Background
At the 59th Session of the UN General Assembly, Member States, in adopting the Triennial Comprehensive Policy Review (TCPR) of Operational Activities for Development of the UN System called on all UN organizations to: “mainstream gender and to pursue gender equality in their country programmes, planning instruments and sector-wide programmes and to articulate specific country-level goals and targets in this field in accordance with the national development strategies”.
The Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review Resolution (QCPR) places strong emphasis on accountability for gender equality and the empowerment of women, calling for greater effectiveness in the context of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF).
General Assembly in 2013 reaffirmed the fundamental importance of gender equality for achieving sustained and inclusive economic growth, poverty eradication and sustainable development, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and United Nations conferences and “requests the United Nations development system to expand and strengthen the use of the United Nations country team performance indicators for gender equality and the empowerment of women (the “scorecard”) as a planning and reporting tool for assessing the effectiveness of gender mainstreaming for use by the country teams in the context of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF)”
The Republic of Tajikistan became a member of the United Nations on March 2, 1992 in the 46th Session of UN GA by Resolution 46/224 and the United Nations system started its country-based operations in Tajikistan in 1993. United Nations Country Team in Tajikistan (UNCT), led by the Resident Coordinator, consists from the heads of the following UN agencies, programmes and funds:
- Resident Coordinator (RC)/ United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
- United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
- United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
- World Health Organization (WHO)
- United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women)
- United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
- United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
- United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
- United Nations Department of Safety & Security (UNDSS)
- International Organizations for Migration (IOM)
- International Labor Organization (ILO)
- Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
- United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA)
- United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA)
- United Nations Volunteers (UNV)
- United Nations Department of Political Affairs (UN/DPA)
- United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Gender Theme Group of Tajikistan (GTG) in Tajikistan was created in 2003. The mission of the Theme Group is to lead, strengthen and support the gender mainstreaming process and expand the response in this field. Among other objectives, the GTG assists UNCT and UN RC in engaging with and supporting efforts by the key regional and national players towards broader dialogue aimed at gender mainstreaming; and ensures that the gender equality dimensions are consistently included into CCA/UNDAF and all major reports on development related issues.
In Tajikistan, UN Development Assistance Framework Cooperation (UNDAF) was signed between the Government and the United Nations (UN) on 18 December 2015 as a strategic programme framework for the period 2016-2020. It is aimed to support the country to achieve nationally agreed development goals in context of SDGs. The core principles of UNDAF are Human Rights-based, aimed to supports SDG implementation, promote gender equality and mainstreams risk management.
Six UNDAF outcomes have been selected, in four strategic focus areas, that respond to country needs and make use of the UN’s comparative advantages. Six Result Groups were set up for each of six UNDAF Outcomes:
- People in Tajikistan have their rights protected and benefit from improved access to justice and quality services delivered by accountable, transparent, and gender responsive legislative, executive and judicial institutions at all levels;
- People in Tajikistan benefit from equitable and sustainable economic growth through decent and productive employment; stable energy supply; improved access to specialized knowledge and innovation and a more favourable business environment, especially for entrepreneurs and farmers;
- People in Tajikistan benefit from quality, equitable and inclusive health, education and social protection systems;
- The nutritional status of the people in Tajikistan is improved through stable access to sufficient, appropriate and safe food; improved child feeding practices; better water and sanitation and improved access to quality health care;
- Women, youth, children, people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups are protected from violence and discrimination, have a voice that is heard and are respected as equal members of society; and
- People in Tajikistan are more resilient to natural and man-made disasters and benefit from improved policy and operational frameworks for environmental protection and management of natural resources.
In order to address those gender issues effectively through the UNDAF 2016-2020, the UNCT needs to ensure its full capacity to do gender mainstreaming together with one dedicated gender equality and women’s empowerment outcomes. Therefore, it necessitates a joint and complementary effort of the UNCT to address gender equality and women’s empowerment issues in the UNDAF and thus contribute to gender equality in Tajikistan. Moreover, in 2016 Tajikistan endorsed National Development Strategy until 2030 which includes gender specific commitments and thus this is vital that UNCT jointly contributes to advancement of the agenda on gender equality in the country.
In order to support UNCT to ensure the gender-responsive joint policy and work and promote better accountability towards gender equality and women’s empowerment in line with UN corporative policy in this area, a Gender Scorecard Exercise is planned. The Gender Scorecard will be used for UNCT’s self-assessment and for identifying gaps and corrective actions during the current UNDAF cycle. The UN Resident Coordinator Office and the Gender Theme Group chaired by UN Women will lead this process to complete the scorecard process in a participatory and timely manner.
With this purpose, GTG through UN Women seeks to hire an international consultant with extensive experience in conducting gender score card based on new UNCT UN-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard
Duties and Responsibilities
Goals and objectives:
The main objective of this consultancy is to assist UNCT in conducting UN-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard based on the new methodology and assess the effectiveness of the UN Country Team in Tajikistan in gender mainstreaming, promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment as well as to provide a set of recommendations for improvements.
Duties and responsibilities:
Under the overall guidance of UN Resident Coordinator and direct supervision and technical leadership of the UN Women Programme Specialist in Tajikistan, and in collaboration with the UN Gender Thematic Group, the consultant will conduct the following activities within the stipulated timeframes
To guide and support the SSAT and conduct the following activities within the stipulated timeframes:
1. Background document review (home-based, 8 working days):
- UNCT UN-SWAP Pilot Guidance and Draft UNCT UN-SWAP Scorecard Framework
- UNCT Gender Scorecard Reports for the countries in the regions and from other countries
- New UNDG UNDAF guidance
- UNCT planning, budgets programming documents
- UN Gender Theme Group’s TOR, 2015 report and 2016 plan
- CEDAW Reports/other national assessments/National Gender Plans, etc.
2. Assistance and support for the SSAT with the in-country scorecard: (mission to Tajikistan, 5 working days)
- Help the SSAT with the planning of the self-assessment exercise.
- Support the collection of complementary data and evidence to score indicators.
- Help to conduct gender analysis of complementary documents required to facilitate the SSAT score areas of performance (such as knowledge products; UNDAF documents; UN Staff Survey; budget; etc.)
- Facilitate working sessions –at least one per area of performance- with key stakeholders such as the Resident Coordinator; heads of Agencies; chairs and co-chairs of the Result Groups, key programme staff; M&E teams, partners, etc. to discuss and score areas of performance.
- Complete the scoring matrix based on SSAT discussions and agreements.
- Facilitate a one full day debrief with the SSAT to discuss outcomes and observations from Scorecard exercise.
- Gather feedback on the scorecard exercise through observations and discussions throughout the process
3. Reporting
- Draft Scorecard and narrative report, with inputs from the SSAT - (1 working day)
- Complete the final Scorecard, narrative report and follow-up matrix based on UNCT feedback- (1 working day)
For detailed information, please refer to annex 1- Terms of Reference of the below link.
Competencies
Functional Competencies:
- 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 areas of work;
- Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity: Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.
Corporate Competencies:
- Ethics and Values: Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity;
- Organizational awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgement;
- Development and Innovation: Take charge of self-development and take initiative;
- 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 a 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.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Advanced (Masters) degree in social and political sciences, human rights, gender equality etc. PhD degree is an asset..
Experience:
- At least 10 years of practical experience of work on gender mainstreaming in development programmes/projects at national and international levels;
- At least 3 years’ experience of work on results based management, review and/or evaluation;
- Experience in gender data collection and analysis, including interviews, survey and focus groups, including in conducting gender scorecard;
- Previous experience with the Gender Equality Scorecard, narrative report and follow-up matrix;
- Experience on conducting gender trainings for staff of development agencies..
Language:
- Proficient in written and oral English, working level of Russian is an assett.
Application Procedure:
Please follow the link to the Individual Consultant Procurement Notice:
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