Consultants for conducting training on Gender Responsive Budgeting in Ethiopia

Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) seeks to mainstream gender issues into the national budgeting processes from planning to implementation, monitoring and evaluation. In recent years, GRB has been increasingly used in various countries as an effective tool to channel financial resources and monitor progress towards achieving gender targets and priorities. Over the past eight years, UN Women has supported GRB work in more than 30 countries at national, sectoral and local levels and significantly contributed to positioning GRB within the framework of mainstream fiscal policy as well as national planning and budgeting processes.

Work on GRB in Ethiopia provides a platform for gender mainstreaming that will strengthen policies and budgets across sectors to better meet the needs of women and men in local communities. The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MOFED) has a lead role in the institutionalization of GRB: A gender responsive Budget Call for the 2010 fiscal year (2003 Ethiopian fiscal year) requests Sectoral Ministries to include activities in support of the implementation of the Women’s Policy and gender inclusive policies in the budgets submitted to MOFED as part of the annual national budgeting process.

The long term objective of GRB work in Ethiopia is to contribute to the effective implementation of gender sensitive policy commitments reflected in the national development strategy, the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) for 2010/2011-2014/2015 and other strategic documents through increased and better targeted resource allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment.

In the context of its Country Programme Strategy for Ethiopia (2008-2011), UN Women has developed a partnership with MOFED focusing on capacity building of government officials on GRB tools as well as the development of guidelines for institutionalizing GRB in selected sectoral budgets. UN Women is also working closely with MOWCYA in the context of the UN Flagship Joint Programme on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in support of the implementation of specific thematic priorities on women’s economic empowerment, preventing and responding to Gender Based Violence as well as institutional capacity strengthening across sectors. Furthermore, UN Women’s partnership with the Ministry for Women, Children and Youth Affairs focuses on the development and use of a leveling/accountability tool to assess results of gender mainstreaming across different sectors.

UN Women has also developed partnerships with civil society organizations in Ethiopia that implement projects aiming at strengthening the gender dimensions of selected regional development plans and budgets.

In this context, UN Women is planning to hire 2 international consultants that will contribute to building capacity of national stakeholders and developing relevant tools, guidelines and methodologies for the implementation of the GRB agenda in Ethiopia in close collaboration and consultation with MOFED and MOWCYA and other national stakeholders as relevant.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Country Programme Manager and in close cooperation with other programme staff for UN Women Ethiopia, and in consultation with the UN Women Sub Regional Office, the consultants will accomplish the following tasks:

Submit to UN WOMEN Ethiopia an inception report outlining detailed work plan, including methodology of training and steps to be followed towards meeting the objectives with a time-frame that will be used to guide and monitor the flow of work during the duration of the consultancy.
Develop and use a needs assessment methodology to identify partner needs and priorities to feed into the design of the TOT and training sessions and share the methodology with UN Women partners as part of capacity building.
Share and validate results of the capacity needs assessment and capacity building strategy with UN Women and partners to ensure actual needs are understood and appropriate strategies are designed.
Assist in the process of revising the existing GRB guidelines produced by MOFED to feed into and inform the development of country specific training tools and application of GRB throughout various sectors.
Adapt existing training materials on GRB to the needs of specific target groups and the Ethiopian country context and share them with the UN Women Country Office and stakeholders as part of the TOT sessions.
Conduct 2 TOT training sessions for selected a) government and b) non-government partners working on GRB in Ethiopia with a view to creating a critical mass of GRB experts that could be deployed in future engagements at federal and regional level.
Conduct 1 sensitization session for members of relevant parliamentary standing committees (budget and women’s
Assist in the development of action plans at the end of each session as input into the development of a GRB strategy for institutionalisation and sustainability of GRB work in civil society organisations; Prepare reports on the outcomes of the training sessions, including key decisions and action plans developed by the target groups.
Assist in the development of a levelling/accountability tool to assess the results of gender mainstreaming/GRB across different sectors in close cooperation with a national consultant recruited to deliver this task.

The deliverables of this consultancy are the following:

A needs assessment questionnaire and a report on needs and priorities identified by partners and stakeholders in relation to the TOT and training sessions.
Country-specific training materials (tool kits) for the TOT and training sessions.
2 TOT sessions and 1 training/sensitization session.
Report on the key outcomes/results of the training sessions.

DURATION AND START DATE
- The total time to complete the project specified under these ToRs shall not exceed 30 calendar days from the start date. \
- The consultancy will commence on November 28 2011

Competencies

The consultants will have in-depth and extensive experience in conducting training on Gender Responsive Budgeting with participation of government institutions, civil society organizations and academia. In addition, the consultants should have rich experience and knowledge in production of training tool kits.

Competencies:

Ability to work with diverse stakeholders to ensure effective delivery of training on GRB of high standards.
Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines
Ability to plan, prioritize and deliver tasks effectively as part of a team
Excellent communication and facilitation skills.
Experience in working with various stakeholders,including government institutions, CSOs, and UN/multilateral/bilateral institutions is essential.
Experience in participatory approach and social accountability work is an asset.
Familiarity and previous working experience in Ethiopia is an asset.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Masters Degree or PHD in Economics or in any social science, preferably in gender and development studies.

Education:

Minimum 7 years of professional experience on gender and development issues at regional and/or country level with focus on GRB and social accountability.
Proven record (of at least 5 years) and expertise in development of country specific training materials and facilitation of TOT and training sessions on GRB tools and methodologies.
Extensive experience in facilitating the development of strategies and action plans on GRB by relevant stakeholders.

In-depth knowledge of public finance management systems and public sector reforms and their implications for gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Interested candidates are requested to submit a technical proposal that includes a detailed work plan and a presentation of the methodology for the completion of the assignment and a financial proposal that states the financial resources required for the delivery of the various activities

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Proposal: (not more than 450 words)

(i) Explaining why they are the most suitable for the work

(ii) Provide a brief methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work (if applicable)

2. Financial proposal: indicate monthly fee

3. Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references

FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

Lump sum payment should be proposed in a separate sheet

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract shall 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.

* Technical Criteria weight; 70%

* Financial Criteria weight; 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 point and above would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

*Criteria*	*Weight*	*Max. Point*
Technical (based on CV, Proposal and Interview)
Minimum educational background and work experience (CV)	10%	10
Understanding of scope of work and methodology (From Proposal)	20%	20
Individual Competencies (Interview)	40%	40
Financial