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.

Afghanistan is one of the world’s most complex emergencies, and the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Afghan people are grappling with the impact of conflict, poverty, economic decline, and natural disasters. In this context, Afghan women and girls face unique vulnerabilities and require urgent support as gender inequality is interwoven with conflict dynamics and humanitarian needs. It is essential that Afghan women and girls can continue to shape the development of their country, and that their gains are protected. UN Women remains fully committed to supporting Afghan women and girls and to putting them at the center of the global response to the crisis in Afghanistan.

UN Women has been in Afghanistan for two decades. UN Women’s programming approach is informed by analysis of the political, economic, and humanitarian situation, risks to and capacities of partner organizations, and needs of Afghan women and girls. UN Women Afghanistan currently has four key programme priorities: (1) Gender in Humanitarian Action, (2) Ending Violence Against Women, (3) Women’s Economic Empowerment, and (4) Women, Peace, and Security.

UN Women Afghanistan focuses on reaching women who are most at risk and marginalized populations, in particular gender-based violence survivors, female headed households, women IDPs and returnees, women with disabilities, older women, and adolescent girls.

Afghan women, who comprise more than half of the population in Afghanistan have been hit hard by this crisis, especially women who are unemployed, women suffering from poverty, women-headed households, and women in rural areas who’s their livelihoods and income generation activities have been disrupted or lost. These women will be supported with interventions to boost their livelihoods.

UN Women will support women in target areas, including in host communities and informal settlements, to secure alternative sources of income through development of capacities and skills and access to resources including employment opportunities. This will provide women with emergency livelihood protection and support—urgently needed given a looming economic collapse and associated crisis in the formal banking sector.

Within the framework of its crisis response, UN Women Afghanistan, along with other partners, is supporting crisis-affected women through livelihoods interventions to promote women-led businesses and to strengthen women’s economic agency. 

UN Women is looking for an experienced Programme Analyst, WEE (Livelihood and Business Development) to support Afghan women entrepreneurs through empowerment and creating networking opportunities as well as building infrastructure for business development that will lead to the improved economic potentials through identifying the skills gaps for women, boosting beneficiaries’ skills and linking women to market for employment opportunities.  This intervention is part of an integrated response of UN Women Afghanistan and aligns with the United Nations Transitional Engagement Framework (TEF) for Afghanistan: essential services are sustained that address basic human needs for the people in Afghanistan. Under this outcome, livelihoods will be preserved, and jobs will be created through asset creation and business support at community and household level.

The incumbent will provide support to existing and emerging (start-ups) women-led businesses, including both home-based businesses and businesses run in market or commercial areas. This support will help women recover from crisis, strengthen women’s resilience, address their basic needs, reduce poverty, and support addressing the unemployment crisis.

Reporting to the Programme Manager/ Women’s Economic Empowerment, the Programme Analyst, WEE (Livelihood and Business Development) will work along with other team members in the WEE Programme to provide support to the business community and women owned businesses and she/he will ensure that project activities meet their goals. She/ he will travel to field offices, engage directly with beneficiaries, partners, and consultants on business development matters.

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.

Afghanistan is one of the world’s most complex emergencies, and the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Afghan people are grappling with the impact of conflict, poverty, economic decline, and natural disasters. In this context, Afghan women and girls face unique vulnerabilities and require urgent support as gender inequality is interwoven with conflict dynamics and humanitarian needs. It is essential that Afghan women and girls can continue to shape the future of their country, and that their gains are protected. UN Women remains fully committed to supporting Afghan women and girls and to placing them at the center of the global response to the crisis in Afghanistan.

UN Women has been in Afghanistan for two decades. UN Women’s programming approach is informed by analysis of the political, economic and humanitarian situation, risks to and capacities of partner organizations, and needs and priorities of Afghan women and girls. UN Women Afghanistan currently has four key programme priorities: (1) Gender in Humanitarian Action, (2) Ending Violence Against Women, (3) Women’s Economic Empowerment, and (4) Women, Peace and Security. UN Women Afghanistan operates through its main office in Kabul and five sub-offices located in the provinces Balkh, Bamyan, Herat, Kandahar and Nangarhar.

The Budget Analyst will work alongside the Finance unit and reports to the Operations Manager for guidance and supervision and is responsible for providing support in budget planning, preparation, allocation, monitoring, and reporting to ensure the availability and effective and optimum utilization of UNW financial resources according to plans and approved allocation and compliance with UNW financial regulations and rules, policies and procedures to meet UNW commitments, goals, and objectives. In addition, the Budget Analyst will Collaborate with UN Women Budget Unit at HQ, with an indirect reporting line to the Chief of Budget, to ensure consistency of advisory and technical guidance on Budget Management issues in the Country Offices.

The Budget Analyst is responsible for providing assistance on budget management, fund allocation, and performance monitoring in accordance with established operational procedures, establishment and management of projects and outputs in the system, support and improve budget management as required. The Budget Analyst will also liaise with the finance unit for reporting and with programme colleagues for budget execution in accordance with the programme of work.

The Budget Analyst is responsible for providing assistance on different tasks including but not limited to the oversight and monitoring of the cost recovery policy and formulation of required templates and guidance. The Budget Analyst will also act as the Budget Unit’s focal point and support internal clients on providing technical and/or advisory support as needed. The Budget Analyst will also provide the required support to the Budget team in HQ in the ERP project (Quantum) and formulation of the Integrated Budget, as applicable.

The Budget Analyst is responsible for providing recommendations to the Operations Manager on new posts that are proposed to be funded by the Regular Resources, as applicable.

Academic qualifications:

Master’s degree in a relevant field of study (anthropology, development studies, human rights, law, management, political science, public administration) or other relevant field from a recognized university is required

Experience:

Minimum 10 years’ relevant professional experience in the areas of access to justice and rule of law, human rights, peacebuilding, and conflict prevention, and / or women’s equality and empowerment;

Demonstrated experience working specifically on issues related to customary and informal justice (CIJ) is required

 Track record of conducting research and writing for diverse stakeholders, including high-level policy or academic publications is required.

Previous experience (5-10 years) in field qualitative research and previous studies or publications on customary and informal justice practices, hybrid justice mechanisms (customary/formal), and/or links between customary and formal justice mechanisms  are a big asset.

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required.
• Working knowledge of another UN language would be an asset

Application Procedure

The application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):

• A cover letter with a brief description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment;
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects and specifying the relevant assignment period (from/to), as well as the email and telephone contacts of at least three (3) professional references; and
• A two-page of brief statement of proposed methodology and approach to the assignment required

Note: The above documents need to be scanned in one file and uploaded to the online application as one document.

Shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal.

• The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around the specific and measurable deliverables of the TOR. Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR, and deliverables accepted and certified by the technical manager. 
• The financial proposal must be all-inclusive and take into account various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; (excluding mission travel); living allowances at the duty station; communications, utilities and consumables; life, health and any other insurance; risks and inconveniences related to work under hardship and hazardous conditions (e.g., personal security needs, etc.), when applicable; and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services under the contract.
• This consultancy is a home-based assignment, therefore, there is no envisaged travel cost to join duty station/repatriation travel. 

• In the case of unforeseeable travel requested by UNDP, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNDP and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.
• If the Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.

The Financial Proposal is to be emailed as per the instruction in the separate email that will be sent to shortlisted candidates.

Evaluation process

Applicants are reviewed based on Required Skills and Experience stated above and based on the technical evaluation criteria outlined below.  Applicants will be evaluated based on cumulative scoring.  When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Being responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation where technical criteria weigh 70% and Financial criteria/ Proposal weighs 30%.

Technical evaluation - Total 70% (70 points):

• Criteria 1. Relevance of the experience (min 10 years) in rule of law and access to justice, human rights, peacebuilding, and conflict prevention, and / or women’s equality and empowerment; including  in relation to customary and informal justice. Weight =20%; Maximum Points: 20;
• Criteria 2. Relevance of experience in conducting research and high-quality writing for diverse stakeholders, including high-level policy or academic publications; publication of studies and/or field research in the field of customary and informal justice (provide a sample) Weight = 20 %; Maximum Points: 20;
• Criteria 3. Demonstrated broad and substantive experience on CIJ systems, including the academic literature and relevant policy frameworks such as the 2030 Agenda Weight = 10%; Maximum Points: 10; and
• Criteria 4. Experience (minimum 3 years) of working in a wide variety of contexts including fragile and crisis settings and experience of working un diverse multicultural environments Weight =5%; Maximum points 5
• Criteria 5: Quality of brief statement of proposed methodology and approach to the assignment Weight = 15 %; Maximum Points: 15.

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (70 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial evaluation - Total 30% (30 points)

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

p = y (µ/z), where

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal

µ = price of the lowest priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Contract Award

Candidate obtaining the highest combined scores in the combined score of Technical and Financial evaluation will be considered technically qualified and will be offered to enter into contract with UNDP.

Institutional arrangement

The consultant will work under the guidance and direct supervision of the Rule of Law, Security, and Human Rights Justice Specialist and the Head or ROLSHR CB and will be responsible for the fulfilment of the deliverables as specified above.

Payment modality

Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified above and deliverables accepted and upon certification of satisfactory completion by the manager.  

Annexes (click on the hyperlink to access the documents):

Annex 1 - UNDP P-11 Form for ICs

Annex 2 - IC Contract Template

Annex 3 – IC General Terms and Conditions

Annex 4 – RLA Template

Any request for clarification must be sent by email to cpu.bids@undp.org 

The UNDP Central Procurement Unit will respond by email and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.