Jobs - 25171- UN Women: Programme Accountability and Donor Repor

UN Women: Programme Accountability and Donor Reporting Consultant

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

22-Aug-11 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women will work 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 centre of all its efforts, UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations System efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

As committed under the UN Women Strategic Plan Strategic Plan (SP) 2011-2013, the Entity will establish strengthened results-based program planning and monitoring tools which effectively capture the nature of support UN Women will provide at the national, sub-regional and regional level – both to national counterparts, and to the UN System. To this end, and in support of the roll out of the UN Women Strategic Plan by January 2012, UN Women Asia and the Pacific Section (A/P Section) in New York is seeking to recruit an international expert who will provide technical guidance and support to the A/P Section in ensuring that the required programme planning and accountability tools are in place before the end of 2011. These include: provision of technical guidance on results-based management (RBM) to A/P Section in piloting the development of new programme planning and monitoring tools and processes, such as country and sub-regional Annual Workplans (2012-2013); and provision of technical support to the A/P Section and Sub-Regional Offices in ensuring that the commitments made in the A/P Region in support of the UN Women Strategic Plan are incorporated into the electronic programme management and reporting system.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the A/P Section Chief, and in close collaboration with Programme Specialists and the Programme Support Unit at HQ which oversees the development of the new management tools and processes, the consultant will be responsible for:

Advise the institutionalization of new Results-based Programme Management and Planning tools:

Provision of technical support on RMB to the Section and UN Women’s presence in the field in the development of results-based country annual workplans in 14 countries;
Provision of intensive technical guidance on results based management (RBM) to Programme Specialists and Sub-Regional Offices in the preparation of Sub-Regional Annual Workplans (3), and in their backstopping of country presences in this regard;
Provision of technical advice to the Programme Specialists in guiding the country and sub-regional offices in the development of baselines within the 14 country AWPs and 3 Sub-Regional AWPs to ensure adherence to the results based commitments found in the SP. To the extent possible, a degree of harmonization among baselines will be ensured;
Advise the Chief of Section in the development of the first Asia-Pacific Regional AWP, in consultation with the newly established Regional Centre in Bangkok, Thailand, ensuring that commitments made are measurable and aligned with the SP.

Provide technical support to the A/P Section for the development and institutionalization of on-line, global monitoring systems under the Strategic Plan:

Based on guidance to be released in the 3rd quarter of 2011, the consultant will support the field in uploading the 2011 annual report on to the online reporting system and ensuring that the 2012-2013 AWPs are integrated into the on-line annual reporting system;
Provision of RBM and process support to Programme Specialists and to the newly established M&E officers in SROs and country presences to ensure that the current backlog of donor reports are processed in a timely manner; and to ensure this one-time backlog does not happen again, advise and support the development of Section tools to improve tracking of commitments under the Strategic Plan, including tracking system on donor agreements and obligations; and maintain a system of notification and submission progress to ensure timely donor reporting.

Deliverables:

During the prescribed time period (mid August- 30 December 2011), the expert consultant will deliver the following results:

Critically reviewed and analyzed annual work plans from a RBM perspective from 14 country offices;
Critically reviewed and analyzed annual work plans from a RBM perspective from three sub-regional offices;
One critically reviewed and analyzed Regional annual work plan from a RBM perspective;
Establishment of a proper validation process of the annual report from sub-regions and provision of editorial support to submission and uploading into the on-line reporting system;
Establishment of a process whereby field presences are actively using a centralised donor agreement monitoring and reporting system;
Provision of RBM and editorial support to the Section and field in the completion of a one-time backlog of donor reports (estimated 50 reports).

Competencies

Core Values / Guiding Principles:

Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values : Demonstrating / Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity;
Organizational Awareness : Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
Developing and Empowering People / Coaching and Mentoring : Self-development, initiative-taking;
Working in Teams : Acting as a team player and facilitating team work;
Communicating Information and Ideas : Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively;
Self-management and Emotional intelligence : Creating synergies through self-control;
Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning : Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others;
Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making : Informed and transparent decision making.

Functional:

Strong capacity on RBM methodologies and tools;
Expertise in development of programme management and planning tools;
In-depth knowledge of gender and development issues;
Ability to advocate and provide policy advice;
Strong writing and communication skills (English);
Strong IT skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Masters Degree in Social Sciences, Political Science, Development.

Experience:

Seven years of experience in programme/ project management and design;
Minimum three years experience in the application of in RBM methodologies and tools. Knowledge of UN RBM tools considered an asset;
Prior experience in gender analysis and gender mainstreaming will be an added asset.
Minimum 3 years experience in the preparation of programme monitoring reports and donor reports.

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English (written and oral);
Knowledge of another official UN language is an asset.

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.

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment

Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.