Project on Deepening the Gender Budgeting Work in India
 United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
 Location: New Delhi
 Last Date: July 22, 2010
 

Starting date   :   7 July 2010 

Closing date :  22 July 2010 

Announcement No. UNIFEM/SRO/RFP/2010/001 

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS :  PROJECT ON DEEPENING THE GENDER BUDGETING  WORK IN INDIA 

Organization : United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) 

Background and Justification :  

UNIFEM calls for proposals for “Deepening the Gender Budgeting Work in India”. The aim is to support a body of work that would take the GRB discourse in India forward. While GRB efforts in India have gathered momentum in the past decade, there is a need to take stock, to consolidate the gains and to suggest critical next steps that are required. 

Guidelines for the Submission of Proposals  

What is the format for the proposal?

Given the attached Terms of Reference, the proposal (7-10 pages) should contain, at minimum, the following:

1. A brief technical proposal which includes:

l  Detailing the focus of the research study and the methodological framework

l  Logframe (articulating key Outputs, indicators and mean’s verification – see template below)

l  The proposed work plan based on the general timeframe in the TOR – (see template below)

l  Institutional profile: brief description of relevant experience for the primary implementing agency. Details of past achievements as result of work must be spelled out in the application.

2.       A budget proposal (in Excel with detailed footnotes or with separate line-by-line budget narrative). Breakdown of financial costs could include: Personnel; Data collection and Analysis; Data processing and entry; Printing; Equipment (specify); Publications and documentation; Contractual services (specify); Monitoring (including travel, other); Dissemination of project’s materials and results (knowledge management); Organizational support (communications, materials) ; Audit 

Applicants may include Annexes (supporting documents) such as CVs of lead technical, research and communications staff, organization brochure, and previous work and projects relevant to the assignment. 

What criteria will be used for the selection of the organization /consultant team?

Organizations/Consultant Team will be selected on the bases of technical (70%) and financial (30%) assessments. 

The technical assessment will review the following;

1. Soundness of methodology to meet the purposes of the project
2. Evidence of the subject expertise of the proposed team
3. Realistic articulation of the results chain
4. Realistic work plan to complete the review in the required timeframe

When is the proposal due?

The deadline for submission of proposals is 21 July 2010. Proposals received after the deadline will not be considered. 

To whom should the proposal be sent?

 Submissions should be sent preferably by e-mail with a signed cover letter to registry.unifem.in@unifem.org  mentioning “Proposal on Deepening Gender Budgeting Work in India” in the subject line. 

If not available in electronic copy, hard copies of the proposal and supporting documentation can be to mailed or faxed to: 

Ms. Shahnaaz Basha

Registry

UNIFEM South Asia Regional Office

19 A Rajdoot Marg, New Delhi

Fax: 91-11-24622136 

 UNIFEM will not consider applications:

·         Submitted by individuals without any organizational affiliation;

·         Submitted by organizations that do not have a legal status in the country of operation;

·         Submissions that have incomplete documentation, including blank or missing annexes.

Terms of Reference : DEEPENING THE GENDER BUDGETING WORK IN INDIA 

1. Background

UNIFEM is a leading supporter of efforts towards ensuring that national planning, budgeting and monitoring and evaluation processes incorporate a gender perspective. UNIFEM's Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) programmes at cross regional, regional and country level have made significant contribution towards this by building political support, developing technical resources and capacity, generating good practices for improving women's access to services and increasing accountability to gender equality. The programmes have also launched partnerships with the government, UN agencies and other development partners and resulted in increased support for GRB.

UNIFEM's approach to GRB has focused on introducing strategic and sustainable changes into budgetary processes. This approach has been pursued by assisting governments to introduce measures for incorporating gender into their public finance management systems, and building the capacity of officials to apply GRB to ensure that budget policies and outcomes are gender-responsive. This approach also emphasizes the importance of bringing gender equality advocates, parliamentarians and other stakeholders into the budgeting process.

At the national level, UNIFEM's GRB programming seeks to transform planning and budgeting processes and policies to reflect responsiveness to principles of gender equality and make concrete changes in resource allocations towards women's priorities. At the local level, UNIFEM has focused on supporting women's effective participation in budget processes, strengthening women's representation in local bodies, building awareness of gender budget analyses and advocating for adequate allocation towards local women's priorities.

2. Justification

Though Gender Responsive Budgeting was introduced at the central government level a few years ago, most studies undertaken have had a narrow focus restricted to the programmes and schemes in the budget targeted towards women and girls. It was soon realized that an in-depth and meaningful analysis of the budget from the gender lens was needed which would require broad coverage and would include all those schemes in which a portion is earmarked for women. Challenges to such an analysis include the lack of gender disaggregated information on beneficiaries of programmes and schemes and the methodological problem in gender budgeting analysis of budgets because of their complicated fiscal architecture.

Therefore, the underlying objective of the proposed research study is to map the opportunities and challenges for deepening Gender Budgeting across different sectors at the level of Union and State Governments.

3. Project objectives

v  To support innovative work on deepening the GRB initiatives in India;

v  To highlight critical gaps in current initiatives and;

v  To draw up a road map for the future agenda for GRB initiatives in India

4. Scope of Work/Activities

v  Conduct a comprehensive review of Gender Budgeting methodologies adopted by the Central Government Ministries

v  Map the functioning of Gender Budgeting Cells in the Central Government Ministries

v  Develop a methodological framework for assessing gender-responsiveness of the major development programmes and schemes

v  Recommend gender-responsive changes in operational guidelines of select development programmes and schemes

v  Carry out a review of Gender Budgeting methodologies adopted by select State Governments

v  Assess the availability of gender-disaggregated data on beneficiaries across various sectors

5. Expected Outcome

Increase in the number of budget processes that fully incorporate gender equality in India by 2012

6. Time Frame

v  Programming: August 2010 – December 2010

v  Reporting: January 2011

6. Required Qualifications

·         NGOs with expertise on women’s’ rights, gender issues and budgets are eligible to apply for the grant.

·         Applicant organizations must have a background in research as well as experience in policy advocacy.

·         Organizations that have demonstrated good work in GRB preferably having expertise on gender budgeting both at the Union and State levels would be preferred.

·         Applicant organizations must be legally registered for at least one (1) year by the relevant national, regional or local authority.

·         Proposals from more than one organization or entity as co-applicants must clearly indicate which organization will take lead responsibility for project management and contractual obligations
 

LOGICAL FRAMEWORK FORMAT

IMPLEMENTATION WORK PLAN FORMAT