Antecedentes

UN Reform and 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 the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (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 Pakistan, the UN Country Team (UNCT) in partnership with the government and other stakeholders is completing implementation of United Nations Sustainable Development Framework for Pakistan (UNSDF), also known as the Pakistan One United Nations Programme III (OP III) 2018-2022), a medium-term strategic planning document that articulates the collective vision and response of the UN system to Pakistan’s national development priorities, highlighting activities to be implemented in partnership with the Government of Pakistan, as well as in close cooperation with international and national partners and civil society. The UNCT is currently engaged in finalizing its UNSDCF for 2023 – 2027 which is based on the shared situation analysis of the CCA and which sets out the vision and results for the system over the next five years and in which gender equality is one of its outcome among five outcomes.

The United Nations Country Team commits to work together in collaboration with the Government of the Pakistan 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.

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 ensure better accountability of UNCT towards gender equality and women’s empowerment, 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.

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

Specifically, the exercise aims at:

• Identifying areas in which the UNCT is 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 Pakistan(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).

[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

Deberes y responsabilidades

The SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard Inter-Agency Team (IAT) nominated by members of UNCT will be established to carry out the SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard assessment exercise listed in the UNCT UN-SWAP Technical Guidance and Framework[1]. The UN Gender Theme Group (UN GTG), co-chaired by UN Women and UNFPA, will be responsible for guiding the SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard exercise for the UNCT Pakistan 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 UNCT Gender Theme Group co-chairs and support of the consultant (optional).

The key tasks of the consultant are as follows:

• Carry out desk review of key relevant documents, including:  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 UNPAF or equivalents, UNCT planning, reports, budgets, and programming documents, UNCT Pakistan Gender Theme Group’s TOR, Annual Work plan (or equivalent), Pakistan CEDAW Reports/other national assessments.
• Provide technical briefing for the IAT to launch the exercise and establish the indicator groups, based on the technical guidance:
• Conduct interviews and facilitate working sessions with key UN stakeholders to score areas of performance.
• Facilitate a half-day consolidation workshop with IAT/GTG to reach consensus on results for each indicator.
• Draft Score Card Narrative, follow up matrix and proposed action plan to improve performance based on indicators, including timelines for improving performance of indicators and resources required to improve performance.
• Prepare presentation on key findings and proposed contents of the action plan for presentation to the UNCT.

Complete the final Scorecard, narrative report, the suggested action plan and a follow-up matrix.

[1] https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/how%20we%20work/unsystemcoordination/un-swap/un-swap-2-tn-en.pdf?la=en&vs=2841

Expected deliverables and timelines

Supervision

The consultant will be supervised by UN Women Deputy Country Representative who will be responsible for coordination with the RCO, UNCT and Co-chair of the UNGTG.

Contract period and work location

The time required for the consultancy is within the period from 2 November 2021- 15 February 2022 (3 months). Duty station is home-based.

Competencias

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

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

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent gender analytical skills
• Strong knowledge of gender in UN coordination including the UNCT SWAP Gender Scorecard tool and approach
• Strong inter-personal skills and capacity to communicate effectively with colleagues across the UN system
• Excellent writing skills
• Ability to work in a highly pressured environment and in effective coordination with multiple stakeholders

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Social Sciences, Political Science, Development, Public Administration, Gender is required.

Experience:

• Minimum 8 years of progressively responsible experience working in international development such as international/regional organizations, INGOs and inter-governmental institutions;
• Prior experience with the UN including experience of inter-agency work on gender equality;
• Experience in coordination, technical support provision, gender analysis, communications and facilitation;
• Experience in carrying out the UNCT SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard is an asset;
• Prior experience in the Asia and the Pacific Region is an asset.  

Language requirement:

• Proficiency in English.

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 utilized in evaluating the applications, with evaluation of the technical application 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.

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically-qualified candidates who may be contacted for validation interview.

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation: Financial Proposal Should be Password Protected

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points allocated for the price component is 100.

The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

Submission of application

Interested candidates are encouraged to submit electronic application to arooj.asad@unwomen.org, with cc to vipunjit.ketunuti@unwomen.org

Submission package includes: 

• Cover letter outlining relevant work experience
• UN Women Personal History Form(P11)

Financial proposal which shall specify a total lump sum amount, breaking down the daily professional fee, proposed number of working days. Please see the financial proposal template as below: