UN WOMEN Jobs - 59452- Consultant to Support in Mid-Term Review of Bangla

Consultant to Support in Mid-Term Review of Bangladesh Strategic Note 2014-16

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Dhaka, BANGLADESH

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

06-Sep-2015

Application Deadline :

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

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

25 working days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

25 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 Bangladesh is implementing its programme based on the Strategic Note (SN) 2014-16 which was developed in 2013 and was approved by the Deputy Executive Director of UN Women in December 2013. The Bangladesh SN is a forward-looking programmatic document that translates the UN-Women Strategic Plan 2014-2017 to the country level and adapts it to the country context and priorities, including the UNDAF. The SN outlines the overall strategy and plan of action for the UN-Women Bangladesh Country office for the years 2014-16 and includes a Development Results Framework (DRF) and an Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency Framework (OEEF) with expected results and targets/ indicators/ baselines.

Under UN-Women’s policies and procedures in relation to programme management, a mid-term review (MTR) is mandatory for programmes of at least three years duration. Thus, UN-Women Bangladesh is conducting an MTR in 2015. It is important that the MTR be completed by September/ early October to provide inputs for annual planning process for 2016 being initiated in October, 2015. It will provide an understanding on what UN Women is doing, its implicit theory of change and what should be done in 2016.
Noting that the MTR is NOT meant to be an evaluation, it should be “light” in that it should focus more on a strategic reflection of UN Women’s work and progress rather than an in-depth analysis. It will be contextualized in the context of UN Women’s work which is part of the UN Country Team’s work in Bangladesh that in turn aligns with the national government’s vision and plans. Included in this context are global processes and decisions like the finalizing of the post-MDG agenda and the development of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Objectives:

The objectives of the UN-Women Bangladesh MTR are:

To reflect on and arrive at a shared understanding of the progress in achieving SN results and identify prioritized actions to strengthen results to achieve by the end of 2016;
To learn from the perspectives of key partners and stakeholders on the contributions, strengths and areas for improvement of UN Women in Bangladesh;
To reflect with key partners and stakeholders on the future role of UN Women and the degree to which it is fit for purpose in achieving UN goals in the context of SDGs and transition of Bangladesh to and Mid Income Country.

Process:

The MTR will reflect on the actions taken under the existing Strategic Note, noting significant changes in context but mainly focused on prioritizing actions to achieve the results in the SN. The review will help us to see where our investment of resources has been most effective in furthering gender equality results, map the challenges or bottlenecks experienced and recommend a limited number of priority actions to build on our accomplishments and overcome challenges.

The MTR will involve key partners and stakeholders to understand their perspective on areas in which UN Women made positive contributions in line with our mandate and the priorities for women in Bangladesh, and any thoughts on how we could contribute more or differently. This dialogue is a good follow-through on the consultative process used to develop the SN and will also bring to surface, partners’ expectations of UN Women’s role and work.

A meeting with UN Women’s Civil Society Advisory Group will be held as part of the dialogue with partners. Other partners/stakeholders will be interviewed.

One position paper and four discussion papers will be developed drawing on key documents, inputs from UN Women colleagues (including via the staff survey conducted in May 2015), CSAG reflections and interviews with partners and stakeholders. These brief (1-2 page) papers will be the basis for discussions at an MTR meeting including UN Women BCO staff and representation from UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.

The discussion papers are:

Positioning Paper;
Programmatic Performance Paper;
Partnerships Paper;
Normative Paper;
Coordination Paper.

The paper on Programme Performance will be prepared by UN Women Programme Specialist. The coordination paper will be prepared by the Facilitator for Gender Equality Working Groups based on the UNDAF evaluation which focuses on implementation of gender equality (and UN programming principles) across the UN system. A consultant will be recruited to prepare the rest of the discussion papers, collect inputs from partners/stakeholders (sharing relevant input with the UN Women colleagues preparing other papers) and facilitate the MTR meeting discussed above. This TOR is for the work and role of that consultant.

Duties and Responsibilities

Role of the consultant:

The consultant will perform the following duties:

Conduct desk review (as per list attached) to identify key areas for exploration and develop questions for interviews and questionnaire;
Prepare questionnaire to elicit opinions and information from key informants, including from the Government of Bangladesh;
Conduct interviews and facilitate meeting with UN Women’s Civil Society Advisory Group;
Prepare and share draft papers, receive and incorporate feedback to finalize for UN Women Bangladesh Country Office (BCO) MTR meeting;
Develop agenda for BCO meeting, share with Representative and relevant counterparts, receive and incorporate feedback;
Facilitate BCO meeting and summarize results and decisions in a short 2 page report;
The time line for this work is 25 days.

Outputs/ Deliverables:

Three one-two page discussion papers to prepare for the MTR meeting;
Power-point presentations on the discussion papers, if requested.

The MTR report as outlined:

Background: (Half page) Background, process and the main topics discussed in the MTR;
Strategic issues and choices (Half page) Identification of the strategic choices that were identified through the MTR in relation to each area of discussion;
Summary and Conclusions (2 pages) Brief summary of the discussions and conclusions by issue (would normally follow the structure of the discussion papers);
Follow up actions (Half page) Summary of follow up actions – linked to strategic choices – offices should be clear in this section on whether they are maintaining their current strategy (ies), adopting a new approach or strategy, or committing to further research and analysis.

List of documents to be reviewed during the MTR (Tentative):

UN Women Country office strategic note 2014-2016 and relevant AWP (DRF and OEEF);
Vision Document for the development of the UNDAF Bangladesh 2017-2021;
UNDAF evaluation report (if available);
GOB 7th fiver-year planning documents;
Pro-Docs of existing and pipeline project/s and programme/s;
UN Women global strategy 2014-2017;
Annual report 2013 and 2014 and Project reports;
ToR of CSAG;
CSAG meeting minutes;
UN Women Office Staff survey report 2015;
Selected recent studies related to Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Bangladesh;
Selected recent studies of key values related to poverty and other issues increasing vulnerabilities of women and families.

Payment Schedule:

25% on delivery of questionnaire and interview questions and 75% on approval of remaining deliverables.

Confidentiality:

No documents, researches, raw data collection or analyses (or parts thereof) will be shared outside the UN Women Office and all documents provided to the consultant will be treated as confidential unless otherwise indicated.

Time Table:

Development of discussion papers including time for internal meetings, interviews and feedback from UN Women: September 6- 30;
MTR meeting (based on the availability of the RO colleagues and Country Representative): Week 2, October;
Finalization and sharing of MTR report with UN Women, including a strategic priorities table: 5 days after BCO MTR meeting.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Ability to think, analyze and articulate strategically on programme development and results-based management;
Ability to facilitate multi-stakeholder review process by using participatory approaches;
Ability to facilitate meetings with different levels of stakeholders;
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude of team work;
Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills in English.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Masters in Gender studies, Gender and Women Development, Development Studies, Social Sciences or any other relevant field;

Experience:

At least 12 years of professional work experience in programme development and implementation, including monitoring and evaluation activities;
Experience in working on gender issues in South Asia required with experience in Bangladesh preferred;
Proven experience in guiding and documenting reviews and evaluations;
Knowledge of UN policies and procedures for programming, monitoring and evaluation and advantage;
Knowledge of latest programme monitoring and evaluation theory, including theories of change, methodology, technology and tools;
Strong facilitation skills;
Must be capable of effectively using MS Word and Excel.

Languague:

Excellent command of English at native speaker level (written and oral) is required, knowledge of Bangla is desirable.