TERMS OF REFERENCE

I. BACKGROUND

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the empowerment of Women (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; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

In Viet Nam, UN Women contributes to the development objectives of Viet Nam’s Socio-Economic Development Plan and the National Strategy for Gender Equality. Its Country Strategy Note for 2022-2026 is aligned to the upcoming UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (CF) 2022-2026 and is focused on supporting Viet Nam’s fulfilment of Gender Equality commitments under The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the promise of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda to “leave no one behind”. The key priorities of UN Women in the 2022-2026 period are:

• By 2026, people in Viet Nam, especially those at risk of being left behind, will benefit from and contribute to safer and cleaner environment resulting from Viet Nam’s effective and gender responsive mitigation and adaptation to climate change, disaster risk reduction and resilience building, promotion of circular economy, the provision of clean and renewable energy, and the sustainable management of natural resources.
• By 2026, people in Viet Nam, especially those at risk of being left behind, will contribute to and benefit equitably from more sustainable, inclusive and gender-responsive economic transformation based on innovation, entrepreneurship, enhanced productivity, competitiveness, and decent work;
• By 2026, people in Viet Nam, especially those at risk of being left behind, will have benefited from and have contributed to a more just, safe and inclusive society based on improved governance, more responsive institutions, strengthened rule of law and the protection of and respect for human rights, gender equality, and freedom from all forms of violence and discrimination in line with international standards. 

The Programme Women, Peace and Security (WPS): The UN-ASEAN WPS Programme, titled "Empowering Women for Sustainable Peace: Preventing Violence and Promoting Social Cohesion in ASEAN," is the first of its kind in the region, funded by the Government of Canada, the Government of Korea, and the Government of the United Kingdom and Ireland. The programme aims to advance the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda for four ASEAN member states: Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The programme has four outcomes, with three focused on the regional level and one at the country level. It aims to support ASEAN in creating a Regional Action Plan on WPS (WPS RAP) and becoming a knowledge hub on WPS, leading the advancement of the WPS agenda in Southeast Asia to promote a cohesive, peaceful, and secure region. In Vietnam, the ASEAN WPS programme provides technical assistance to develop a National Action Plan (NAP) on Women, Peace and Security (WPS). It aims to build capacity and knowledge on WPS across relevant government agencies and society to further advance the implementation of the WPS Agenda, mainstream it into the relevant normative frameworks, and raise awareness among the public on the WPS Agenda, non-traditional security issues, and the application of the WPS lens (prevention, protection, participation, relief, and recovery) in WPS-related policies, programs, and activities.

Cybersecurity: The Programme on Cybersecurity (2022-2024) is funded by the Governments of Australia (under the Cyber and Critical Tech Cooperation Program) and the Republic of Korea. The project has a regional focus on Southeast Asia but supports national-level activities in Viet Nam, Thailand and the Philippines. Through the programme, UN Women is contributing to widening the knowledge base on women’s digital engagement and gender provisions in cybersecurity policy, while building the capacities of civil society and academia to strengthen their knowledge and advocacy skills with regards to gender-responsive cybersecurity, further broadening the understanding of the gendered impacts of advancements in digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, gender recognition and algorithmic decision-making, while supporting digital rights organisations and women civil society to come together to strengthen women’s digital security. The project is firmly situated within the WPS agenda as outlined in the UNSCR 1325 and subsequent resolutions. It uses the four pillars of the WPS agenda – participation, protection, prevention, and peacebuilding - to understand and address mattersrelated to women’s engagement in the digital world, to advocate for the increased participation of women in digital decision-making, and to inform policy makers of gender-inclusive cyber frameworks that respond to the unique security needs and priorities of women and girls in cyberspace.

Thus, UN Women is looking for a national consultant who will report primarily to the Programme Analyst of the Women, Peace and Security and Cybersecurity programmes to support the all assigned financial and administrative works to make sure timely and error-free administrative routines and financial transactions of the WPS programme in compliance with UN Women’s financial and procurement personnel. The consultant will also be in close communication with the programmes’ Programme Asociate and other programme’s staff for effective collaboration to have the assigned work done.

II. CONSULTANCY OBJECTIVES 

The overall objective of the consultancy is to contribute to effective implementation of the WPS and Cybersecurity programme in Viet Nam and to make sure the compliance of the programme implementation in accordance with UN Women’s administrative, financial, accounting and procurement rules and regulations.

The specific objective of the consultancy is to provide administrative, financial, accounting and procurement support to the implementation of assigned activities under the WPS and Cybersecurity programme.

III. SCOPE AND SPECIFIC TASKS

The successful performance of the incumbent will effectively contribute to the development of quality programme reports. In particular, under the supervision of the UN Women Program Analyst the consultant is expected to carry out the following functions and activities:

#	Task	Time
1	Support the preparation of documents and payment clearance for the events happened in May and June under WPS and Cybersecurity programme in Viet Nam (3 days)	July 2023
2	Support review FACE Forms by WPS implementing/responsible partners (Viet Nam Women Entrepreneur Council – VCCI, MOJ) (3 day).	Oct 2023
3	Support the preparation of documents and payment clearance for the events happened from July – November 2023 under WPS and Cybersecurity programme in Viet Nam (7 days)	August – November 2023
4	Support preparation of procurement/quotation documents, contracting for the events organized with partners under WPS and Cybersecurity programme in Viet Nam (10 days)	July – Sept 2023
5	Support of procurement/quotation documents for communication products WPS and Cybersecurity programme in Viet Nam (5 days)	July – November 2023
6	Support of preparation documents for SSA recruitments under WPS and Cybersecurity programme in Viet Nam (5 days)	July – November 2023
7	Support the arrangement for the events for the visit of partners under WPS and Cybersecurity programme in Viet Nam (3 days)	July – November 2023
8	Introduction and hand over the admin and finance work for new Programme Associate (4 days)	Sept – November 2023
9	Other ad-hoc administrative and financial assignment (10 day)	July – November 2023

IV. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGMENT

The national consultant who will be home based and virtually participating in assigned meetings and will work under the direct supervision of WPS Programme Analyst and will be ultimately responsible to the UN Women Representative in Viet Nam.

V. DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT AND DUTY STATION

Duration of Assignment: The tentative contractual period is from 15 July 2023 to 15 December 2023. Work related travel of the consultant is considered as official mission and will be arranged by UN Women, in line with UN Women’s Duty Travel Policy.

Duty station: Home based and virtually participating in assigned meetings.

VI. DELIVERABLES AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENT

Payment for services will be made upon delivery of each deliverable, subject to satisfaction and approval by UN Women following the schedule set forth below.

Deliverables	Proposed deadline	Payment terms
First Tranche Payment after the completion of activities No. 1 and No. 4 and 5 days under activities No. 9 detailed in III. Scope and Specific Tasks	30 Sept 2023	40% of total contract
Second Tranche Final payment after the completion of all assignments detailed in III. Scope and Specific Tasks	30 November 2023	60% of total contract

VII. QUALIFICATIONS/SKILLS

For the selection process, the evaluation committee will first carry out a technical evaluation of resumes based on following requirements and criteria:

#	EVALUATION CRITERIA	Max. Point
1	Bachelor’s degree in business management, financial management, accounting.	20 points
2	At least 5 years of relevant experiences in administrative, financial, budgetary, logistic and procurement fields.	20 points
3	Previous experience and work in administrative, financial, and procurement experience of the UN system	20 points
4	Experience and/knowledge to support a program	20 points
5	Proven competency in using accounting system that is ERP such as Lotus, Atlas, etc.	20 points
	Total	100 points

The weight of technical points is 70% and financial points is 30%.

Individualconsultantswill be evaluated based on Cumulative analysis, the award of the contract willbe made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Havingreceivedthe highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Core Values and Competencies

In addition to requirements and qualifications, it is important that the IC shares the core values and core competencies of the organization.

Core Values

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies

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

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

http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employees, 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 based on qualification, competence, integrity, and organizational need. UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims an objective of the UN 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 standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification ò academic credential/s and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Work related travel of the consultant is considered as official mission and will be arranged by UN Women, in line with UN Women’s Duty Travel Policy.

VIII. EVALUATION

The evaluation will be based on the combination of the weighted technical and financial scores (70 per cent technical and 30 per cent financial).

IX. APPLICATION PROCEDURE AND DEADLINE

Candidates are requested to send the following documents in separated attachment in one application with email title [TOR-VNM-2023-016 Full Name] to [email protected] 

1. Updated CV.
2. Personal History Form (P11). The P11 Form can be downloaded from the following website: http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs
3. Financial proposal with your signature specifying a daily consultancy rate in VND and a breakdown per deliverable.

NOTE: Documents required before contract signing:

• The medical statement from the physician certifying good health to work and travel. (This is not a requirement for RLA contracts).
• 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.

Deadline for Application:  July 4, 2023

IMPORTANT NOTES:  

• Applications received incomplete or after the closing date will not be considered.    
• Only successful applicants will be contacted within two weeks by email to be advised of the next phase of the recruitment process.
• All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence. 

UN Women is committed to achieving workplace diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture.    

People from minority groups, indigenous groups and people with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply

Organization: UN Women
Location: Remote
Application deadline: 2023-07-04
Send application to: [email protected]