UN WOMEN Jobs - 15168- International Consultant: Team Leader for Mid-term

International Consultant: Team Leader for Mid-term Evaluation on UNIFEM Project: Women Building Peace and Human Security in the Western Balkans: Implementing SCR 1325

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

home-based with travel to Kosovo and BiH

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

29-Mar-2010

Application Deadline :

11-Mar-10 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

from March 29 to May 14, 2010

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

The second Phase of UNIFEM-led project “Women Building Peace and Human Security in the Western Balkans: Implementation of UN SCR 1325” was launched in mid-2008 building on UNIFEM work in Kosovo (since 1999) and in the sub-region (2005-2007). Guided by the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security, the Second Phase of the Project has been supporting women’s engagement in peace building processes in Kosovo under SCR 1244, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and at a regional level.

The Project has supported two broad processes:

gender-sensitive security sector reform; and
women’s engagement in peace processes at all political and social levels aiming at achieving following outcomes:

Outcome 1:Security sector and relevant government institutions demonstrate increased gender sensitivity in responding to the security needs of women in the Western Balkans.

Outcome 2: Strengthened capacity of gender equality advocates, including youth, to influence peace and security agendas towards increased democratization at national and regional levels in the Western Balkans.

While the Project has been initially centered on Kosovo, it is regional in scope with country-specific activities implemented also in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, and regional activities (mainly advocacy) covering former Yugoslav states and Albania. The Project has been executed and implemented through UNIFEM project office in Prishtina, led by an international project manager and her local team, in cooperation with UNIFEM offices in Sarajevo and Belgrade and overall supervision of UNIFEM CEE Regional Programme Director. The project has been implemented in close cooperation with the key national partners (central and local Government institutions, Non-Governmental Organizations, security actors, and international organizations) in relevant countries.

The total estimated budget for the entire period (2008-2012) stands at approximately 4 million USD. So far the key donors contributing to the project include the governments of Austria, Sweden, Norway and Iceland. During the first two year of the implementation about US 1.1 million has been invested in supporting national partners in the project countries.

Purpose of the Mid-term Evaluation:

The internal mandatory evaluation (the total invested amount is over $1mil) will be focusing on the first two years of the project implementation aiming to inform and guide the project direction in next two years (including possible replication or/ and up scaling). The primary focus of the evaluation is to evaluate the achievements and gaps in capacity development of the implementing partners with special attention to local, national and regional women’s networks supported through the project. The evaluation should also identify opportunities for UNIFEM to provide further targeted technical support to national partners, both governmental and CSOs (especially women’s organizations and their networks) in order to strengthen their ability to implement commitments to and/ or to advocate for women’s human rights and security. The evaluation is also expected to contribute to developing knowledge products for capacity building of women’s network focusing on women’s human security, that are expected to be produced under the UNIFEM CEE Sub-Regional Strategy 2008-2013 (CEE SRS, Output 1.1)

More specifically, the mid-term evaluation will have the following objectives:

To assess how the project contributed to building or developing women’s networks in the area of peace and security, including an inter-ethnic peace dialogue, advocacy for women’s human security, and contribution of women to security sector reform at the country level as well as the regional level;
To identify enabling and disabling factors for the results that the networks have been facing/ dealing with;
To analyze UNIFEM’s added value to intervention on peace building and security through gender mechanisms and networks supported by the project;
To identify key dimensions/areas in developing knowledge products for supporting efficiency of the implementing partners in inter-ethnic dialogue, peace building, women’s empowerment, advocacy on women’s human security, and security sector reform with the intention of possible replication and up-scaling in future;
To identify areas of improvement and recommendations for further project implementation, especially in the area of partnership building and capacity development;

Scope of the Mid-term Evaluation

The mid-term evaluation will focus on the activities in Kosovo, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the regional activities from January 2008 to December 2009 in the following three board areas.

Efficiency and results
Effectiveness
Lessons Learned and Recommendations

Location: home-based with travel to Kosovo and BiH

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall support from UNIFEM CEE Regional Office and UNIFEM Kosovo Office; The International Consultant: Team Leader for Mid-term Evaluation on UNIFEM Project: Women Building Peace and Human Security in the Western Balkans: Implementing SCR 1325 (the Evaluation Team Leader here after) is responsible for carrying out the evaluation, managing the team, and submitting the final report as specified below:

Clarify the evaluation ToR with the Project manager and review the Project;
Conduct analysis of the key Project documents and desk review of other relevant documents;
Identify key informants/resource persons, conduct focus group meetings, face-to-face interviews and phone interviews;
Coordinate and manage the work of national consultants;
Present preliminary evaluation results to UNIFEM project team and key partners and stakeholders and collect their feedback in order to finalize the report;

The key components of the mid-term evaluation will include desk review, interviews, focus groups, and analysis of the information in the context of UNIFEM strategy for capacity development.

Desk Review:

It is expected that the team of consultants reviews the existing the project document , progress and annual reports, progress and other reports and products (such as UN SCR monitoring reports) from the implementing partners, key national and regional reports on women’s situation and gender and security situation, relevant UN Security Resolutions (1325, 1820) and other relevant documents, including from international organizations, reflecting security situation and inclusion of women in peace-building.

Interviews:

Consultants will develop the stakeholder analysis and questionnaires in accordance with the evaluation scope and carry out interviews/semi-structured interviews with stakeholders especially with implementing partners but also with other selected partners and stakeholders from the government/civil society/donors as well as the project staff.

Analysis of the information:

Based on the desk review and interviews with stakeholders, particularly taking the reports from the previous projects into consideration as a baseline, the consultants will assess the level of achievement (and gaps) and effectiveness of actions carried out by the implementing partners; the level of their capacity building and knowledge built through the project; the effectiveness of the networks, and identification of lessons learned and strategic areas for knowledge products, as well as strategic future interventions and partnership building. He/she will also assess UNIFEM’s direct contribution to capacity development of the implementing partners through the project implementation and identify (missed and future) opportunities to more effectively address partners’ needs in this area.

Products/ deliverables:

A detailed evaluation work plan, including detailed results based work plans for the national consultants with clear time lines and related deliverables;
Development of evaluation methodology including questionnaires and stakeholders analysis;
The final evaluation report and performance monitoring framework, taking into account feedback given by UNIFEM, partners and stakeholders on the draft within 7 days, and submit it to the Project Manager (In case of serious discrepancies between the consultant’s findings/ conclusions and those of the commentators, these should be included and explained in an annex attached to the final report).

Competencies

Thorough understanding of gender, human rights and development, especially in the post-conflict context;
Knowledge and experience around the capacity building of CSO networks and civil servants;
Experience in leading an evaluation and managing an evaluation team;
Demonstrated ability and excellent communication skills to facilitate interviews and focus group discussions;
Demonstrated ability to produce high quality evaluation reports in English, including in-depth analysis and strategic recommendations for future work of the funding organization/donor;
Experience and understanding of the regional and sub regional context; knowledge of local language an asset.

Required Skills and Experience

The Evaluation Team Leader should have proven expertise and track record in evaluating developmental projects and qualifications around the specific thematic focus of the evaluation, which is capacity development. UNIFEM is looking for applicants with the following qualifications:

Master Degree in Gender/women’s studies, social science, development, or relevant field;
At least 5 years of work experience in development or post-conflict recovery;

Proven expertise and experience as a team leader in gender and capacity development evaluation. Prospective candidates may be asked to provide examples of recently completed evaluation reports

Application Procedures:

Qualified and interested candidates are requested to apply on-line through this site, no later than March 11, 2010

The application should contain:

Filled P11 Form (UN Personal History Form) which can be downloaded at: http://www.unifem.sk/uploads/doc/P11.doc P11 Form (UN Personal History Form) which can be downloaded at:
A short letter of interest including a price quotation indicating the lump sum requested for delivery of outputs as per the description above

UNIFEM applies fair and transparent selection process that would take into account the competencies/skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals.

Due to large number of applicants, UNIFEM regrets that it is unable to inform the unsuccessful candidates about the outcome or status of the recruitment process.

Qualified women and members of social minorities are encouraged to apply.