Consultant for Strategic Planning and Communication

UN Women is the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to ensure that the standards are effectively implemented and truly benefit women and girls worldwide. It works globally to make the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) a reality for women and girls and stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on four strategic priorities: (i) Women lead, participate in and benefit equally from governance systems; (ii) Women have income security, decent work and economic autonomy; (iii) All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence; and (iv) 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.

The Project “Enhancing Access to Justice for Women in Asia and the Pacific: Bridging the gap between formal and informal systems through women’s empowerment” is a five-year programme that began implementation in 2018, thanks to the generous support of the Government of Sweden. The overall goal of the project is to enhance access to justice for women in formal and informal systems in Asia and the Pacific, bridging the gap between these systems through women’s empowerment and reduction of gender biases. In realizing this goal, the programme partners – UN Women, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and OHCHR – focus on achieving the following outputs: (1) Domestic laws adopted and court decisions are consistent with international human rights law and standards, including CEDAW; (2) Gender discriminatory attitudes and stereotyped behaviours towards women by formal and informal justice providers are addressed; and (3) Grassroots women’s organizations and community-based women’s organizations are empowered and well-positioned to document, monitor, liaise and facilitate interactions with formal and informal justice providers.                                          

Access to justice is a key cornerstone to enforce human rights granted to women and girls.  Although there is a global trend to adopt legislative measures for implementing the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) obligations, women and girls still face numerous obstacles in pursuing their legal rights and holding justice systems accountable. A comprehensive approach including the whole justice chain is needed to eliminate any form of discrimination and a critical mass of active citizens need to be mobilized to advocate for change.

The fragility of achieves to advance women’s access to justice has become apparent during the COVID-19 crisis when the dispute resolution mechanisms around the world came to a standstill. Efforts to shift cases to virtual platforms were often inconsistence and gender-neutral, and protection services for the increased rate of domestic violence victims were insufficient.

In this context, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific will hire a consultant for Strategic Planning and Communication.

UN Women seeks the services of a consultant to support the “Enhancing Access to Justice for Women in Asia and the Pacific” project on strategic communication, advocacy, and planning efforts in the context of COVID 19 and pre-COVID 19.

The consultant will be expected to support the development and implementation of a joint communication plan for the project,  support strategies to actively engage women CSOs and communities in virtual discussions, create a post-COVID joint vision and design activities to strengthen women’s access to justice.

Under the supervision of the Programme Specialist – Access to Justice – Governance, Peace and Security, ROAP, the consultant will be responsible for the following:

1. Develop and support the implementation of a detailed workplan (2021/2022) to adjust a community-based gender justice approach amid COVID-19 restriction and post-COVID context. 

• Conduct online consultation with UN Women partners and country offices.
• With support of UN Women country officers, conduct consultations with community based CSO and justice providers. 
• Develop a 2-year workplan based on the existing project document considering COVID-19 restrictions and long-term impact.
• In partnership with the UN Women country offices develop 5 country and 1 regional A2J briefs based on the workplan, progress reports and project document (Nepal, Indonesia, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste and the Philippines)

     2. Develop a detailed strategic communication plan articulating and aligning communication objectives with different stakeholder groups (including public education, development partner, justice and service providers, NGOs)

• Conduct consultation with 5 UN Women country offices and UN Women partners to map existing communication efforts and communication needs.
• Draft a visioning document that embodies a collaborative approach with the partners and country stakeholders.
• Develop a women’s access to justice communication plan.
• Develop 2 joint communication pieces (UN Women, ICJ and OHCHR)
• Support the establishment and coordination of Asia-Pacific UN Women justice experts group.
• Provide communication support during the development of long-term inter-agency strategy on women’s access to justice.
• Revise existing communication material and update the UN Women Access to Justice webpage.
• Develop and distribute monthly progress briefs capturing activities conducted by UN Women, ICJ and OHCHR.

      3. Support the creation and facilitation of UN Women webinars for journalists and access to justice practitioners. (6 sessions for              journalist and 1 session for A2J practitioners over a period of 7 months) 

• Support the development of session outlines and explore virtual platforms for the webinar.
• Support the facilitation of 6 sessions focused on women’s rights and access to justice  for journalist in the Asia region.
• Support the development and facilitation of one UN Women e-justice and gender webinar.

      Contract period and work location

• From 9 November 2020 – 20 June 2021. The consultant will be home-based unless conditions in 2021 allow in-person activities.

1. Deliverables

Each payment will be issued upon acceptance and approval of a monthly delivery report showing progress on deliverables stipulated in the table below by the Programme Specialist – Access to Justice – Governance, Peace and Security, ROAP. The expected deliverables will be done in close collaboration/supervision of UN Women personnel. Payments will be made in 7 installments as below.

Required Skills and Qualifications

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in communication science or related field
• Minimum of 7 years relevant experience in strategic communication in diverse fields,
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience providing advisory services and programme positioning support,
• Demonstrated experience of strategic communication and planning in diverse cultural setting,
• Experienced in corporate visioning, branding, and positioning for international organizations is an asset,

• Proven experience in developing and conducting training courses and workshops.
• Work experience in Asia or the Pacific is an advantage. 
• Proficiency in English writing skill.

1. Evaluation Criteria

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis.

• Technical Qualification (100 points) weight; [70%]
• Financial Proposal (100 points) weight; [30%]

A two-stage procedure is utilised in evaluating the applications, with evaluation of the technical application being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

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Submission of application

Interest candidates are encouraged to submit electronic application to [email protected], copy [email protected] not later than 29 October 2020, COB.

Submission package includes:

• Updated CV, P11 form Personal History Form (P11)
• Financial proposal
• Sample of pieces of documents relevant to the experiences: branding, communication, online platforms, etc. required
•  

• Items	Amount (USD)
  1.Lump Sum fee (equivalent to daily fee x no. of days)   1st Deliverable: Summary report of the online consultation with UN Women partners and country offices. Summary report of the consultations with 5 UN Women country offices and UN Women partners to map existing communication efforts and communication needs TOR and list of participants for the established of Asia-Pacific UN Women justice expert group. Session outlines and decision on virtual platforms for the OHCHR/ UN Women journalist webinar. Donor communication brief on Access to Justice and COVID in the Asia-Pacific region. Progress report outlining progress on all deliverables.
  2nd Deliverable: Meeting minutes of one Asia-Pacific Justice expert group meeting. Summary report of the virtual consultations with community based CSO and justice providers. A2J country briefs for Timor-Leste and Nepal.  One joint communication piece (UN Women, ICJ and OHCHR). Brief summary of the OHCHR/ UN Women journalist opening session. Monthly progress brief capturing activities conducted by UN Women, ICJ and OHCHR. Progress report outlining progress on all deliverables.
  3rd Deliverable: Draft workplan to adjust a community-based gender justice approach amid COVID-19. Draft visioning document that embodies a collaborative approach with the partners and country stakeholders. Draft Women’s Access to Justice communication plan. Monthly progress brief capturing activities conducted by UN Women, ICJ and OHCHR. Develop new A2J communication material for online publication. One impact story for the Philippines with focus on women in conflict with the law. 1 joint communication piece (UN Women, ICJ and OHCHR) for international women’s day. Progress report outlining progress on all deliverables.
  4th Deliverable: Meeting minutes of one Asia-Pacific Justice expert group meeting. Update the UN Women Access to Justice webpage. Monthly progress brief capturing activities conducted by UN Women, ICJ and OHCHR. Brief summary of OHCHR/ UN Women journalist webinars session A2J country briefs for Indonesia and the Philippines.  Final workplan to adjust a community-based gender justice approach amid COVID-19. Final visioning document that embodies a collaborative approach with the partners and country stakeholders. Women’s Access to Justice communication plan. Brief status update on the women’s access to justice strategy (based on justice expert group meetings). Proposal for virtual platform and outline for UN Women webinar on e-justice and gender. Progress report outlining progress on all deliverables.
  5th Deliverable: Brief summary of OHCHR/ UN Women journalist webinars session A2J country briefs regional and Solomon Islands   Monthly progress briefs capturing activities conducted by UN Women, ICJ and OHCHR Donor package containing country briefs, communication plan, the brief community-based gender justice approach amid COVID-19, visionary document and progress on the development of the access to justice strategy. Progress report outlining progress on all deliverables
  6th Deliverable: Brief summary of OHCHR/ UN Women journalist webinars session Monthly progress brief capturing activities conducted by UN Women, ICJ and OHCHR. Comprehensive outcome document for the UN Women Asia-Pacific Justice expert group (basis for access to justice strategy). Meeting minutes and brief summary report of the UN seminar on women’s access to justice (introduction of women’s access to justice strategy Meeting minutes of the UN interagency women’s access to justice working group. One impact story for the Philippines with focus on women in conflict with the law. Progress report outlining progress on all deliverables
  7th Deliverable: Brief summary of OHCHR/ UN Women journalist webinars session Collect and incorporate comments on suggestion on the women’s access to justice strategy submitted by UN agencies. Monthly progress briefs capturing activities conducted by UN Women, ICJ and OHCHR Update the UN Women Access to Justice webpage. Final consultancy report including achievements, challenges, and way forward.
  2. Other (please provide details as applicable)
  Total Financial Proposal