UN WOMEN Jobs - 86684- UN Women: International Consultant for Evaluation

UN Women: International Consultant for Evaluation Policy review

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

03-Sep-2019

Application Deadline :

15-Aug-19 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

3 months

Languages Required :

English

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

1. The evaluation policy of UN Women (UNW/2012/12) became effective in January 2013. The policy governs the independent evaluation function of UN-Women and applies to all initiatives supported and funds administered by the organization. It aligns with the norms and standards of the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG), and it is tailored specifically to the unique mandate and role of UN-Women to conduct evaluations responsive to gender equality and women’s rights, while supporting coordination, coherence and accountability with respect to gender equality and the empowerment of women in the United Nations system and promoting national evaluation capacity development.

As per the provision of the evaluation policy, the evaluation function underwent an external assessment by the United Nations Evaluation Group in 2014 and the Joint Inspection Unit in 2015. Building on the external assessments, the UN Women Global Evaluation Advisory Committee (GEAC) undertook an assessment of UN Women’s evaluation function and its policy in 2015. The overall findings of the three assessments were aligned and complemented one another, concluding that UN-Women’s evaluation policy provided a sound framework for evaluation function[1]. The Executive Board of UN Women subsequently requested UN Women to carry out an external review of the evaluation policy in three years[2].

This Terms of Reference is developed for carrying out an independent external review of the UN Women Evaluation Policy. It sets out the key elements of the review, including the purpose, scope and objectives, the general approach and methods, the required competencies for external expert and the key deliverables and timing.

[1] Report of the Global Evaluation Advisory Committee on the external assessments of the evaluation function of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. UNW/2015/CPR.1

[2] Decision 16/2.

Duties and Responsibilities

2. Purpose, Scope and Objectives

The Independent Evaluation Services (IES) of the Independent Evaluation and Audit Services (IEAS) is responsible for preparing an update of the UN Women Evaluation Policy. The review will have the following key objectives:

Assess whether the UN Women Evaluation Policy is aligned with standards and best practice for the provision of effective and efficient evaluation in a United Nations setting;
Identify constraints affecting the effective and efficient implementation of the UN Women Evaluation Policy and areas that may require policy change;
Identify the areas of the UN Women Evaluation Policy content that need revision to reflect contextual and/or organizational changes and propose the revisions accordingly.

The review will draw on the findings of the 2015 review of the UN Women independent evaluation function. More importantly, it will also build on the ongoing regular inspection of UN-Women evaluation function being conducted by the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) (to be completed in quarter four 2019), and consider other recent assessments of evaluation function, such as MOPAN (2018). It will start with a high-level assessment of the UN Women evaluation function against evaluation good practice standards, drawing on the UNEG Norms and Standards and other relevant assessment frameworks as appropriate.

The review will take into consideration contextual and organizational changes, such as the updated UNEG Norms and Standards (2016), UNDS reform and the Agenda 2030, the 2016 quadrennial comprehensive policy review (QCPR), the establishment of the co-located internal audit and evaluation functions in UN Women under one management umbrella, as well as ongoing UN Women change management processes. The review will focus on the independent corporate evaluations and decentralized evaluation functions, including systems for evaluation planning, oversight and quality assurance. The coordination role of UN-Women on gender-responsive evaluation in the United Nations system and national evaluation capacity development workstreams will be also included in the review.

3. Approach and methodology

The UNEG Norms and Standards will be used as a basis for the evaluation policy review. While a mix of approaches will be used, the review is expected to draw extensively from the plethora of external assessments performed on the UN Women evaluation function, including the ongoing regular OIOS inspection of the evaluation function. It is also expected to draw on recent reviews by other UN agencies of their evaluation policies and, more generally, a rapid benchmarking of evaluation policies and policy reviews of similar UN agencies and other comparable organizations. This approach offers a cost-effective avenue for leveraging existing evidence, while ensuring cost-efficiency in terms of reducing duplication and time for consultations.

The main review approach and data collection instruments will include:

Desk Review (sample documents for consultation are suggested in Annex 1) and Benchmarking (to evaluation policies and policy reviews of other similar organizations)
Individual and group interviews (expected to be conducted by phone or teleconferencing—individuals to be consulted will be provided)

4. Focus areas for the review and deliverables

The review will mainly address the below guiding questions framed against selected UNEG Normative Framework. More elaborated questions will be formulated in consultation with IES.

Relevance of the policy: the extent to which the Evaluation Policy meets professionally recognized international standards for Evaluation Policy, the needs of UN Women stakeholders, and benchmarking with relevant comparators.
Independence, credibility and utility: the degree to which the Policy provides safeguards for independence, and the extent to which the credibility and utility of evaluations are maintained.
Coverage: the extent to which the criteria defined in the Policy provides adequate and appropriate coverage in support of the effective, efficient and impactful implementation of UN Women’s mandate and strategic plan, SDG 5 and UN reform as well as the growing demand for development effectiveness measures both within UN Women and among its partners.

The key milestones for the review are provided under section six. The expected deliverables of the review will include i.) a draft updated Evaluation Policy and ii.) a summary report (max 8000 words). The summary report is expected to outline and explain the areas of policy content that need revision in sync with contextual and organizational changes as well as measures and adaptations required to make the Policy more purposeful and innovative to meet the demands for accountability, decision making and learning.

5. Roles and responsibilities for Policy Review

Under the direct supervision of the Chief, IES, and in consultation with the Director, IEAS the review is expected to be completed within a period of three months, between September– November 2019. The expert will be engaged for approximately 20-25 working days. It will be a participatory and consultative process involving relevant internal and external stakeholders as needed.

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

Required Skills and Experience

6. Qualifications

The external expert will be chosen for her/his professional experience and stature in the field of evaluation policy and practice, particularly within the UN system or a similar international setting, experience in high level policy reviews, and knowledge of gender equality issues as they pertain to evaluation policy practice.

7. Key milestones and timeline

Desk review of relevant documents (Annex 1), and preparation of Evaluation Policy review plan, September 10, 2019 – September 24, 2019.
Consultation with IEAS on Evaluation Policy review plan September 24, 2019 - October 15, 2019.
Benchmarking of Policy and internal and external consultations October 15, 2019 – October 30, 2019
Discussion of draft updated policy and summary report with IEAS November 10, 2019
Delivery of final updated Evaluation Policy and summary report November 29, 2019.

Interested evaluation experts must submit the following documents/information:

8. Submission of applications