Terms of Reference

Design and deliver set of services for strengthening the capacities of CSOs to conduct analysis of local policies and programmes and develop gender budget watchdog reports

Starting date: 01 June 2021 Expected duration of assignment: 30 June 2022 Statement of Need: UN Women is seeking to hire an organization to support the design and delivery of set of services for strengthening the capacities of CSOs to conduct analysis of local policies and programmes and develop gender budget watchdog reports. Specifically, with this Request for Proposals, the UN Women Programme Presence in North Macedonia will support CSO’s capacity strengthening in budget monitoring, development of gender budget watchdog and advocacy initiatives.

I. Background

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. Placing women's rights at the centre 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 supporting national priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Through its programmes and projects, UN Women is providing technical assistance to national partners (governmental and non- governmental) in the implementation of existing international and national commitments to women’s rights and gender equality, it facilitates networking and exchange of good practices and advocates for women’s rights and gender equality in all areas of life.

In the Republic of North Macedonia, UN Women is implementing the Project “Promoting Gender Responsive Policies and Budgets: Towards Transparent, Inclusive and Accountable Governance in Republic of North of Macedonia” (2018-2022). Its overall goal is to improve women’s lives and support the inclusion of the most vulnerable groups through integration of gender perspective at all stages of national and local level policymaking and budgeting processes.

The project aims to contribute to the following two outcomes:

1. The Government’s public finance management and the strategic planning processes are improved to respond to the different needs of women and men as a result of effective application of gender responsive budgeting. 2. Civil society organizations, women, including the most vulnerable, actively participate in planning and decision-making mechanisms, and their priorities are fully reflected in public policies and budgets.

Republic of North Macedonia has made significant efforts to advance gender equality through the creation of an enabling legislative framework, adoption of policies and establishment of institutional mechanisms at central and local level. As signatory of CEDAW and as an EU accession country, Republic of North Macedonia has committed to achieving de jure and de facto gender equality and ensuring full development and advancement of women. Although significant efforts have been made to advance the gender equality agenda, gender inequalities in the country remain pronounced in all spheres of socio-economic and political life and systemic efforts for advancing gender equality are needed, in line with the EU acquis and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. One of the areas for substantive engagement towards gender equality is through gender sensitive policies, increased financial allocations and budget transparency. Mainstreaming gender and application of gender responsive budgeting implies recognising that women and men have different needs and play different roles and assessing how policies can be devised to address the gender specific needs and priorities of their citizens.

At local level UN Women is working closely with Local Self-Government Units, CSOs and the Association of the Units of Local Self- Government, for extending technical and expert support to advance initiatives for gender mainstreaming in local governance and local service delivery. These key stakeholders are playing a lead role in the process of engendering local participatory processes and implementation of gender responsive local policies and measures. The project supports thirty-one (31) local self-government units in the country to implement gender responsive budgeting initiatives by building the capacities of the municipal administration and elected officials and supporting introduction of gender specific objectives and measures in local policies and programmes.

The role of CSOs in keeping governments accountable to gender equality commitments is of paramount importance in addressing the needs of women and men, particularly the most vulnerable. CSOs act as intermediaries between citizens and (local) government and have an important oversight function, making sure that policy planning and decision making fully reflect priorities of women and men. Their role in overseeing polices and budgets from gender perspective is even further highlighted due to the gendered impact caused by COVID-19. Therefore, CSOs should take in close consideration the impact of COVID-19 on women and men in their local policy and budget monitoring processes.

Recognizing the important role of CSOs to oversee local policies and budgets with gender lens and to advocate for increased financing for gender equality, UN Women intends to support the development of specific tools for monitoring policies and budgets from a gender perspective and production of 10 budget watchdog reports by CSOs, targeting selected specific local programmes.

II. Objectives of the assignment

The objective of the assignment is to support CSOs’ capacity strengthening in budget monitoring, development of gender budget watchdog and advocacy initiatives, with focus on producing evidence on how local resource allocation and spending addresses the needs of women and men.

III. Scope of Work

UN Women in North Macedonia is seeking to contract an organization, with relevant expertise and professional experience, to develop and deliver set of services for supporting CSOs’ in strengthening their capacities in budget monitoring, development of gender budget watchdog and advocacy initiatives. Specifically, UN Women in North Macedonia will support development of ten budget watch dog reports with focus on the municipalities supported by the project1.

The overall scope of work is: 1. To develop and deliver a comprehensive capacity building (CB) programme for strengthening CSOs’ capacities in monitoring public spending and policy making processes with gender lens and the use of GRB tools; 2. To produce methodological guidance for development of gender budget watchdog reports at local level; 3. To support CSOs in developing 10 gender budget watchdog reports and advocacy initiatives in the targeted municipalities.

The proposal should target key CSOs in the country working in the field of gender equality, local governance and gender mainstreaming in policy making and budgeting processes with special focus on target municipalities. Having in mind the number of municipalities encompassed in the assignment, the submission of proposals by consortium of applicants is encouraged.

IV. Tasks and Responsibilities

- Review and finalize the work plan and methodology for the assignment in close coordination with UN Women for delivery of the set of capacity strengthening services in support of CSOs’ in budget monitoring, development of gender budget watchdog and advocacy initiatives; - Conduct desk review of existing research and analysis on approaches in development of the capacity building module and the process of developing local gender budget watchdog reports and designing advocacy activities (campaigns, lobbying, grassroot organizing, citizen’s mobilization, and citizen’s initiatives); - Conduct mapping and identification of potential CSO beneficiaries of the services in close coordination with UN Women; - Develop training modules for CSOs on skills development for budget watchdog reports and advocacy; - Develop methodological guidance document for development of gender budget watchdog reports and advocacy initiatives, including a check list on how to assess budgets with gender lens and FAQ document; - Deliver series of trainings for CSOs on budget monitoring, development of gender budget watchdog and advocacy initiatives; - Provide technical and financial support to selected CSOs by providing feedback and guidance during the process of development and finalization of the gender budget watchdog reports; - Design of ten local gender budget watchdog reports, including info graphics/visualization of data. The design should follow UN Women Branding Guidelines and Policy on Logo Use. - Prepare a final report (in English) on the activities conducted including lessons learned and recommendations for future UN Women interventions.

V. Expected Deliverables

1 31 LSGUs supported within the programme are: City of , Karposh, Aerodrom, Centar, Kisela Voda, Gjorche Petrov, Gazi Baba, Veles, Chashka, , Staro Nagorichane, , , , Mavrovo & Rostushe, Zhelino, Bogovinje, , , , , , Novaci, Shtip, , Kochani, Makedonska Kamenica, Delchevo, , , .

The bidder is expected to submit a proposal to include the following elements for capacity development:

1. Work Plan - Final Work Plan and methodology for the assignment, with clear timelines and deliverables; 2. Document - Desk review report of existing research and analysis on approaches in development of the capacity building module and the process of developing local gender budget watchdog reports and designing advocacy activities; 3. Document - Mapping report on identified CSO beneficiaries in coordination with UN Women; 4. Training module - Capacity building module on budget monitoring, development of budget watchdog reports and advocacy initiatives; 5. Gender Budget watchdog report development pack - Methodological guidance for development of gender budget watchdog reports and advocacy initiatives, including check list on how to assess budgets with gender lens; 6. Reports - on delivered trainings, including pre and post training assessment; 7. Gender Budget watchdog reports – Ten CSO led local gender budget watchdog reports on selected local municipal programmes, including info graphics/visualization of data; 8. Document - Final report on the activities conducted including recommendations, lessons learned and findings from the monitoring of the activities;

* All deliverables must be produced in English and Macedonian.

A. DELIVERABLE SCHEDULE

Deliverable Payment Amount Timeframe 1. Work Plan - Final Work Plan and methodology for the 20% 17 June 2021 assignment, with clear timelines and deliverables in English; 2. Document - Desk review report of existing research and 12 July 2021 analysis on approaches in development of the capacity building module and the process of developing local gender budget watchdog reports and designing advocacy activities; 3. Document - Mapping report on identified CSO beneficiaries 30 July 2021 in coordination with UN Women; 4. Training module - Capacity building module on budget 50% 30 September 2021 monitoring, development of budget watchdog reports and advocacy initiatives; 5. Gender Budget watchdog report development pack - 30 November 2021 Methodological guidance for development of gender budget watchdog reports and advocacy initiatives, including check list on how to assess budgets with gender lens; 6. Reports - on delivered trainings, including pre and post 20% 31 March 2022 training assessment; 7. Gender Budget watchdog reports - Ten CSO led local 31 May 2022 gender budget watchdog reports on selected local municipal programmes, including info graphics/visualization of data; 8. Document - Final report on the activities conducted 10% 30 June 2022 including recommendations, lessons learned and findings from the monitoring of the activities;