Terms of References for selecting an international trainer to develop guidelines for decision makers and civil society organisations in Moldova for conducting gender audits and drafting gender action plans and conduct a Training of Trainers on Gender Audit and Gender Action Plans

Context

The “Partnerships 4 Women Leadership and Good Governance” Project was launched in April 2021. The project is implemented by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Moldova and Institutum Virtutes Civilis, with the financial support of the European Union and FES and will run through April 2021 to April 2024. The project has the following outcomes:

1. Improved capacity of CSOs, CBOs and LAGs to influence policy making at the local and national levels;
2. Enhanced capacity of women for participation in the decision-making processes at all levels;
3. Enhanced public awareness of the role of women in good governance and sustainable development.

The project desired impact is to achieve strong civil society actors that enhance governance at the national and local level and shape the life of their communities.

Intervention logic

The project addresses three interlinked problems in Moldova:

• local CSOs lack capacities to influence decision making and public confidence in their abilities is low;
• the quality of local public policy is low, including due to a very limited involvement of the CSOs in the participatory public policy drafting processes;
• women remain significantly under-represented in decision making positions and the overall public awareness at local level of women’s role in ensuring good governance continues to be low and often has a negative connotation.

The project intervention seeks to create a logical chain of activities that will lead to an increased level of participation of CSOs at local level in the decision-making process, stronger and more active local and regional actors and more women holding public office or elected positions in local public authorities. This includes the following chain of activities: (1) training for civil society to engage in governance and gender issues, (2) undertaking gender audits and support the process of drafting gender action plans, (3) identifying policy options to address gender inequalities, (4) undertaking advocacy activities, (5) providing grants to support initiatives, (6) sharing best practices, (7) training women to participate more actively in public and political life and (8) raising awareness.

Objectives of the Assignment

The international trainer will have the task to develop the guidelines for decision makers (DMs) and civil society organizations (CSOs) on conducting gender audits and drafting gender action plans. The guidelines will describe how to use the Gender Audit (GA) as a tool for assessing the gender equality aspects at organisation level, which includes looking at their policies, programmes, projects, procedures, internal structures, and budgets (at national and local levels). The document will also include the guidance on developing the Gender Action Plan (GAP), based on the findings of the GA. The guidelines will be used during the ToT.

The international trainer will carry out one 3-day ToT for decision makers (DMs) and civil society organisations on how to conduct GA and draft GAPs in public institutions. He/she will be supported in conducting the ToT by one national expert. 

Taking into account that gender audits will be introduced to DMs and CSOs in such a detailed manner for the first time in the public sector from Moldova, the activity has two main objectives for the participants:

1. Develop guidelines that will be used by decision makers and the civil society organizations in carrying out gender audits and drafting gender action plans;
2. To create a team of national trainers that will be able to further develop the capacities of decision makers and the civil society organisations on carrying out gender audits in public institutions and developing gender action plans at local level.

Training of Trainers

Provided the above mentioned, it is important that the following aspects are covered during the Training of Trainers activity:

1. Main features and the role of a gender audit – helping authorities identify and understand how gender is mainstreamed at institutional, internal policy and internal processes levels;
2. Methodology on conducting a gender audit at the level of public institutions (stages and elements of the stages):
3. preparing for the gender audit – top management decision and commitment to adhere to gender equality principles and to implement recommendations from the gender audit, level of capacities and need for capacity development, defining the gender audit action plan, approve methodology for implementing the GA, decision on the GA approach to be implemented;
4. carrying out/implementing the GA – methodology and instruments (questionnaires, discussions etc.) to collect relevant data, data analysis and formulation of recommendations based on the findings, conclusions and recommendations;
5. drafting the gender equality plan – implementation of the recommendations from the conducted GA. The plan must include M&E mechanisms.
6. Dedicate sufficient time to the essentials of a ToT for the participants, in order to reach a level of confidence as homogeneous as possible in training others at group level (it is possible that some participants have already been in position of trainers or have public speaking skills);
7. Present methodologies on gender audits that are internationally recognised as efficient, with the idea in mind that the participants should decide, based on the internal functioning of their institution, which approach fits their organisation/local authority best;
8. After the ToT on gender audits, both decision makers as well as CSOs should have a clear understanding on how to develop, implement, monitor and evaluate a gender action plan, each having a clear image on which actor plays which role (local authorities – drafting, in a participatory and transparent manner, the gender action plans and the civil society organisations – contribute to the gender action plan drafting and participate in the M&E processes).

The gender audit guidelines

Based on the research conducted in preparing for the ToT and the materials prepared for the ToT, the international expert will draft guidelines (in English and Romanian[1]) on GAs and GAPs development. The guidelines will serve as methodological instructions for both the DMs as much as the personnel from the authorities where the GAs will be conducted for a more thorough understanding of the process and its expected outcomes. The guidelines will therefore be used after the activity will have ended and will be an instrument promoted by the Moldovan public institutions as a means to ensure that gender mainstreaming is performed at the level of public policies/institutions.

Notes:

It is highly recommended that the international and national experts work together for ensuring that all training content is adapted to the realities of the Republic of Moldova.

Timeframe and Deliverables

The main expected outcomes:

1. A guideline for decision makers and civil society organizations for conducting Gender Audits and drafting Gender Action Plans developed and tested during the ToT;
2. Training agenda for the 3-day training on conducting Gender Audits and development of the Gender Action Plans;
3. Training materials developed and distributed to ToT participants;
4. A 3-day Training of Trainers on Gender Audit and Gender Action Plans for 27 participants selected by the Project, conducted;
5. Increased capacity of 27 participants from DMs and CSOs on conducting Gender Audits and drafting Gender Action Plans.

The training shall contain different interactive teaching methods including practical examples that would allow participants after the training to teach other people how to conduct Gender Audits and draft Gender Action Plans. The international trainer will work under the overall supervision of the FES and IVC Project staff supervision.

Required Skills and Experience:

1. At least 7 years of experience in conducting gender mainstreaming activities or similar activities strongly related to the proposed task – conducting gender audits at institutional level, analysis of mainstreaming gender in public policy, evaluation of gender action plans, drafting guidelines in any of the above-mentioned topics etc.;
2. Relevant education – Master degree or PhD in social and humanitarian sciences (ex. Sociology, Education Sciences and Social Assistance, Anthropology, Economic Sciences, Political Science, Gender, etc.);
3. At least 3 years’ experience in working with the public sector/public authorities on gender equality issues;
4. In-depth knowledge on mechanisms related to mainstreaming gender in public policy documents;
5. Demonstrated knowledge on gender-based analysis (integrating the gender perspective in planning, decision making and development of action plans, programs and interventions); 
6. Demonstrated experience in conducting ToTs on various gender related topics (previously conducted ToTs in gender audits will be considered an advantage);
7. Demonstrated knowledge (and preferably some experience) in working in Moldova or other countries in the region (Eastern Partnership countries) with similar background.

Application procedure

Interested experts should send the documents listed below to the e-mail address fes@fes-moldova.org, by February 26^th, 2022 (6:00 pm EET), with the subject line: “GA ToT application”. Only complete applications will be considered. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be invited for the interview.

Application will include

• Personal CV (max. 3 pages, please include the contact phone and/or Skype ID for a possible interview), including a list of publications on relevant topics (if any). The CV should include the contact details (e-mail addresses) of at least 2 referees;
• Technical offer: the preliminary structure of the guide and preliminary concept note of the 3-day ToT (max. 1 page with a short description of the topics and methods that will be applied during the training) and proposed draft agenda;
• Financial Offer (FO) will include: estimated number of days to develop the GAs and GAPs guidelines;
• Daily rate (gross) in EURO[2].

*Note! The project team will offer logistical support to the international consultant, including organizing all the international travel and providing accommodation during her/his work in the Republic of Moldova, as well as organizing all the logistics for the trainings. In general, FES and IVC reserve their right to ensure travel costs not exceeding those of an economy class ticket.

**Where indicated, please provide links to the relevant materials (studies, analyses, public policy documents, reports etc., to which the expert contributed)

Note: the draft agenda will reflect the vision of the expert on how the ToT on GAs must be conducted and the emphasis should be on the sequence of subjects presented, relevance of content and will demonstrate the expert(s) understanding of the task. The final agenda draft will be decided together with the project team after the team of experts will be selected.

Selection criteria:

The contract will be awarded to the most experienced international trainer that will present the best proposal, both from the perspective of the technical as well as the financial offer. The following criteria for assessing the quality of the proposals will be applied:

For any additional questions please contact us via e-mail fes@fes-moldova.org. The deadline for questions is February 22^nd, 2022 (6:00 pm EET). In order to ensure equal treatment and equal chances for all the potential candidates, FES will answer all the questions by February 24^th, 2022.

Terms of References for selecting an international trainer to develop guidelines for decision makers and civil society organisations in Moldova for conducting gender audits and drafting gender action plans and conduct a Training of Trainers on Gender Audit and Gender Action Plans.

[1] Translation of materials will be ensured by the Project

[2] All the amounts stated in the Financial Offer are considered Gross Amounts, meaning Fee Before Tax. For non-residents consultants – these amounts are subject to 12% income Tax for non-residents.