UN WOMEN Jobs - 65415- UNWomen - Gender Score Card Consultant

UNWomen - Gender Score Card Consultant

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Port Moresby, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Type of Contract :

Other

Starting Date :

01-May-2016

Application Deadline :

15-Apr-16 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

Other

Duration of Initial Contract :

20 days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

20 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

Background

At the 59th Session of the UN General Assembly, Member States, in adopting the Triennial Comprehensive Policy Review (TCPR) of Operational Activities for Development of the UN System called on all UN organizations to: mainstream gender and to pursue gender equality in their country programmes, planning instruments and sector-wide programmes and to articulate specific country-level goals and targets in this field in accordance with the national development strategies.

Further, ECOSOC Resolution 2004/4 - Review of Economic and Social Council agreed conclusions 1997/2 on mainstreaming the gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the United Nations system requested: ‘the Secretary-General to ensure that all United Nations entities develop action plans with time lines for implementing the agreed conclusions 1997/2, which address the gap between policy and practice identified in the Secretary-General’s report, with a view to strengthening commitment and accountability at the highest levels within the United Nations system as well as to establishing mechanisms to ensure accountability, systematic monitoring and reporting on progress in implementation.’

As a direct follow-up to the TCPR, and to ensure a comprehensive response to many of its recommendations, the United Nations Development Group (UNDG) created a Task Team on Gender Equality as a sub-group of the UNDG Programme Group. The goals of the Task Team are: to support more consistent and coherent action among UNDG member agencies to mainstream gender equality and promote women’s empowerment at the country level; and to ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment are mainstreamed into the wide range of tools and processes that emerge from the UNDG for use by United Nations Country Teams (UNCTs).

In 2006 the UNDG Task Team on Gender Equality commissioned a background paper on accountability mechanisms in UNDG agencies. This paper reviewed accountability for programming in support of gender equality in International Labor Organization (ILO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), and World Food Programme (WFP) and found that:

A common understanding of how to apply gender mainstreaming in UN operational activities is needed. This is because if there is no agreement on what constitutes a minimum level of actions to support gender equality, how will it be possible to hold agencies and UN Country Teams accountable? Reaching agreement across agencies on what constitutes a minimally acceptable performance to support gender equality, through an agreed set of indicators, would contribute to stronger guidance and accountability.

Subsequently this background paper was endorsed at the UNDG Principals’ meeting in July 2006, where agreement was reached on development of a UNCT-level ‘Accounting for Gender Equality’ Scorecard that sets minimum standards for UNCTs to assess their performance, and to identify gaps and progress across the system. The Gender Scorecard is intended to assist UNCTs in filling this gap. The Scorecard was developed by the UNDG (UNDG) Gender Equality Task Team, and endorsed by the UNDG Principals in 2008

The Scorecard is one of three system-wide accountability mechanisms in the UN. The Scorecard is focused on the performance of the UNCT, rather than the performance of any one UN organization. It intends to provide an assessment of what the UN as a whole contributes to gender mainstreaming and consequently to the promotion of gender equality. It is intended to complement existing accountability frameworks. The main focus of the Scorecard is on strategies and processes – that is gender mainstreaming - rather than development results. Achievement of development results on gender equality and women’s empowerment must be led by national partners, with support from the UNCT.

The Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review of Operational Activities for Development (QCPR) calls for the UN development system to expand and strengthen its work on gender equality and the empowerment of women including through the use of the UN Country Team Performance Indicators for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (the “Scorecard”) as a planning and reporting tool for assessing the effectiveness of gender mainstreaming by UN Country Teams (UNCTs).

The United Nations Country Team in PNG

The United Nations Country Team (UNCT) in Papua New Guinea works under the Delivery as One modality to support national development priorities in the country. The work of the UNCT in PNG is guided by the priorities set out in the UN Development Assistance Framework 2012-2015 (UNDAF) and the UN resident and participating agencies, funds and programmes work together across their respective mandates to deliver a joint and multi-sectoral programme – ‘Delivering as One’ – thereby enhancing the efficiency, effectiveness and coherence of the UN Systems activities in PNG.

In 2016 and 2017, PNG will be developing its new UNDAF for the period 2018-2022. As part of that process, the UNCT will undertake a Gender Scorecard process to identify gaps and opportunities in terms of gender mainstreaming for the common programming of UN system to support the PNG Development Plan. The UNCT has decided to undertake a gender score exercise to guide future planning and programming with the aim to fully integrate gender dimensions in its approach and in particular in the upcoming UNDAF roll out process. The UNCT will recruit an international consultant.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main objective of this consultancy is to assess the effectiveness of the UN Country Team in gender mainstreaming, promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment as well as to provide a set of recommendations for improvements.

Purpose of the Score Card:

To assist UNCTs in identifying areas in which they are meeting or not meeting minimum standards;
To stimulate a constructive dialogue within the UNCT about the current status of support for gender equality and women’s empowerment and how it can be improved specifically in relation to the Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA);
To identify where technical assistance can support the achievement of minimum standards;
To support sharing of good practice in gender mainstreaming and the promoting of gender equality and women’s empowerment

The Assignment

Under the direct supervision of the UN Women Representative and Head of RCO, working in close collaboration with the Gender Task Team, The Programmes Coordination Committee and the UNCT Heads of Agencies, the consultant will undertake the Gender Score card and produce an analytic report on the results, including the Gender scoring and recommendations.

Assist UNCT in identifying areas in which they are meeting or not meeting minimum standards.
Stimulate a constructive dialogue within the UNCT about the current status of support for gender equality and women’s empowerment and how it can be improved.
Identify where technical assistance can support the achievement of minimum standards.

Scope of Work and Deliverables

Background Document Review (home-based) of: Scorecard and User’s Guide; UNDAF 2012-2017, UNDAF planning and monitoring documents; UNDG Common Country Assessment and UNDAF Guidelines for UN Country Teams on Preparing Country Comprehensive Assessment (CCA)/ ; UNCT planning and programming documents and reports, Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Violence against Women (CEDAW) State and Shadow Reports, UPR reports, national development documents and key national planning documents; UNCT budgets, UNCT Joint Programmes and Budgets; UNCT Performance Indicators for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (Desk Review 2012-2014-published 18 June 2015)
Conduct Gender Score Card induction meeting for GTT
Conduct Individual and Focus Group Interviews (Mission to PNG) with (Resident Coordinator; Heads of Agencies and other UN Staff; UNDAF –Thematic Working Groups chairs Or Joint teams; OMT Chair; Counterparts, including women’s groups, civil society and government ministries; other stakeholders as recommended by the Resident Coordinator’s Office; Relevant government departments; development partners;
Draft Score Card and narrative report;
Present the draft score card and report at a validation meeting for the GTT/PCC/UNCT Heads of Agencies
Debrief the Resident Coordinator and the UNCT members;
Complete and submit the final Scorecard, narrative report and follow up action matrix.

Competencies

Mature judgment and initiative;
Ability to think out-of-the-box;
Ability to present complex issues in simple and clear manner;
Cultural, gender, religion and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Ability to work under pressure and deliver high quality results on time;
Initiative and independence.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s Degree or its equivalent in gender and development, human rights, international development, and/or other social science fields.

Experience:

10 years of professional experience in gender equality and development with international organization;
Experience on gender mainstreaming and results-based management;
Familiarity with UNDAF processes and UN inter-agency coordination processes;
Previous experience with the Gender Equality Scorecard, narrative report and follow up action matrix for UNCTs;
Proven experience in producing UN analytical reports in the area of gender equality and women’s rights;
Proven experience in research and critical assessments, development of gender mainstreaming materials and technical support to UNCTs.

Language:

English with excellent writing and presentation skills.