Background
1. Backgorund
UN Women is the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, it was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide.[1]
The UN Women Independent Evaluation Service (IES) evaluates the work of UN women to enhance organizational accountability, provide evidence-based information for decision-making and to contribute to learning on gender equality and the empowerment of women. Based in the UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO), the Europe and Central Asia Regional Evaluation Specialist (ECA RES) is a IES team member and has a reporting line towards the Chief of Evaluation in UN Women.
The UN Women IES conducts evaluations directly with the leadership of evaluation specialists and thematic consultants. Evaluation Specialists from IES are supported, where needed and where relevant, by thematic and methodological consultants as well as research assistants that adhere to UN Women’s Evaluation Policy and UNEG Norms, Standards, Ethical and other relevant guidelines.
Quality assurance of outputs and deliverables are measured against the UN Women’s Evaluation Policy and UNEG Norms, Standards, Ethical guidelines as well as guided by the UN Women Global Evaluation Reports Assessment and Analysis System (GERAAS) available at https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/accountability/evaluation/decentralized-evaluations.
The Research Assistant Consultant will be expected to support ECA RES in the overall implementation of of evaluation processes. During the assignment it is expected that the consultant will support one evaluation, the “Regional Evaluation of UN Women’s capacity development support to partners to respond to the needs of women and girls in Europe and Central Asia (2018-2021)” and an additional evaluation process to be determined.
[1] UN Women website: http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us
Duties and Responsibilities
2. Duties and Expected Deliverables
This is a part-time contract; therefore, the consultant will be expected to work 4 hours per day or up to 15 days per month, a total of up to 105 days under this contract. UN Women however does not provide any guarantee or commitment that the consultant will be engaged for all the 105 days.
The consultant will submit a work plan on week one of the assignment to the supervisor. This workplan will list all the monthly deliverables that consultant is to complete. This plan will be updated periodically to reflect the changing requirements of the SSA.
a. The scoping and design of evaluations by supporting document collection, management and review. This includes:
- Support collection of documents by scanning UN Women internal databases and accessing UN, academic and international non-governmental organization or think tanks for relevant documents relative to the evaluation
- Support summaries of evaluations, donor reports or programmatic work to inform evaluation desk reviews
- Support the systematization and analysis of Annual Work Plans (AWPs) and Strategic Notes across countries and thematic areas
- Support the extraction of data per evaluation intervention strategy, budget allocation and expenditure for thematic areas and/or countries, and by year
- Support the analysis of data and visualization in the forms of graphs, tables and other innovative ways.
- Support stakeholder mapping assessments for evaluations with identification of right holders and duty bearers in order to inform the human rights and gender equality stakeholder mapping of an evaluation
b. The implementation of data collection instruments, and logistics and organization of stakeholder meetings
- Support the design of frameworks to input data from desk reviews, surveys and interviews
- Support logistics for setting up meetings with stakeholders
c. Data visualization, data analysis, coding and synthesis of data
- Support the use of NviVo, or other programmes, for coding data from qualitative interviews and other materials
- Support synthesis of findings from data coding and analysis for input into evaluations
- Support survey data analysis
- Data cleaning and archiving
d. Preliminary analysis of data collected, drafting and compilation of evaluation report annexes.
- Support drafting of sections of report (copy-editing, visualisations among others) and compilation of annexes and references for final evaluation report
e. Communications with stakeholders, meeting organization, and drafting communication products. Support communications with stakeholders, meeting organizations and communication products such as articles for IES magazine “Transform".
3. Payment plan
The consultant will work on a part time basis remotely, and a monthly rate will be paid upon satisfactory completion of tasks and deliverables.
Competencies
4. Competencies
Core Values:
- Respect for Diversity
- Integrity
- Professionalism
Core Competencies:
- Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
- Accountability
- Effective Communication
- Inclusive Collaboration
Functional Competencies:
- Strong analytical and report writing skills.
- Strong research skills
To learn more about UN Women values and competencies, please follow the link: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf
Required Skills and Experience
5. Required Skills and Experience
Education
- Master’s degree in social sciences or another relevant field, required. A PhD is considered and advantage.
Experience
- Over 1 year Experience conducting evaluative research using tools for systematizing and analyzing large amounts of qualitative and quantitative data. Completed graduate research experience may also be considered relevant.
- Experience in evaluation approaches and methods including some knowledge of gender equality and human rights responsive evaluation (e.g. participatory and inclusive approaches).
- Firsthand experience in using NVivo or other similar data analysis software.
- Experience in working with the United Nations or a similar international organization context a plus.
Language
- English required, Russian is an asset
6. Application Procedure
The following documents should be submitted as part of the application:
- Cover letter to include a brief overview in English (unedited text) about which of your previous experiences makes you the most suitable candidate for the advertised position.
- P11 with past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment, a signed copy should be submitted.
- Financial Proposal (Specifying a total lump sum amount for the tasks specified in this Terms of Reference). The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum to include a daily rate in USD.
In order to apply please merge your P11 and the financial proposal into a single PDF file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded.
7. Evaluation of Applicants
Consultants will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of qualifications and financial proposal. Contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:
- Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
- Having received the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.
| Evaluation Criteria | Max points | |
| TECHNICAL EVALUATION (70%) | ||
Language Requirements | Fluency in written and spoken English | REQUIRED |
| Education | Master’s degree or equivalent in political science, gender studies, law, public administration, human rights, international relations or other social science fields is required. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. | REQUIRED |
| Professional Experience | Experience conducting evaluative research using tools for systematizing and analyzing large amounts of qualitative and quantitative data. Completed graduate research experience may also be considered relevant. | 30 0: without 5 years of experience 15: 8 years of experience 30: more than 8 years of experience |
| Experience in evaluation approaches and methods including some knowledge of gender equality and human rights responsive evaluation (e.g. participatory and inclusive approaches). | 20 0: without experience 10: Some experience 20: more than 3 years of experience | |
| Firsthand experience in using NVivo or other similar data analysis software. | 15 0: without experience 15: with experience | |
| Experience in working with the United Nations or a similar international organization context a plus. | 5 0: without experience 5: with experience | |
| TOTAL TECHNICAL: | 70 | |
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.
Financial Evaluation (30%) – max. 30 points:
The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion. A suggested formula is as follows: p = 30 (µ/z)
Using the following values:
p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
µ = price of the lowest priced proposal
z = price of the proposal being evaluated
At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided?on the basis of?qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.
If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.
UN Women?has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination.? All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)