UN WOMEN Jobs - 61694- Mainstreaming Gender in Strategy Development, Budg

Mainstreaming Gender in Strategy Development, Budget Support and Performance Measurement in Uganda’s Infrastructure Development

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Kampala, UGANDA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

26-Nov-2105

Application Deadline :

21-Nov-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

45 Days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

45 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 (UNW), 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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, the UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality are translated into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts while building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

As a step towards implementing the partnership between Government and selected development partners, with the aim of strengthening cooperation on empowering women and gender equality, UN Women intends to enhance the technical and operational capacities of relevant government ministries and agencies in Uganda, on systematically integrating gender-relevant considerations into the diagnosis, planning, budgeting, implementation and performance evaluation of interventions within infrastructure development. This is directly in line with Uganda’s National Development Plan II (NDP II, 2015-2020), whose goal number two (2) is to increase the stock and quality of strategic infrastructure to accelerate the country’s competitiveness. It is further aligned to the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF, 2016-2020), whose outcome area 3.2 is to have Uganda’s infrastructure development compliant to physical planning policies and standards, as a means for enhancing production systems, and for gender-equal access to education, health, employment opportunities and productive assets. Globally, mainstreaming gender in public works and related services, will on one hand contribute to goal 9 of the sustainable development agenda i.e. build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation, while on the other it will be a sector-wide respond to goal 5 that focuses on achieving gender equality and empower all women and girls.

The support to infrastructure development in this case mainly focuses on a functioning transport sector and agricultural water management systems in drought-prone areas, as a contribution towards the attainment of sector reforms spelled out in; the National Transport Master Plan, National Land Use plan, Agriculture Sector Investment and Development Plan, Strategy for Rural Water Investment, Water for Production Strategy and Investment Plan; and the Peace and Recovery Development Plan (PRDP). Within transport infrastructure, this support focuses on provision of a safe and sustainable road, rail and water based transport network with the aim of reducing transport costs, improving access to rural areas and facilitating local and regional trade. This is done through a Sector-wide approach (SWP), because transport infrastructure and services are essential to promotion of economic and social development, to foster national and regional integration, to develop trade, to contribute to food security and to prevent conflicts.

For the last decade, in-country experiences have shown that the success and sustainability of infrastructure development interventions in especially transport, energy and agricultural water management systems, greatly depends on not only the appropriateness of the design but also responsiveness along socio-ecological and gender-differentiated needs, which makes households and communities supportive to optimal usage for reduced costs on repair and maintenance. In the long-term, gender-responsive infrastructure development can ensure availability of mobility and production systems that provide for equity in the spatial distribution of and access to public services, tapping into un-exploited human capital as well as easing the pursuit of socio-economic opportunities within agriculture, water for production, health, education, housing and finance among others. Therefore infrastructure development in Uganda will require gender champions and technical personnel, who ought to not only have advocacy but also gendered forms of knowledge and operational capabilities to influence policy and spending choices, planning and programme implementation processes to the advantage of women and girls, who when compared to men and boys, still have the least opportunities to offset encounters with income poverty, environmental stressors, present and future austerity in social service provision. Therefore UN Women seeks to hire a national consultant who will work closely with an international consultant to facilitate the process of Mainstreaming Gender in the Strategy, Budget Support and Performance Measurement in Uganda’s Infrastructure Development.

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall objectives of the consultancy is:

To provide technical support and facilitate the process of mainstreaming gender in the Strategy, Budget Support and Performance Measurement in Uganda’s Infrastructure Development.

Specific objectives:

Under the technical leadership of the international consultant, and under the overall supervision and guidance of UN Women the national consultant will support the following:

Undertake a technical review of the Infra structure Strategy and its alignment to the National Gender Policy (2007), National Development Plan II (2015-2020), and the Gender Strategies for the Agriculture, Water and Transport sectors;
Take stock of the achievements, challenges and opportunities associated with mainstreaming gender in public works and related interventions with transport, water and the agricultural sector in Uganda;
Develop and facilitate the dissemination of a gender-issues paper on mainstreaming gender in the Strategy, Budget Support and Performance Measurement of Uganda’s Infrastructure Development;
Design sector-specific guides and attendant tools of change for effective mainstreaming of gender into the diagnosis, planning, budgeting, implementation and performance evaluation of interventions within Uganda’s infrastructure development;
Provide technical assistance to partners in government and selected development partners in drafting and integrating appropriate interventions and activities for addressing gender-based barriers to successful implementation and sustainability of infrastructure projects.

Methodology and Technical Approach:

The consultant will develop appropriate techniques and data collection instruments for each of the above tasks, and this will be validated by UN Women at the level of submitting the inception report. Further consultation will also be held with other government agencies and key development partners as prescribed by the scope of the assignment.

Deliverables:

Inception report with a Methodology and Work plan;
Gender-issues paper on mainstreaming gender in the Strategy, Budget Support and Performance Measurement of the Uganda’s Infrastructure Development;
A results matrix and costed work plan of interventions and activities for addressing gender-based barriers to successful implementation and sustainability of infrastructure projects.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards, commitment to UN WOMEN’s mission, vision, Core Values and strategic goals;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Ability to establish and maintain strategic partnerships with government institutions, donors, civil society partners and other UN agencies;
Excellent interpersonal and professional communication and presentation skills and abilities;
Has the ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and work independently within the area of responsibility and achieve planned results;
Strong teamwork spirit and interpersonal skills demonstrated by the ability to gain the assistance and cooperation of others in a team endeavor;
Ability to work in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity;
Sound judgment and decision-making skills, with the ability to make effective timely decisions;
Fostering Innovation and Empowerment/Performance Management;
Team Work/Communications/Self-Management;
Strategic Thinking/Results Orientation and Commitment to Excellence;
Knowledge Sharing/Continuous Learning.

Technical Competencies:

Excellent writing skills with demonstrable ability for preparing UN and donor reports;
Strong gender analytical skills and strong understanding of the application of BPFA, CEDAW and other human rights instruments in programming;
Strong analytical skills and research background on result-based program management and familiarity with donor reporting requirements;
Excellent analytical and communication skills;
A high level of professionalism and integrity to be demonstrated at all times;
Excellent communication and negotiation skills;
Must be able to work with minimum supervision.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced university degree in gender studies, development economics or any other related social science discipline.
Professional training in planning for aid effectiveness is a must.

Experience:

At least seven (7) years of demonstrated knowledge and experience in gender mainstreaming for the public sector, including international and regional instruments on gender and women’s empowerment.

Language:

Knowledge of English is a must; Excellent English literacy and presentation skills are essential.
Fluency in local language, an asset.

Evaluation:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

Technical Criteria – Maximum 70 points:

Criteria A: Relevance of Education – 15 points;
Criteria B: Special skill (excellent communications, professionalism) Language, etc. - 5 Points;
Criteria C: Relevance of experience in conducting similar assignment – 20 points;
Criteria D: Description of Approach/ Methodology to complete the assignment– 30 points.

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and availability using the template provided by UN Women (Annex II); http://www.ug.undp.org/content/uganda/en/home/operations/procurement.html
Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and, telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.

Technical proposal:

Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
A methodology and work plan on how they will approach and complete the assignment, as well as comments on the ToRs.

Financial Proposal:
indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per the deliverables expected to meet the objectives of the assignment. The link to template is; http://www.ug.undp.org/content/uganda/en/home/operations/procurement.html