Background

UN WOMEN, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of gender-based discrimination; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between genders as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing gender equality at the centre of all its efforts, UN WOMEN leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors. 

The Regional Office of Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) proactively drives the positioning of UN Women among donors, partners, and stakeholders in the region by communicating strategic results, valuable good practices, and key messages through field offices and HQ units. The Monitoring and Reporting team (M&R team) sits in ROAP and is responsible for providing functional and technical support to the teams across the region. The work of the M&R team includes providing high quality technical advice on,  and capacity building for monitoring, reporting, agreements, project management, and providing support for oversight of the ROAP senior management.

Background of the assignment

In November 2019, ROAP’s M&R team began piloting the UN Women-wide Portfolio Review exercise in collaboration with UN Women HQ in New York and project teams across the region. The Portfolio Review exercise is a new mechanism through which projects are assessed for their effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability based on project design, project implementation, and strategic alignment with UN Women’s priorities.

ROAP’s M&R team and UN Women HQ have collaboratively developed a methodology for the Portfolio Review, including an internal online platform and criteria for assessing projects. Over 100 projects are being reviewed. The findings of this internal exercise will contribute to enhancing project performance as well as improving HQ and RO oversight to projects, internal guidance and tools for project management, re-balancing portfolio.

We are looking for a qualified Portfolio Review Consultant to join us in the final leg of piloting the Portfolio Review for the Asia-Pacific region and to draw lessons learnt, and based on them, draft a guidance note for peer reviewers and prepare training materials for other regions to conduct the Portfolio Review.

Duties and Responsibilities

Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the Regional Monitoring and Reporting Programme Specialist, the consultant is responsible for:

• Conduct “peer review” for approximately 65 projects based on documents and information submitted by project team, using assessment criteria. If further information and documents are needed, collect them from project teams.
• Identifying gaps in project design, implementation, and strategic alignment.   
• Aggregate data from individual project review. Analyse the data as a whole, per country, and per thematic area and identify trends and common challenges. Prepare PowerPoint slides on the findings.
•  Compile lessons learnt based on the experience of peer review, aggregation and analysis. Using them, further refine methodology and template, as needed.
• Based on the experience, draft tips for peer reviewers (1-2 pages) and training materials with guidance from HQ.

Duration of Assignment

              From 25 June to 30 November 2020.

Expected outputs/ deliverables

Schedule of Payment

Payments upon satisfactory submissions of deliverables in accordance with specified requirements.  The payments will be made in two times upon submission of 1) Short update on the status of peer reviews and completed peer review results for 50 projects (outputs #2&3) and Final payment upon submission of the final version of peer review guidance note and training materials (output #7).

Selection Criteria       

Candidates will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

1. Educational Background and Professional Experience as reflected in CV and P11 form
2. Cover Letter
3. Writing Sample (that demonstrates analytical skills, result based management skills, writing skills, preferably in the field of international development)
4. One-page summary of the experience in portfolio/project review, elaborating what kind of portfolio/projects, methodology, how it was managed, your role in it, and key findings.
5. Financial Proposal (Financial Proposal should include daily consultancy rate

The evaluation will be based on the combination of the weighted technical and financial scores (80 per cent technical and 20 per cent financial). The technical evaluation includes the knowledge/ expertise as per the requirement. The evaluation methods include desk review and/or validation interview.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Competencies:

• Adherence to UN WOMEN standard and rules;
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Stakeholder Engagement

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s Degree or equivalent in International Relations, Social Science, Public Administration, or other related fields

Work Experience:

• At least 7 years working experience in the field of international development and project management including substantive experience in monitoring.
• Experience of portfolio/project reviews is preferred.
• Demonstrated knowledge of gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• Excellent result-based management skills are required;
• Excellent analytical and writing skills are required;
• Excellent command of English;
• Previous experience with UN Women/UN agencies is an advantage.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should submit the following documents to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org with the subject line: “Application for Portfolio Review Consultant” by 12 June 2020 deadline.

1. CV
2. Cover Letter
3. P11 Form (https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-p11-personal-history-form.doc?la=en&vs=558)
4. Writing Sample
5. One page summary of the experience in portfolio/project review
6. Financial Proposal