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 position is in support of the UN Women Kyrgyzstan Country Office’s Women, Peace and Security Cluster which coordinates the Finland-funded ‘’Securing livelihoods for vulnerable women, men and children, through their participation in community governance of water resources, and enhanced ability to use water efficiently. Livelihoods through participation and equal access to water’’ project.

High population growth in rural Kyrgyzstan coupled with increasing expectations of what defines a living standard free from want, in the context of scarce water resources and a growing tendency of impunity where those with influence take what they want to the detriment of others without being held accountable by the state, has created a situation where a large proportion of the working age society, both male but increasingly also female seeks economic survival in labour migration to Russia, Kazakhstan and the capital city of Bishkek. The social cost of this population dislocation is immense.

With little investment flowing from migrant’s revenues that are used for consumption purposes as long as they are transferred to family at home, no basis for economic development of areas of origin are built. Low education of migrants negates the possibility of building useful skills that can add value to the village economy in case of ultimate return, which usually only happens in case of inability to provide labour services. With children left by parents in the ‘care’ of family, neighbours or even adolescent siblings, the social cost of migration is yet to fully unfold. At the same time, agricultural production and processing based potential across Kyrgyzstan is left dormant.

The project strategy is to fairly, transparently and sustainably allocate scarce water resources at community level to enhance intra-community partnerships, community resilience and create opportunities for establishment of livelihoods that in the context of challenges increasingly associated with labour migration, present a credible alternative to such migration.

To realise these components the project pursues the following strategies:

• Empowerment of (i.) the more vulnerable and excluded, and (ii.) Secondary school students to use available water resources effectively, and capacitation of duty bearers at WUA and local self-government level administer such resources effectively and justly;
• Ability to act in own and communities’ overall economic best interest based on available water resources;
• Capacitation of the Local Self Government and especially the Social Worker to administer social passportisation as per government decrees to identify and track the target group for the empowerment component;
• Enhanced service delivery of state (child allowance) and non-state (project interventions) services to the project target group;
• Empowerment of (i.) the more vulnerable and excluded, and (ii.) secondary school students to claim rights as citizens of the country based on the concept of equality, this leading to engagement of the target group in mechanisms established to allocate water resources effectively, and to hold gatekeepers accountable for fair allocation of scarce water resources;
• Commitment to (gender) equality through improved (gender) relations and an understanding of the rights and duties of citizens, vs. the obligations of the state to protect;
• Enabling the target group to establish, administer and derive benefit from investments co-financed by the project in productive agriculture at community level;
• Enhanced nutrition and income at household level

It should be noted that for the above strategies to be successful will require regular site visits of UN Women personnel and personnel of the Responsible Party partner. Without face-to-face interaction and continuous follow-up project results cannot be achieved. The project budget allows for such regular at-site interaction with local partners and beneficiaries which will be complemented by periodic interaction by phone and where possible e-mail. In order to cover a range of situational settings and involve both north and south of Kyrgyzstan, likely project sites are dispersed in various parts of the country with UN Women based in the capital Bishkek, 380 kms to the closest likely project site and about 1,000 kms from the farthest project site. The responsible party designate is based in Jalalabad and thus between 60 kms and 300 kms from most likely project sites and 900 kms from the farthest likely project site. 

The target group is defined as:

• Those deemed vulnerable (muktash) according to social passportisation data.

Note: given the nature of activities it is likely that a larger proportion of beneficiaries will be women rather than men. However, there is equal access to anyone meeting criteria:

• Persons with disabilities;
• Interested girls and boys enrolled in the 9th through 11th grade of local secondary schools;
• Single-headed households;
• Key functionaries of local self-government.

Strategy/Approach

Given the funding level and the scope of the project, and to ensure that different settings can be addressed no less than four but not more than five suitable key project sites that will be involved in several project components will be identified through careful mapping of potential sites and assessment of sites against sets of criteria in relation to:

• Agro-ecological suitability (Responsible Party);
• Current status and predictable change of seasonal water resource availability (consultancy/contract);
• Commitment to assume ownership, including financial contribution at local self-government, community and target group/beneficiary level (UN Women and Responsible Party);
• Readiness of Social Worker to carry out functions as relates to social passportisation (Local self-government: Aiyl Okmoto);
• Local WUA confirming equal access to water resources in their charter for anyone in their catchment area (Responsible Party);
• Established willingness of the community to practice minimum standards of sanitation, or, in case these are not presently;
• Practiced assessed interest in amending behaviour based on being taught practicable and realistic methods as taught in the ‘’My Prosperous Farm’’ (MPF) course and subsequently advocated at community level by participating student.

Once potential project sites have been pre-selected the various local partners would need to meet certain time-bound requirements for the site to be confirmed:

• Social passportisation using the ‘Berkut’ database tool to identify potential beneficiaries (Social Worker);
• Beneficiaries to join self-help groups (SHG) and establishing savings fund. SHG can also be WUA and the saving fund would allow for ready availability of water user fees when required. SHG could be to manage micro-projects co-financed by the project under the grant modality; the related savings fund would hold the beneficiary cash contribution to realising the micro-project. Micro-projects can be both infrastructure investments in productive or in education assets or to capitalise established micro-credit schemes to become active in project communities;
• Beneficiaries to accumulate knowledge and pass theoretical exams on kitchen-gardening, efficient use of water and on sanitation, with a focus on local water safety/security;
• For any off-farm infrastructure investment co-financed by grants under the project, the local kenesh would need to confirm the financial contribution from the local budget and provide an official letter promising that recurrent costs not collected as user-fees would be met by the local budget in future years.

To achieve the overall goal of securing livelihoods for vulnerable women, men and children through efficient on-farm use of water and equitable community governance of water resources the following outcomes are envisaged:

Outcome 1: People in target communities have started adopting measures for equitable and efficient water use in their households/gardens. It is expected that raising awareness of the secondary schools students, equipping them with practical skills of efficient agricultural production, and engaging them in advocacy campaigns, aimed at general public, religious and political leaders, municipal workers, members of the local councils and other decision makers in the communities, will have a multiplier effect on the communities as a whole. Simple tips related to efficient water use, water safety and sustainable agricultural practices will be communicated through various advocacy initiatives of the students. Students will have demonstrated application of sustainable agricultural production in their kitchen gardens and school demonstration plots in practice. As a result it is expected that 70 percent of the survey respondents in target villages will confirm to have adopted one or more of the sanitary and efficient water use measures recommended through advocacy actions - Indicator 1.

Output 1.1: Secondary school students in selected areas have demonstrated safer and more efficient agricultural practice in their communities. This output will be measured through the following indicators.

Indicator 1.1a: As a result of enrolling in the ‘My Prosperous Farm’ course 1,000 secondary school students in 10 partner schools of the selected villages will have improved their knowledge and understanding of the agricultural production based on the productive, efficient and sustainable use of natural resources, as well as basics of marketing and business planning. Teachers of the course will conduct regular tests to determine whether the learning outcomes for the specific period of time have been achieved and flag any issues to address for the next trimester. Further, the need for equal access to water as well as issues of clean water and sanitation will be addressed.

Further, Indicator 1.1b will measure if no less than 500 of these students have applied the practical knowledge on their kitchen garden plots of 0.01 ha by growing profitable crops, using simple environmentally friendly agro-technology and with extension support throughout the vegetation period provided by RAS. Data for this indicator will be collected through regular site visits of the extension specialist to students’ plots and school demonstration plots. Students will keep diaries recording implementation of the recommended agro-technology. Regular site visits will ensure regular extension support at critical points of vegetation period, document progress of the students, and flag issues in a timely manner. Site visit reports and student dairies will provide disaggregated quantitative and qualitative data on the results achieved by each student.

Indicator 1.1c is intended to measure effectiveness of the recommended sustainable agro-technology. It is expected that the students will have received yields, which are at least 20 percent higher than the average yields in the given area, and have participated in the market and received income from sale of their produce. The data will be collected from the extension specialists’ site visit reports and student diaries.

Output 1.2: Students have acquired advocacy and communication for change skills to influence attitude change in their communities in favour of more equitable and efficient use of natural resources will be achieved through integration of the ‘My Safe and Peaceful School’ component into the curriculum of the selected schools. As part of this course the students will be supported to carry out a number of advocacy and communication for change activities covering the wider population of their communities to raise awareness of the general public about the sustainable use of natural resources, communicate importance of equal access and equitable use for resources by all population groups, as well as simple easy-to-use tips on how to improve water and land use in daily life in their households and gardens. Students showing superior aptitude will be involved in a multitude of activities conducted by UN Women beyond and outside the scope of this project to further consolidate their skills on influencing attitudes.

Indicator 1.2 is put forth to measure the number of people reached by the various advocacy actions of the students. It is expected to cover no less than 30,000 people in all target communities. The data on the reach-out will be collected from student reports supported with evidence (photos, print run, etc.).

Outcome 2: Capacitated local self-government and Water Users Associations in target areas provide equal access to resources and enhanced services to the population. Local self-governments in the selected municipalities will be offered to be trained on the use of the database management system ‘Berkut’, which will automatize the most popular functions of municipal staff, such as preparation of certificates, disaggregated reports and compilation of statistical analysis for the reporting purposes on the basis of household information. This however requires intensive work of inputting household data from paper-based documents into the database. Simultaneously the social worker of the municipality will carry out social passportization, review the household data of the existing recipients of state allowances to evaluate their eligibility and carry out household surveys to identify new families eligible for the allowances but not receiving them currently. Both exercises will require intensive work during the first 4-6 months and will serve as a commitment test and pre-requisite for further interventions in the municipality. ‘Berkut’ will be updated with a module on social passportization and Water Users Association. The latter will derive data from the general database of household data and is intended to create a comprehensive list of users in order to ensure all eligible are included in water users lists, and fee collection is systematized and transparent. The project will advocate for a system where water fees ensure full cost recovery with exceptions for those unable to pay, as per the law. However, as the project focusses in enabling the vulnerable to enhance livelihoods through the effective use of water, everyone in time should be able to pay for water use based on the additional income generated by such use of water. A graduated scheme, whereby the first small quantity of water is either free or subsidized with these subsidies recovered from heavy water users (who either derive a high profit from this use or are using water inefficiently and as such to the disadvantage of the community) will be advocated where legally possible. On such matters, the role of the project will be to try to build consensus between all local stakeholders. Further, the project will facilitate the establishment of feedback mechanisms on the performance of the WUA. Households in the catchment area and WUA clients will be interviewed to assess WUA performance and level of participation and inclusiveness. While the project will oversee this process, it will facilitate the local self-government and the WUA to conduct such assessments in the longer term. Findings will be collated, analysed and reported back to both the local kenesh as well as informal institutes such as the Kurultai, the local people’s assembly. Data will be disaggregate according to gender and other site-specific factors of interest.

‘Berkut’ is a stand-alone computer-based MIS system that can be programmed to allow for online data exchange. Given unreliable and slow internet access in villages in Kyrgyzstan, data put on USB sticks can also be aggregated by offline uploading centrally. ‘Berkut’ is to be fully integrated into the local self-government administration where access to data is given on a need-to-know basis ensuring data security and privacy. The WUA module is maintained by local WUA staff, drawing on base data which specifies households in the WUA catchment area. Data can then be uploaded to the local self-government administration ‘Berkut’ database for monitoring of compliance with legal provisions such as those relating to equal access to the public good water. Select data, such as that of water users having fully met water payments and thus being entitled to water can be posted in the local administration for public access. Other data is kept confidential, and WUA will only have access to data they have a right to as per the law.

Use of ‘Berkut’ in a municipality is a prerequisite for participation of this community in the second component. Municipalities and communities failing to realize their formal commitment made prior to the project commencing in a community can still participate in MPF related activities of the first component described above but will not be eligible for investment and grants under the second component.

As a result it is expected that the level of satisfaction of the population with service delivery relating to water management increases. Achievement of this outcome will be measured through the following two indicators:

Indicator 2a: Percentage of people satisfied with the services of LSG in relation to ensuring equal access to water resources. It is expected that the level of satisfaction will increase by 50 percent over baseline. The survey of a sample group of respondents will be carried out at the municipal administration exit at the start and the end of the project.

Indicator 2b: Percentage increase in the number of newly identified water users by WUAs (covering potentially excluded groups, such as female headed households, disabled people, etc.). The number of newly identified water users is expected to increase the number of users by at least 10 percent over baseline at the end of the project. The number of users before project intervention will be recorded during start-up stage from the official records of the WUAs.

Output 2.1: Local self-governments have started using electronic database management information system ‘Berkut’ with updated list of people eligible for social allowances. Introduction of ‘Berkut’ will improve the quality of service provision of the partner local self-governments, one of which is better targeting of the state allowances to the most vulnerable. This is required by the Law of KR On social passportization and in line with the established methodology and instructions of the Ministry of social development of KR. Local self-government’s relevant officials will be trained on the use of ‘Berkut’ and the methodology of social passportization and backstopped on a regular basis in the process to address the challenges which may be faced. As a result it is envisaged that the number of newly identified people eligible for state allowances will reach at least 15 percent of the total number of the initial number of recipients - Indicator 2.1. The relevant disaggregated data will be retrieved from the official list of the recipients of state allowances from the municipal records or local Social fund offices. ‘Berkut’ has been in use since 2005. It has been used by interested LSG. Use has been welcome by the state but not mandated. GTZ, EU and USAID have all implemented projects where ‘Berkut’ has been pursued by LSG participating in these projects. The Secretary of the LSG administration as well as the Social Worker are the primary beneficiaries of ‘Berkut’ in that they save much time in conducting their work using ‘Berkut’. Therefore, it is them who first upload information on households from the paper based Khos Kniga that currently records such information. Data entry is very simple and conducted in Kyrgyz, with an explanatory menu on the ACCESS database in both Kyrgyz and Russian.

Output 2.2: WUAs have increased water fee collection as a result of improved user accounting and billing incorporated into ‘Berkut’. The database management system ‘Berkut’ is intended to serve as a tool to improve the quality of user lists, which is a pre-requisite for transparent and equitable allocation of water resources. The potentially excluded population groups, such as female headed households, disabled, and others will be included into the overall database platform from the household records of the municipality, from which the WUA module derives the data. Improved lists of users will also result in a more transparent billing and fee collection. It is envisaged that water fee collection will improve by at least 10 percent over baseline - Indicator 2.2. Data for this indicator can be reliably collected from the accounting records of the WUA on a regular basis and progress tracked throughout project duration.

At the project start-up after the selection of the sites has been finalized, baselines will be collected at the respective municipal administrations and WUAs, which have committed to partnership.

The following documents will be requested:

• List of recipients of social allowances disaggregated by location;
• List of water users registered as members of WUAs;
• Report on water fee collection for the last month with names of water users, land size, amount of the water fee paid and outstanding amounts, if any;
• In addition the project partner will administer a survey of a sample number of visitors to LSG office to determine the level of satisfaction with LSG services related to ensuring fair and equal allocation of water resources. Similar survey will be carried out at the project end.

The incumbent will report to the UN Women Specialist, Justice through Girl Empowerment and Equity, who heads the Women, Peace and Security section of the UN Women Kyrgyzstan Country Office. S/he will closely interact with the UN Women Representative as well as personnel from UN Women, IOM and UNFPA.

The incumbent will be fully dedicated to the mandate and the values of UN Women, particularly to promoting Gender Equality as a strategy to reduce conflict, improve livelihoods and ensure fairness and justice; to Women Empowerment underpinning Gender Equality promotion efforts; to inter-ethnic tolerance and concord; and to respect for diversity. S/he will be fully conversant with the Constitutional requirements for the state to protect women and girls specifically against violence and youth in general against human rights abuse.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under direct supervision and guidance of the International UN Women Specialist, Justice through Girl Empowerment and Equity, the Project Coordinator will help lead, coordinate, support and realize the implementation of the portfolio.

The Project Coordinator will:

• Draft the project annual work plan and budget (AWP) and enter it into ATLAS, acting as Project Manager this including the drafting of project documents, work plans, budgets, proposals on implementation arrangements and reports required for the purposes of annual work planning, resource mobilization, collaboration with partners, reporting to donors, as well as drafting official letters;
• Draft own annual work plan based on the AWP and monitor and report on same;
• Ensure timely and quality implementation of activities under the relevant AWP, monitor budget utilization/implementation in lieu of AWP and project log-frame, enter project into Atlas, prepare for required budget revisions;
• Timely preparation of all requisite substantive and financial reporting under the project; obtain the necessary inputs from Responsible Parties;
• Ensure that all inputs under the project are available on time and in full compliance with the respective UN Women rules and regulations;
• Substantively help build capacity of stakeholders and beneficiaries and where possible provide technical backstopping and support to researchers and other partners;
• Ensure that all partners and stakeholders (UN, state and non-state) are kept informed of project progress; build ownership of all stakeholders of the project;
• Identify, source and arrange for partnerships under the Responsible Party modality or contractual modalities for those activities under the responsibility of UN Women;
• Establish a robust project M&E system and manage same; collate and analyse data thus collected;
• Organise, act as Secretariat for, and conduct meetings of the Project Steering Committee; minute these;
• Monitor all project activities and identify bottlenecks and constraints as well as problems, detailing remedial strategies and solutions, advising UN Women management and relevant stakeholders early;
• Maintain internal expenditures control system which ensures that vouchers processed are matched and completed, transaction are correctly recorded and posted in Atlas; maintain shadow budget;
• Help align project interventions with those of state and non-state actors as well as donors;
• Liaise with government stakeholders, civil society and private sector partners to ensure proper coordination and partnership in common development efforts, present information on project activities, as well as ensure dissemination to broader public;
• Ensure maintenance of a filing system, reports or other documentation related to the project and administrative matters of the project in hard and electronic formats;
• Provide logistics support to programme needs; provide assistance in organizing and holding seminars, conferences, trainings, and meetings;
• Provide other assistance on financial and administrative matters to the project;
• Arrange travel and hotel reservations, preparation of travel authorizations, processing requests for visas, identity cards and other documents;
• Draft ToR and contracts for review by colleagues;
• Participate in recruitment of (Inter)national Experts/Consultants as required and assist with procurements for goods and services in line with UN Women rules and regulations;
• Oversee and coordinate working plans and travel schedules, and quality of reports (Inter)national personnel. Provide logistical support and programmatic guidance to (Inter)national personnel as required;
• Ensure facilitation of knowledge building and sharing through synthesis of lessons learnt and best practices under the project supported; sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice; assistance in maintenance of a calendar of the most relevant regional/national fora related to the project activities and assistance to facilitate access to that information by partners and relevant UN Women staff; keeping abreast of technical development in Women, Peace and Security;
• Conduct regular field missions during the enumeration phase to ensure that research parameters, methodologies and the agreements between the parties are implemented correctly and taken the necessary action in case problems are identified;
• Provide analysis and document same as lessons learned, best practices piloted, etc.;
• Organise workshops, trainings and events;
• Identify suitable researchers and other partners, both individuals and institutions, after first developing transparent assessment tools;
• Accept deliverables and work performed and prepare for payment or cash replenishment;
• Participate in review committees and take minutes;
• Provide visibility to the United Nations’ Women, Peace and Security Agenda;
• Engage in reciprocal support and backstopping with team colleagues.

Any other relevant tasks assigned by the supervisor.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN's values and ethical standard;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN Women;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality, and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning:

• Shares knowledge and experience;
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills;
• Ability to analyse complex situations from a position of impartiality;
• Ability to concisely and to the point document information and findings, targeting a specific audience.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

• Ability to perform a variety of specialized tasks related to Results Management, including support to design, planning and implementation of the projects, managing data , reporting;
• Ability to provide input to business processes re-engineering, implementation of new system including new IT based systems;
• Good knowledge of Results Management Guide and Toolkit.

Leadership and Self-Management:

• Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure, uses skills of diplomacy;
• Ability to prioritize and manage competing priorities, grasping the situation quickly;
• Ability to conduct advocacy on sensitive issues, not avoiding but processing conflict.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s (postgraduate) degree in the social sciences, in economics, in politics or a related discipline.

Experience:

• Minimum of two years of relevant experience in Kyrgyzstan;
• The minimum years of work experience must be for managing projects (‘project manager’); and coordinating projects and programmes (between several partners), with a focus on either/or gender equality promotion; peace-building; community development; social development; or women empowerment;
• Must have established, managed or substantively contributed to M&E systems;
• Must have a practical understanding of community development and participatory methodologies;
• Work experience must include field experience in Kyrgyzstan and interaction with communities as well as local self-government, or informal local structures such as aksakal courts or religious institutions;
• Demonstrated substantive knowledge in the thematic area of gender equality and/or women’s social, political or economic empowerment, and of conflict prevention and peace-building methodologies; ideally also in relation to water (distribution) issues, the latter being desirable but not mandatory;
• Proven experience in writing project documents or project reports; strong analytical skills;
• Skills as a trainer on issues of gender, women empowerment, community development or human rights in Kyrgyz desirable;
• Good numerical skills;
• Competent in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.);
• Experience with ERP or certification such as PRINCE or equivalent an advantage.

Language:

• Fluency in English and Russian;
• Working knowledge of Kyrgyz.

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted! Candidates can only be shortlisted if they profess to meet all the mandatory requirements in the Job Description. All online applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women, UNDP or UN Personal History form (P11) in English which can easily be found via web search http://www.unwomen-eeca.org/en/announcements/. Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment which must be the P11. Please carefully respond to the requirements of the Job Description in the P11 that you submit.

Applications without the completed P-11 form are incomplete and will NOT be considered for further assessment!