The UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, will work 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. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations System efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women has recently established a regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Panama, which has oversight functions for the offices in countries where it has presence, as well as the mandate to “lead, coordinate and promote accountability of the United Nations System in its work on gender equality and the empowerment of women” at the regional and country levels in order to support delivery of results for gender equality and the empowerment of women.

While UN Women is taking deliberate steps to enhance its country presence throughout the region, it is not able to maintain a full presence in every country. Yet it intends respond to demands for its support, even in countries where it is not resident, within the constraints of scarce resources. In order to maximize its response, UN Women is undertaking a capacity assessment for gender equality in 26 countries throughout of the region.

This includes 1) a mapping and analysis of the staff, focal points and coordination mechanisms related to gender equality that operate at the country level; 2) mapping and analysis of gender equality programming and initiatives in each country. As a part of the analysis of each, UN Women will gather information related to promising practices and lessons learned. A consultant is required to design and implement a methodology for the collection of this information at the country level, to manage its collection, and to compile it into a consolidated report that will contain data, analysis, and recommendations to guide UN Women’s support going forward.

• In particular, gender theme groups will be a focus. These are composed of different UN agencies and, where appropriate, other agencies for International Cooperation. The study will determine the work being done by each Thematic Group, identifying their strengths and weaknesses, assigned responsibilities and scope, budget and performance areas and evaluate the group’s technical capacity on matters related to gender within each thematic group, among others. The objective of this analysis and evaluation is to determine the technical capacity of the Gender Theme Groups nationally, and their priority work areas, in order for UN Women to provide them with greater and more efficient coverage (through technical advice on new action lines). This review will also contribute to improved networking and communications opportunities; a regional profile of gender capacities to serve as a baseline for UN Women’s future monitoring in relation to its role of supporting greater accountability; and increased understanding of the roles that various UN organizations are taking on in diverse country contexts in providing support to gender equality and the levels of support these receive. The analysis will include lessons and promising practices related to coordination efforts and access to gender equality expertise.
  

Map and analyze gender equality programming and initiatives in 26 countries.  

• This study will determine the priority programme/ policy actions for each country, the budget designated for projects and programmes related to gender; the number, quality and focus of joint initiatives, priority target population and beneficiaries, geographical areas, among others, with the objective of identifying gaps where UN Women can lead/accompany new policy/programming initiatives and coordinate efforts at the level of the system being developed. This study/mapping is also intended to assess the degree of inclusion of gender in the CCA (Common Country Assessment) and the UNDAFs (United Nations Development Assistance Framework). The analysis will include lessons and promising practices related to policy advocacy and substantive programmatic interventions - including planning, implementation and results achievement.
  

Once approved, the methodology will be applied throughout the region through a process of deploying consultants to the 26 countries to conduct assessments based on documentation, interviews and surveys as appropriate. The international consultant will develop the terms of reference for national level consultants, who will conduct the country level reviews, and he/she will provide overall support and guidance to the national level consultants to ensure consistency of reporting.

• Methodology for country level and regional assessment.
• Supervision and guidance of country level consultants, ensuring high-quality and consistent national reports, including an initial webinar to explain the methodology.
• Compilation of national report into regional report (submitted in MS Word, with annexes and tables in Excel as deemed appropriate).
• Dissemination strategy for the regional report.

This consultancy has a duration of thirty-seven working days in total, consisting of three different phases over a period of  4 months:

• First Phase: 7 working days from the date of signing the contract, to carry out the completion of the methodology for the national consultants and regional report.
• Second Phase: 10 working days for supervision and guidance to support consistent national level reporting.
• Third Phase: 20 working days, starting from the date of delivery to the UN Women Regional Office of Latin America and the Caribbean of the national reports resulting from the country-level consultations to consolidate these into the final, regional report. Within the first 10 days, the consultant will send a first draft of the final report to the Regional Centre for review.

Core Values and Ethics

• Demonstrate cultural sensitivity and able to work in a multi-national environment
• Support the Organization’s corporate goal
• Comply with UN WOMEN rules, regulations and code of conduct
• Demonstrate integrity

Teamwork

• Build effective client relationships and partnerships
• Interact with all levels of staff in the organization
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Build and share knowledge
• Provide guidance and support to others
• Apply existing knowledge to work
• Make valuable practice contributions

Communication

• Excellent oral and written skills
• Listen actively and respond effectively

Task Management

• Plan, prioritize and deliver a variety of tasks on time
• Exercise sound judgment/analysis Develop creative solutions
• Supervisory skills

• Promote learning environment in the office
• Provide constructive coaching and feedback for others

Education:

• Masters level, preferably in the areas of economics, social sciences, and/or political science.

• Minimum 5 years professional (technical) experience in matters of gender equality and the empowerment of women.

• Experience/knowledge of the functions of the United Nations System and International Cooperation Organizations and UN reform processesKnowledge of the CCA/UNDAF processesProfessional experience in the Latin American and Caribbean RegionExperience in advising the design, implementation or evaluation/ assessment of gender equality policies, programmes and projectsExperience gender mainstreaming within institutions; policies, programmes and projects

• Experience in report generation and synthesis of experiences

• Fluency in written and spoken English.

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment. 

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment

Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.