I. BACKGROUND

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of substantive equality between women and men. The fundamental objective of UN Women is to enhance national capacity and ownership to enable national partners to formulate gender responsive laws, policies and upscale successful strategies to deliver on national and international commitments to gender equality. 

As a leading entity for women’s empowerment and for the rights of women and girls, UN Women promotes these causes through a three-fold mandate that includes strengthening inter-governmental normative, serving as a knowledge hub and providing technical support, and inter-agency coordination. Each of these functions facilitates the work of UN Women towards women’s empowerment in different levels. UN Women’s coordination role is a distinct feature of the agency and allows UN Women to directly provide technical support to gender mainstreaming across the system as well as branch out to external partners through UN mechanisms to ensure gender is effectively a cross-cutting issue that requires cross-sectoral responses, and such responses are available for the achievement of SDGs in Viet Nam.

UN Women is also leading and coordinatingmajor joint efforts to advocate for the protection and fulfillment of rights of marginalized groups, especially ones affected by HIV/AIDS. The epidemic is concentrated among key populations, especially people who inject drugs, gay men and other men who have sex with men and female sex workers and their sexual partners. People living with HIV (PLHIV) mainly live in large cities and the mountainous provinces. National estimates show an increasing proportion of new infections among female partners of key populations at risk of HIV and men who have sex with men (MSM). The prevention needs of female sex workers, intimate partners of males living with or at risk of HIV are also not fully met and there are no specific interventions for transgender persons. These groups should receive more adequate attention. Better knowledge of the HIV epidemic and risk factors among these populations, especially among intimate partners of those most at risk and MSM is essential. Stigma and discrimination related to HIV, drug use, sex work and same sex relations, remain major barriers for PLHIV and key populations to access HIV services and undermine their human rights.

In this context, UN Women is looking for a national consultant who will provide technical and coordination support for the specific activities under the office’s Annual Work Plan for 2019.

II. OBJECTIVES OF THE CONSULTANCY

The objective of the consultancy is toprovide support to Viet Nam Office on the implementation of its AWP with focus on Gender Theme Group and HIV/AIDS programme activities.

III. SPECIFIC TASKS

Under the overall guidance of the Programme Specialist, the national consultant will provide the following services:

1.      One UN Coordination

·         Support to the organization of regular meetings of Gender Theme Group (GTG), including the communications with GTG members and meeting minutes.

·         Finalize GTG Annual Work Plan 2019.

·         Assist in the general coordination and organization of events to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment with internal and external stakeholdersincluding the International Women’s Day, National Women’s Day, 16 Days of Activism and National Action Month events. Tasks include preparing working documents, talking points, events’ scripts, and training for youth participants.

2.      Programme support

·         Assist Committee for the Ethnic Minority on the repreparation of regular reports to UN Women and trainings/workshop organized with the support from UN Women on gender responsive budgeting and the draft Law on supporting the social economic development of the ethnic minority regions.

·         Support to design and implement HIV-related activities under the AWP 2019particularly activities with the LGBTQ communities, community of people affected by HIV/AIDS and youth community.

·         Manage the coordination of programme implementation with relevant stakeholders, particularly members of community-based organizations and UN agencies under the UNAIDS country envelop.

·         Support activities with CSOs on the review of 25-year implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the empowerment of the ethnic minority

·         Assist in the training and implementation of the UN’s joint toolkit Connect with Respect (CWR) toolkit with MOET; follow up with the M&E process of CWR.

IV. DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT AND DUTY STATION

Duration of Assignment: The tentative contractual period is from 1^stMarch to 20 December 2019.

Duty Station: Hanoi, Viet Nam. Consultant will be required to travel to project sites under programme activities to Ho Chi Minh city (two trips x 2 days/trip) andHa Giang (two trips x 2 days/trip).

V. CONTRACT SUPERVISION

The national consultant will work under the direct supervision of UN Women Programme Specialist. The local consultant will be ultimately responsible to the UN Women Country Head of Office in Viet Nam.

VI. SCHEDULE OF WORK, DELIVERABLES AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENT

The duration of this consultancy is will be from1^st March 2019.

VIII. QUALIFICATIONS

·          Master’s degree in Gender and Development Studies, Social Sciences or related fields, preferably including Gender Studies;

·          A minimum of 2 years of relevant experience in project/programme development is required.Experience working at the UN is an asset.

·          Experience working on gender issues, especially in on rights advocacy for marginalized and gender and sexual minority groups.

·          Excellent verbal and written communication skills

IX. EVALUATION CRITERIA

The applicant will be evaluated based on technical capacities (70%) and financial proposal (30%). Technical evaluation will be based on the following criteria stated below.

A two stage procedure isutilized in evaluating the submissions, with evaluation of the technical components being completed prior to any price proposals being opened and compared.The price proposal will be opened only for submissions that passed the minimum technical score of 70%of the obtainables core of 100 points in the evaluation of the technical component.

The technical component is evaluated on the basis of its responsiveness to the Term of Reference(TOR).

Technically qualified consultants may be selected for an interview before financial evaluation.

Maximum 100 points will be given to the lowest offer and the other financial proposals will receive the points inversely proportional to their financial offer s.i.e.Sf=100xFm/F, in which Sf is the financial score, Fm is the lowest price and F the price of the submission underconsideration.

The weight of technical pointsis 70%and financial pointsis30%.

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on Cumulative analys is ;the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a)         Responsive/compliant/acceptable;and

b)         Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

X. APPLICATION PROCEDURE AND DEADLINE

Interested applicants must submit the following document/information (in PDF format) to demonstrate their qualifications.

Technical component:

- Letter of interest explaining why they are the most suitable for the work

- Signed Curriculum vitae with contact details of 03 clients for whom you have rendered preferably similar services

- One report/publication/presentation/article on gender responsive budgeting as an evidence of GRB working experience.

Financial proposal (with your signature)

- The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount in VND including consultancy fees, travelling fee, and all associated costs i.e. tax, insurance etc.
- Please note that the cost of preparing a proposal and of negotiating a contract, including any related travel, is not reimbursable as a direct cost of the assignment.
- If quoted in other currency, prices shall be converted to VND at UN Exchange Rate at the submission deadline.

Complete applications should be sent to<[email protected]>. Only applications with all items mentioned above will be considered.

Deadline for Application:  21 February 2019

NOTE: Documents required before contract signing:

• UN Personal History Form

• Full medical examination and Statement of Fitness to work and travel for consultants with travel involved. (This is not a requirement for RLA contracts).

• Individual subscribers over 65 years of age are required to undergo a full medical examination including x-rays at their own cost and obtaining medical clearance from the UN Medical Director prior to taking up their assignment.

·   Completed UNDSS BSAFE online training course.
EN:https://agora.unicef.org/course/info.php?id=17891

• Release letter in case the selected consultant is government official.

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