Background

At the 59th Session of the UN General Assembly, Member States, in adopting the Triennial Comprehensive Policy Review (TCPR) of Operational Activities for Development of the UN System called on all UN organizations to: “mainstream gender and to pursue gender equality in their country programmes, planning instruments and sector-wide programmes and to articulate specific country-level goals and targets in this field in accordance with the national development strategies”.

Further, ECOSOC Resolution 2004/4 - Review of Economic and Social Council agreed conclusions 1997/2 on mainstreaming the gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the United Nations system requested: “the Secretary-General to ensure that all United Nations entities develop action plans with time lines for implementing the agreed conclusions 1997/2, which address the gap between policy and practice identified in the Secretary-General’s report, with a view to strengthening commitment and accountability at the highest levels within the United Nations system as well as to establishing mechanisms to ensure accountability, systematic monitoring and reporting on progress in implementation”.

As a direct follow-up to the TCPR, and to ensure a comprehensive response to many of its recommendations, the UN Development Group (UNDG) created a Task Team on Gender Equality as a sub-group of the UNDG Programme Group. The goals of the Task Team are: to support more consistent and coherent action among UNDG member agencies to mainstream gender equality and promote women’s empowerment at the country level; and to ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment are mainstreamed into the tools and processes that emerge from the UNDG for UN Country Teams (UNCTs).

In 2006, the UNDG Task Team on Gender Equality commissioned a background paper on accountability mechanisms in UNDG agencies. This paper reviewed accountability for programming in support of gender equality in ILO, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, and WFP and found that: “A common understanding of how to apply gender mainstreaming in UN operational activities is needed. This is because if there is no agreement on what constitutes a minimum level of actions to support gender equality, how will it be possible to hold agencies and UN Country Teams accountable for this. Reaching agreement across agencies on what constitutes a minimally acceptable performance to support gender equality, through an agreed set of indicators, would contribute to stronger guidance and accountability”.

Subsequently this background paper was endorsed at the UNDG Principals’ meeting in July 2006, where agreement was reached on development of a UNCT-level ‘Accounting for Gender Equality’ Scorecard that sets minimum requirements for UNCTs to assess their performance across the system.

The Gender Scorecard was endorsed by the UNDG in 2008 in response to the UN Chief Executive Board for Coordination 2006 Policy on gender equality and the empowerment of women (CEB/2006/2) to establish an accountability framework for assessing the effectiveness of gender mainstreaming by UN Country Teams. The UN SWAP formed another part of the accountability framework, focusing on the implementation of the policy at the entity level.

The QCPR calls for the United Nations development system to expand and strengthen the use of the Gender Scorecard as a planning and reporting tool for assessing the effectiveness of gender mainstreaming in the context of the UNSDCF . In this vein and in line with internal assessments, the UNCT SWAP-Scorecard methodology has been revised in tandem with the United Nations System-wide Action Plan for gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-SWAP) to ensure greater alignment with the UN-SWAP and the SDGs, drawing on good global practices with motivating, managing and measuring institutional change processes.

UNCT Cameroun with the Government has elaborated a new UNSCDF 2022 - 2026 which cover a period of five years. UNSDCF 2022-2026 wants to contribute to making Cameroon “a land of opportunity, citizen engagement and well-being for its population”.  For its optimal implementation in line with gender standards, UNCT is planning a SWAP Gender scorecard. In order to support the development of the gender responsive UNSDCF 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 Team will use the UNCT SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard to assess status, and identify gaps and corrective actions. The UN Gender Thematic Group will lead this process to complete the scorecard process in a participatory and timely manner.

MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The main objective of this consultancy is to facilitate the UNCT SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard and 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.

Purpose of the exercise:

• To assist UNCTs in identifying areas in which they are meeting or not meeting minimum UNDG requirements.

 • To stimulate 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.

• To identify where technical assistance can support the achievement of minimum requirements.

• To share good practice in supporting national priorities to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Duties and Responsibilities

RESPONSIBILITIES/SCOPE OF WORK AND DELIVERABLES

The UNCT SWAP-Scorecard methodology has been designed for in-country self-assessment as a means of fostering deeper understanding and ownership of results. The external gender specialist will facilitate the exercise and apply participatory methods to ensure the assessment team is formed from the beginning of exercise, leads and own the process. To guide and support the assessment team with the piloting process, the consultant will conduct the following activities within the stipulated timeframes:

1. Background document review (home-based, 2 working days):

• 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 UNSDCF or equivalents

• New UNDG UNSDCF guidance

• UNCT planning, budgets programming documents

• UN Gender Theme Group’s TOR, 2022 report and 2023 plan (or equivalent)

• CEDAW Reports/other national assessments/National Gender Plans, etc.

        2. Assistance and support for the Inter Agency Team (IAT) with the in-country assessment: (8 working days)

• 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; key programme staff; M&E teams, partners, etc. to discuss and score areas of performance.

 • Complete the scoring matrix based on IAT discussions and agreements.

• Facilitate a debrief with the HOA to discuss findings and proposed actions.

         3. Reporting (5 working days)

 • Draft Scorecard and narrative report, with inputs from assessment team

• Complete the final Scorecard, narrative report and follow-up matrix

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

Consultant performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: Respect for Diversity, Integrity, Professionalism, Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues, Produces quality outputs/reports in a timely manner, Communication skills (written and oral), and Team work.

DUTY STATION AND TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS

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

Competencies

Values Guiding Principles:

• Integrity: Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;

• Professionalism: Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work;

• Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity: Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Ethics and Values: Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity;

• 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, multi ethnic 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 behaviour 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.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced (Masters) 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 (other 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 Cameroon. The international expert will be engaged for a total of 15 working days. 100% of the payment will be effected 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 and the UN Gender Thematic Group (GTG).

Selection Criteria:

FEES:

UN rate in line with qualification and years of experience will apply.