UN WOMEN Jobs - 58713- Consultant to Develop UN Women Knowledge Managemen

Consultant to Develop UN Women Knowledge Management Strategy

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Nairobi, KENYA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

11-Aug-2015

Application Deadline :

07-Aug-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

20 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

UN Women is the United Nations’ entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women. It was established in July 2010 by the UN General Assembly to accelerate progress on meeting women’s needs worldwide and as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. Globally, UN Women is mandated to support international political negotiations to formulate globally agreed standards for gender equality, assist UN member states to implement those standards by providing expertise and financial support, and assist other UN agencies in their efforts to advance gender equality across a broad spectrum of issues related to human rights and human development. Through Programme and Technical Assistance in countries that request its assistance, UN Women works with government and non-governmental partners to help them put in place policies, laws, services, and resources that women require to move towards equality.

The UN Women vision is a world where societies are free of gender-based discrimination, where women and men have equal opportunities, where the comprehensive economic and social development of women and girls is ensured so that they can lead the change that they want to see, where gender equality and women’s empowerment are achieved, and women’s rights are upheld in all efforts to further development, human rights, peace and security.

This vision is reflected in UN Women Kenya Country Office (KCO) Strategic Note 2014-2018. Among other things, the SN 2014-2018 stipulates and prioritizes a results-based management (RBM) approach for monitoring, reporting and evaluation to track progress of the strategic plan, using the indicators presented in the Development Results Framework and in the Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency Framework (OEEF). Monitoring, reporting and evaluation systems were developed and an integrated monitoring, evaluation and research plan (MERP) Plan is used as the calendar of major knowledge management, monitoring, evaluation and research activities that specifies priorities for the country office.

Under the MERP, evidence based action research and knowledge management plan is recognized in the GEWE advice and guidance UN Women Kenya provides to the intergovernmental process, the UN system, partners and staff. The KCO has also prioritized developing and implementing a Knowledge Management Strategy and Plan in the MERP.

Considering that knowledge management (KM) is a technical area with its own set of skills and expertise, UN Women seeks a consultant to develop a comprehensive Knowledge Management (KM) strategy for the office that aims to strengthen the utility of internal and external knowledge products and documents.

Indeed, from the time since the establishment, UN Women has seen an increased emphasis on the knowledge agenda. Given the expanded expectations for UN Women and its commitments to the UN system, to intergovernmental bodies, and to a multitude of national partners - each of these stakeholders with a different set of needs and means of engagements - UN Women is faced with maximizing the way it is organized to responds to these demands and goals. In doing so, it will not only provide a rich evidence base for programme and policy, and increased credibility, but also increase internal efficiencies (reduced duplication, cost, time) and organizational effectiveness.

UN Women (former UNIFEM) evaluations since 2009 have consistently assessed that programmes were producing innovative approaches, generating valuable experiences and good practices. However, the majority of evaluations found that institutional learning systems to document, disseminate and/or exchange information were often absent or weak.

The evaluations saw a need for clear strategies to institutionalize documentation and dissemination of learning and results – including processes to reach results – to ensure a systematic exchange of lessons learnt. The generation of knowledge products was successful in some cases – but not all –and dissemination tended to be weak. The need for better dissemination of knowledge was regarded as critical for many programmes, especially if the organization were to fulfil its ambition of ensuring that key stakeholders are able to easily access information on progress toward, and the “how to” of achieving, gender equality in countries worldwide.

Knowledge Management and Communication are one of the most powerful tools to promote the transformational agenda/changes (individual, social and political) that lead to achievement and maintenance of GEWE. Several communication and knowledge management areas contribute to this field, including, access to evidence-based information and new technologies, behaviour change communication, social mobilization, media relations, social marketing, and risk communication.

The Consultant will work in close collaboration with the Communications Strategy Consultant and the Communications Strategy Task Force to provide inputs and ensure that the knowledge management strategy is aligned with and linked to the communication strategy as well as resource mobilization policies and initiatives.

UN Women is also in the process of finalizing the communications & publication and resource mobilization strategies which are geared to influence the development agenda, promote public and media outreach and mobilize political and financial support for UN Women. The knowledge management strategy should be tightly linked to these strategies and program priorities so as to position UN women KCO as the knowledge hub on GEWE.

UN Women Kenya, as per the 2014-2018 Strategic Note is charged with being a “knowledge hub/center” on gender equality and women’s empowerment with related functions articulated at the headquarters, regional level and country level.

At the country level, UN Women Kenya aims to strengthen and improve the human and institutional capacity to capture, share, package, and disseminate applicable knowledge and information using effective communication methods and tools.

Specifically it is called upon to:

Conduct and share research, analysis and synthesis of activities on gender equality, drawing on experiences, good practices and lessons learned;
Share and disseminate knowledge from the UN system and other actors;
Produce on a regular basis reports, publications and information/policy briefs that make outcomes of normative deliberations and the latest knowledge on gender equality easily accessible;
Identify global expertise and promote south-south exchange; and
Work with research and evaluation institutions to ensure that policy agendas are informed by knowledge generated through applied gender equality research and policy analysis of the strategic and practical needs of women and girls.

The objective of the consultancy is to develop an overall knowledge management strategy for UN Women, complete with a dissemination strategy and including budget and timeline for implementation.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will be responsible for developing an overall knowledge management strategy for UN Women, including budget and timeline for implementation.

Under the supervision of the Knowledge Management Specialist and close working with Team Leaders and Communications Analyst, the consultant is expected to undertake the following related activities:

Review the current knowledge generation and management practices within UN Women to identify good practices as well as bottlenecks, gaps and duplications;
Conduct a rapid audience analysis, to identify the knowledge needs of the different target audiences of UN Women at the country level;
Conduct one-on-one interviews or meetings with key UN Women stakeholders like Ministry officials, Representatives of CSOs and Beneficiary groups, and the County government;
Undertake a mapping exercise of existing communities of practice/networks, websites and other on-line resources dealing with gender-related activities (including knowledge products) and define how these can support the knowledge sharing and learning strategy of UN Women;
Suggest a systematic methods and tools to capture emerging knowledge in the context of the different activities implemented under UN Women;
Recommend strategies for building KM capacity among UN Women staff and partners;
Prepare a budget and time-line to accompany the implementation of the strategy;
Ensure that it is aligned with the Organization's business needs and strategic plans, communication strategy and resource mobilization plan;
Establish, propose and maintain the Organization's policies and guidelines governing knowledge management and communications;
Train staff on KM concepts and principles as well as the on the key highlights of the KM Strategy.

Overall, the proposed strategy should be developed keeping in mind:

Low-cost and low-tech options to ensure sustainability;
Phased implementation process to allow time and space for leveraging resources and promoting ownership among partners and stakeholders.

Impact of Results

The KM strategy therefore will help in strengthening the role of UN Women as a catalyst, and its commitment to generating concrete evidence and knowledge on the ‘how to’ of gender equality.

In this respect, UN Women KCO office is looking at how the practices of Knowledge Management (KM) could leverage the learning and expertise of its staff and organization as a whole for outreach, external collaboration with partners and resource mobilization.

The purpose of the knowledge management strategy is to:

Improve knowledge capture, sharing and dissemination internally among UN staff and externally with partners and stakeholders;
Improve use and application of knowledge to achieve the outcomes and outputs set out in the UN Women strategic plan of 2014-2018 and to strengthen the policy and advocacy work.

Competencies

Core Values/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:

Ethics and Values:

Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.

Organizational Awareness:

Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Development and Innovation:

Take charge of self-development and take initiative.

Work in teams:

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

Communicating and Information Sharing:

Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:

Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others.

Conflict Management:

Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

Functional Competencies:

Demonstrated People Management Skills;
Proven ability and experience in information and knowledge management, including planning, design, preparation and delivery of knowledge management strategies;
Ability to lead strategic planning of organizational informational asset management systems;
Understanding of gender, women’s leadership, elections, civic education, humanitarian, peace and development aspects.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree or equivalent in the Information and Knowledge Management field, Information Science, or Library Science.

Experience:

Over seven (7) years of experience in information and knowledge management, including planning, design, preparation and delivery of knowledge management strategies;
Demonstrated experience with strategic planning of organizational informational asset management systems;
Working knowledge and experience in gender and development;
Good understanding of gender, women’s leadership, elections, civic education, humanitarian, peace and development.

Language:

Strong communication skills - Excellent knowledge of written and spoken English.