Background

The Democratic Governance sector is one of the sectors identified by the Government of Malawi for the purposes of enhancing democratic governance reform in the country. In order to ensure a coordinated and harmonized approach to such reform, the sector is currently in the process of developing a 5 year sector strategy that will inform and guide the sector, development partners and other stakeholders on the vision, mission, strategic priorities as well as the impact indicators, responsibilities and required resources for effective reform in the sector. The strategic plan will also inform the establishment of the democratic governance sector wide approach. 
 
The Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) recognizes gender as an integral part of the national development agenda and emphasizes the need for systematic mainstreaming of gender in all sector programs.  As the Democratic Governance Sector is currently in the process of developing its Sector Strategy, there is need to conduct a gender needs assessment covering all the institutions within the Sector. The findings of this assessment are expected to feed into the sector strategy so as to inform the sector of the initiatives to be implemented to address the identified gender gaps.

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall objective of this gender needs assessment is to undertake a comprehensive and analytical assessment of the gender needs of the 19 (nineteen) government institutions plus selected networks of Non State Actors within the Democratic Governance  Sector in order to identify gender gaps, challenges and opportunities in relation to strengthening women's participation and representation in the sector.
 
Specific Objectives:
  • Identify the gaps between men and women in legal and policy frameworks within the Democratic Governance sector institutions and in institutional structures relating to programs and human resource.
  • Develop gender specific qualitative and quantitative indicators to be incorporated into the overall M&E framework for the Democratic Governance sector strategy that would enable the sector to measure the effectiveness of efforts to create gender equality and ensure implementation of gender related programs against quantifiable results.

Scope of Work

The assignment is nationwide and will involve consultations with all the 19 government institutions plus selected networks of NSAs in the Democratic Governance sector. The assignment has to be finalized within two months.

Specific tasks:

  • Mobilize and design agreed tools for assessment processes with the client.
  • Conduct the gender needs assessment objectively, professionally and transparently as articulated  in the detailed terms of references.
  • Summarize and interpret results.
  • Develop a gender action plan.
  • Regularly report to the client

Team Leader on Gender Mainstreaming - Democratic Governance:

The team leader will be experienced in Gender Mainstreaming preferably in the area of Democratic Governance Reform, and have considerable experience in developing countries, preferably in Sub Saharan Arica. The team leader will be responsible for overall planning and coordination of the assignment as well as the overall drafting, analysis, conclusions and recommendations of the various written outputs prepared by the Local Expert.

Competencies

  • Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN values and ethical standards.
  • Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UNDP.
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
  • Ability to provide high quality technical advice and design/deliver results in set timelines.
  • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude; .
  • Strong analytical and advocacy skills.
  • Demonstrates good oral and written communication/presentation skills.
  • Demonstrates openness to change, ability to manage complexities and work under pressure.
  • Ability to lead a team and coordinate different processes.
  • Computer competence in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Internet applications.
  • Excellent reporting and writing skills.

Required Skills and Experience

 Education:

  • Phd in gender, development studies or other relevant social sciences is preferred.

Experience:

  • Minimum of 10 years work experience in gender mainstreaming preferably in democratic governance reform.
  • Experience and familiarity with UNDP policies and programming procedures is an added advantage.
  • Excellent communication and networking skills.
  • Knowledge of the Malawi political and legal systems

Language:

  • Fluency in written and spoken English

During the duration of the assignment, the Team Leader will report to an established reference group.  Detailed Terms of References for the assignment need to be requested from UNDP Malawi in advance from: