Historique

1.1 UN Reform & Gender Equality

There are numerous UN inter-governmental mandates for gender equality and the empowerment of women (GEEW). In 2015, UN Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at its core. The Agenda commits all countries and stakeholders to work together to achieve sustained and inclusive economic growth, social development, and environmental protection. Leaving no one behind and reaching the furthest behind first is at the core of the Agenda. This is underpinned by the principle of GEEW, grounded in the norms and standards the United Nations is tasked to uphold and promote, including coherent and integrated system-wide gender-responsive planning, implementation and reporting.

The latest UN General Assembly resolution 71/243 from the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review (QCPR) [1]  adopted in December 2016 reaffirmed that promoting gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls, in accordance with CEDAW, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcomes of relevant UN conferences and resolutions of the General Assembly, is of fundamental importance and has a multiplier effect for achieving sustained and inclusive economic growth, poverty eradication and sustainable development. The QCPR resolution furthermore calls upon all entities of the UN development system to continue to promote women’s empowerment and gender equality by enhancing gender mainstreaming through the full implementation of the System-wide Action Plan on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women as well as the UNCT performance indicators for gender equality and the empowerment of women (the “gender equality scorecard”) [2], in particular with regard to gender-responsive performance management and strategic planning, the collection and use of sex-disaggregated data, reporting and resource tracking, and drawing on available gender expertise in the system at all levels to assist in mainstreaming gender equality in the UN development assistance planning frameworks.

In Myanmar, the UN Country Team (UNCT) in partnership with the government and other stakeholders has developed the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) which is the strategy of cooperation for the four-year period 2018 to 2022 that seeks to realize this closer alignment of national priorities and UN normative standards and operational contributions. The UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2018-2022 in Myanmar has a strong emphasis on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls across all areas of people, planet, prosperity and peace, in line with the overall focus on human rights and ‘leaving no one behind’.

The United Nations Country Team commit to work together in collaboration with the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and other partners to support realizing the national development vision, aligned with the globally agreed and universally applicable transformative 2030 Agenda and the SDGs and its core commitment of leaving no one behind.

1.2 The UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard

In response to the UN Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) system-wide Policy on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (CEB/2006/2) the UN has developed a coordinated approach to strengthening accountability for gender, endorsed by the CEB in 2012:

1. The UN System-wide Action Plan (UN-SWAP), which from 2012–2017 focused on corporate processes and institutional arrangements at the individual entity level and extended in 2018 to cover development and normative results tied to the SDGs.

2. The United Nations Country Teams (UNCT) Performance Indicators for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women – the UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard - introduced in August 2008 focusing initially on joint processes and institutional arrangements within the UNCT, and eventually extended to cover results. The UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard has been aligned with the UNSWAP to ensure a coherent accountability framework at country, regional and HQ levels.

To further support the development of the gender-responsive UN Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAFs) and ensure better accountability of UNCT towards gender equality and women’s empowerment in line with UN corporative policy in this area, the UN Country Teams are expected to use the UNCT SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard to assess status and identify gaps and corrective actions.

The Scorecard is organized around seven Dimensions that address key GEEW components: planning; programming and monitoring and evaluation; partnerships; leadership and organizational culture; gender architecture and capacities; resources; and results. Each dimension includes Performance Indicators, which UNCTs need to meet or exceed.

[1] The QCPR is the primary policy instrument of the General Assembly to guide the operational activities for development of the UN System.

[2] See Res A/71/243 (OP 13) and E/RES/2018/7

1.3 The United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) in Myanmar 2018-2022

The United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) is the strategy of cooperation for the four-year period 2018 to 2022 that seeks to realize this closer alignment of national priorities and UN normative standards and operational contributions. It is the first UNDAF to be prepared with the government and other stakeholders. The joint outcomes to which the UNCT will contribute by 2022 are organized by four of the five areas of critical importance of the 2030 Agenda, with the fifth ‘Partnerships’ mainstreamed across all four: I. People, ii. Planet, iii. Peace, iv. Prosperity.

The UNDAF uses the 2030 Agenda/SDG framework to support implementation of the government vision by applying the four programming principles and six approaches of the UNDAF guidance to realize the core aim of the 2030 Agenda of ‘leaving no one behind’. Thus, this core principle will be addressed through applying the other three principles: i. Human Rights and Gender equality and women’s empowerment; ii. Sustainable development and resilience; and iii. Accountability.  

The UN Country Team in Myanmar is committed to promoting gender equality and women’s rights in support of national priorities and commitments to the issue, guided by CEDAW, 1979, other related international and regional human rights standards, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 1995, the Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN Security Council Resolutions 1325, 1820 and related, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Policy for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women and Girls.

For better co-ordination of this work, the UN Country Team (UNCT) established a United Nations Gender Theme Group (UN GTG) in 2008, which has been working with the government, civil society organizations and networks to support the advancement of gender equality agenda in Myanmar. Since 2010, the UN GTG has played an important role in supporting the development and implementation of the NSPAW (2013-2022) and has provided technical advisory, advocacy and knowledge management support to the UN system and its partners.

2. Main objective and Purpose of the UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Score Card

The main objective of this consultancy is to develop a SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard for the UNCT Myanmar to assess the effectiveness of the UN Country Team in gender mainstreaming, promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment as well as to provide a set of actions for improvements and effective support to Myanmar.

Specifically, the exercise aims at:

 • Assisting the UNCT in identifying areas in which they are meeting or not meeting minimum UNDG requirements;

 • Stimulating a constructive dialogue within the UNCT about the current status of support for gender equality and women’s empowerment and how it can be improved;

 • Identifying where technical assistance can support the achievement of minimum requirements;

• Sharing good practice in supporting national priorities to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment;

• Suggesting an action plan on how to effectively support gender equality and women’s empowerment in Myanmar (including strategic priorities based on an updated theory of change, concrete key measures to increase sustainable impact, as well as the identified UNCT ways moving forward).

Devoirs et responsabilités

The consultant will be responsible to facilitate the development of the SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard for the UNCT Myanmar based on the methodology development by the United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG).

The UN Resident Coordinator Office will lead and own the process with the close support and guidance by the consultant and UNCT Gender Theme Group co-chairs. The RCO will enable inter-agency stakeholders to work collaboratively and contribute to the review of the UNCT’s performance against minimum GEEW requirements.

The assignment is home-based with travel to Yangon, Myanmar. It should be carried out within a period of maximum 3 months, to guide and support the inter-agency assessment team with the piloting process, the consultant will conduct the following activities within the following stipulated timeframes                                                                             

a) Background document review (home-based)

• UNCT UN-SWAP Technical Guidance and Framework;
• UNCT Gender Scorecard Reports for the countries in the regions and from other countries
• Current country CCA and UNDAF or equivalents; UN Strategic Framework 2017-2020
• New UNDG UNDAF guidance;
• UNCT planning, reports, budgets, and programming documents;
• UNCT Myanmar Gender Theme Group’s TOR, 2018 Annual Work plan (or equivalent)
• Myanmar CEDAW Reports/other national assessments/National Strategic Plan for the Advancement of Women, etc.

Other recommended sources for the consultant’s preparation:

• The second global desk review of gender scorecards that were implemented by UNCTs in the period 2012–2014 and 2015-2018;
• UNDG Resource book for mainstreaming gender in UN common programming at country level;
• UNDG resource guide to gender them groups; and
• Review of UNDG Members’ Accountability Mechanisms for Gender Equality: Synthesis Report, 2006 (UN Women, UNICEF, UNHCR, UNDP, UNFPA, WFP and ILO and others).

b) Assistance and support for the Inter Agency Team (IAT) with the in-country assessment (Support the collection of complementary data and evidence to score indicators;

• Conduct gender analysis of verification documents required to help the IAT score areas of performance;
• Facilitate working sessions and technical support with key stakeholders such as the Resident Coordinator, Heads of Agencies, Gender Theme Group members, key programme staff, M&E teams, partners, etc. to discuss and score areas of performance (approximately 20 interviews);
• Complete the scoring matrix based on IAT discussions and agreements;
• Facilitate a debrief with the HOA/UNCT to discuss findings and proposed actions.

c) Reporting

• Draft Scorecard and narrative report, with inputs from assessment team. The report should include a title page noting the country covered, the name and contact details of the consultant, and the date of the report. The report should also include a methodology chapter, outlining the methods used, and briefly summaries any constraints faced (e.g. lack of time, lack of access to documents or staff);
• Complete the final Scorecard, narrative report, the suggested action plan and a follow-up matrix.

Compétences

Performance Evaluation

Consultant performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the product delivered

Duty Station and Travel Arrangements

The consultant is expected to work home based and conduct 15 days filed mission to participate in meetings with UN entities, partners and stakeholders as per the agreed work-plan.

Experience and Qualification

a) Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

b) Core Competencies:

• Ethics and Values: Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity;
• Organizational awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgement;
• Organizational awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgement;
• Development and Innovation: Take charge of self-development and take initiative;
• Work in teams: Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multiethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds;
• Communicating and Information Sharing: Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication;
• Self-management and Emotional Intelligence: Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others;
• Conflict management: Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution;
• Continuous Learning and Knowledge sharing: Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.

Please visit the 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

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:

 Master’s degree in social and political sciences, human rights, gender equality etc. PhD degree is an asset.

Experience:

• At least 10 years of practical experience of work on gender mainstreaming in development programmes/projects at national and international levels;
• At least 3 years’ experience of work on results-based management, review and/or evaluation;
• Experience in gender data collection and analysis, including interviews, survey and focus groups;
• Previous experience with the Gender Equality Scorecard, narrative report and follow-up matrix;
• Experience on conducting gender trainings for staff of development agencies.

Language and other skills:

• Proficient in written and oral English, working level of Myanmar language is an asset;
• Computer skills, internet communication and command of MS Office.

Payment arrangements

The Consultant will be paid a lump sum amount including fee and per diem when in (country). The consultant should indicate the lump sum and breakdown into daily professional fee in the financial proposal. 100% of the payment will be affected to the consultant upon submission of the final deliverable, which is the final version of the scorecard matrix and narrative report and its approval by the UN RC, UNCT and the co-chairs of the UN Gender Theme Group (GTG).

The Application Process

Application should include

Interested candidates are requested to submit electronic application to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org and cc to julia.boyko@unwomen.org  with a subject line as “International Consultant to Facilitate UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Score Card Assessment in Myanmar” no later than 2 July 2019 Yangon time COB.

 The submission package includes:

• CV
• Personal History Form (P11)
• Letter of Interest containing the statement on candidate’s experience in the field of recruitment
• 2 pages proposal outlining understanding of the task and proposed workplan with a timeline
• Financial proposal. The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount breaking down a daily professional fee, proposed number of working days and any related expenses, i.e. logistic and communications expenses.