UN WOMEN Jobs - 71294- International Consultant for Programme Support and

International Consultant for Programme Support and Coordination

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Kathmandu, NEPAL

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

03-Apr-2017

Application Deadline :

26-Mar-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Six months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Possibility of extension

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

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the charter of the United Nations, UN Women 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 actions and peace and security. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of national priorities and efforts, building effective partnership with government, civil society and other relevant actors.

Established by General Assembly resolution 64/289 of 2 July 2010 on system-wide coherence, with a mandate to assist Member States and the United Nations system to progress more effectively and efficiently towards the goal of achieving gender equality, women’s empowerment, and upholding women’s rights, UN Women’s global programmatic priorities for the period 2014-2017 are: (a) women lead and participate in decision making at all levels; (b) women, especially the poorest and most excluded, are economically empowered and benefit from development; (c) women and girls live a life free from violence; (d) peace and security and humanitarian action are shaped by women’s leadership and participation; (e) governance and national planning fully reflect accountability for gender equality commitments and priorities; and (f) a comprehensive and dynamic set of global norms, policies and standards on gender equality and women’s empowerment is in place and is applied through action by Governments and other stakeholders at all levels.

In Nepal, UN Women focuses on strengthening women’s voice, agency and leadership across sectors to advance women’s rights, provide space for women’s meaningful participation and to demonstrate tangible differences in their lives. The agency’s programme adopts a holistic and integrated approach across UN Women’s five thematic priorities. It is guided by Nepal’s stated priorities (including those from the Three-Year Plan 2016-2019) and its commitments to relevant normative frameworks[1], the country’s United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2013-2017, the CEDAW Concluding Observations (2011) and UN Women’s Corporate Strategic Plan 2014-2017. The programme promotes national ownership, capacity development and institutionalization, inclusiveness, coordination and partnerships, and knowledge generation and management, and seeks to prioritize engagement with and support to key duty bearers who are responsible for advancing women’s human rights and with rights holders so they can exercise voice and agency. UN Women is in process of developing UN Women’s Corporate Strategic Plan 2018-2021.

UN Women is mandated to lead, coordinate and promote accountability for the implementation of gender equality commitments across the UN System. In Nepal, the UN Women Country Office provides technical assistance on gender within the UN Country Team (UNCT), leads efforts to implement the UNCT Gender Scorecard, leads coordination as co-chair of the UNCT Gender Theme Group (GTG), and continues to play a key role in the Peace Support Working Group (PSWG). It is the lead coordinating UN agency for two of the ten outcomes of the country's UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2013-17 and is partner to several joint UN programmes with others in the pipeline. UN Women envisages the establishment of a macro-level gender coordination body led by the government, co-convened by the UN Resident Coordinator and with UN Women as its Secretariat. This will be an important effort towards strengthened accountability for results for gender equality and women's empowerment, enhanced efficiencies, improved coherence, joint action and reduced transaction costs through better coordination between the government and development partners. UN Women will advocate for a separate gender equality goal in Nepal's next UNDAF, as well as for gender to be mainstreamed through all its goals and targets.

The Consultant is expected to work in the Nepal Country Office (NCO), Kathmandu (approximately 40 people) and is responsible in the programme support, coordination and strategic planning efforts of the NCO.

[1] The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs) 1325 and 1820.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance of the Country Representative and direct supervision of the Strategic Partnerships Specialist in collaboration with thematic programme lead, the Consultant will be responsible for the following:

Manage strategic coordination of Nepal's priorities and commitments for gender equality and women's empowerment (GEWE);
Play a key role in supporting the establishment of a macro-level government gender coordination body, including institutional capacity development and strategic planning;
Contribute to the institutional capacity development and to the strategic planning needs of the UN Women Nepal office;
Participate in the planning, implementation and monitoring of the UNCT Gender Scorecard[2];
Lead the implementation of the strategy of the UNCT Gender Theme Group to support UNCT's commitments to GEWE in the country's UNDAF;
Identify potential joint programming opportunities to deliver on the UNDAF's GEWE commitments in order to contribute to the resource mobilization efforts of the NCO;
Contribute to strengthening strategic partnerships and coordination for GEWE within the UN System and with external partners, including government and development partners;
Document and advocate best practices and lessons learnt for UN System-wide coordination;
Contribute to update the comprehensive Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Plans (MERP) in line with UN Women’s mandate. Analyze requirements and synthesize proposals for the planning, preparation and management of specific thematic, country programme/project evaluations and other types of evaluations;
Contribute to support the monitoring of UN Women Annual Work Plan (AWP) in collaboration with Monitoring and Evaluation Officer;
Liaise with UN Women regional and HQ offices on developments related to UN Women's coordination mandate;
Lead drafting of concept notes/documents for resource mobilization and strategic partnership;
Support enhancement of Result Based Management (RBM) knowledge and skills of the NCO staff and partners;
Contribute to joint UN advocacy efforts for GEWE.

[2] The gender scorecard is one of the three system-wide accountability mechanisms for gender mainstreaming across the UN system. The scorecard establishes systems and tools to measure progress against stated gender equality goals and accountability functions of the United Nations Country Team (UNCT). It looks at joint processes and institutional arrangements within the UNCT focusing on improving strategic planning for gender equality and women's empowerment (GEWE) through the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) cycle.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

Develop and strengthen partnerships across a broad range of partners, including UN agencies, development partners, and government;
Quality knowledge products including briefs, concept notes/proposals and talking points;
Quality reports on the results achieved through coordination initiatives;
Capacity Development Plan on results based management (RBM) formulated and training sessions delivered;
Three concept notes/documents for resource mobilization;
A handover notes to UN Women stating the status of the work and follow ups including best practices and lessons learnt for UN System-wide coordination.

SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS

Payment will be based on the unit rate as per the standard of the UN Women fee guidelines agencies in Nepal and made based on the quantity called off and upon certification of satisfactory performance by the Head of Strategic Partnership and Resource Mobilisation Unit.

Competencies

Functional Competencies

Demonstrates an ability to lead formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects;
Demonstrates an ability to lead result-based project management and report writing in every aspect of professional work;
Builds a strong relationship with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
Demonstrates a high level of proficiency in computer systems, internet navigation and various office applications.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

Master’s degree in Gender and Development Studies, Economics, Public Policy or any other related field of studies.

Experience

A minimum of 5 years of work experience in development in particular programme support and/or coordination;
Proven expertise in the area of gender equality and the empowerment of women;
Good familiarity with and experience of working with donor funded projects and donor reporting;
Demonstrated technical expertise in designing, managing and implementing support targeted for women and girls are a strong asset;
Experience in and/or with the government and the UN system preferably on UN interagency coordination is an asset.

Language

An excellent oral and written skills in English is required.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS

Expression of interest explaining why you are interested to this position and what professional skills and experiences you must support your interest is strong;
UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded: http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment;
A written sample of the recent three years with min. 3,000 words where the applicant is the lead author.

Note: Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Please upload as one attachment of the documents as mentioned above online through this website.

EVALUATION OF OFFERS

Criteria for selection will be based on the following assessment followed by the satisfactory reference check of the candidate:

Required degree and qualification (10 points);
Minimum experience relevant to the assignment (20 points);
Working knowledge and experience in the area of gender equality and the empowerment of women (20 points);
Work experience in coordination, programme support and/or development (20 points).
Written sample (30 points).

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70 points in the technical evaluation will be considered for next round of evaluation and/or interview.

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.