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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality are translated into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts while building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

In September 2015, governments united behind the ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which features 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets that aim to end poverty, combat inequalities and promote prosperity by 2030 while protecting the environment. The 2030 Agenda sets out a historic and unprecedented level of ambition to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls by 2030” (SDG 5) as well as including 37 gender-related targets in 10 other SDGs. It commits to addressing core issues of gender equality such as eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls, eradicating discriminatory laws and constraints on sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recognizing and valuing unpaid care and domestic work and increasing women’s participation in decision-making

To successfully track the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, a robust and equally ambitious monitoring framework is needed. Significant investments in gender statistics are necessary to ensure that evidence-based policies are devised, the impacts of these policies are assessed and the accountability of policymakers and governments to deliver on these commitments is promoted. Robust indicators and quality data are of critical importance and will determine whether policy efforts are marshalled and whether the goals and targets are achieved or missed.

In regard to the above, UN Women is seeking the services of a senior consultant to conduct a national need assessment, hold consultations with key stakeholders, and develop a Kuwait an action-plan to support Kuwait in bridging the gap.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the SDG Advisor, the consultant will undertake the following tasks:

A. Design, develop a methodology / inception plan to undertake the National Needs Assessment on Gender Statistical Systems in Kuwait.

B. Carry out an in-depth desk review of the institutional framework (of the national statistical systems, including line ministries) and the extent to which it facilitates or hinders the regular production of gender statistics.

1. The review should document the key institutional opportunities and challenges that facilitate or constrain regular production of gender statistics and propose strategic interventions to support the country;

2. It should also document broader national initiatives in gender and statistics, to strengthen monitoring of the SDGs (e.g. national SDGs data roadmaps or equivalent) and the extent to which gender equality is integrated into those initiatives.

3. Assess the use of and level of understanding about existing gender statistics by policy makers, civil society and other actors. The assessment should propose solutions to facilitate increased collaboration between users and producers and propose concrete and actionable solutions to strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations (CSO), government and UN Country teams to analyse and use gender statistics to inform decision-making.

4. Assess the technical capacity gaps in gender statistics among producers of data, users and the entire national statistical system; key data gaps at the country level that prevent the monitoring of SDGs and other national gender equality priorities including the national gender equality indicators have been developed to monitor the SDGs and national priorities. Adequacy of indicators and steps taken to review those indicators.

C. Hold series of consultations with key stakeholders.

1. Organize consultations with CSB and other key government agencies and line ministries to assess the technical capacity gaps in gender statistics among producers of data, users and the CSB;

1. Conduct face to face meetings and consultations with other stakeholders to collate the needs, constraints and potential solutions to facilitate increased collaboration between users and producers;
2. Carry out in depth interview with key stakeholders such as CSB, in line ministries, UN agencies, development partners, civil society organizations, universities, and research institutions.

2. Facilitate a validation workshop to share key findings and recommendations of the needs assessment with key stakeholders;

3. Develop am action plan to bridge teh key gaps based on the findings of the national needs assessment, the consultations with stakesholders and the recommendations from the validation workshop.

Key deliverables:

1. Inception Report based on an initial literature review, demonstrating understanding of the assignment and delivery methodology /approach, including detailed workplan with specific timeline for each deliverable, approved by UN Women;
2. National Needs Assessment of Gender Statistical Systems report, that includes:  (i)  the key institutional opportunities and challenges that facilitate or constrain regular production of gender statistics and propose strategic interventions; (ii) Assess the technical capacity gaps in gender statistics among producers of data, users and the national statistical system; (iii) identify key data gaps at the country level that prevent the monitoring of SDGs; (iv) a mapping of the various initiatives that aim to strengthen monitoring of the gender indicators of the SDGs, including data roadmaps and the extent gender equality is integrated into those initiatives; (v) the use of and level of understanding about existing gender statistics by policy makers, civil society and other actors; (v) concrete actions to close gender data gaps;
3. Hold a validation workshop with key stakeholders;
4. Submit a report of the validation workshop that specifies a set of follow-up actions and an action plan on how to close the gender data gap.

Duration of Assignment:

A total of 35 working days will be required to deliver the above-mentioned deliverables. The Inception report with work plan should be submitted in 5 working days upon signature of the contract with UN Women.

Competencies

Core Values

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Functional Competencies

• In-depth knowledge of gender statistics;
• Demonstrated ability to produce clear reports with in-depth analysis and strategic recommendations in English in the relevant fields;
• Demonstrated ability to guide and advice multi-sectoral international teams on assessment and project development;
• Good communication and interpersonal skills, ability to foster networks and partnerships;
• Very effective at multi-tasking.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Master’s Degree or Doctorate in development studies, statistics, economics, gender studies, or related social science fields.

Experience

• A minimum of 10 years of experience in the field of gender and statistics at the national and/or international level with a strong focus on the Arab States;
• In-depth experience in managing and interpreting gender-disaggregated data;
• Strong familiarity of the gender indicators in the Sustainable Development Goals and the global data sets;
• Extensive work experience with National Statistical Systems in the Arab States;
• Proven experience with use of gender analysis in statistical production processes and/or data collection, analysis, use and dissemination;
• Proven experience in conducting needs assessment and/or capacity assessment on existing data, statistical capacity, and/or Monitoring and Evaluation systems from a gender perspective;
• Previous professional experience in developing concept notes, proposals on gender equality;
• Ability to work with, and analyze data, using relevant tools/computer programs (Excel, online survey tools) to present findings in user friendly manner;
• Excellent oral presentation and writing skills.

Language

• Excellent command of Arabic and English both written and spoken.

Application:

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. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Financial proposal:

Indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per the deliverables expected to meet the objectives of the 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.

UN Women is applying fair and transparent selection process that would take into account both the technical qualification of Consultants as well as their price proposals. The contract will be awarded to the candidate obtaining the highest combined technical and financial scores.