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.
UN Women’s India Country Office works towards promoting women’s leadership in governance and participation in intergovernmental processes, UN interagency coordination, women’s economic empowerment and ending violence against women and girls.
Under its comprehensive and unique mandate of normative support and coordination, UN Women is expected to provide strong and coherent leadership in support of countries’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society, the nodal government agency, private sector and other relevant actors.
The Intergovernmental Processes & Inter-Agency Coordination division in UN WOMEN India Country Office (ICO) plays a central role to deliver on UN Women’s normative support functions and strengthens linkages between normative work and operational activities. It contributes to the Entity’s support for the development and strengthening of a comprehensive set of global norms, policies and standards on gender equality and women’s empowerment that is dynamic, responds to new and emerging issues, challenges and opportunities and is applied through action by Governments and other stakeholders at all levels. The Unit also has special responsibility for the coordination of substantive servicing of intergovernmental and expert bodies as mandated in relevant legislative documents.
The Intergovernmental Processes and Coordination Division is UN Women’s interface with intergovernmental bodies, including the Commission on the Status of Women, the Economic and Social Council, the General Assembly, the G20, as well as with other intergovernmental processes and events.
This Technical Consultant role would contribute effectively to assist the Ministry of Women & Child Development (MWCD) on behalf of UN Women in organising G20 related activities pertaining to the Ministry by providing substantive inputs to agenda setting, policy strategy, support for intergovernmental dialogues about the G20 agenda, and documentation. The consultant will also support the Ministry’s engagement with W20 – the non-governmental complement to the G20 process. She/ he will engage across the UN to maximise support for the Government India’s engagement on the gender aspects of the G20. She/he will work in close collaboration with the programme and operations team at the Ministry and ICO, other Government officials from line Ministries and civil society ensuring successful implementation of programmes under the G20 Engagement Group meetings and other meetings, as per requirement.
UN Women will be placing Two (2) Technical Consultants at the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) to support the Ministry with a focus on intergovernmental processes, particularly on the G20 Summit, and sustainable development goals. The Two (2) Technical Consultants will be placed in MWCD and will report to the Officers in G20 Cell (under International Cooperation Division) in MWCD as may be assigned by the Ministry under the overall supervision of the Country Representative, UN WOMEN ICO. The Technical Consultant will also meet with UN Women once a fortnight or when required to discuss work undertaken.
Duties and Responsibilities
Summary of Key Functions :
- Support MWCD to engage with Member State(s) towards strengthening attention to gender perspectives in intergovernmental work, including through gathering information, identifying challenges and creating opportunities for MWCD and UN Women to help advance the global normative framework for gender equality;
- Support the smooth functioning of intergovernmental processes, including reporting processes and providing advice with regard to sharing institutional knowledge with, Member States on intergovernmental procedures and working methods;
- Supports creation of strategic partnerships & initiatives on women’s empowerment and gender equality at MWCD;
- Supports & conducts research and analysis as required.
Technical Advice and Strategic Support to India’s G20 Presidency to further Align the G20 Agenda with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, focusing on Goal 5:
- Provide technical advice on international cooperation under G20 for sustainable development, with focused inclusion of Goal 5 on Gender Equality;
- Provide high-quality policy support on all sustainable development related issues with a focus on international cooperation from gender perspective.
- Support with strategic thinking on how to move forward for alignment of agenda and priorities of the Government of India and UN Women under G20 processes.
- Lead the process of strategic thinking, forward-looking analysis on emerging trends and global challenges to develop G20 policy options in relation to the 2030 Agenda implementation. This will include preparing analysis, papers, issue notes, briefs, speeches, talking points as well as draft G20 communique language.
- Engage in policy resource and support preparation ahead of G20 meetings and relevant engagement group meetings pertaining to MWCD.
- Support the preparation and realisation of the India’s G20 policy agenda and documents to ensure that they are well-aligned with G20 objectives, past G20 commitments, sustain continuity of the G20 work across presidencies, and further contribute to the 2030 Agenda implementation.
- Provide inputs to the Ministry’s participation and response to international cooperation platforms focused on gender equality and social inclusion.
- Support the Ministry’s engagement and follow up in bilateral and multilateral forums.
- Coordinate monthly meetings with MWCD and UN Women. Ensure regular communications between MWCD and UN Women.
- Provide assistance and technical support to any other tasks assigned by MWCD and UN Women
Strategic Thinking and Coordination to Strengthen MWCD’s Strategic Engagement with the G20:
- Support MWCD’s engagement with the G20 secretariat by contributing to the design of a strategic approach to accelerate global progress towards the SDGs particularly Goal 5.
- Designing, and undertaking policy research and analysis on varied political and global sustainable development issues, focused from gender perspective, to deliver on G20 sustainable development related priorities.
- Enhancing coordination of MWCD both with the G20 finance and Sherpa track to ensure greater impact of MWCD participation while also providing support to the UN Women and its participation.
- Leading the designing and organisation of MWCD-G20 Workshop(s) as required by the Ministry.
- Liaising with the G20 Engagement Group under the leadership of the MWCD, and establishing working processes with the Ministry and UN Women, and other relevant entities to partner with on G20.
Management:
- Managing and coordinating support to MWCD officers and their G20 team including providing policy and technical support to prepare all the documents needed and help facilitate the design of G20 Presidency priorities and outcomes in this workstream through MWCD.
- Coordinating with UN Women specialists covering select areas of the G20 work to provide inputs to, and facilitate the design of, G20 Summit deliverables upon request from the MWCD.
- Coordinating team contributions and support corporate knowledge management activities to help influence / advance policy dialogues in the thematic(s) area, in collaboration with MWCD and UN Women.
- Developing and reviewing knowledge products in close coordination with MWCD by analysing and sharing lessons learnt.
Research and Analysis:
- Analysis of documents/references from different departments from a gender perspective.
- Analysis and research of information, preparation of substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation & identification of new opportunities.
- Prepare briefing notes and updates on gender issues
- Prepare periodic progress reports of the work undertaken by the Ministry.
Any other duties assigned by the Direct Supervisor in MWCD & the Country Representative in UN Women.
Deliverables:
- Substantive positioning of the Ministry of Women and Child Development within G20 processes, working/ engagement groups and outcomes.
- Background papers and fact sheets on G20 are required.
Competencies
Core Competencies:
- Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity;
- Demonstrating sound judgment;
- Self-development, initiative-taking
- Acting as a team player and facilitating teamwork;
- Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively
- Managing conflict;
- Learning and sharing knowledge and encouraging the learning of others. Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member;
- Informed and transparent decision making.
Functional Competencies:
- Demonstrates commitment to mission, vision and values of MWCD and UN Women;
- Strong knowledge, and experience of working on intergovernmental and normative processes; especially globally, and nationally;
- Demonstrated ability to analyse policy and strategies from a gender perspective;
- Produces qualitative, accurate outputs with considerable attention to detail, in a timely manner;
- Manages complexities, shifting priorities, and is able to work effectively without constant supervision;
- Maintains constructive, effective business relationships with clients and partners;
- Adheres to deadlines and follows up on time-bound issues;
- Maintains diplomacy, tact and strict confidentiality with internal and external partners and clients;
- Strong interpersonal and communication (verbal, listening, writing) skills;
- Organization skills (time management, efficient administration, multi-tasking and fast-paced);
- Ability to work under pressure within strict deadlines;
- Ability to adapt quickly to work demands, and changing deadlines;
- Willingness to “inter-change” work functions with other staff within the Unit, when required.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Master’s Degree in political or social sciences or related field.
Experience:
- 5 years of relevant experience at the national or international level in providing management advisory services and hands-on experience, preferably with the Government, in design, monitoring and evaluation of development projects.
- Some experience working for the United Nations in support of normative intergovernmental processes is an advantage.
- Experience in the use of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and in handling web-based management systems.
Languages:
- Fluency in English and Hindi.
Application:
Interested applicants should apply to this announcement through UNDP jobs site: jobs.undp.org
Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:
- All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs
- Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment, please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment;
- Applications received after the close date will not be accepted;
- Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
Evaluation and Selection Criteria
Criteria for shortlisting of CVs will be based on the following assessment:
- Required Degree and Qualification (5 points);
- Expertise and Experience relevant to the assignment (10 points);
- Demonstrable experience on policy advocacy with the government and other stakeholders (5 points).
The evaluation process for selection of the candidate will be based on the following assessment:
- Writing Samples Assessment (20 points)
- Written Test (30 points)
- Interview (50 points)
Please Note:
- For an assignment requiring travel, consultants of 65 years or more require full medical examination and statement of fitness to work to engage in the consultancy.
- Due to large number of potential applicants, only competitively selected candidates will be contacted for remaining steps of the service procurement process.
Note:
In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.