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 standards 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 UNDAF (OP 83).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.

The UN Country Team in Georgia consists of 22 UN funds, programmes and specialized agencies, including 16 residents and 6 non-resident agencies. The UN Development Assistance Framework 2016-2020 (UNPSD). UNPSD covers five focus areas: (1) Democratic Governance; (2) Jobs, Livelihood and Social Protection; (3) Education; (4) Health; and (5) Human Security and Community Resilience. It is aligned, among other key strategies, with the 2014-2020 National Human Rights Strategy and Action Plan, National Action Plan for Gender Equality (2014-2016) and the EU Association Agenda (AA). The BPfA, the 2015 Political Declaration and 2013 Agreed Conclusions of the CSW, CEDAW's most recent (July 2014) Concluding Observations to Georgia and commitments to the WPS agenda in line with the UNSCRs and SDGs have also been considered during the drafting process. Gender equality and women’s empowerment is regarded as a critical precondition for the improvement of the human rights situation and sustainable development, therefore, gender mainstreaming of national laws, policies, budgets and programmes is applied across almost all focus areas of the UNPSD. Access to justice and protection for vulnerable groups of women, including victims of violence is prioritized (as part of Outcome 2 under focus area 1 Democratic Governance as well as  women’s economic empowerment (as part of Outcome 3 under focus area 2 Jobs, Livelihood and Social Protection), access to proactive and inclusive gender and child sensitive social protection systems (Outcome 4 under focus area 2 Jobs, Livelihood and Social Protection), gender mainstreaming of the school curriculum (as part of Outcome 5 under focus area 3 Education) and promoting human security including confidence building initiatives through people-to-people communication by more active engagement of CSOs, women and youth (as part of Outcome 7 under focus area 5 Human Security and Community Resilience). Gender indicators are integrated into all outcomes and constitute 55.5% of all the document’s indicators (15 out of 27).

To support the development of the gender-responsive UNDAF 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 in Georgia will use the UNCT SWAP-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 Objective of the Assignment

The main objective of this consultancy is to facilitate the UNCT SWAP-Scorecard methodology and assess the effectiveness of the UN Country Team in Georgia in gender mainstreaming, promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment as well as to provide a set of recommendations for improvements. Purpose of the exercise:

• To assist UNCTs in identifying areas in which they are meeting or not meeting minimum UNDG standards.
• 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 standards.
• 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 UNCT SWAP- Scorecard Assessment team (SSAT) is formed from the beginning of exercise, leads and own the process.The SSAT include broad representation to ensure an adequate knowledge base on joint UN System actions.

To guide and support the SSAT with the piloting process, the consultant will conduct the following activities within the stipulated timeframes:

Background document review (home-based, 2 working days) – in the period of 4-10 September 2017.

• UNCT UN-SWAP Technical Guidance and Framework
• UNCT Gender Scorecard Reports for the countries in the regions and from other countries
• Georgia CCA and UN Partnership for Sustainable Development (2016-2020)
• New UNDG UNDAF guidance
• UNCT planning, budgets programming documents
• UN Gender Theme Group’s TOR, 2016 report and 2017 plan
• CEDAW concluding observations to Georgia – July 2014;
• Georgia’s interim submission to CEDAW of 2016;
• Georgia’s Human Rights Action Plan 2016-2017;
• Georgia’s submission to CSW 2017;
• BPfA +20 National Review Report;
• Gender Equality Law of Georgia, 2010;
• Domestic Violence Law, 2006;
• National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, 2016- 2017;
• National Action Plan on Ending Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, 2016-2017.

Assistance and support for the SSAT with the in-country assessment: (8 working days) – in the period of 11-22 September, 2017.

• Support the collection of complementary data and evidence to score indicators
• Conduct gender analysis of verification documents required to help the SSAT 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 SSAT discussions and agreements.
• Facilitate a debrief with the HOA to discuss findings and proposed actions.

Reporting

• Draft Scorecard and narrative report, with inputs from the SSAT (3 working days) – by 29 September, 2017.
• Complete the final Scorecard, narrative report and follow-up matrix (2 working days) – by 6 October, 2017.

Competencies

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: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Functional Competencies

• Programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Knowledge of Results Based Management
• Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings
• Good knowledge of technical area
• Good organizational skills and ability to pay close attention to detail

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 <> is an asset.

Evaluation procedure:

The candidates will be evaluated against the following technical and financial criteria:

• Advanced (Masters) degree in social and political sciences, human rights, gender equality etc. PhD degree is an asset (max 30 points);
• At least 10 years of practical experience of work on gender mainstreaming in development programmes/projects at national and international levels (max 100 points);
• At least 3 years’ experience of work on results based management, review and/or evaluation (max 50 ppoints);
• Experience in gender data collection and analysis, including interviews, survey and focus groups (max 80 points);
• Previous experience with the Gender Equality Scorecard, narrative report and follow-up matrix (max 30 points);
• Experience on conducting gender trainings for staff of development agencies (max 30 points);
• Proficient in written and oral English, working level of <> is an asset (max 30 points);

Maximum total technical score amounts to 350 points. Only candidates who have passed over the minimum qualification criteria and have accumulated at least 245 points out of maximum 350 under technical evaluation will qualify for the next stage i.e. evaluation of their financial proposals.

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 150.

S – score received on financial evaluation.

Fmin – the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round;

F – financial offer under consideration.

The winning candidate will be the candidate, who has accumulated the highest aggregated score (technical scoring + financial scoring).

Management arrangements:

The contractor will report to and work under direct supervision of UN Women Country Representative and UN Women National Programme Officer.

Payment arrangements:

The Consultant will be paid a lump sum amount including fee and per diem when in Georgia. The consultant should indicate the lump sum and breakdown in the financial proposal.

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).

Application procedure:

• CV and dully filled P11 form that can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment;
• Financial Proposal  - lump sum proposal/offer* in USD (including breakdown of this lump sum amount indicating all necessary costs to complete this mission: total remuneration and breakdown by months ( travel expenses, per diems, tickets, lodging and terminal expenses, if applicable).

The applicants are required to submit an aggregated financial offer (“aggregated financial offer” is the total sum of all financial claims of the candidate for accomplishment of all tasks spelled out in this ToR).

Only short listed candidates will be contacted.

Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.