UN WOMEN Jobs - 50508- Consultant: Donor Report Assessment

Consultant: Donor Report Assessment

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

03-Nov-2014

Application Deadline :

22-Oct-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

65 working days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

65 working days

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

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. UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Within UN Women’s Resource Mobilization Branch, the Donor Reporting Unit is responsible for quality control oversight of donor reporting. Narrative reporting to UN Women donors that fund cost-sharing projects constitutes a key, non-negotiable UN Women obligation. The ability of UN Women to report back to donors in a timely, high-quality, results-based, and consistent manner that complies with signed donor agreements builds donor confidence in UN Women as a trusted and effective partner. The Donor Reporting Unit plays a key role in ensuring that reports drafted by country and regional offices comply with the commitments that UN Women makes to its donors and that all reports submitted to donors comply with UN Women minimum standards, which are compatible with United Nations and international programme management and reporting standards.

In 2013, the Donor Reporting Unit processed nearly 200 reports and in 2014 a similar number of reports will be processed by the Unit. In order to improve workflow and work product related to donor reporting and offer improved guidance to UN Women global staff responsible for drafting donor reports, the incumbent will work under the supervision of the Donor Relations Manager to conduct and assessment of the gaps in donor reporting based on a set of established criteria on what constitutes high-quality reporting.

Duties and Responsibilities

The objective of the consultancy is to consolidate information on gaps in donor reporting through an assessment of recent reports to donors in order to support improved timeliness, quality, workflow and work product on donor reporting.

Within the Donor Reporting Unit, under the supervision of the Donor Relations Manager the incumbent will:

undertake research and documents review to refine and propose key criteria in relation to quality of reporting, and in collaboration with the Donor Relations Manager determine those criteria as applicable to UN Women donor reporting;
review key background documentation and established criteria on high-quality reporting in order to assess a selection of donor reports that represent a fair regional and thematic cross-section in order to identify gaps that affect the quality of reports;
consult with country/regional and headquarters-based staff involved in donor reporting on the gaps identified through the donor report review to discuss strategies to avoid gaps in future reporting;
on the basis of the donor report review and consultations with staff, produce an assessment report on the gaps identified and propose concrete measures to close these gaps;
if relevant, propose amendment or additions to the set of established criteria on what constitutes a high-quality donor report and translate the criteria into a set of 3-5 key quantitative/qualitative indicators against which the quality of future donor reports can be assessed;
propose standard format of main donor report, shortening the length of the narrative and the number of annexes;
propose concrete recommendations that augment the ownership by programme colleagues (HQ/field) of the donor reporting process, thus enhancing quality and timeliness;
in consultation with the Partnerships Adviser and the Resource Mobilization Director, adjustments can be made to the tasks at hand, to ensure timely completion in line with institutional calendars.

Competencies

Core values and guiding principles:

Integrity:

Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Professionalism:

Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:

Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Communication and Information Sharing:

Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication; ability to prepare succinct analytical reports.

Teamwork:

Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Knowledge sharing:

Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others.

Functional Competencies:

Strong analytical, organizational and report writing abilities;
Strong working knowledge of results-based management and results-based reporting;
Openness to change and ability to receive and integrate feedback;
Capacity to plan, prioritize and deliver tasks on time.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s Degree in Social Sciences, Political Science, Development.

Experience:

At least ten years’ experience in programme/ project management;
prior experience in gender analysis and gender mainstreaming will be an added asset.

Language:

Fluency in written and spoken English is required;
Knowledge of another UN language is an asset.