Antecedentes

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.

In September 2015, governments united behind the ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which features 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets that aim to end poverty, combat inequalities and promote prosperity by 2030 while protecting the environment. The 2030 Agenda sets out a historic and unprecedented level of ambition to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls by 2030” (SDG 5) as well as including 37 gender-related targets in 10 other SDGs. It commits to addressing core issues of gender equality such as eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls, eradicating discriminatory laws and constraints on sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recognizing and valuing unpaid care and domestic work and increasing women’s participation in decision-making.[1] Gender statistics are essential for the advancement of gender equality and women’s empowerment at the global, regional and national level. Therefore, gender disaggregated data is critical for the monitoring of the gender-related targets in SDGs and for localization of the SDGs to measure and ensure implementation at the national level.

Significant investments in gender statistics are necessary to ensure that evidence-based policies are devised, the impacts of these policies are assessed and the accountability of policymakers and governments to deliver on these commitments is promoted. Robust indicators and quality data are of critical importance and will determine whether policy efforts are marshalled and whether the goals and targets are achieved or missed.

In the current Zimbabwean context, the National Statistical System (NSS), comprising of producers, users and suppliers of data as well as research and training institutions, has made significant progress in increasing the generation and availability of sex and age disaggregated data. The Government of Zimbabwe is fully aware of the essential need for good quality statistical information in the design, monitoring and evaluation of national development policies and programmes such as the SDGs. Good quality statistical information is required to identify development issues, inform policy design and measure development outcomes that target priority areas of national poverty reduction and economic development. The second National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS2) for Zimbabwe has been designed to strengthen statistical capacity across the National Statistical System (NSS). The NSDS2 was set to provide the country with a comprehensive framework for the compilation and development of statistics to enable decision makers at all levels to plan and execute appropriate positive changes in a more coordinated, synergistic and efficient manner. The need for a well-coordinated NSS cannot be over-emphasized as it will foster coordination, standardization and harmonization of statistical activities, thereby avoiding duplication and overlapping amongst data producers. In this regard, the generation and dissemination of gender-disaggregated data and information ensures accountability to gender commitments and provides the quantitative evidence for gender-responsive planning, monitoring and the allocation of resources for inclusive and sustainable development

It is therefore crucial to ensure that the NSS components and ZIMSTAT are sufficiently capacitated to produce the required high-quality statistics. Sector-linked, non-conflicting, reliable, relevant and timely national statistics are the bedrock upon which sound policies for effective management of the economy are based. During the last five years, the Government of Zimbabwe has worked together with Development Partners to strengthen the statistical system and statistical activities of the NSS.

UN Women is seeking the services of a highly qualified national consultant to support the assessment/evaluation of the appropriateness and implementation of the National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS 2) from a gender perspective. The successful consultant will work closely with the UN Women Gender Statistics focal point, ZIMSTAT departments of NSDS Coordination and Gender Statistics to conduct the assessment. Specifically, the consultant will:

• Conduct a comprehensive assessment of the Gender Statistical System through NSDS (II), to see how far Zimbabwe has gone in putting gender in the mainstream of the statistical production process;
• Identify data and capacity gaps linked to gender statistics;
• Develop recommendations for the design and implementation of the NSDS (III) from a gender data and statistics perspective.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Working under the direct supervision of UN Women Monitoring and Evaluation team, the national consultant will be expected to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the Gender Statistical System through a thorough review of the NSDS (II) and the gender data ecosystem. This will include the following specific tasks:

• Evaluate the extent to which Zimbabwe has mainstreamed gender in the statistical process, including production, dissemination and use. The overall objective of this exercise is to determine what needs to be done to improve the mainstreaming of gender in the entire statistical process;
• Conduct a desk-top review of the normative and institutional frameworks regulating the production and use of gender data and statistics by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Office, Gender Sector Statistics Committee, Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprise Development and other line ministries. Using the framework jointly developed by Paris 21 and UN Women[1], the review will assess the national statistical system to identify normative and institutional gaps that hinder the regular production of gender statistics;
• Assess the technical gender statistics gaps among producers and users of data, particularly within the NSO. This should be done in consultation with the NSO, other key government agencies and line ministries;
• Assess the gender data gaps from the perspective of Agenda 2030 and Africa Agenda 2063 and the extent to which NSDS II addressed these gaps. Identify the key institutional mechanisms and or other constraints that prevent (or facilitate) the more regular production of gender statistics at the national level and propose solutions to strengthen them or steps that can be taken to address these constraints;
• Consult with all stakeholders involved in the production, coordination, communication and use of gender statistics, including the UNCT, national women machineries, civil society organization groups, universities, research institutions and development partners (AFDB, World bank etc.) to have a deeper understanding of the needs, constraints and potential solutions to facilitate increased collaboration between users and producers and identify concrete and actionable solutions to strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations (CSO), government and UN Country teams to analyse and use gender statistics to inform decision-making;
• Identify actionable solutions/recommendations to strengthen the mainstreaming of gender in the national statistical system, increase the sustainable and regular production of gender statistics as well as its uptake and use. These recommendations should feed into and support the development of NSDS III.

Expected Deliverables:

1. Key deliverables

The evaluation team is expected to provide:

• Deliverable 1: Present and discuss an Inception Report to the Management Group and Reference Group at an inception meeting. The inception report should contain the following items: evaluation, objectives and scope; description of evaluation; methodology/methodological approach; the evaluation questions; data collection tools; data analysis methods; key informants/agencies; detailed work plan and reporting requirements. It should include a clear evaluation matrix relating all these aspects and a desk review with a list of the documents consulted. (5 pages max excluding annexes).
• Deliverable 2: Organize and facilitate consultative meetings (virtual or otherwise) with users and producers of statistics as part of the evaluation process.  
• Deliverable 3: First draft report to UN Women. The Draft evaluation report (30 pages max excluding annexes) which should be delivered within the agreed timeframe in the work plan to allow stakeholder discussion of the findings and formulation of recommendations.
• Deliverable 4: Submission of second draft report incorporating feedback from the management group.
• Deliverable 5: Deliverable 4 will be in two parts i.e. (i) PowerPoint presentation of the second draft report to the management team including feedback from the reference group received through emails and feedback received from the management team. (ii) A template with feedback received from reference group members and how the comments have been addressed and incorporated in developing the draft report.
• Deliverable 6: Presentation of the findings at a validation workshop to be organised by UN Women.
• Deliverable 7: Production of final report incorporating comments from stakeholders. Final evaluation report (30 pages max excluding annexes).

Time frame: The consultant should complete all above-mentioned deliverables except the inception report, six weeks after the commencement of the consultancy)

Duration of Assignment and Duty Station:

The assignment is home-based. The contract duration is tentatively from 1 October to 15 November 2020.

UN Women will bear the travel and accommodation costs beyond commuting distance from the consultant’s usual place of residence for UN Women authorized travel as per the UN Women standard travel guidelines.

[1] https://paris21.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/Framework%202020_update_web.pdf

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

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

• Master degree (or equivalent) in development related disciplines, gender, economics, statistics, development or other social science fields.

Experience:

• A minimum of 15 years of experience in the field of gender and statistics at the national and/or international level.
• Experience in statistical training and related statistical activities in developing countries is required;
• Strong technical expertise in the drafting of statistics-based research and related reports, and in providing training on statistical and data management issues, preferably in the context of gender statistics;
• Experience in data processing, data quality assessment and data analysis. Familiarity with the development and application of household-based survey tools, establishment surveys and administrative records for generating information on progress towards gender equality and empowerment of women (SDG 5 and other gender-related SDG indicators);
• Familiarity with UN Women’s mandate and related work in the Africa region.

Language

• Excellent command of written and oral English

APPLICATION PROCESS:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• Expression of interest explaining why you are interested to this position and what professional skills and experiences you have to support your interest;
• Duly filled P11 form that can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment;

Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment and candidates are advised to upload all requested documentation as one attachment.