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.

The Policy Division develops and implements the UN Women programme of work on analysis, research and knowledge management that provides the evidence base for the advice and guidance UN Women provides to the intergovernmental process, the UN system, and to UN Women staff working at country and regional level. It identifies emerging issues and trends, and develops and proposes new strategies for achieving the agreed goals through innovative approaches and lessons learned about what works in practice.

The Policy Division undertakes issues-based research; analyzes data on country, regional or global trends; builds a knowledge base on policy commitments and their implementation; proposes evidence-based options for global policy, norms and standards and for UN Women’s flagship programmes; and contributes substantive inputs to policy advocacy and technical cooperation programmes.

UN Women—in partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the European Union (EU)—implements the EU-funded programme WE EMPOWER G7 (“Women’s economic empowerment at work through responsible business conduct in G7 countries”), which is operational in Canada, Japan and the USA. The overall objective of this programme is to contribute to gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.

Targeting women-led enterprises and networks, multinational corporations and other relevant stakeholders in the three programme countries and the European Union, the programme will promote gender-responsive business conduct through fostering business links, joint ventures and innovation, while supporting inter-regional dialogues and exchange of good practices. The substantive work on women’s economic empowerment will be guided by the G7 Roadmap and stakeholder priority themes. The project’s operational platform is the Women’s Empowerment Principles, established by the UN Global Compact and UN Women in 2010.

The programme takes a two-track approach:

Track 1 focuses on multi-stakeholder policy and action-driven dialogues and knowledge exchanges (case studies, good practice, tools), campaigns and incentives. This track includes two programme outcomes that contributes to:

  Outcome 1: Advancing women's economic empowerment through multi-stakeholder dialogues within and across the G7 countries

  Outcome 2: Companies’ enhanced knowledge on how to implement the WEPs and promote international labour standards (ILS)

Track 2 covers private-sector engagement, training, toolkits, incentives for implementing WEPs, transparency, voluntary monitoring and reporting; virtual learning for women’s enhanced access to quality jobs and business opportunities, and links between EU/G7 women’s business associations and networks.

This track includes three programme outcomes that focus on contributing to:

   Outcome 3: WEPs companies' implementation of gender-responsive practices in line with the WEPs and ILS

   Outcome 4: Aligning companies' voluntary monitoring and reporting with the WEPs and ILS

   Outcome 5: Women’s strengthened economic opportunities

The WE EMPOWER team is seeking a consultant to undertake a mid-term review of the programme to inform future programme orientation and implementation. 

Duties and Responsibilities

The Consultant will conduct mid-term review of the WE EMPOWER programme with expected outputs and deliverables as detailed below. The estimated duration of this consultancy is 45 working days.

Proposed Format of the Midterm Review: (Midterm Review is no more than 25 pages, excluding annexes)

• Executive Summary
• Programme Description
• Purpose and Objectives of the Evaluation
• Evaluation Methodology
• Findings
• Conclusions
• Lessons learned
• Recommendations
• Annexes (key documents consulted, interviewee list, interview questions, Terms of Reference)

The consultant cannot have participated in the programme preparation, formulation, and/or implementation and should not have a conflict of interest with programme related activities.

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:

• Excellent knowledge of principles and methods of evaluation, particularly in the context of international development
• Demonstrated grasp and understanding of gender issues, in general, and preferably in the UN system
• In-depth understanding of legislation, public and private sector policies on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment
• Strong analytical skills, including ability to rapidly analyze and integrate diverse information with a discerning sense for quality of data
• Ability to work with multidisciplinary and multicultural teams
• Creativity, innovation and initiative
• Results oriented
• Ability to facilitate discussions and consultations

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/women’s studies, international development, business administration, public administration or related field.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of relevant experience on gender programming, monitoring and/or evaluation in the UN and/or international development. Familiarity with UN Women and its programme evaluation a plus;
• Proven experience with results-based management and evaluation methodologies;
• Demonstrated experience in gender sensitive evaluation;
• Demonstrated experience with multi-stakeholder engagement, particularly the private sector;
• Knowledge of European Union Partnership Instrument Monitoring System an asset.

Language requirements:

• Proficiency (strong oral and written skills) in English is required;
• Knowledge of other UN official working language is an asset.