Background

Re-Advertised - Those who applied earlier need not apply again. Eligible applications from the previous announcement will be considered.

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, men and diverse genders as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

UN Women’s Country Office, based in New Delhi, India, works to accelerate the advancement of gender equality and the empowerment of women through the strengthening of strategic partnerships, technical and policy advisory services and advocacy with governmental, inter-governmental and civil society partners. In addition, UN Women CO is charged with leading and coordinating the UN system’s work on gender equality, including through ensuring accountability for results.

The International Consultant - Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) will be pivotal in collaborating with UN Women's Programme Leads to understand their respective thematic areas, develop robust M&E frameworks and tools, ensure efficient data collection and analysis, and visualise findings through various knowledge products. This specialist will also be responsible for assessing the M&E capacity of the program teams, designing training programs, and overseeing their implementation. The International Consultant -  Monitoring and Evaluation will work closely with the existing M&E team within the organisation to build capacity for robust M&E systems and reporting.

In this context, the International Consultant – Monitoring and Evaluation will work under the guidance and direct supervision of the Country Representative, UN Women India CO.

Duties and Responsibilities

The International Consultant – Monitoring and Evaluation will have the following tasks:

  • Collaborate with Programme Leads:
    • Review all country office evaluations that have been done over the period of the last Strategic Note to gain an understanding of strengths and weaknesses of the portfolio.
    • Engage with Programme Leads to gain a deeper understanding of their respective thematic areas, objectives, and outcomes. Review:
  • The existing monitoring and reporting process that is underway. 
  • Quality assurance of program documents through a review of results frameworks.
  • Monitoring indicators, calendars, and field monitoring plans.
    • Identify M&E needs and opportunities within each thematic area to inform framework and tool development.
  • Based on this review, develop a capacity development plan and run this process for staff and implementing partners, so they can effectively feed into an M&E Framework:
    • Assess the M&E capacity of program teams, identifying existing gaps and areas for improvement.
  • Develop capacity development tools and materials.
  • Manage capacity building for staff and partners in M&E.
    • Develop and deliver tailored capacity-building initiatives, including training programs, workshops, and mentoring.
      • Promote awareness and shared responsibility of M&E among staff through communication and training.
  • Working with each programme team and M&E focal points to develop and Country Office M&E Framework and Tools.
  • Run a participatory consultation process that includes staff, thematic specialists and beneficiaries to design a comprehensive M&E framework for the whole Country Office Portfolio of work tailored to each thematic area, defining base lines, clear objectives, indicators, data collection methods, and reporting mechanisms. The framework should align with the new Strategic Note and the India UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework and UN Women’s global strategic plan.
  • Data Collection Mechanism: Work with M&E focal points, teams, and beneficiaries to:
    • Establish efficient mechanisms for data collection through the developed tools.
    • Implement systems to ensure data accuracy, consistency, and integrity.
    • Build capacity of staff and implementing partners, through this process.
  • Data Analysis and Visualization: Work with M&E focal points to:
    • Analyse collected data to extract meaningful insights and trends.
    • Develop visually compelling reports and knowledge products that communicate findings effectively to stakeholders.
    • Build capacity of staff and implementing partners to develop these reports and communicate findings.
  • Collaboration with Existing M&E Team:
    • Build capacity throughout the whole consultancy of the existing M&E team to ensure alignment, share insights, and integrate best practices.
  • Progress Reporting:
    • Regularly report progress, findings, challenges, and recommendations to relevant stakeholders and management.

Deliverables

  • Conduct a thorough assessment of results over the previous Strategic Note period and current monitoring and evaluation processes at the country office, leading to a report outlining M&E needs and opportunities for each thematic area along with an action plan – 20% payment (2 Months)
  1. Develop customised M&E frameworks and data collection tools for each thematic area to effectively track progress and generate reports – 10% payment (1 Month)
  2. Establish functional data collection mechanisms with strong quality control measures, including field implementation – 10% payment (2 Months)
  • Identify capacity gaps in monitoring and evaluation through a comprehensive assessment of thematic programs, then create a report and action plan for addressing these gaps – 10% payment (1 Month)
  1. Design training modules and conduct capacity-building programs for program teams – 20% payment (2 Months)
  • Identify and train the thematic programme teams on generating visual reports and knowledge products presenting analysed data for each thematic area in alignment with UN Women's reporting formats – 10% payment (2 Months)
  • Ensure timely submission of final report encompassing insights, challenges, and well-founded recommendations – 20% payment (2 Months)

Competencies

Core Values / Guiding Principles:

Integrity:

  • Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Professionalism:

  • Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive work areas.

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:

  • Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organisation and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values:

  • Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.

Organisational Awareness:

  • Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Work in teams:

  • Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Communicating and Information Sharing:

  • Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:

  • Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have consistent behaviour towards others.

Conflict Management:

  • Surface conflicts and address them proactively, acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

  • Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.

Functional Competencies:

  • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
  • Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills;
  • Focuses on impact and result for the partners and responds positively to feedback.
  • Sound understanding of development issues and gender;
  • Adheres to deadlines and follows up on time-bound issues;
  • Maintains diplomacy, tact and strict confidentiality with internal and external partners and clients.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Minimum Master’s degree in a relevant field, such as International Development, Public Policy, Economics, Social Sciences, Statistics, or a related discipline.
  • PHD Degree will be an asset.

Experience:

  • Minimum 8 years’ experience in Monitoring and Evaluation.
  • Demonstrated experience in monitoring and evaluation activities is crucial. This could be gained through working in roles related to data analysis, program evaluation, project management, or research. Specific experience designing and implementing M&E frameworks, data collection, analysis, and reporting is highly valuable.
  • Possesses adept analytical skills and can translate and present data in a compelling visual format.
  • Proven expertise in evaluating capacity gaps and formulating effective capacity-building strategies.
  • Proficiency in utilising data analysis software and visualisation tools.
  • A deep understanding of monitoring and evaluation concepts, methodologies, and best practices is essential. This includes familiarity with theories of change, indicators, data quality assessments, and impact assessment techniques.
  • Strong research skills to gather relevant information, conduct surveys, interviews, and focus groups, and synthesize findings into meaningful insights.
  • Exceptional communication and interpersonal aptitude, fostering collaborative interactions across diverse stakeholder groups.
  • Advantageous to have a prior engagement with UN Women or analogous organisations.
  • Proficiency in using computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.).

Language:

  • Excellent written, reading and verbal communication skills in English are necessary for preparing reports, presenting findings, and conveying technical information to diverse audiences

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:

  • 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, 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);
  • Minimum Experience relevant to the assignment (10 points);
  • Working knowledge and experience of writing on Gender Issues (5 points).

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

  • Written Test (20 points)
  • Interview (80 points)

Please Note:

  • For an assignment requiring travel, consultants of 65 years or more require full medical examination and statement of fitness to work prior to engagement in the consultancy.
  • Due to large number of potential applicants only competitively selected candidates will be contacted for remaining steps of the selection process.
  • The consultant is expected to use their own computer equipment. The office will not provide any computer equipment for this assignment.
  • This is a full-time assignment. The consultant is expected to disclose any outside activity and shall not be permitted to take up any outside work during the course of this assignment.

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.