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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, 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 State of Palestine since its inception in 1997 (as UNIFEM). UN Women Palestine Office 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 Palestinian context, UN Women concentrates its efforts and interventions toward the realization of following strategic goals:  Mainstreaming gender in governance, peace and security; Supporting women's economic security and rights; and Promoting women’s rights and protection against violence. 

UN Women strategic plan Impact Area 3 “Women and girls live a life free of all forms of violence”, focuses on supporting the capacities of the Palestinian Government and civil society actors to prevent violence and deliver quality, accessible and coordinated services for victims and survivors of violence, which is central to the 2030 Agenda, particularly SDG 5 on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls, and SDG 16 on promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development. It is also  fundamental to CEDAW convention, the CEDAW Committee Concluding Observations and General Recommendations, particularly GR19, 30, 33, and 35. Preventing and combatting violence against women and girls (VAWG) and enhancing women’s access to justice is also in line with the Palestinian National Policy Agenda (2017- 2022), and other key sectoral  strategies, such as  the National Strategy to Combat VAWG (2011-2019), the Cross Sectoral National Gender Strategy (2017- 2022) ,the Justice Sector strategy (2017- 2022), the Security Sector Strategy (2017-2011) and the Strategic Priority 2 of the Palestine United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF- 2018-2022).

UN Women since its inception in 1997 has achieved significant successes in enhancing women’s access to justice, through supporting the Justice and Security institutions to establish, institutionalize and provide gender responsive and multi- sectoral services to women victims and survivors of violence, and increasing the capacity and capability of civil society organizations to play a leading role in these achievements. These include amongst others; the establishment of the Family and Juvenile Protection Units at the Palestinian Civil Police in 11 governorates in the West Bank, the establishment of responsive specialized police, prosecutorial and judicial services, the establishment of the One Stop Center, strengthening the capacities of the Gender Units at the Justice and Security institutes, in addition to the development of key legislations, policies, Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) and others.

In line with this, UN Women has also supported civil society organizations (CSOs) in Gaza and the West Bank, to realize critical achievements related to women’s access to justice and the realization of women’s human rights. These included amongst others, the provision of responsive legal aid services to women, particularly those in conflict with the law, the preparation of key studies on women’s access to justice, the production and launching of civic education manuals that targeted UNRWA schools, with the aim of disseminating gender sensitive and human rights- based norms, the successful leading of advocacy and awareness campaigns on gender and women’s access to justice and others.

The findings of the Rapid Appraisal of the Sharia Court effectiveness in Realizing Women’s and Children’s Rights which UN Women and UNICEF within Sawasya programme has conducted in 2020, provided several recommendations to improve the working environment of the Counselling Units, including: the need to develop detailed guidance on mediating family disputes, developing a guidance on counselling and other related aspects.

Acknowledging the critical role of these Units in ensuring the realization of women’s and children’s rights, as they are mandated to mediate between spouses in cases of spousal discord, in an attempt to prevent divorce and support couples to reach an agreement, including in cases related to children, UN Women within Sawasya programme through collaborating with UNICEF is planning to contract a national consultant to conduct a comprehensive assessment to the Counselling Units at the Sharia Courts in the West Bank and Gaza, to thoroughly investigate and analyze the level of efficiency, effectiveness, and responsiveness of services provided to women and children.

Objective of the assignment:

The assessment aims to investigate and analyze the level of adherence of the applicable policies, practices, and procedures at the Counselling Units at Sharia Courts with gender justice and children rights standards. It also aims to look at the physical presence, the human resources, the mandate of the Units, services provided to targeted families, including women and children and the impact of those services on children and women, and other related aspects, to identify opportunities, gaps, needs and priorities.

More specifically, this assignment has two main folds:

The first: To investigate the working environment of the Units, with an eye on the applicable policies, procedures, practices, capacities of human resources, physical presence, and other related aspects. The assessment and the analysis should take into account gender justice and children’s rights considerations, including but not limited to; level of privacy of cases, confidentiality, sensitivity, equality in treatment, understanding of women’ and children’s rights, consistency of actions with the best interest of child, inclusiveness and others, as reasonable.

The second: To issue actionable recommendations at the short, medium, and long runs to strengthen the role of the Counselling Units in supporting women and children. The Recommendations should address the gaps that the assessment will identify, and build on opportunities, while highlighting priorities.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the UN Women Special Representative in the State of Palestine, the direct supervision of UN Women Programme Specialist, and working in close cooperation and coordination with UN Women and UNICEF technical team, the selected consultant will undertake the following tasks, duties, and responsibilities:

Inception phase:

Develop an inception report that includes a detailed description of the work plan, and methodology, and share it with UN Women for review and approval, following the below tasks:

• Meet with UN Women’s and UNICEF’s technical team and relevant stakeholders, to discuss the assignment’s objectives, methods and tools that will be used, and to agree on the main deliverables.
• Develop a detailed work plan with a clear methodology and a detailed work plan and share with UN Women and UNICEF for feedback. The workplan should include the main objectives of the assignment, targeted organizations and stakeholders, deliverables, and time frame.
• Submit an initial outline for the assessment report to UN Women and UNICEF for review and inputs.

 The methodology should diversify data collection and analysis tools, including, but not limited to:

• Desk reviews.
• Key Informants Interviews.
• Focus Group Discussions.
• Survey questionnaire.
• Structured and semi- structured interviews.

The approach of the assessment should be participatory and ensure adherence with gender and children justice standards and women and child safeguards. It should cover the perspectives of service providers at the Counselling Units, judges, sharia prosecutors, CSOs providing services to women and children at Sharia Courts, beneficiaries- notably women and children, other stakeholders as relevant.  It should also build on national, regional, and international strategies and guidance related to responsive mediation and counselling in family related matters.

Implementation phase:

• To meet with UN Women’s and UNICEF’s technical team and relevant stakeholders to assess and identify the priorities as pertaining to the provision of gender responsive services to women and child -friendly services in courts.
• Develop research tools, including questionnaires, focus groups and interviews questions and share with UN Women and UNICEF for review and approval.
• Collect firsthand and secondary data, making use of a diversity of research tools and methods.
• Develop a comprehensive assessment on the level of efficiency, effectiveness and responsiveness of the Counseling Units, and issue actionable recommendations at the short, medium, and long terms, and submit to UN Women and UNICEF for review and inputs. The report should include literature review, methodological framework, description of findings, analysis, and recommendations. It should also include annexes minutes of meetings, interviews, focus groups, and others as relevant, in addition to a list of interviewees, and consulted/ interviewed organizations.

Final report:

• To submit a final narrative report that includes a description of the assignment, the achievements, used methodology, main findings, lessons learned and recommendations for future interventions.

Delivrables:

• Deliverable 1: An approved inception report in English, that includes the work plan, the methodological framework, and the timeline for the deliverables. (Expected delivery date:  two weeks after the signing of the contract)
• Deliverable 2: A final approved draft assessment report in English and Arabic, including the annexes described under the responsibilities section. (Expected delivery date: two months after the signing of the contract)
• Deliverable 3: A final approved assessment report in Arabic and English, and a final approved narrative report in English that includes description of the assignment, methodology used, target groups, lessons learned, and recommendations for future related programming. (Expected delivery date:  three months after the signing of the contract)

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity.
• Integrity.
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and sensitivity towards gender justice and children’s rights.
• Accointability.
• Creative Problem Solving.
• Effective Communication.
• Inclusive Collaboration.
• Stakeholder Engagement.
• Leading by Example.

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

Functional Competencies

• Ability to conduct need assessment through consultation with stakeholders.
• Very strong background and knowledge on gender and children’s rights.
• Ability to manage time and meet tight deadlines.
• Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback.
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills.
• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback.
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure.
• Proven networking, organizational and communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• A Master’s degree in Social Studies, Law, Gender, or any other related field.

Expeirence:

• At least 5 years professional experience in the field of gender justice, and children’s rights.
• Minimum 5 years of professional experience in research in the area of women’s rights, or gender justice. Research experience in child rights and/or in mediation is a great asset.
• At least 2 previous assignments related to preparing analytical reports and/ or policy documents, or assessments, preferably in the field of gender, or women’s rights or violence against women or children’s rights.
• Experience with the UN system or/and International Organizations is an asset.

Language Requierements:

Professional knowledge of English, and fluency in Arabic.

This SSA modality is governed by UN Women General Terms and Conditions. UN Women will only be able to respond to applicants who meet the minimum requirements.

Candidates should clearly indicate how they meet the above-mentioned criteria in their applications.

The following documents should be submitted as part of the application. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials:

• UN Women P11 including experience in similar assignments; the P11 form can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment, a signed copy should be submitted.

Candidates should have the ability to quickly submit degree certificates, medical certification (of good health) expression of Interest (EoI).

Evaluation of applicants

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications mentioned above, and financial proposal. A 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 50 points in the technical evaluation will be considered for financial evaluation.

Technical Evaluation (70%) – max. 70 points:

• A Master’s degree in Social Studies, Law, Gender, or any other related field.  (max. 10 points)
• At least 5 years professional experience in the field of gender justice and child rights. (max. 15 points)
• Minimum 5 years of professional experience in research in the area of women’s rights, or gender justice. Research experience in child rights and/or in mediation is a great asset. (max. 20 points)
• At least 2 previous assignments related to preparing analytical reports and/ or policy documents, or assessments, preferably in the field of gender, or women’s rights or violence against women or children’s rights. (max. 10 points)
• A sample of a previously prepared assessment or report on gender justice, or children’s rights. (max. 10 points)
• Experience with the UN system or/and International Organizations is an asset (Max 5 points)  

Financial Evaluation (30%) – max. 30 points.

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

Only long-listed candidates will be contacted.

Financial proposal. Shortlisted candidate will be requested to submit a financial proposal. The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount breaking down a daily professional fee, proposed number of working days and any related expenses, i.e. travel and communications expenses.