UNDP Jobs - 82427- Consultancy: Evaluation expert : Meta-analysis of

Consultancy: Evaluation expert : Meta-analysis of UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) evaluations with a gender lens

Location :

Home-based

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

02-Jan-2019

Application Deadline :

20-Dec-18 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

76 days spread over the period 2 January – 30 May 2019

Languages Required :

English French Spanish

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The positioning of a “revitalized, strategic, flexible and results and action-oriented United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) as the most important instrument for the planning and implementation” of United Nations Development System (UNDS) activities represents a key opportunity to strengthen system-wide attention to gender equality and women’s empowerment in the work of UN Country Teams (UNCT). To ensure this focus is brought into all UNDS work, all programmes implemented by the UNCT through the UNDAF need to tackle the gender inequalities and discrimination that women and girls, men and boys, and marginalized groups face, to drive their active and meaningful participation and empowerment. Accountability for gender mainstreaming and gender results therefore rests with all UNDS entities.

UNDAF Evaluations: The 2017 UNDAF Guidance requires costed multiyear monitoring and evaluation plans as part of the minimum requirements to accomplishing an UNDAF, with evaluations happening at least once during the UNDAF life cycle. UNDAF evaluations support institutional learning on what works and what does not work and serves as a key accountability and learning instrument to assess the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coordination, coherence, sustainability and contribution of UN operations to country priorities. They also provide important information for informing the planning and decision-making for the subsequent UNDAF life cycle. This is particularly imperative given the Secretary General’s call for greater transparency, accountability and oversight and the proposed revamped roles of the Resident Coordinator Offices (RCO) and UNCTs to ensure that future system-wide improvements are based on solidly informed evidence and lessons learned from system-wide evaluations, including UNDAF evaluations.

Integrating a gender lens in the UNDAFs and UNDAF evaluations: The 2017 UNDAF Guidance highlights the importance of integrating human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment in the UNDAFs as a central programming principle, responding to the overarching principle of leaving no one behind to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This principle also supports a central objective of the 2030 Agenda to “realize the human rights of all and to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.” Further, the 2017 UNDAF Guidance emphasizes the role of disaggregated data collection and analysis in support of UNDAF implementation and monitoring. Hence, it is important that UNDAF evaluations integrate a gender lens to assess the extent to which UNDAFs contribute to leaving no one behind.

Joint programmes, as one modality of working together in the context of UNDAFs, help achieve UN system-wide coherence to support the country’s national priorities and needs. The General Assembly further recognized this when it has requested UNCTs to strengthen joint programming processes and joint programmes to improve the UNDS functioning. Currently, 62 percent of UNDAFs feature gender-specific outcome results. Similarly, over the past few years, gender has been the highest area of concentration of joint programmes implemented by UNCTs (109 out of total 378). Joint Gender Programmes (JGPs) are increasingly used as a tool to strengthen gender equality results, with UN agencies working together toward a well-defined outcome such as reduced violence against women or improved sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and men.

However, there is little evidence available on the extent to which UNDAF evaluations have been conducted in a gender-responsive manner and assess progress against gender-specific results. Moreover, review of the current functions and existing capacities of the UNDS shows significant gaps in the thematic coverage of the SDGs, in terms of expenditure and personnel. The UNDS investment in gender equality and women empowerment (SDG 5) is one of the lowest out of all the SDGs.

Given that the UNDAF will be the most central programming tool to operationalize the UNDS Repositioning, UNDAF evaluations will help to ensure that UNDAFs contribute more to gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Meta-analysis of UNDAF Evaluations with a gender lens: This meta-analysis is the first attempt by the UN Evaluation Group (UNEG) to use a gender lens to analyze UNDAF evaluations. The analysis will be commissioned by the UNEG Human Rights and Gender Equality Working Group as part of its workplan for 2018-2019.

The main expected users of the meta-analysis are UN system entities particularly RCOs, UNCTs, UNEG, UN Regional Evaluation Groups, donor agencies, civil society organizations and national partners. Efforts will also be made to promote the report’s findings and/or recommendations to other relevant policy and decision-making bodies to potentially inform reform-specific changes related to the UN repositioning and UNDAF development and implementation. The analysis will also serve as a foundation for the conduct of a new generation of gender-responsive UNDAF evaluations.

The complete terms of reference for this assignment are available here.

Duties and Responsibilities

Purpose

In general, the purpose of the meta-analysis is two-fold:

Provide in-depth information on the current state of the integration of gender and human rights perspectives into UNDAF evaluations; and
Synthesize the main recurring themes on UNCT’s contribution to the achievement of gender equality results.

Scope of the consultancy

The meta-analysis will be conducted by an external independent evaluator over a five-month period from January 2019 – May 2019. The primary method for this analysis is a desk review of UNDAF evaluations. The scope includes UNDAF evaluations completed between 2015 - 2018, to be able to have a broad evidence base and a more robust analysis. An initial search in the UNDP Evaluation Resource Centre (ERC) shows 48 UNDAF evaluations completed over the period 2015-2018. However, all possible avenues will be explored to identify all completed UNDAF evaluations to ensure balanced geographic distribution. This includes but is not limited to online search and contacts with RCOs and Regional Evaluation Groups.

Key outcomes of the meta-analysis

The overall process of the meta-analysis includes two major steps:

assessment of the gender and human rights responsiveness of UNDAF evaluations; and
a meta-analysis of UNDAF evaluations on gender equality results.

Step 1: Assessment of the gender responsiveness of UNDAF evaluations: Using the UN SWAP Evaluation Performance Indicator (EPI) and Scorecard and UNEG Guidance on Integrating Human Rights and Gender Equality in Evaluations, this step involves an analysis of whether the UNDAF evaluations were gender responsive, assessed the integration of human rights and the leaving no one behind principle, and captured gender equality results in relation to other SDGs. This helps to provide an understanding of how well UNDAF evaluations integrate gender equality and human rights perspectives into the methods, criteria, questions, approach, findings and conclusions.

Step 2: A meta-analysis of UNDAF evaluations on gender equality results: This involves an in-depth systemic review and analysis of evidence captured in the body of UNDAF evaluations on gender equality results. This helps to generate key findings and recommendations for a new generation of UNDAF evaluations, including the provision of specific examples on how to integrate the twin-track approach to gender to avoid gender-blindness, and ultimately inform future UNDAFs and country-level programming.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Strong analytical skills, including ability to rapidly analyze and integrate diverse information with a discerning sense for quality of data;
Good mastery of information technology required for organized presentation of information;
Ability to maintain confidentiality;
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude; Proven organizational skills and ability to handle a large volume of work; and
Strong oral and written communication skills.

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modelling UN values and ethical standards, including UNEG norms;
Acts as a team player and exercises diplomacy, tact and politeness; and
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

A post-graduate degree or higher in a relevant field

Experience

Proven experience and background in gender equality/gender analysis
Excellent and proven knowledge of evaluation methodologies and approaches, including specifically gender-responsive evaluations
Experience with evaluating corporate gender mainstreaming strongly preferred
Experience with meta-evaluation and meta-analysis of evaluation reports, preferably with UN agencies, preferred
Proven practical professional experience in designing and conducting complex multi-country evaluations
Familiarity with UNEG evaluation standards, including the UNEG Guidance on Integrating Human Rights and Gender Equality in Evaluations, is an asset
Knowledge and familiarity on reporting against UN-SWAP will also be an asset

Languages

Excellent analytical and writing skills in English required. Working understanding of Spanish and French are required.

Application Instructions

Applicants are invited to upload as one combined document the following documents to the UNDP Jobs site:

Personal CV or P11, indicating all experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of at least three (3) professional references;
A brief cover letter (250-400 words) explaining your interest in this assignment and mentioning details of any potential conflict of interest in having conducted any UNDAF evaluations from 2015 onwards; and
A completed Confirmation of Interest and Submission of Financial Proposal Form that indicates your daily rate for this consultancy;

Candidates not sending any of the requested information will be disqualified. Please note that the system can only accept one uploaded document therefore all documents must be combined into a single document for upload.