Background

UN-Women Nepal’s Strategic Note (SN) 2014-17 was approved by the Deputy Executive Director of UN-Women in December 2013. The Nepal SN is a forward-looking programmatic document that translates the UN-Women Strategic Plan 2014-2017 and adapts it to the country context and national priorities, including the UNDAF.  The SN outlines the overall strategy and plan of action for the UN-Women Nepal Country office for the years 2014-17 and includes a Development Results Framework (DRF) and an Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency Framework (OEEF) with expected results and targets/ indicators/ baselines. An addendum to the SN and associated DRF and OEEF was approved in July 2015 post the humanitarian crisis by the Deputy Executive Director Policy and Programme.

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. In the case of UN-Women Nepal this requires the office to hold a MTR of its programme during the first quarter of 2016. The MTR will analyze Nepal’s contextual changes, existing and emerging development challenges and lessons learned throughout the implementation of the SN over the last two years. In this process, the MTR will identify key achievements as well as areas for improvement and guide the NCO’s work moving forward.

UN Women Nepal Country Office (NCO) is recruiting an international consultant to support the MTR process. The consultancy is open to independent consultant based in South Asia.

S/he will be supported by a national consultant. The recruitment of the national by UN Women Nepal will be carried out in close consultation with the international consultant in November/December. The national consultant will be paid directly by UN Women Nepal.

Duties and Responsibilities

Key Activities:

The consultant will perform the following duties:

• Desk Review of key knowledge products established by the NCO such as: (3 days) : 2014-2017 SN and Annual Work Plans for 2014, 2015 and 2016; 2013 and 2014 Annual Reports and 2015 quarterly reports; Select recent studies related to Gender Equality and Women’s’ Empowerment in Nepal; Documents related to the UN “Fit for Purpose and SDG discussions”; Other as advised;
• Have a maximum number of consultations with NCO staff and key stakeholders against a priority-list provided by the NCO (7 days). The national consultant will lead the stakeholder consultations;
• With NCO staff develop an agenda for the 2 -2½ day MTR meetings and facilitate the meeting (2 days);
• Draft brief (1-2 page) discussion papers in line with the corporate guidance (7 days);
• Draft the MTR report as per guidelines, including a table highlighting key strategic priorities for NCO moving forward in 2016/17 (6 days);
• Mentor and supervise the national consultant.

Key Deliverables:

• Development of 8 brief positioning papers in line with the  MTR guidance (Positioning,  Programmatic Performance,  Partnerships, Normative, Coordination, Programme and Operations, Learning and capacity and Communication and Outreach Papers);
• Agenda and presentations for the 2 -2½ day MTR meetings developed in close consultation with NCO staff;
• Facilitation of the MTR meetings;
• Draft and final MTR report, including a strategic priorities table.

Working Arrangements:

 The expected timeline for the MTR are as follows:

• 8 draft position papers  – 10 December 2015;
• Draft agenda and presentation for the MTR meetings – 14 December 2015;
• Support the preparations and facilitation of the MTR stakeholder meetings which will be led by the national consultant  – early February 2016;
• Draft MTR report and strategic priorities table –  15 February 2016;
• MTR report, including a strategic priorities table –   29 February 2016.

The estimated number of working days is 25. The consultant will work from home and the UN Women Kathmandu office when in Nepal. The assignment entails two missions to Kathmandu during the course of the assignment.

Time-frame:

The consultant will work for 25 working days over a period of 3 months.

Payment will be made at the end of the assignment and upon approved time log. If staggered payments are requested, then payments can be made at the delivery of the MTR meeting (50% of total fee) and at the end of the assignment (50%).

No documents, researches, raw data collection or analyses (or parts thereof) will not be shared outside the NCO and all documents provided to the consultant will be treated as confidential.

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:

• Development/programming skills particularly those that are pertinent to UN Women strategic priorities on gender issues and women’s rights;
• Ability to support formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects;
• Substantive knowledge and experience related to current policies and practices in the fields of gender equality and humanitarian action including disaster risk reduction, disaster preparedness, disaster response management and early recovery;
• Knowledge of Results Based Management principles and approaches;
• Ability to maintain networks and partnerships with UN agencies and other international partners to promote partnership and build alliances to advance organizational interests and competencies.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• University degree (Master’s Degree) in social sciences, development planning, planning, evaluation, survey implementation, advanced statistical research.

Experience:

• At least 10 or more years of professional work experience in programme development and implementation, including monitoring and evaluation activities;
• The candidate must be based in South Asia region;
• Work experience in South Asia region;
• Proven experience in guiding and documenting MTR processes;
• Knowledge of UN and/or UN Women’s policies and procedures for programming, monitoring and evaluation is an advantage;
• Knowledge of latest programme monitoring and evaluation theory, including theories of change, methodology, technology and tools;
• Must be capable of effectively using MS Word and Excel;
• Proven workshop facilitation skills.

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English essential.

Application Process:

Interested applicants based in South Asia must submit the following document/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• Cover letter confirming availability for work on mentioned dates;
• Expression of Interest with explanation on why applicant is the most suitable for the work;
• CV and dully filled P11 form that can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment.

Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

Evaluation of applicants:

The technical component is evaluated on the basis of its responsiveness to the Terms of Reference (ToR).

Technically qualified consultants may be contacted for an interview.

The award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/ complaint/ acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of technical evaluation.

The technical qualification of the offer or/individual is evaluated based on following:

• Qualification and background - 15;
• Experience in programme development and implementation, including monitoring and evaluation activities at the strategic level - 30;
• Previous experience in facilitating similar organizational reviews with staff, partners and stakeholders (government, non-government and international organizations) - 20;
• Experience and familiarity with the UN system and UN Women’s work on gender equality and women’s empowerment- 15;
• Work experience in Nepal or South Asia region - 10; and 
• Proven workshop facilitation skills - 10.

Only short listed candidates will be contacted. 

The wages of consultant and other cost are determinded based on UN  Women Guidelines for short-term consultant.