Background

Gender equality and women’s empowerment are human rights that lie at the heart of development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. This is why UNDP integrates gender equality and women's empowerment in its four main areas of work and inside the organization (Poverty Reduction and MDG, Democratic Governance, Crisis Prevention and Recovery and Environment and Sustainable Development). The key lesson learned from UNDP experience is that committed leadership, effective oversight, adequate funding, a quality management system and improved capacity, are the key ingredients for achieving tangible gender equality results.
 
The Gender Equality Strategy 2008-2013 (GES) builds on these lessons learned and stresses that changes should be planned at three levels: the technical level (capacities, systems, tools and instruments for gender mainstreaming); the policy level (commitment, planning, prioritizing, and decision-making): and the cultural level (where habitual attitudes and behaviors form and sustain the environment and daily practice of the organization). 
Since 2008, UNDP has made a notable progress in institutional capacity and improving work environment towards gender equality. UNDP has developed the first level of accountability in terms of systems and policies with formidable success. However, gender mainstreaming is a complex process and various internal assessments have demonstrated that UNDP needs a new system of quality management which allows our organization to change policies, improve internal processes, realign structures, optimize resources and transform cultural systems. In
order to achieve and improve results “doing good business”, UNDP should promote interventions that transform the internal dynamics of business.
 
In this context, the UNDP Gender Team initiated in 2011-2012 a Gender equality Seal project. The Seal was adapted from the certification programme from private and public organizations to promote gender equality in the private sector workplace in Latin America by the BDP Gender Team. The UNDP Seal is envisaged as a corporate certification process that recognizes good performance of UNDP offices/units to deliver transformational gender equality results. It offers three levels of certification: Gold/great, Silver/good, and Bronze/improving. In a pilot phase in Kyrgyzstan, Argentina and Bhutan, a methodology was developed to test the feasibility of the Seal.
 
The three pilot appraisals provided the experiential base for strengthening the assessment tool, fleshing out the details of the certification methodology and developing a comprehensive toolkit for appraisal teams. A validation global workshop on the UNDP Gender Equality Seal was organized in June 2012 to share results from the pilot phase, validate the Seal methodology and determine next steps of the initiative.
The purpose of this consultancy is to support the UNDP Gender Team in the next phase of the project. This includes support for an expanded pilot phase to apply the methodology to more country offices, training of assessors who will carry out appraisal missions to certify offices, and for a systematization of the Gender Equality Seal into a corporate tool to promote innovation and positive cultural transformation towards gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Consultant will contribute his/her knowledge, expertise and experience throughout the production of the below deliverables to the roll out of the expanded pilot phase of the gender equality seal initiative. To this end, he/she will perform the following tasks in collaboration with the Gender Team institutional development Advisor:
  • A methodology and contents for an on line training course for assessment teams designed (5 working days).
  • A two weeks  “on line training of assessors” facilitated (4 working days)
  • A Guidance Note for Country Offices/Units applying to the certification (10 working days) developed.
  • An appraisal manual and a complete tool kit for the Gender Equality Seal Appraisal team developed (7 working days)
  • Final On line benchmarking tool refined (3 working days)

Competencies

  • Demonstrated capacity for strategic thinking, and expertise in global gender equality and mainstreaming methodology.
  •  Proven capacity to produce high quality qualitative research and ability to absorb, analyze and synthesize large amounts of complex information within tight deadlines.
  • Demonstrated ability and willingness to work with people of different cultural, ethnic and religious background, different gender, and diverse political views.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
  • Masters or PhD in a development related discipline (women’s studies or gender and development), and at least 15 years of international development experience; Field experience will be considerate an asset.
Experience:
  • Minimum of 10 years of comprehensive experience and knowledge in gender and development, institutional development and gender mainstreaming or related fields;
  • Understanding of the UNDP programming and operations, related particularly to gender mainstreaming both in headquarters and in the fields;
  • Experience with UNDP in the area of capacity building, development of training and accountability tools on gender mainstreaming;
Language Requirements:
  • Proficiency in English language. Spanish will be an asset.