Services to provide technical support to GBD (General Budget Department) in reviewing the budget templates and circular from a gender perspective ‘Increasing Accountability in Financing for Gender Eq

~~Subject: Request for Proposal (RFP) for providing technical expertise to the GBD (General Budget Department) in reviewing the budget templates and circular from a gender perspective and provide training for the GBD staff and the gender focal points in Ministry Of Labour(MOL), Ministry Of Health(MOH), Ministry of Education(MOE) and Ministry of Social Development (MOSD)on GRB and in using the new templates.
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) in Jordan plans to procure the services of a qualified firm to provide technical expertise to the GBD (General Budget Department) in reviewing the budget templates and circular from a gender perspective and provide training for the GBD staff and MOL, MOH and MOSD in using the new templates, as described in this Request for Proposal and its related annexes.
UN Women now invites sealed proposals from qualified proposers for providing the requirements as defined in these documents.

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~Terms of Reference
for providing technical expertise for GDB

‘INCREASING ACCOUNTABILITY IN FINANCING FOR GENDER EQUALITY (F4GE)’

1. BACKGROUND & Justification

In response to calls from gender equality advocates for increased accountability for implementation of gender equality commitments in economic policies and financing decisions related to aid and domestic resources, UN Women is  implementing the programme Increasing Accountability in Financing for Gender Equality (2012-2015) funded by the EU and Spain.
The programme aims at increasing the volume and effective use of aid and domestic resources to implement national commitments to gender equality and women's empowerment. The programme is being  implemented in 15 countries (Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Nicaragua, oPt, Senegal, Ukraine, Cameroon, Tanzania, Nepal, Peru, Bolivia and Rwanda) in close partnership with the European Commission (EC), ITC/ILO building on the results of collaboration in the area of gender responsive budgeting and aid effectiveness carried out over the past years.
 In Jordan, the programme will focus on support national efforts on:
 Support the efforts of national partners in the development of the Strategy on Gender Equality with defined targets, financing and implementation arrangements aligned with the Medium Term Development Framework;
 Strengthening capacities of CSOs, women’s organizations, parliamentarians and the media to participate in planning and monitoring of sectoral budgets, and to demand accountability for gender equality;
 Strengthening capacities of government partners and donor organizations on development and aid effectiveness and incorporation gender priorities in sectoral plans and budgets.
With the overall aim to ensure effective programme implementation, UNWomen plans to hire a firm to provide technical support to GBD in reviewing the budget circular and budget templates from a gender perspective .The selected firm will also train the GBD staff and gender focal points in Ministry Of Labour (MOL), Ministry Of Health (MOH), Ministry of Education (MOE) and Ministry of Social Development (MOSD) on gender responsive budgeting and how to use the new modified templates.

2. Objectives of the Assignment
Under the direct supervision of the project manager, the firm  will have to undertake the following tasks, which include, but not limited to:
 Develop a workplan for carrying out the assignment, including specific activities to be carried out.
 Establish a task force within the GBD and train the members of the taskforce on Gender Responsive budgeting.
 Review the Jordanian current budget system and suggest changes/actions to be addressed /included for the implementation of GRB.
 Revise the budget circular, budget preparation and execution templates and the budget circular from a gender perspective.
 Conduct one training for the GBD   budget analysts and the gender focal points at the Ministries level on how to use the new modified templates.
 Conduct two trainings for the GBD budget analysts and the gender focal points at the Ministries level on GRB (Gender Responsive Budgeting).

3. TIMEFRAME & DELIVERABLES

Following in-depth preparatory work, the work will be conducted from 10 July-30 September 2015. 

There will be six main deliverables produced during this assignment:

 Workplan:well defined approved workplan
 Report on reviewing the Jordanian  budget system ;
 Revised budget circular,  budget templates and budget law from a gender perspective;
 Training reports including training materials, toolkits and other capacity development materials on GRB reviewed developed and delivered to target groups properly;
 Final report including key achievements, recommendations, and final annexes.
 PowerPoint Presentations to key achievements and results of the work undertaken.

The following table provides an indicative timeframe and activities for the Evaluation and the corresponding deliverables:

Table 2: Timeframe
Timeframe Primary Activities Output

15 July  2015 Initial meetings with UNWomen and the GBD to finalise the workplan and the timeframe Timeframe and workplan in English
25 July 2015 Reviewing the Jordanian  budget system Report in English
15 August 2015 Revised budget circular, 6 budget templates and budget law from a gender perspective in Arabic and in English;
 Modified budget templates and circular in Arabic and in English
20 August -15 September 2015 Conduct three trainings for the GBD   budget analysts and the gender focal points at the Ministries level on how to use the new modified templates and on GRB.
 Training reports
15 -30 Sept The firm to submit a final approved report in English Final report in English

This award will be granted for 3 months from the starting date of signing the agreement.
The ceiling for this work is $50,000.

2 EVALUATION TEAM COMPOSITION & SKILLS

The assignment will be conducted by a project Manager and up to four technical experts on Jordanian budget and GRB in Jordan. The project Manager will demonstrate experience and expertise in leading and coordinating the technical expertise.  The project manager will be responsible for internal team coordination, preparation of the work plan, and presentation of the deliverables to UN Women.

Specifically, the Project Manager is expected to have the following expertise:

• Experience at national and/or international levels, dealing with gender equality, local development, public administration and social policies with specific expertise on gender responsive budgeting (GRB) and public finance.
• Proven experience in gender budget revision/expertise and/or developing knowledge products for GRB initiatives;
• A strong record in designing and leading teams;
• Expert data analysis skills;
• Strong ability to translate complex data into effective, written reports;
• Experience in gender analysis.
• Process management and facilitation skills;
• Experience in conducting capacity-building activities on GRB.
• Fully understanding of the GRB experience in Jordan.
• Fluency in Arabic and English is essential.
• Excellent communication and presenting skills
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, IT tools.

The technical experts should have skills in the following:
• Significant experience in gender equality and women’s empowerment and/or financing for gender equality.
• Experience in gender analysis.
• Experience at national and/or international levels, dealing with gender equality, local development, public administration and social policies with specific expertise on gender responsive budgeting (GRB) and public finance.
• Familiarity with gender-responsive planning and budgeting.
• Experience in conducting capacity-building activities on GRB.
• Fully understanding of the GRB experience in Jordan
• Fluency in Arabic and English is essential.
• Excellent communication and presenting skills
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, IT tools.

TOR ANNEX A: Outline – Final Report Format

The team can refine the report format as necessary, to be done in consultation with UNWomen.  Overall, the report should be written in the following structure:

• Executive Summary (maximum 5 pages)
• Project  Description
• Review Purpose and Primary Objectives
• Methodology
• Main Findings
• Lessons Learned
• Conclusions
• Recommendations
• Annexes
a. Documents reviewed
b. Trainings conducted
c. Modified templates and circular
d. Terms of Reference