Deadline: 11-Sep-23
UN Women is inviting civil society organizations (CSOs), CSO networks, professional organizations or think tanks that are legally registered in North Macedonia to submit project proposals to support women’s leadership and undertake local context-specific initiatives for reaching out to the most excluded groups of women to take active part in decision-making by articulating their needs and priorities through the existing mechanisms for participatory processes.
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; the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development; human rights; as well as humanitarian action and peace and security.
UN Women Programme Office in the Republic of North Macedonia in line with its priorities set in the UN Women strategic plan and in the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, supports the country on the normative commitments and is working in two thematic areas – governance and national planning and ending violence against women. In fulfilling its mandate, UN Women is cooperating with UN, the government and the CSOs to advocate for women’s empowerment and advancement of gender equality.
Project Outcomes
- Outcome 1: Central and local government institutions advance gender equality through gender responsive legislation, strategies, and budgeting processes
- Outcome 2: Women and civil society organizations exercise their voice, agency and leadership in decision-making and budgeting processes
The project is expected to contribute to Outcome 2: Women and civil society organizations exercise their voice, agency and leadership in decision-making and budgeting processes; and more specifically to the achievement of Output 2.2: Women and civil society organizations have strengthened capacities to voice their needs and advocate for increased accountability and financing for gender equality.
Required Services/Results
- The proposals should focus but not limit on the following:
- Building capacities of local grassroot/women CSOs to implement outreaching strategies for promotion of inclusive participation of women, including the most excluded, in local policy and decision-making processes.
- Improve local CSOs’ knowledge and understanding of gender mainstreaming in local policy making and budgeting processes and their importance for improving the quality of life of women and men.
- Strengthening the cooperation and networking between local grassroot/women CSOs and local activists implementing outreach actions.
- Provide sub-granting to local CSOs to carry out outreach and empowerment initiatives, community and awareness raising activities to increase women’s knowledge and understanding of budgeting processes and encourage their meaningful participation in local decision-making processes.
- Propose concrete actions to mobilize and encourage local women, including the most excluded, to proactively demand accountability from the local authorities (these could include local campaigns, petitions drafting of proposals, thematic round tables etc.).
- Propose innovative approaches and ideas to drive change in behavior and attitudes towards women’s participation in public life.
- Involve local gender advocates, women grassroot organizations and women leaders in the development and implementation of outreach and advocacy activities to ensure wide reach out and meaningful participation of women and most excluded in local decision-making.
- Support women and local gender advocates to develop and submit policy proposals to local governments and develop advocacy activities focused on those proposals.
- Facilitate the cooperation between municipalities and women to ensure their needs and priorities are taken into consideration.
- Monitor the progress in adoption of policy proposals or measures submitted by women and financed by the local governments and use the good examples for advocacy and possible replication/upscaling.
- Identify examples of good practices on women’s and men’s participation at local level and document success stories.
- It is expected that the Responsible Party will produce, inter alia:
- Detailed work plan with specified activities and timelines.
- Materials for knowledge and capacity strengthening of CSOs at local level, on budget literacy, gender responsive budgeting and implementation of outreaching strategies for promotion of inclusive participation of women in local policy and decision-making processes.
- Plan for monitoring specific measures and policies introduced by the target LSGUs that respond directly to the interests and needs of women involved in the participatory processes in English.
- Multi-media and other communication products developed for the grassroot activities and local level outreaching initiatives.
- Compilation of best practices and lessons learned from the implementation of the outreach and empowerment; initiative for increased participation of women in local decision-making processes.
- Identification and recording of human-interest stories during the implementation of activities.
- Quarterly progress reports and final Report to UN Women, with overview on activities undertaken, results, challenges, and recommendations for UN Women in English (in the templates provided by UN Women).
Funding Information
- The budget range for this proposal should be [100,000 USD-120,000 USD (Min. – Max. )]
- Timeframe: Expected duration of the project is from October 2023 to February 2026 (tentative 29 months).
Competencies
- Technical/functional competencies required:
- Organizational requirements:
- Proven track record in managing projects at national level.
- Proven track record in managing project financed by UN or other international development agencies.
- Proven track record in managing projects in the field of gender equality, empowerment of women and participatory processes.
- Knowledge of the legal, strategic and institutional framework on gender equality in North Macedonia.
- Proven experience in carrying advocacy and awareness raising initiatives for promoting women’s human rights, women’s participation in decision-making, and empowerment of the most excluded.
- Proven track record in developing knowledge products.
- Requirements of Project Manager/Team Leader:
- Education: Degree in Public Administration, Law, Economics, Gender Studies and Social Sciences or related field.
- Work Experience: At least 3 years’ experience of implementing human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment programmes/projects.
- Experience in design, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes/projects.
- Language Qualifications: English and Macedonian.
- Requirements of Project Assistant:
- Education: Degree in Public Administration, Law, Economics, Gender Studies and Social Sciences or related field.
- Work Experience: At least 1 year experience in implementation of projects in the field of gender equality, empowerment of women and participatory proceses.
- Experience in organization of events and provision of logistical support.
- Language Qualifications: English and Macedonian.
- Requirements of Finance Officer:
- Education: Degree in Business Administration, Commerce, Human Resources, Finance, and any other related field.
- Work Experience: At least 3 years’ experience in finance management, reporting and accounting.
- Experience in financial reporting to UN or other international development agencies.
- Experience in usage of office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.).
- Language Qualification: English and Macedonian.
- Organizational requirements:
- Other competencies, which while not required, can be an asset for the performance of services:
- Experience in facilitating cooperation between municipalities and women to ensure their needs and priorities are taken into consideration
- Experience in working with marginalized groups of women in programmatic interventions
For more information, visit UN Women.