Terms of Reference (ToR)

Conducting Coaching Sessions for UN Women NCO Personnel

1. 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,
human rights, humanitarian action and peace, and security.
In Nepal, UN Women focuses on strengthening women’s voice, choice, agency, and security across
sectors to advance women’s rights, provide space for women’s meaningful participation, and to
demonstrate tangible differences in their lives. It is guided by Nepal’s stated priorities and its
commitments to relevant normative frameworks, the country’s United Nations Development Assistance
Framework (UNDAF) 2018-2022, the CEDAW Concluding Observations (2018), and UN Women’s
Corporate Strategic Plan 2018-2021. The programme promotes national ownership, capacity
development and institutionalization, inclusiveness, coordination and partnerships, and knowledge
generation and management, and seeks to prioritize engagement with and support to key duty bearers
who are responsible for advancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE). The goal of
the programme is to “achieve gender equality and social inclusion and empower women and girls in
Nepal to realise their human rights.”
The key strategies to achieve the goal include: (a) normative support for the development, reform and
repeal or amendment of discriminatory laws using a CEDAW lens; (b) providing technical support and
integrated policy advice to stakeholders to implement gender equality policies and action plans; (c)
building institutional capacities at federal and local levels to promote gender-responsive governance,
rule of law, prevention of violence and delivery of minimum essential services through innovations,
long-term trainings, peer learning, and focused workshops; and (d) advocacy and social mobilisation
with excluded and vulnerable groups to build alliances and mobilise political will to drive public support
for GEWE.
2. Justification

UN Women NCO is intentional in promoting the learning and capacity development of all personnel.
Coaching and leadership have been identified as the primary tools to equip personnel to practice
inclusive leadership and governance on an everyday basis. Over the last four years, NCO has been
organizing a series of courses on ‘Foundations of Coaching” and “Adaptive Leadership” to enhance the
self-directedness and leadership skills of its personnel. These courses have focused on the purposes of
coaching, building relationships of trust, rapport, analyzing and applying the different states of mind as
well as listening to each other with intention.

The 2019 NCO Staff Survey report also highlighted that learnings from the coaching and leadership
seminar appeared to have served as very useful tools that helped the improvement in supervisor-
supervisee relationships. For example, the capability of both supervisors and supervisees to manage
and make mental conflict a positive factor was cited as a helping factor, along with the assumption of
positive intentions by both parties, which also spurred an attitude of constantly bringing genuine
positive intentions to all interactions. Self- awareness, and consciousness have become a practice, which
led to responsible communication that strengthened relationships and created synergies at work.

Furthermore, these courses have also been very helpful for UN Women NCO personnel to recognize the
challenges of working in the changing contexts including the COVID-19 pandemic and practice the
adaptive management approaches in their day-to-day activities.

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 With the above experience, NCO plans to conduct similar trainings in 2021-2022 to further advance the
knowledge and skills of already trained personnel and at the same time prepare entire NCO workforce
to think and act alike leading to a transformed organizational team culture of self directedness,
maximum collaboration and result oriented spirit eventually contributing to greater effectiveness and
efficiency to achieve development results of AWP_2021 as mentioned in paragraph -3 under the
background section of this TOR. Therefore, NCO seeks to involve an experienced national or
international institution to provide such services building on the existing level of knowledge, skills and
experience of the NCO personnel.
3. Objective and Scope of Work

To further institutionalize the efforts towards strengthening self-directedness and promoting the
positive office culture, UN Women NCO plans to organize the following four coaching sessions:

Year 1 - 2021

1. Foundations of Coaching Part 1: The agency is expected to design a course on the foundations of
coaching specifically for the newcomers of the NCO to support them with an understanding of
coaching and how they can serve others through listening and crafting questions to extend their
thinking. The course should highlight the following key questions:
• What is coaching, and how is it different from other forms of support?
• How does a person know when to coach?
• What are the skills and behaviors of a coach?
• In what ways do judgments influence the thinking of others?
• How will you know that you’ve been successful in your coaching?
2. Foundations of Coaching Part 2: This course should be focused on refining and extending skills
learned in Part 1 and provide authentic opportunities for its deeper application. The agency should
design this course focusing on the following key questions:
• What is a mental shift and mental reframing, and how do they apply to Problem Resolving?
• How do coaches navigate the support functions and the coaching maps?

Both courses should be delivered virtually using the available and most appropriate communication
platforms (such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams) along with readings and practice assignments in addition to
lecture sessions.

Year 2: 2022

3. Designing Programs to Support Democratization: This course should support development sector
professionals to design programs and learning events that encourage participation, with a focus on including
those who are the most marginalized. It will be particularly relevant for those responsible for designing
capacity development programs, where the delivery of trainings and other learning events is required. The
agency should design the course based on the following questions:

• What are some features of an engaging learning environment?

• In what ways might we teach for transfer?
• How might we plan a learning event with participation and transfer in mind?

Time Frame: The course will be conducted in February/March, 2022, and will be taught synchronously and
asynchronously over four weeks, with readings and practice assigned outside of class time.

4. Adaptive Leadership: This course should focus on supporting organizations to establish collaborative
cultures while developing group member capabilities and understanding and living the norms of
collaboration. The workshop will also address the role of conflict in group development, and the importance

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of engaging in mental conflict to grow and flourish as both a team and an organization. The agency should
design the course based on the following questions

• What is adaptivity and why is it essential in complex systems?

• How can you positively influence your professional community?
• What are the capabilities and skills of a group member and how do they enhance group
development?
• How can you leverage energy sources to help a group grow?
• What does effective facilitation look and sound like?

Time Frame: The course will be conducted in September/October 2021, and will be taught synchronously
and asynchronously over four weeks, with readings and practice assigned outside of class time.
4. Expected Deliverables and Timeline
The initial duration of the contract will be from February to December 2021. This will be further
extended for another one year, subject to the availability of funding and satisfactory performance of
the service provider.
The following payments will be made to the select organisation upon successful delivery of the above-
indicated activities:
Year-2021
SN Deliverables Timeline Payment
1 A course on Foundations of Coaching Part 1 - 31 March 2021 50 %
successfully designed and delivered to NCO
newcomers (approximately 10 participants);
submission of the training report and invoice for
the same.
2 A course on Foundations of Coaching Part 2 31 October 2021 50 %
designed and delivered to NCO personnel
(approximately 24 participants); submission of
the training report and invoice for the same

Year 2022
SN Deliverables Timeline Payment
1 Successful designing and delivering training 31 March 2022 50 %
Programs ‘to Support Democratization’ to
relevant professionals enabling them to further
design programs and learning events that
encourage participation; submission of a
“trainers’ manual’, training report and invoice for
the same .
2 Successful designing and delivering the 31 October 2022 50 %
‘Leadership’ course to establish collaborative
cultures; submission of training report and
invoice for the same

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5. Requirements for the Agency
• A non-profit, non-governmental organization with at least three years of progressive
experience in designing and delivering courses on coaching and leadership.
• Availability of in-house experts/trainers equipped with the required skills to design and deliver
the above-mentioned courses.
• Experience in working with international organizations
• Previous experience in delivering similar services to international organizations and/orUN
agencies would be an added advantage.
•
6. Required Qualifications for the Trainers
Academic qualification:
• At least a master’s degree in education, English literature, or related field from a recognized
institution

Experience and skills:

• Minimum five years of demonstrable work experience in international education, designing
coaching courses, and developing professional learning communities.
• Experience in advocating for inclusive learning communities that stimulate self-advocacy and
agency.
• Current/past affiliation with international academic institutions.
7. Coordination and Reporting
The agency will directly report to the Operations Manager and work in close collaboration with HR focal
person of the UN Women Nepal Country Office.
8. Contribution to UN Women’s Strategic Note/Annual Work Plan
The initiative will contribute to the following output of the UN Women NCO’s Strategic Note 2018-2022:
OEE Output Cluster 4.1: Improved management of financial and human resources in pursuit of results
9. Guiding Principles
The implementation of the proposed activities should be guided by the following principles:
• Gender equality and social inclusion
• Leave no one behind
• Human rights-based approach
• Do-No-Harm
• Result based programming and management
• Confidentiality and privacy
10. Application Procedures/Submission Package
The interested bidders must submit the following documents along with the detail proposal and
budget plan:
• Proof of registration with the relevant government agencies and the tax/vat office.
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• A technical proposal: Letter of Interest, stating why you consider your agency suitable for the
assignment.
• Brief methodology on the approach and implementation of the assignment, including the
outlines for both courses
• Organisation’s staff diversity matrix along with the proposal as mentioned in the required
documents tab of RFP.
• Company profile, CVs of the proposed trainers of the course highlighting qualifications and
experience in similar assignments. The proposed trainers should meet the minimum
qualifications and experience as stated in section 6 of this TOR
• At least three references of the previous work in similar assignments.
• Latest tax clearance certificate.
• Organizational latest Audit Report (at least past one year).
• A financial proposal fully responsive to this TOR which should include an explanation of
costing each course with breakdowns of activities as necessary (unit price together with any
other expenses etc.). It should be submitted in a separate financial envelope.
• Any other relevant documents as mentioned in the Request for Proposal (RFP).