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.Recent years have shown increased acknowledgement and commitment by humanitarian actors towards mainstreaming gender in humanitarian assistance. A significant number of Commitments to Action made at the World Humanitarian Summit and the subsequent Agenda for Humanity focus on the core responsibility to leave no one behind, under which there is specific reference to “achieving real change so that the needs of women and girls are systematically met and their roles as decision-makers and leaders are vigorously promoted.”[1]At the global policy level, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) issued its policy statement on gender equality in humanitarian action in June 2008 which set out actions to be taken by the IASC to ensure gender equality, including through women’s empowerment, is fully incorporated in all IASC work and coordination mechanisms (structures or bodies) towards more effective and coherent humanitarian action.

The IASC Gender Reference Group has played a significant role in in renewing the commitments of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, which led to the updated IASC policy on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls in Humanitarian Action (GEEWG), formally endorsed in December of 2017[2].

The Policy is now accompanied by the Accountability Framework, with the aim to track compliance with the policy’s standards and commitments, as well as to monitor delivery on its prescribed roles and responsibilities for the IASC’s structures and field representation.?

Despite numerous international commitments for gender equality in humanitarian action, persistent gaps remain. Key among these are (i) lack of accountability for gender; (ii) gaps in data and understanding of the gendered impacts of crises; (iii) barriers hindering women’s participation and leadership in crisis response; (iv) Lack of targeted investment in women’s empowerment, livelihoods and resilience.

Here in Jordan, in discussion with various partners from UNHCR and OCHA during 2017, and at the recent HPF Retreat in 2018, humanitarian and bilateral partners recognized that the HPF would benefit from a review of the systems, structures and available expertise to achieve the Commitments to Action on gender in humanitarian action (GiHA) in Jordan. In November 2018 the HPF endorsed a gender review of humanitarian action in Jordan in order to provide lessons learned and recommendations on how all partners can strengthen the structures, systems and expertise in place to deliver on the WHS commitments.

Under the supervision of the Reference Group[3], UN Women is hiring an international consultant to be part of the team responsible to carry out the review of Gender in Humanitarian Action in Jordan, which will be composed by a number of technical experts in gender in humanitarian action.

Objectives of the assignment

The review will seek to assess the extent to which the humanitarian architecture in Jordan is in line with the global commitments subscribed on Gender in Humanitarian Action, identifying gaps and opportunities with the aim of strengthening the accountability of the humanitarian response and supporting implementation of gender responsive interventions that contribute to gender equality and are situated within the humanitarian-development nexus.

The objective of the review is to provide lessons learned and recommendations for future humanitarian response in Jordan and is particularly timely given several key issues are likely to evolve in 2019, including a potential redesign of the government’s response planning and a continued dialogue among humanitarian partners and the government on conditions for returns and the humanitarian-development nexus.

The sub-objectives of the review include addressing issues related to:

1. Accountability for gender in humanitarian action;

2. Availability and use of sex and age disaggregated data, gender statistics and gender analysis;

3. Participation of women in leadership and decision-making on response;

4. Targeted investments in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment.

[1] World Humanitarian Summit https://www.agendaforhumanity.org/sites/default/files/resources/2017/Jul/WHS_commitment_to_Action_8September2016.pdf page 16.

[2] https://interagencystandingcommittee.org/gender-and-humanitarian-action/documents-public/iasc-policy-and-accountability-framework-gender

[3] The Reference Group is composed of key stakeholders and will provide overall strategic guidance to the outputs; ensure their relevance; facilitate as necessary provision of access to tools, data, resources and key informants; validate findings; and provide inputs to recommendations.

Duties and Responsibilities

The scope of the review includes actors, systems, structures and expertise in Jordan on humanitarian action inclusive of UN, bilaterals, INGOS, national NGOs and government as well as stakeholders focusing on the humanitarian-development nexus approach.

The consultant will be part of a team of technical experts and is expected to contribute to the following tasks:

1. Desk review and data analysis:

• Review of the gender responsiveness of the indicators included in the Sector Dashboard and sector plans.
• Review the incorporation and analysis of SADD in ISWG tools and data resources and JORISS monitoring and reporting tools. Including but not limited to the following documents:

• A sample of 20 relevant dashboards, factsheets and Key documents published by UNHCR in 2018;
• Vulnerability Assessment Framework Population Survey (VAF) 2017 and 2019;
• Age Gender Diversity Mainstreaming Participatory Assessment (AGDM PA) 2017;
• Available sector performance surveys;
• JORISS sector monitoring exercises 2017;

• Review of the coding according to the criteria stablished by the IASC Gender Marker of the approved proposals in the JHF call for proposals in 2018
• Review of the IASC Gender Marker coding for gender targeted and if possible, gender mainstreamed approved projects with the information available in the JORISS system for 2018.

2. Key informant interviews:

• Develop the questions for the KIIs according to the desk review results against the M&E and Financial Resources components of the Indicators Framework criteria.
• Undertake 15-20 interviews with identified Key informant interviews.

3. Provide recommendations and present findings:

• Provide specific recommendations on how to improve the M&E tools, data resources and available expertise in the humanitarian architecture in Jordan.
• Provide inputs to draft an action plan to implement findings and recommendations of the review.
• Present provisional findings to the reference group and incorporate feedback.

Methodology

The review will be informed by a desk review of relevant reports, data sheets, surveys, dashboards and reporting tools and a series of key informant interviews.

A background study and an indicator framework have been developed based on the IASC Gender Policy Accountability Framework (2018) and the IASC Gender Handbook (2018), which have been selected as key reference documents to inform this exercise.

The data analysis will be quantitative and qualitative according to the criteria defined in the indicator framework with the aim of developing an assessment, findings, recommendations and action plan on the four sub-objectives of the review listed above.

Duration of the assignment

The expected duration of this consultancy is 4 months, with the expected starting date 10 Oct 2019. ?The assignment is based in Amman, Jordan including field visits as required.

Expected Deliverables

The consultant is expected to work with the team to deliver the following results:

All the documents, including the interview tools, training materials and reports should be submitted in written in English language.

Upon receipt of the deliverables and prior to the payment of the installment, the deliverables, related reports and documents will be reviewed and approved by UN Women and the Reference Group within one week of submission.

Inputs

• UN Women will provide the Consultant with background materials for the desk review.
• UN Women will also cover the costs of daily subsistence allowance (DSA) for Amman as per standard UN rate.
• The consultant is expected to work remotely using her/his own computer but may access the UN Women office for printing of relevant documents or should he/she be required to work on-site at any point during the assignment.

• UN Women will also cover the costs for translation of printed materials as required throughout the duration of the assignment.

Performance evaluation:

Contractor’s performance will be evaluated based on: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

Competencies

Core values;

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

Core Competencies:

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

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Postgraduate university degree in development studies, social development, gender studies or related field;

Experience and skills

• A minimum of 10 years of experience in the humanitarian/development sector, including 5 years of field-based work focused on M&E, is required;
• Proven experience and expertise on Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) required;
• Proven understanding of humanitarian architecture, key stakeholders, and duty-bearers is required;
• Proven knowledge of global commitments, initiatives and guideline documents (such as IASC Gender Handbook and Gender with Age Marker) on GiHA.

Language and other skills

• Fluency in written and spoken English required.
• Knowledge of Arabic is an asset.

Submission package

• CV
• Letter of Interest containing the statement on candidate’s experience in the field of recruitment
• Financial proposal. The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount breaking down a daily professional fee and international travel expenses (from the country of origin to Amman, Jordan and back), visa and other travel related costs.
• All applications must include (as an attachment) the CV and the financial proposal. Applications without financial proposal will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.
• Please note that only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

Evaluation

• Applications will be evaluated based on the Cumulative analysis.

• Technical Qualification (100 points) weight; [70%]

• Financial Proposal (100 points) weight; [30%]

• A two-stage procedure is utilised in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.