Background

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

UN Women’s multi-donor Fund for Gender Equality (FGE) was launched in 2009 to fast-track commitments to gender equality focused on women’s economic and political empowerment at local, national and regional levels. The Fund awards multi-year grants ranging from US $200,000 – US $1 million directly to women’s organizations[1] in developing countries; it is dedicated to advancing the empowerment of women around the world, specifically those in marginalized and vulnerable positions.

The Fund provides grants on a competitive basis directly to civil society organizations to transform laws and policies into tangible actions that have a positive impact on the lives of women and girls. Since its creation, the FGE has delivered USD 64 million in grants to 121 grantee programmes in 80 countries, reaching 536,000 direct beneficiaries and impacting the lives of more than 10 million people. Most recently, in 2015, the Fund for Gender Equality awarded USD 7.3 million in grants to 24 top-quality programmes to be implemented in 2016-2019.

As part of its 4th grant-making cycle, and with the support from the Government of Germany, the FGE is launching an Scaling Initiative 2018-2019 among active programmes from its previous cycle in order to build on their successful components. In particular, the initiative aims to (i) trigger positive changes in the lives of at least 1 million marginalized women and girls through strategic support to women-led civil society; (ii) dentify, replicate and expand demonstrated effective strategies that work in advancing women’s empowerment; (iii) strengthen women-led organizations’ capacities on innovation for women’s empowerment; (iv) test collaborative and social innovation approaches for impact in gender equality; and (v) generate knowledge on grant-making and programming for impact for the empowerment of the women and girls furthest behind.

To that end, FGE will implement three levels of impact-oriented strategies: 

1. Scaling Up: Expanding successful strategies for impact
The main component of this grant-making exercise is the upscaling initiative. Seven to eight selected FGE grantees will exponentially multiply their impact so as to benefit more women and girls and to foster policy and programme development on a lasting basis. Through additional funding of up to US$ 150,000 and specialized expert support, selected grantees will expand and/or replicate successful strategies either horizontally (reaching more women and girls) or vertically (targeting a higher level such as a specific policy, law, institution, etc). 

2. Scaling Deep: Investing in organizations to reach the furthest behind
The Fund will also focus a portion of the scaling exercise on grantees’ capacities, particularly in strategic areas such as leadership, advocacy and resource mobilization. Through small grants of US$ 30,000 and specialized one-on-one coaching, this “scaling deep” component will help four to six grantees, all women’s civil society organization (CSO) with high reach and accessibility in communities of marginalized women, to become more effective and efficient in serving the needs of the women and girls furthest behind.   

3. Rethinking Solutions: Pilot testing of social innovation approaches for greater impact
This smaller level of the grant-making exercise will bring an opportunity for FGE to pilot the use of social innovation techniques with three to five grantee organizations that have strong capacity yet are not achieving the level of results that they aspire for—inviting them to generate and test different solutions in order to help them shift their traditional programme approaches and re-design them for more impactful interventions, through small-scale grants and specialized support and mentoring.  

A grantee gathering in March 2018 will allow to reinforce grantees’ skills on results-based management and innovative scaling, as well as for the finalization of the PMF thanks to face-to-face meetings with FGE team and other experts.

 

 

[1] In previous cycles, FGE allowed governments to be eligible for grants.

 

Duties and Responsibilities

Overview of the FGE Scaling Initiative 2018-2019

The Fund is looking for an experienced international consultant to support the initial phases of the Scaling Initiative, by providing expert technical support in the design of effective scaling programmes, including by using social innovation approaches such as design and systems thinking and behavioral insights.

Objectives of the Consultancy

The Upscaling Expert Consultant will provide technical support for an effective design and implementation of the Fund’s 4th Grant-Making Cycle, with particular focus on the Upscaling Initiative. Specifically, the Consultant will support the testing of social innovation[1] approaches in gender equality programme upscaling through (i) specialized technical assistance, (2) provision of training and (3) documentation and knowledge generation. While the Consultant’s assistance will be limited to the initial phases of the programme design (January-April 2018), one of his/her main functions will consist in developing FGE team’s capacities to continue the oversight, support and documentation throughout the implementation period, including by provision of training, resources and tools. The Consultant will also strengthen the capacities of grantee representatives on effective upscaling and social innovation.

Supervision

The Consultant will work under the direct supervision of FGE Programme and Reporting Specialist, and in close collaboration with FGE Programme and Coordination Specialist, both based in New York. The Consultant will also work closely with FGE’s three regional Monitoring and Reporting Specialists based in Istanbul, Cairo and Bangkok for the direct provision of assistance to the grantees.

Key Functions and Activities

The selected Consultant will have three main functions:

1. Specialized Technical Assistance

  • Provision of one-on-one technical support to grantees on upscaling their selected initiatives using social innovation approaches. This includes:
    • Provide preliminary feedback and guidance to grantees on their preliminary visions for upscaling 
    • Provide specific technical inputs and advice to grantees on their full-fledged upscaling proposals
    • Face-to-face personalized advisory services during grantee convening (tentatively scheduled for March 2018) on issues such as the upscaling programme flow and theory of change, testing of hypothesis, refinement of indicators and establishing of monitoring methodologies.
    • Ongoing virtual “on-call advice” as needed during the period of project document development

2. Tools and Resources

  • Provision of technical support to FGE in the development of tools and guidance to assist grantees in their upscaling design process. Being a constantly evolving instrument, these tools will be adjusted as grantees use its components, and will remain as a key knowledge product of this exercise for future upscaling projects. Support from the Consultant will include:
    • Provide substantial feedback on existing tools
    • Develop additional customized resources/ guidance 
  • Drafting of a final report (20 pages maximum) on lessons and good practices on the design process of scaling for impact in gender equality and women’s empowerment programming.

3. Training

  • Build capacities of FGE team on (up)scaling and social innovation
  • Develop and lead a training session to grantee representatives on effective upscaling and use of social innovation elements during the convening.

Key Deliverables and Timeline

The consultancy is envisioned to entail a total of 30 to maximum 40 working days during the 14-week period of 8 January – 13 April 2018. The following key deliverables will be required: 

1. Feedback provided on existing tools

2. Customized tools/ resources developed

3. Training session(s) provided to FGE team

4. Feedback provided to each grantee on initial upscaling ideas

5. Ongoing technical assistance/ advisory services during proposal development phase

6. Training session(s) provided to grantees during convening

7. Final report with key lessons and good practices extracted

[1] In the context of this consultancy, social innovation refers to the wide array of approaches and tools pertaining to areas such as behavioral economics, cognitive and social psychology and design and systems thinking for innovation, which are demonstrating to be effective in designing impactful, scalable social interventions.

Competencies

Core values and 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 areas of work

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:

  • Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff and stakeholders
  • Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Functional Competencies:

  • Excellent oral and written skills in English
  • Able to communicate effectively with and relate to people of different cultures, demonstrating an ability to see issues from other perspectives
  • Ability to use critical thinking, conceptualize ideas, and articulate relevant subject matter in a clear and concise way
  • Good inter-personal and diplomacy skills
  • Able to lead, manage, work independently and in a team
  • Good planning, goal-setting and prioritization skills
  • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities
  • Adheres to a human rights approach in engaging with all persons
  • Strong ability to adapt and manage challenges and changes as they arise
  • Proven track record of delivering on commitments

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Advanced university degree (Master’s or Doctorate) or equivalent professional experience in Political Science, International Development Studies, Gender/Women's Studies, Economics, Sociology or Psychology.

Experience:

  • Minimum 10 years of professional experience
  • Demonstrated expertise in upscaling, programme design, implementation and evaluation
  • Demonstrated knowledge in and/or expertise with social innovation approaches, including design and systems thinking and behavioral insights
  • Experience working with civil society organizations
  • Strong knowledge and / or experience in working on gender and women’s issues, particularly in the area of political and economic empowerment;
  • Knowledge of the UN system is an asset

Languages:

Fluency in written and spoken English is required. Knowledge of other UN languages, namely Spanish, French and/or Arabic is an asset.