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. UN Women in Georgia supports state and non-state partners towards the achievement of substantive gender equality in Georgia. In line with national and international commitments, UN Women works on the levels of policy and legislation, institutions and grassroots, in order to achieve transformative results for increased gender equality and greater protection of the rights of women and girls.

Sexual harassment against women is a serious violation of their human rights and a major barrier to achieving equality of opportunity and access to decent, dignified work (ILO, UN Women, Addressing Violence and Harassment against Women in the World of Work, 2019. Available at: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/

europe/

ro-geneva/

ilo-ankara/documents/publication/wcms_731370.pdf). It has a devastating impact on women’s health, well-being, and economic status. Sexual harassment is also deeply connected to social norms, values, and stereotypes that foster gender inequalities, discrimination against women, and unequal power relations between men and women. This includes intersecting forms of discrimination based on gender, race, age, disability, and others.

Along with public perceptions and socio-cultural factors, the lack of gender-responsive employment policies across institutions—be they public agencies or political parties—constitute a significant barrier to women’s meaningful participation and leadership. This entails the lack of anti-discrimination and anti-harassment measures, as well as the absence of family-friendly policies and the lack of dedicated programmes and measures to promote equality of opportunity for women in decision-making positions.

In Georgia, the 2021 UN Women study on Workplace Sexual Harassment in the Civil Service in Georgia (Available at: https://georgia.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2021/09/workplace-sexual-harassment-in-the-civil-service-in-georgia) revealed that workplace sexual harassment is a pervasive problem in the public service, with 41 percent of female public servants reporting having experienced sexual harassment during their tenure in the public service. While the introduction of legislation on sexual harassment in 2019 and the subsequent introduction of sexual harassment response mechanisms in a number of ministries/state agencies with UN Women’s support, are important steps forward, significant shortcomings remain. While some public entities have introduced anti-sexual harassment mechanisms, most employers have not done so. Lack of awareness and social stigma around sexual harassment constitute significant barriers to creating a safe and conducive environment for women and men in public service. While the prevalence of sexual harassment within political parties has not been explored yet, 2022 NDI/UNDP research reveals that in Georgia, not a single political party has an internal mechanism on the prevention of and response to sexual harassment. On a more positive note, the same research suggests that members of the political parties see the space and necessity to introduce internal regulations on sexual harassment within their respective political parties; this is a significant finding and entry point that the project will utilize.

In April 2023 UN Women, with the generous support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) launched a four-year project “Women’s Increased Leadership for Democracy in Georgia” (WILD). The project aims to ensure that women and girls in all their diversity fully and equally participate in decision-making and benefit from gender-responsive governance in Georgia. Within the framework of the project, UN Women intends to support public institutions, including central and local governments, legislative bodies, and political parties to establish prevention and response mechanisms on sexual harassment and discrimination. To support this initiative, UN Women intends to hire a National Consultant.

Duties and Responsibilities

The national consultant will be responsible for the following tasks and deliverables:

• To develop sexual harassment response mechanisms and support their operationalization in at least 10 governmental agencies, legislative bodies, and political parties, aligned with national legislation, international best practices, and internal regulations of individual ministries/state agencies/parties.
• To provide capacity development training to governmental agencies, legislative bodies, and political parties on preventing and responding to sexual harassment in the workplace.

Deliverables:

1. Progress Report 1 – covering duties, responsibilities and a number of working days pre-agreed with the UN Women developed and submitted to UN Women by 05 September 2023.
2. Progress Report 2 – covering duties, responsibilities and a number of working days pre-agreed with the UN Women developed and submitted to UN Women by 05 December 2023.
3. Progress Report 3 – covering duties, responsibilities and a number of working days pre-agreed with the UN Women developed and submitted to UN Women by 05 April 2024.
4. Progress Report 4 – covering duties, responsibilities and a number of working days pre-agreed with the UN Women developed and submitted to UN Women by 05 July 2024.
5. Progress Report 5 – covering duties, responsibilities and a number of working days pre-agreed with the UN Women developed and submitted to UN Women by 05 December 2024.

Competencies

Core Values:

• 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

Technical/Functional Competencies:

• Excellent analytical and research skills.
• Strong understanding of and commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment
• Excellent writing skills.
• Excellent organizational skills.
• Proficiency in IT skills demonstrated.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• At least master’s degree in law, Human Rights sociology, or related field

Experience and competencies:

• At least three years of proven experience of work on the prevention and response to sexual harassment
• At least three years of working experience in the field of gender equality, discrimination and violence against women
• Prior experience in working with the government stakeholders on developing strategies, policies and tools, training programmes etc. will be an asset

Language and other skills

• Fluency in Georgian

Evaluation Procedure

The candidates will be evaluated in three stages: according to minimum qualification criteria; technical and financial evaluation.

The candidates must possess following minimum qualification criteria to be eligible for further technical evaluation:

• At least master’s degree in law, Human Rights sociology, or related field
• At least three years of proven experience of work on the prevention and response to sexual harassment
• At least three years of working experience in the field of gender equality, discrimination and violence against women
• Fluency in Georgian

Technical evaluation criteria (including minimum qualifications):

• At least master’s degree in law, Human Rights sociology, or related field (max 70 points)
• At least three years of proven experience of work on the prevention and response to sexual harassment (max 90 points)
• At least three years of working experience in the field of gender equality, discrimination and violence against women (max 90 points)
• Prior experience in working with government stakeholders on developing strategies, policies and tools, training programmes etc. will be an asset (max 70 points)
• Fluency in Georgian (max 30 points)

Maximum total technical score amounts to 350 points. Only candidates who have passed over the minimum qualification criteria and have accumulated at least 245 points out of maximum 350 under technical evaluation will qualify for the next stage i.e. evaluation of their financial proposals.

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 150

S – score received on financial evaluation;

Fmin – the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round;

F – financial offer under consideration.

The winning candidate will be the candidate, who has accumulated the highest aggregated score (technical

scoring + financial scoring).

Management arrangements:

The contractor will report to and work under direct supervision of UN Women Governance & Participation in Public Life (G&PPL) Programme Analyst and under the overall supervision of the UN Women Deputy Country Representative.

Financial arrangements:

Payment will be disbursed upon submission and approval of deliverables and certification by UN Women G&PPL Programme Analyst that the services have been satisfactorily performed. The payment per deliverable shall be calculated per number of working days captured in the progress reports/deliverables.

Application submission package:

Duly filled in Personal History Form PHF11 that can be downloaded from

• https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process

• CV including examples of the previous work.
• Financial Proposal – lump sum proposal/offer* in USD (including breakdown of this lump sum amount indicating all necessary costs to complete this assignment).

*The applicants are required to submit an aggregated financial offer: “aggregated financial offer” is the total sum of all financial claims of the candidate, including travel costs (ticket, DSA etc.) for accomplishment of all tasks spelled out in this ToR.

How to Submit the Application:

• Download and complete the UN Women Personal History Form (P11)- https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process
• Merge your UN Women Personal History Form (P11), CV and the Financial Proposal into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded.
• Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement).
• Click ‘Apply Now’ button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click ‘Submit Application;’
• Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above).
• You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.

Notes:

• UN Women retains the right to contact references directly. Due to the large numbers of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.
• Applications without the financial offer will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.
• The individual consultants should take the mandatory learning security course prior to commencement of the assignment– details will follow before the issuance of contract.

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.)