UNDP Jobs - 57315- International GRB Consultant, Increasing Accountab

International GRB Consultant, Increasing Accountability in Financing for Gender Equality- Kyrgyz Republic

Location :

Bishkek, KYRGYZSTAN

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Jul-2015

Application Deadline :

30-Jun-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

45 days (12 fee days)

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

12 fee 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 was established by GA resolution 64/289 of 2 July 2010 on system-wide coherence, with a mandate to assist Member States and the UN system to progress more effectively and efficiently towards the goal of achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women. Since 2001 UN Women (previously as UNIFEM) in Kyrgyzstan has implemented catalytic initiatives on promoting women’s economic, political and social rights. In 2012 a full Country Office was established.

The consultancy is in support of the UN Women Kyrgyzstan Country Office’s DRF5 activities, including the “Increasing accountability in financing for gender equality” project.

The “Increasing accountability in financing for gender equality” project is being implemented in 16 pilot countries of the world (Bolivia, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Nicaragua, State of Palestine, Peru, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Ukraine, and Zambia) in partnership with the International Training Center/International Labor Organization with support from the European Commission and the Governments of Italy and Spain.

Through the Global “Increasing accountability in Financing for Gender Equality” programme (F4GE) UN Women supports efforts to strengthen the accountability of national governments and donors in implementing gender equality commitments in financing decisions and practices. The overall goal of the global programme is “to increase the volume and effective use of aid and domestic resources to implement national commitments to gender equality and women`s empowerment (GE/WE)”.

The programme utilizes a gender mainstreaming approach in national planning, budgeting and management processes. This approach includes supporting national government in identifying and articulating national priorities on gender equality and incorporating them into national strategic documents such as National gender equality strategies and respective National Action Plans; it also includes building capacities of government, donors and civil society in applying instruments of gender responsive planning and budgeting (GRB) and policy advocacy and knowledge building on GRB. The programme supports initiatives of civil society and gender advocates in holding governments and donors accountable in ensuring adequate funding for GE commitments and increasing their effective use.

In the Kyrgyz Republic the process of programme implementation faced with many challenges. One of the most important challenges is the lack of political will in the national government and lack of understanding GRB concept and instruments for application in the public finance management system.

In this challenging environment, civil society organizations and gender advocates of Kyrgyzstan have continuously served as the main driving force behind initiatives of gender mainstreaming into national planning and budgeting processes, particularly in relation to the adoption of the first long-term National Gender Equality Strategy till 2020 and respective NAPs. Thanks to involvement of gender experts, the practice of preparing independent gender analysis (gender expertise) of the draft annual national budget and submitting it to the Parliament`s consideration is becoming a customary process.

Participation of civil society and gender advocates in National and municipal parliament hearings, gender analysis of social spending in sectoral and municipal budgets, strengthening GRB discourse at various multi-stakeholder forums and platforms helped to achieve certain progress in promoting GRB framework.

Despite the some achievements, many issues remain ahead in terms of promoting GRB concept and approaches and translating them into practical tools of planning and implementing financial allocations devoted for Gender equality and women`s empowerment.

With the aim of supporting effective engagement of gender experts & gender equality advocates and feminist-economists in contributing to stronger policy coherence on gender equality in economic and development policy and to facilitate an open evaluation of efforts to date in promoting GRB at national and local levels in Kyrgyzstan a workshop for gender experts & GE advocates and public finance experts is planned in July 2015. This workshop will bring together experienced national experts who will benefit from international expertise provided by UN Women GRB specialists from other regions, as well as by international GRB consultant. The workshop will result in GRB country case-study report based mainly on the results of the discussion in world café format.

Duties and Responsibilities

The technical consultant is required to facilitate a 3- days workshop in world café format for national gender and public finance experts to analyze the results of GRB initiatives in Kyrgyzstan up to date, main achievements and challenges, lesson learned, identify conducive and inhibiting factors for GRB work in the future. Based mainly on the results of discussion during a workshop the consultant is expected to produce a GRB Country case study report that will include analysis of the GRB initiatives, including the F4GE project, main lessons learned and suggestions for approaches and strategy of GRB promoting in the context of Kyrgyzstan. The consultant is expected to study relevant documents on GRB initiatives in Kyrgyzstan including the Project document and other information about the context of the country, and to complement the results of the workshop discussion with individual interviews of experts and other relevant stakeholders as necessary.

In addition, the consultant is expected to develop and deliver at least two substantial capacity building thematic sessions during a workshop on different conceptual and practical approaches to GRB implementation in different countries, focusing particularly on the experiences from countries where there is a little uptake of GRB by the government and where yet GRB has acted as a very important driver for the activation of gender equality policy.

The duration of this assignment is 45 days and according to the UN Women recruitment applicable procedures with an estimated number of 12 working days.

Deliverables:

Under the overall supervision of UN Women Representative in Kyrgyzstan and the direct supervision of the National programme coordinator of the “Increasing accountability in financing for gender equality” project, the International GRB consultant will be responsible for the following deliverables:

Develop a proposal and work plan for carrying out the assignment, including specific activities to be carried out;
Prepare and deliver two substantial capacity building sessions (no less than 1,5 hours each) on international experiences from the countries where GRB became an important tool for promoting gender equality despite the little uptake of GRB by the national government. Sessions must include conceptual approaches and practical instruments of GRB implementation in various countries, the best practices from other countries, particularly from similar (or relevant) to Kyrgyzstan contexts, challenges and lessons learned from other GRB initiatives;
Prepare a list of questions for a world café workshop, share it with other international colleagues representing UN Women GRB programs in Asia Pacific and South and Eastern Europe, and revise if needed;
Prepare a report on country GRB case that will summarize the results of the workshop discussion and include recommendations for promoting GRB in the context of Kyrgyzstan based on the lessons learned and specifics of the country context. The report must be 25-30 pages (English), it must have analysis of the GRB initiatives in Kyrgyzstan up to date, including achievements, challenges, lessons learned and recommendations to civil society on how to play a critical role in promoting GRB with the government partners.

Competencies

Core values/ guiding principles:

Integrity:

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

Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity:

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

Core competencies:

Results oriented:

Plans and produces quality results to meet established goals, generates innovative, practical solutions to challenging situations.

Ethics and Values:

Demonstrating / Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity.

Organizational Awareness:

Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Developing and Empowering People / Coaching and Mentoring:

Initiative-taking;
Coaching and mentoring ability.

Working in Teams:

Acting as a team player and facilitating team work.

Communicating Information and Ideas:

Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively.

Self-management and Emotional intelligence:

Creating synergies through self-control.

Conflict Management / Negotiating and Resolving Disagreements:

Managing conflict.

Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning:

Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of other.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master degree of PhD in Economics, public finance, administration, development studies or gender studies

Experience:

At least 10 years of relevant experience in the field of Gender responsive budgeting, aid effectiveness, macro-economics, public finance or related fields;
Proven experience on gender equality and women’s empowerment;
Specific expertise on related issues of costing gender equality priorities, including Gender Responsive Budgeting;
Preferably Experience in results-based and rights-based programming and management of multi-stakeholder programmes;
Proven analytical and writing skills.

Language:

English is required. Russian is an asset.