UN WOMEN Jobs - 48978- National Consultant to Develop a Strategic Plan fo

National Consultant to Develop a Strategic Plan for the Caribbean Institute for Women in Leadership - (Open to CARICOM Nationals Only)

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Home-based (No travel required)

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

08-Sep-2014

Application Deadline :

29-Aug-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

28 Days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The Caribbean Institute for Women in Leadership (CIWiL) was launched in 2008 with the support of UN Women (then UNIFEM), the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the Commonwealth Secretariat. It is a non-partisan, not-for-profit institution whose mission is to be a flagship networking institute, producing high quality research, documentation, analysis, training and advocacy to advance women’s transformational leadership and increase the number of women in politics, business and/or entrepreneurship, leadership and decision-making at all levels in the Caribbean. CIWiL serves as the coordination and implementation centre for a regional and multi-country program of work and its related activities defined by a network of participating Caribbean organisations and individuals. In carrying out its work, CIWiL continues to draw on the products, experiences, capacities, and lessons learned of the network, and will assist in the mobilisation of resources to support the contribution of the organisations and individuals in the network to the development and implementation of CIWiL’s regional activities.

CIWiL’s overarching goal is to increase the number of women in politics, leadership and decision-making in the Caribbean. The organisation seeks to achieve this through the following objectives:

Promote and strengthen gender equality and women’s rights;
Advocate for transformative politics and policy-making;
Stimulate research and provide education and training to increase representation of women in politics and decision-making;
Support women in business and/or entrepreneurship before and after representational politics;
Support women in leadership, decision-making and politics, in order to hasten the transformation of politics and governance towards the achievement of sustainable development in the Caribbean.

As a still nascent organisation, with UN Women’s support, CIWiL is undertaking a strategic planning process to ensure sustainability of results and enhanced outreach of the organisation’s support throughout the Caribbean. The Strategic Planning process is building upon not only CIWiL’s experiences over the past number of years, but also on the best practices of the CIWiL members, many of whom represent national non-governmental organisations, political parties, and academia. The Strategic Plan, once adopted, will guide the regional network’s focus over the coming five years and will aim to significantly enhance sustainability of impact of interventions, and the network’s outreach and communication capacity.

To this end, UN Women is supporting CIWiL in the recruitment of an expert to finalise the CIWiL Strategic Plan and develop a proposal for the implementation of the Strategic Plan.

Duties and Responsibilities

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.
Under the overall supervision of the UN Women Representative and the day-to-day supervision of the CIWiL Coordinator, the consultant will be contracted to assist CIWiL in drafting a Strategic Plan that will set priorities, a time-bound action plan, code of conduct for resource use, financing and resource mobilisation framework and anticipated results for the next five (5) years based on a clear assessment of CIWiL’s existing resources and capacities.

The Strategic Plan will be an operational tool to mobilise resources to support CIWiL’s mission. It will help the organisation to refocus its efforts to ensure that members are working toward realising the organisation’s goals and objectives.

The Strategic Plan will also provide a framework for coordinating efforts; for strengthened communication and outreach in the Region; for use of CIWIL’s intellectual property and monitoring and evaluating of CIWiL’s work.

Deliverables and specific activities

The consultant is expected to:

Refine the strategic goals identified at the Caribbean Institute for Women in Leadership Strategic Planning Meeting and outline how these goals would be realised (i.e. outputs, strategy for realising outputs, indicators for measuring success);
Based on existing documentation and bilateral interviews with CIWiL members, review internal capacity of the organisation including existing financial, human, intellectual and infrastructural resources and subsequently make recommendations for future human, technical and financial resource needs with a view to ensuring sustainability and outreach of CIWiL as a Regional Network;
Review the organisational processes and decision making structure to recommend required changes to improve effectiveness;
Propose a structure and annotated outline of what the Strategic Plan would contain;
Based on the approved structure and outline, develop a results-based and measurable Strategic Plan for CIWiL, which includes an Implementation Plan with time frames, and monitoring and evaluation plan, for review and feedback from the CIWiL executive committee;
Finalise the CIWiL Strategic Plan based on the feedback from CIWiL and UN Women for submission to both parties.
Develop a Programme proposal for CIWiL’s resource mobilisation, focused on operationalising key aspects of the Strategic Plan

Activities:

Draft and submit a consultancy work plan - 0.5 days;
Assess organisational capacity and refine identified strategic goals - 2 days;
Conduct document review including guiding frameworks (regional and international) - 2 days;
Review the organisational processes and decision making structure to recommend required changes to improve effectiveness - 2 days;
Develop annotated outline of Strategic Plan -1.5 days;

Develop Draft Strategic plan which includes: 12 days

Measureable, results-based approach;
Implementation plan;
Monitoring and Evaluation Plan;
Financing framework;
Code of conduct and Operational procedures;
All other aspects of the agreed upon annotated outline.

Submit Final Strategic Plan (electronic) - 4 days

Develop a Programme proposal for CIWiL’s resource mobilisation operationalising key aspects of the Strategic Plan - 4 days
Total Consultancy - 28 days.

Competencies

Core Values:

Demonstrates integrity and fairness;
Demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;
Displays cultural, gender, religious, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

Strong analytic and organisation skills;
Excellent command of written and spoken English including the ability to convey complex concepts and recommendations, in a clear and persuasive style tailored to match different audiences.

Required Skills and Experience

Advanced degree in social sciences or related field

Required Experience:

At least 5 years’ experience working with gender issues in the Caribbean;;
At least 5 years’ experience in results based management as well as monitoring and evaluation methodologies;
Solid background in strategic planning and developing action plans;
Proven capacity to provide technical advice to civil society and other stakeholders;
Proven competence in institutional capacity building.

Language:

Excellent command of written and spoken English.

Location and Duration:

The contract will run for 28 days within the period 8 September 2014 to 31 October 2014. The consultancy will be home-based.

Administrative Information

Payment:

The consultancy fee will be negotiated before contracting. Each payment will be based on a predefined and formal agreement between UN Women and the consultant and will be disbursed based on satisfactory completion of agreed deliverables.

Hardware, software, and communication:

The consultant must be equipped with a portable computer (laptop). The consultant must be reasonably accessible by email and telephone (preferably mobile). The use of reliable, internet-based communication (Skype or equivalent) is required.

Application for Consultancy:

Please submit your application by 29 August 2014.

Applications must include:

A cover letter highlighting the specific post for which you are applying;
The completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment;
Detailed curriculum vitae including a description of main achievements;
A price proposal quoted in United States dollars (US$) indicating daily rates.

Applications should be submitted by email to the attention of Melissa Bohne, UN Women (melissa.bohne@unwomen.org).