Background:

UN Women is the UN organization 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, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; fosters women’s empowerment and equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action, peace and security. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality, and in all deliberations and agreements linked to the 2030 Agenda. The entity works to position gender equality as fundamental to the Sustainable Development Goals, and a more inclusive world. 

UN Women’s goal in Timor-Leste is to promote women’s human rights and gender equality as the country works towards sustaining and furthering achievements in stability and development. This includes efforts to ensure women’s right to live free from any form of violence, efforts to advance women’s economic empowerment and women’s leadership and participation in support of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda, and advance international agreements and commitments related to gender equality and women’s empowerment, including through adequate planning and budgeting. 

The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (UNSCR 1325) was adopted unanimously on 31 October 2000. This landmark resolution has become an important normative framework for advancing the crucial roles of women and girls in prevention and resolution of conflicts, peacebuilding, humanitarian response and post-conflict recovery. It reiterates the importance of the equal participation and full involvement of women in all efforts for building sustainable peace. 

In Timor-Leste, recognizing the profound contribution of Timorese women in peacebuilding and sustainable development across generations in history, the first-generation National Action Plan 2016-2020 for implementing the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on WPS (“NAP 1325”) was adopted and implemented to enhance equal, inclusive and meaningful participation and leadership of Timorese women in decision-making and protection from violence, and to strengthen gender-responsive conflict resolution and peacebuilding practices.

The IX Constitutional Government of Timor-Leste, under the leadership and coordination of the Ministry of Interior, continues to promote gender equality and rights of women and girls as the country works towards sustaining peace and accelerating development progresses in two decades after the restoration of independence. In January 2024, the Government of Timor-Leste, through the Council of Ministers, officially approved the second-generation NAP 1325 (2024-2028) to accelerate the localization of the WPS agenda in the country. 

The second NAP 1325, spanning five years, serves as a holistic and multi-stakeholder national strategy to ensure that gender equality and women’s leadership is integral to every aspect of conflict prevention and resolution, peacebuilding and post-conflict recovery, and humanitarian response in Timor-Leste. The NAP 1325 is structured around four key pillars - Participation, Prevention, Protection, and Peacebuilding (4Ps), and it articulates a comprehensive strategy in response to evolving needs of women and girls to address both traditional and emerging security risks, including impacts of disasters induced by climate change, threats to cybersecurity and trafficking in persons. 

UN Women has been providing technical support to national security institutions, line ministries and civil society organizations in the NAP 1325 structure in strengthening capacities to plan, implement, finance, monitor and report their commitments in the NAP. In the past decade, UN Women has been providing technical support tailored to the local political economy context to promote gender mainstreaming in national security policies and reforms and advance women’s meaningful leadership in decision-making processes at all levels, and promote gender-responsive conflict prevention and peacebuilding, and to promote services that meet the security needs of women and girls in Timor-Leste.

UN Women, through the WPS Programme, provides technical support to the Government of Timor-Leste in implementing its commitments to promoting gender equality and women’s rights in line with international, regional and national normative and policy frameworks, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and its Concluding Observation 2023, Beijing Platform for Action, UNSCR 1325, IX Constitutional Government of Timor-Leste, National Strategic Plan (2011-2030), NAP 1325 (2024-2028), NAP GBV (2022-2032) and the National Police’s Gender Strategy (2024-2028). The National Consultant - WPS Technical Coordinator will support and upscale these efforts, which will involve provision of integrated policy advice, technical assistance and capacity development as well as support advocacy efforts.

Overall Objectives of the Assignment

The major role of the National Consultant is to support WPS programme implementation and coordination, with key objectives to:

1) provide support and conduct baseline knowledge consultations with key stakeholders from line ministries (particularly security and defence sector actors), development partners and civil society organizations to inform needs, capacities and priorities on WPS and emerging issues, including civil-military engagement in Timor-Leste; 

2) provide support in capacity development workshops and strengthen capacity of national stakeholders in the NAP 1325 implementation, coordination, advocacy, monitoring and reporting, and gender-responsive budgeting; 

3) promote representation and leadership of women and youth in local decision-making bodies;

4) enhance capacities of institutions, local communities and civil society actors to identify, address, and eliminate structural barriers and discriminatory practices that limit women’s participation in governance, peace and security.

Scope of work/Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of UN Women Head of Office, and direct supervision by the UN Women Governance, Peace and Security and Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme Analyst, and in coordination with line ministries and civil society organizations, the assignment of the National Consultant will include the following:

Conduct baseline knowledge and needs consultations

• Work with the WPS Programme Team to jointly design a baseline consultation methodology and tools to assess existing knowledge, capacities, institutional practices, and priorities related to the WPS agenda and emerging security challenges in Timor-Leste.
• Conduct stakeholder consultations with relevant institutions, including government ministries, defence and security sector actors, civil society organizations, women’s organizations, and other relevant stakeholders.
• Identify current levels of awareness, capacities, coordination mechanisms, and training needs related to WPS, emerging security challenges and civil-military engagement, and other context-specific challenges affecting women’s participation and protection.
• Ensure consultations are conducted using gender-responsive and participatory approaches, ensuring inclusive participation of civil society organizations, women’s organizations and organizations working with people with disabilities. 
• Support the documentation of good practices, case studies, lessons learned related to WPS and civil–military engagement.
• Work with the WPS Programme Team to conduct baseline analysis, and synthesize findings and recommendations into a baseline report. Incorporate feedback from UN Women and partners into the final report.

Provide technical assistance and capacity development to project/programme partners

• Support capacity development and knowledge exchange amongst NAP 1325 actors in national security and defence institutions, line ministries and civil society organizations as champions for gender equality in NAP 1325 implementation, coordination, advocacy, monitoring and reporting, and gender-responsive budgeting. 
• Develop and/or manage development of training material and implement innovative training programmes to support partners capacity on Women, Peace and Security;
• Coordinate with partner organizations and organize workshops and/or dialogues to promote knowledge and expertise exchange and share good practices amongst the existing ASEAN Member States and Timor-Leste on advancing the WPS agenda. 
• Provide technical support to the partner organizations in implementation of the WPS Programme. 
• Provide support to UN Women in the continued technical leadership and networking for UN Women’s strategic posture.

Provide technical inputs in the monitoring and reporting of the programme/ project

• Support and monitor progress of implementation of activities and finances using results- based management tools;
• Provide inputs in UN Women’s reports on monitoring missions, programme results, outputs and outcomes;
• Prepare relevant documentation such as project summaries, conference presentations, briefing notes, speeches, and donor profiles;

Provide substantive inputs to advocacy, knowledge building and communication efforts

• Develop background documents, briefs and presentations related to WPS
• Work with Communications Analyst and provide substantive inputs in communications materials on WPS (newsletters, social media, impact stories, etc.)
• Coordinate and organize advocacy campaigns, events, trainings, workshops and knowledge products to promote WPS;

Duration of the assignment

The total duration of the contract will be from 1 April – 31 December 2026. 

Expected Deliverables  

The consultant is expected to submit a Monthly Report with the following:

1. Monthly Workplan with clear timelines and actions for the month should be submitted by 5^th of each month. The final Monthly Workplan should be attached as an Annex in the Monthly Report.
2. Monthly progress reports  shall be submitted by 28^th of each month, including the reports documenting logistics support and coordination required for meetings/discussions with Parliamentarians and/or government partners, as well as notes from meetings and events. 
3. Workplan, tools and materials developed for the knowledge exchange events,  dialogues, capacity development activities and trainings. Reports documenting the detailed results of the events and trainings organized, with the analysis of the pre- and post- tests for all trainings. 

All the documents, including reports, questionnaires, presentations, and reports, should be submitted in the English language, or if in Tetum, include an English summary.

Inputs

1. UN Women will provide working space at UN Women Office. UN Women will cover any printing cost if necessary.
2. UN Women will provide transportation for work-related travel to other municipalities. 
3. UN Women will provide Daily Subsistence Allowance to cover expenses for the work-related travel outside of Dili or outside of Timor-Leste when applicable, and upon reception of a Travel Authorization.
4. The cost of telecommunication and transportation within Dili will be covered by the consultant.

Performance evaluation

Contractor’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

Competencies 

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

The Consultant should meet the following requirements:

Education

• Master or Bachelor Degree or equivalent (required education in Law, Gender Studies, Peace and Security, Conflict Prevention, Political studies, Economics, Social Sciences or related fields). 

Experience:

• 4 years with Master degree, or 6 years with Bachelor degree of professional experience in the areas of human rights, gender equality, Women, Peace and Security, prevention and response to Gender-Based Violence, and access to justice;
• Extensive experience in working with national security, defence and justice institutions, and civil society organizations in organizing training workshops, meetings and dialogues related to gender equality, peace and security, prevention and response to Gender-Based Violence, and/or gender-responsive conflict prevention and resolution;
• Experience in developing or implementing civic education for peace and development or related programme;
• Good understanding of the youth, gender and development context of Timor-Leste. 

Language and other skills:

• Proficiency in oral and written in English and Tetum. Knowledge of Portuguese is an advantage.
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, Internet and email.

A two-stage procedure is utilized in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal 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:

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically qualified candidate.

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated. 
• The total number of points allocated for the price component is 100. 
• The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

Payments

Payments for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of each deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed. Payments will not be based on the number of days worked but on the completion of each stated deliverable within the indicated timeframes.

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.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

Will be added separately for each position

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

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.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.