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.

Within the overall context of UN Women’s Strategic Plan for India and Bhutan, UN WOMEN MCO in New Delhi works towards realisation of the rights of women, with a focus on women from most marginalised and low-income communities, to decent work, opportunities of sustainable livelihood and social protection.

As part of its institutional mandate, UN Women, across the board, delivers on its advisory and supportive role to realise the global framework of gender equality, arrived at through the Beijing Platform for Action, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), through formulation and implementation of gender responsive policies and programmes.

The recently adopted Agenda 2030 recognises women as key agents for achieving transformational economic, environmental and social changes required for sustainable development; and provides a unique opportunity for strengthening and deepening engagements, initiatives, and policy perspectives with different stakeholders.

According to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Gender Gap Report (2016), India is currently ranked 87 out of the 144; and 136 on the Economic Participation and Opportunity index. The gender gaps in literacy, health status, labour force participation and income levels of women are consequential outcomes of the deep-rooted discrimination that women face.  The opportunities for decent work and wage employment are expanding only for a small section of women in the service sector, while the bulk of the women in the production sectors continue to be unpaid or in the unorganised sector, without any social protection. The lack of basic infrastructure such as water and sanitation facilities, energy, transport etc. add to time poverty and double burden of women.

The understanding is that targeted interventions for women alone cannot reduce the gender gaps. Gender needs to be mainstreamed in every policy and programme, initiative and idea, which reflect the aspirations and priorities of women, especially the most marginalised and vulnerable women. Unless women’s rights and women’s felt needs are incorporated and mainstreamed in the planning, policymaking and development process of the country, it is unlikely that benefits of economic growth will help women realise their political and socio-economic rights.

The National Policy on Empowerment of Women (2001) and the new draft National Policy for Women (2016) identified gender mainstreaming in all-round development processes, programmes, projects and actions as one of its key objectives to ensure equal rights and opportunities for women in family, community, workplace and governance spheres. The new draft Policy aims at mainstreaming gender concerns and increase women’s participation across the identified priority areas, such as Health, Education, Economy, Poverty eradication, Governance and Decision Making, Violence Against Women, Enabling Environment – Housing and Shelter, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Social Security, Infrastructure, and Environment and Climate Change.

As a strategy, Gender mainstreaming requires assessment of planned actions to identify the differing implications for women, with a conscious effort to put the perspective of the ‘last one first’, so that women from most marginalised and vulnerable groups can benefit, and existing gender inequalities are addressed. Further, towards ensuring that the policies and programmes are cognizant of the gender differences and inequalities, institutionalised budget support is imperative for transformative and sustainable development.

Various strategies for gender mainstreaming have been adopted by the Government of India as part of its normative commitments – such as, gender responsive budgeting (GRB), gender audit, etc.   Gender audit is recognised as a management and planning tool. Gender Audit evaluates the gender responsiveness of how well the organisation is integrating the gender perspective into its work. It is also a kind of impact evaluation that assesses or measure the impact of interventions on gender equality and women’s empowerment. UN Women, in partnership with the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), initiated gender mainstreaming of flagship programmes on rural livelihoods. As part of this, a Gender Budget Cell (GBC) has been institutionalised in MoRD and Gender Audit Guidelines have been issued. In partnership with the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), UN Women also developed a Gender Budgeting Handbook[1] in 2015, which provides guidance and practical tools for effective, evidence based gender analysis and incorporation of the same into the core budget making process. 

In 2014-15, UN Women, with support from the Asian Development Bank, implemented programme on ‘Engendering Economic Policies and Programmes for Women’s Right to Livelihoods: From ‘Formal to Substantive’ Gender Equality’ with the overall objective of deepening the mainstreaming of gender equality and women’s rights concerns within planning, implementation and monitoring of laws, policies and programmes for women’s right to livelihoods, employment and social protection. The programme focused on (a) making knowledge resources on gender available to Ministries for gender responsive implementation and monitoring of select schemes and (b) strengthening the capacities of women’s machineries and gender advocates to influence select economic policies and programmes.

Key results achieved:

  • UN Women developed customised tools for gender analysis and gender responsive programme implementation for building capacities of state government functionaries. Knowledge resources and monitoring frameworks were developed for effective gender mainstreaming across economic sectors such as rural development and infrastructure, finance, transport, tourism.
  • A module on gender mainstreaming was designed for capacity building of senior and mid-level government functionaries, along with a Monitoring Information System (MIS) template.
  • Capacities of 126 senior and mid-level government functionaries from line departments of 21 states and 4 Union territories and 16 from national women’s machineries were enhanced on effective gender mainstreaming.
  • Policy dialogues were facilitated at the national and sub-national levels, on strategies and challenges around strengthening cross-sectoral gender mainstreaming initiatives.

In the recently released Draft Three Year Action Agenda (2017-18 to 2019-20) by the NITI Aayog, the Government of India has proposed policy changes within a three-year period, as part of its Vision, Strategy and Action Agenda. The Action Agenda is guided by the ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’, which translates as “Collective Effort, Inclusive Growth” and proposes investment in gender equality and empowerment of women. The Three Year Action Agenda framework particularly focuses on strategies for economic transformation within the agriculture, urban development and good governance through multi-sectoral, multi-level approach that reaches the unserved and vulnerable sections of the society.

Details of the Assignment :

In alignment with aforementioned national priorities and building on the key learnings and recommendations that emerged from its past engagement on gender mainstreaming initiatives, UN Women seeks the services of a Consultant to prepare a Resource Pack on Gender Mainstreaming to expand on the existing knowledge resources in select sectors[2]. The Consultant will work closely with the WEE Unit in the UN Women Multi Country Office (MCO) for India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka, and the scope of the exercise will be as follows:

  • To prepare a resource pack on gender mainstreaming with a focus on 3 sectors - agriculture, urban planning and governance. The resource pack will include:
    • A training module, with relevant tools
    • Case studies and good practices
  • To prepare a Policy Brief that can inform gender mainstreaming policies of the government in the 3 sectors, including:
    • Specific recommendations for deepening gender mainstreaming initiatives in 3 sectors
    • Identifying opportunities and platforms for creating a gender resource hub that acts as a knowledge interface for stakeholders working on gender mainstreaming 

Expected Outputs

  • A Resource Pack on Gender Mainstreaming;
  • A Policy Brief to inform gender mainstreaming policies of the government.

 

[1] http://wcd.nic.in/sites/default/files/GB%20-%20Handbook%20October%202015.pdf

[2] Select sectors: Agriculture, with a focus on rural livelihoods and food security; Urban Planning and Infrastructure; and Governance

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will work under the guidance and direct supervision of Programme Specialist and Programme Analyst, Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme, UN Women. Specifically, the consultant will undertake the following tasks: 

  • Develop a methodology note for undertaking the assessment;
  • Undertake a desk review of training modules, tools and knowledge resources on gender mainstreaming of policies, schemes and programmes in select sectors to identify gender gaps, if any;
  • Hold consultative meetings with relevant government functionaries and civil society experts, as and when required;
  • Create a compendium of good practices on gender mainstreaming, with focus on the 3 select sectors;
  • Prepare a Policy Brief with recommendations for deepening gender mainstreaming initiatives, including a roadmap for establishing a gender resource centre to steer and support gender-related trainings and research activities required for effective gender mainstreaming;
  • Contribute to UN Women’s knowledge networks and communities of practice, as relevant;
  • Attend meetings with UN Women and its network for feedback on and finalisation of knowledge products.  

Deliverables:

  • Develop a work plan and methodology for undertaking assessment and hold consultative meetings with relevant stakeholders and thematic experts - October 2017 - 25%;
  • Document good practices of gender mainstreaming initiatives at national and sub-national levels and hold consultative meetings with relevant stakeholders and thematic experts. - November 2017 - 25%;
  • Draft Resource Pack on gender mainstreaming and document good practices of gender mainstreaming initiatives at national and sub-national levels and hold consultative meetings with relevant stakeholders and thematic experts. - December 2017 - 25%;
  • Draft Policy Brief for deepening gender mainstreaming initiatives in 3 sectors, to be finalised after consultation and final Resource Pack on gender mainstreaming, with focus on Agriculture, Urban Planning and Infrastructure and Governance. - January 2018 - 25%.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

  • Demonstrates commitment to UN Women’s mission, vision and values;
  • 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.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

  • Ability to perform a variety of specialized tasks related to design, planning and implementation of programme, managing data, reporting;
  • Ability to provide input to and use new IT based systems.

Leadership and Self-Management:

  • Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
  • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
  • Remains calm, in control even under pressure;
  • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
  • Good understanding of gender and development in South Asia;
  • Demonstrable ability to work in a team;
  • Ability to work under pressure;
  • Good writing and communication skills;
  • Excellent computer literacy and skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Masters’ degree in Gender and Development Studies, Economics or any Social Sciences.

Experience:

  • Minimum 7 years of professional experience in research and policy work on gender and development;
  • Demonstrable understanding of gender and development issues in the context of India;
  • Demonstrated ability to undertake research and documentation;
  • Relevant papers, articles and knowledge products published;
  • Ability to work independently and with minimal supervision.

Language:

  • Strong written skills in English and good command over Hindi as medium of communication.

Application:

Interested applicants should apply to this announcement through UNDP jobs site: jobs.undp.org

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

  • Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment, please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment;
  • Applications received after the close date will not be accepted;
  • Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Evaluation and Selection Criteria

Criteria for shortlisting of CVs will be based on the following assessment:

  • Required Degree and Qualification (5 points);
  • Demonstrable experience relevant to the assignment (10 points);
  • Working knowledge and experience of working on Women's Economic Empowerment (5 points).

The evaluation process for selection of the candidate will be based on the following assessment:

  • Interview.
  • Writing Samples.

Note:

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.