The Position:
In Eastern Europe, including the Western Balkans, persistent gender inequalities and discrimination continue to affect family dynamics and society as a whole. These harmful norms and practices discriminate against women and girls, resulting in low female employment rates across the region. The Western Balkans, in particular, witness significant gender disparities in labour force participation, pay, and the burden of unpaid care work.
To address these policy gaps, the United Nations Population Funds (UNFPA) in Eastern Europe and Central Asia intends to implement the second phase of the Expanding Choices project in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia. This project aims to have a substantial impact by enabling women to fully participate in the labour market and make informed decisions on their family and work life, leading to more gender-responsive and sustainable development. The desired outcome of the project is to promote GRFP in the private sector through legislative and normative frameworks, creating inclusive labour conditions and opportunities. This objective aligns with the priorities outlined in the Austrian Development Cooperation's Regional Strategy for the Western Balkans Region, which emphasises sustainable economic development and improved conditions in the labour market for the most vulnerable populations. By addressing challenges such as unpaid care work and maternalistic policies, the project aims to establish family-friendly policies that support caregivers, redistribute unpaid care work, and promote work-life balance. Furthermore, the project supports governance and the rule of law by engaging with duty bearers and advocating for business-friendly public services and equal opportunities. The intervention will pursue three key outputs: 1) enhancing the capacity of governments to design and monitor GRFP, 2) encouraging private sector actors to implement such policies, 3) fostering regional collaboration and knowledge sharing on GRFP and their connection to gender equality and economic development.
For this purpose, UNFPA BiH intends to hire national consultant, an expert in Gender Responsive Family Policies (GRFP) to work with champion companies included in the Expanding Choices project in BiH with the purpose of supporting companies in implementation of the FFW model and working with the government sector and policy makers to mainstream GRFP policies.
You will report to ADA Project Manager
How you can make a difference:
UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA’s strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals.
In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.
UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.
The National Consultant, engaged as GRFP Expert (Assessment and Capacity Building) is expected to implement the following activities within the Expanding Choices Project. In particular, she/he is expected to deliver the following:
Task 1: Conduct a comprehensive assessment of champion companies that includes:
- with support of the UNFPA team, expanding knowledge of the framework of “Expanding Choices” pool of resources
- screening business models of private sector companies
- evaluating preparedness to adopt the Family-Friendly Workplace model prepared through the framework of project’s methodology
- identifying specific needs to enhance their practices to improve work-life balance and develop gender-responsive family policies.
Task 2: In collaboration with champion companies, design company-specific strategies to incorporate FFW model and develop detailed implementation plans with recommendations that includes the following:
- Break down the chosen strategies into specific action items, timelines, responsible parties, and resource requirements.
- Create a roadmap for execution, including milestones and contingency plans.
Task 3: Organise and deliver a 2 days capacity building workshop for private sector to improve knowledge and awareness on rights and entitlements regarding GRFP and regulations among the workforce in the respective entity:
- Lead the preparation of the workshop material (including PPTX, agenda, pre-post evaluation);
- Engage and collaborate with experts from the selected champion companies
- Invite participants;
- Lead the implementation of the workshop;
- Provide UNFPA with a summary report, including pictures, attendees and pre-post evaluation.
Task 4: Organise and deliver a capacity building workshop for government officials and policy-makers on GRFP and business friendly public services in the respective entity:
- Lead the preparation of the workshop material (including PPTX, agenda, pre-post evaluation);
- Ensure alignment of the workshop with the recommendations provided by the work-life balance analysis conducted by UNFPA in 2023 and the additional policy scans conducted in 2024;
- Invite participants;
- Lead the implementation of the workshop;
- Provide UNFPA with a summary report, including pictures, attendees and pre-post evaluation.
Ensure collaboration and communication with UNFPA BiH CO as needed. This will include agreeing with UNFPA on the work plan rollout of this consultancy.
Duration and working schedule:
The consultant will perform planned tasks during the period from July 9, 2024 until 15th December 2024. The payment will be based on and made upon completion of each deliverable as described below.
A work plan will be agreed upon at the start of the assignment in consultation with UNFPA CO.
Task 1: Assessment of Private Sector Companies: 9 working days in the period of July 9- September 30, 2024.
Task 2: designing company-specific strategies to incorporate FFW model and develop detailed implementation plans with recommendations: 13 days between October 1- October 31 2024. Work entails 3 days of draft analysis, 5 days for working with 5 private sector companies, 5 days for design of the company-specific strategies to incorporate FFW model with recommendations
Task 3: Organise and deliver a capacity building workshop for private sector to improve knowledge and awareness on rights and entitlements regarding GRFP and regulations among the workforce in the respective entity: 5 working days between October 31- December 15 2024. Work entails 2 days for preparation, 2 days for training, 1 day for reporting.
Task 4: Support capacity building workshop for government officials and policy-makers on GRFP and business friendly public services in the respective entity: 5 working days in the period from October 15 to December 15 2024. Work entails 2 days for preparation, 2 days for training, 1 day for reporting.
Total: 32 working days in the period from July 9, 2024 until December 15 2024.
Place where services are to be delivered:
BiH, various location
Delivery dates and how work will be delivered (e.g. electronic, hard copy etc.):
Consultant is responsible for delivering the following.
- 1st Deliverable related to Task 1: Assessment of Private Sector Companies completed in the period from July 9- September 30, 2024.
- 2nd Deliverable related to Task 2: Designing company-specific strategies to incorporate FFW model and develop detailed implementation plans with recommendations to be completed in the period between October 1- October 31 2024.
- 3rd Deliverable related to Task 3: Organise and deliver a capacity building workshop for private sector to improve knowledge and awareness on rights and entitlements regarding GRFP and regulations among the workforce in the respective entity to be completed in the period between October 31- December 15 2024.
- 4th Deliverable related to Task 4: Organise and deliver a capacity building workshop for government officials and policy-makers on GRFP and business friendly public services in the respective entity to be completed in the period between October 15 to December 15 2024.
Monitoring and progress control, including reporting requirements, periodicity format and deadline:
The monitoring will be conducted by UNFPA CO in Bosnia and Herzegovina with regular progress updates provided to ADA Project Manager.
Regular updates on document development will be ensured through direct exchanges between the consultant and ADA Project Manager
Expected travel:
Throughout FBIH
Required expertise, qualifications and competencies, including language requirements:
The UNFPA BiH CO is looking for a National Consultant who has the following competencies and qualifications:
Academic Qualifications:
- Advanced university degree, preferably in political or social sciences, international relations, law, gender equality, or any other relevant area;
Professional Experience:
- At least 5 years of proven experience in Gender Responsive Family Policies, including experience of working with both public and private sector and knowledge of existing HR practices and regulations, respectively in the Federation of BiH and the Republika Srpska.
- Good knowledge of existing gender-responsive family policy framework in BiH and EU and OECD countries;
- Previous experience in working with both public and private sector in the area of work-life balance, family-friendly workplaces and/or gender responsive policies;
- Previous experience in conducting trainings and capacity building with a plethora of participants from different backgrounds;
- Proven analytical skills and report writing;
- Experience in running due diligence and background research is a plus.
Other skills:
- Excellent communication skills
- Excellent computer skills (especially MS Office) and the ability to use information technology as a tool and resource.
- Fluency in English and BHS is required.
Functional skills:
- Generating, managing and promoting the use of knowledge and information;
- providing a technical support system.
Other relevant information or special conditions, if any:
UNFPA reserves the right to offer to the selected candidate the rate in accordance with UNFPA consultant rates and UNFPA available budget. Payment for contractor will not exceed average UNFPA rates for national consultants.
Where the contractor fails to deliver the required quality of products, the rate payable will be reduced. UNFPA reserves the right to assess the quality of products. Contractor has an obligation to finalise products/documents to the full UNFPA satisfaction.
Payment will be subdivided in two deliverables:
- At delivering of Task 1 and 2
- At delivering of Task 3 and 4
UNFPA Work Environment:
UNFPA provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, diversity, integrity and healthy work-life balance. We are committed to ensuring gender parity in the organization and therefore encourage women to apply. Individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community, minority ethnic groups, indigenous populations, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply. UNFPA promotes equal opportunities in terms of appointment, training, compensation and selection for all regardless of personal characteristics and dimensions of diversity. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is at the heart of UNFPA's workforce - click here to learn more.
Disclaimer:
Selection and appointment may be subject to background and reference checks, medical clearance, visa issuance and other administrative requirements.
UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process and does not concern itself with information on applicants' bank accounts.
Applicants for positions in the international Professional and higher categories, who hold permanent resident status in a country other than their country of nationality, may be required to renounce such status upon their appointment.
We are no longer accepting applications for this position.
