning: Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of other.

Functional competencies:

•  Demonstrated experience in programme support;
•  Demonstrated strong coordination and facilitation skills;
•  Strong communication skills in English (oral and written);
•  Able to work in an international environment;
•  Able to work under pressure and to deliver on time;
•  Results oriented, flexible and problem solving skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• University degree in information and data management or related fields.

Experience:

The Consultant should have the following qualifications:

•  Significant relevant experience of a minimum of 5 years in conducting surveys, working with information management, data collection, or similar;
•  Experience in designing data collection tools;
•  Experience in gender-focused data collection.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency (both oral and written) in Arabic and English.

Note:

Only long-listed candidates will be contacted to provide a detailed proposed methodology together with other required documents:

• Concept note including methodology.
• Sample of work (a previously conducted training programme or similar);
• Three references.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

More Info and Application