Background

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. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations System efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of National priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with government, civil society and other relevant actors.

In Nepal, UN Women focuses on strengthening women’s voice, agency and leadership across sectors to advance women’s rights, provide space for women’s meaningful participation and to demonstrate tangible differences in their lives. Under its Strategic Note 2018-2022 DR Outcome 1, on ‘Inclusive Governance and Leadership’, UN Women Nepal seeks to advance women’s political empowerment and leadership in the new federal structure. In particular, programme activities will aim at enhancing women’s voice and agency in the newly created local government structures by developing capacity of women local elected officials and other women leaders at the local level, by fostering an enabling environment for women’s political empowerment and leadership, and by further advancing coherence and coordination of national and international development partners in the area of women’s political empowerment and leadership. Aligning with UN Women Nepal’s overarching ambition, the programme seeks to contribute to transforming discriminatory social norms and eliminating harmful traditional practices through all its components.

Reporting to Deputy Representative/Head of Programme, the Consultant contributes to the effective management of UN Women Nepal Country Office’s programme on Women’s Political Empowerment and Leadership by providing substantive inputs to programme design, formulation, implementation and evaluation.  S/he guides and facilitates the delivery of UN Women’s programme on Women’s Political Empowerment and Leadership by monitoring results achieved during implementation and ensuring appropriate application of systems and procedures and develops enhancements if necessary.  She/he works in close collaboration with the programme and operations team, UN Women HQ staff, Government officials, multi and bi-lateral donors and civil society ensuring successful UN Women programme implementation under the Inclusive Governance and Leadership portfolio.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Contribute technically to the development of programme strategies in the area of Political Empowerment and Leadership

• Provide substantive inputs to the design and formulation of programme/ project proposals and initiatives;
• Identify areas for support and intervention related to the programme.

2. Provide substantive technical support to the implementation and management of the Political Empowerment and Leadership programme

• Provide technical inputs to the annual workplan and budget;
• Coordinate the implementation of programme activities;
• Coordinate the call/request for proposals, including the organization of technical review committees, and capacity assessment of partners;
• Review, coordinate and monitor the submission of implementing partner financial and narrative reports;
• Ensure training for partners on Results Based Management and monitor implementation.

3. Provide technical assistance and capacity development to project/programme partners

• Coordinate and provide technical support in the implementation of programme activities;
• Maintain relationships with national partners to support implementation and expansion of the Political Empowerment and Leadership programme;
• Identify opportunities for capacity building of partners and facilitate technical/ programming support and trainings to partners, as needed.

4. Provide technical inputs to the monitoring and reporting of the programme/ project

• Monitor progress of implementation of activities and finances using results based management tools;
• Draft reports on monitoring missions, programme results s, outputs and outcomes;
• Provide substantive inputs to the preparation of donor and UN Women reports.

5. Provide substantive technical inputs to, and support, the management of people and finances of the Political Empowerment and Leadership programme

• Monitor budget implementation and make budget re-alignments/ revisions, as necessary;
• Provide substantive inputs to financial reports;

6. Provide substantive inputs to building partnerships and resource mobilization strategies

• Provide substantive inputs to resource mobilization strategies; analyze and maintain information and databases;
• Prepare relevant documentation such as project summaries, conference papers, briefing notes, speeches, and donor profiles;
• Participate in donor meetings and public information events, as delegated.

7. Provide technical support to inter-agency coordination on Political Empowerment and Leadership to achieve coherence and alignment of UN Women programmes with other partners in the country

• Provide substantive technical support to the Representative, Deputy Representative and Coordination Officer on inter-agency coordination related activities by drafting background reports and briefs.

8. Provide substantive inputs to advocacy, knowledge building and communication efforts

• Develop background documents, briefs and presentations related to Political Empowerment and Leadership;
• Coordinate and organize advocacy campaigns, events, trainings, workshops and knowledge products;
• Coordinate the development of knowledge management methodologies, and products on Political Empowerment and Leadership.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES:

• Well-coordinated plans for Women’s Political Empowerment and Leadership are available and implemented ensuring minimum 95% delivery;
• Quality substantive inputs to programme strategies and activities;
• Effective collaboration with UN Women programme and operations teams established and maintained, ensuring effective and coordinated implementation of programmes;
• Quality GE updates, briefing notes, meeting minutes and Terms of References;
• Quality review of partners reports;
• Timely monitoring and tracking of programme results;
• Quality inputs to quarterly and annual reports;
• Quality substantive inputs to UNDAF Annual Workplans and Reporting;
• Two quality concept notes developed and available for resource mobilization;
• Quality partnership established with donors;
• Timely organization of programme activities and events;
• Quality knowledge and advocacy products.

PAYMENT SCHEDULE:

• Payment will be made on deliverable basis, not more than once per month, based upon certification of satisfactory services and deliverables in accordance with the TOR.

Competencies

• Ability to work effectively with people including partners and stakeholders to obtain the optimal results;
• Good programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills;
• Good knowledge of Results Based Management;
• Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings and recommendations;
• Good analytical skills;
• Good knowledge of technical area;
• Ability to identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/women's studies, international development, or a related field is required.

Experience

• At least one year of progressively responsible work experience in development programme/project implementation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation, donor reporting and capacity building with a strong focus in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• Experience in the area of Political Empowerment and Leadership in the context of Nepal is a considerable asset;
• Experience coordinating and liaising with government agencies and/or donors is an asset.

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 make you a strong candidate for the position.
• Duly filled P11 form that can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment.
• A sample of original writing produced within the last three months where the applicant is the lead author.
• A separate page of financial proposal. The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount breaking down a daily professional fee and other related costs to complete all the deliverables mentioned above.

Note: The system will only allow one attachment, please combine all your documents into one single PDF document. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form and the written sample will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

INPUTS:

• UN Women will cover the travel costs to and from Kathmandu.  DSA as per standard UN rates is only applicable for the travel from the duty station to authorized locations.
• The consultant is expected to work either at the UN Women office or other relevant location with access the UN Women office for printing of relevant documents should he/she be required to work on-site at any point during the assignment.
• The consultant will be required to provide their own local communications such as SIM cards and mobile phone.
• It is mandatory for the consultant to participate in a UN security briefing and to follow UN security rules and guidance.
• It is the Consultant’s responsibility to arrange private insurance.
• The Consultant will be required to provide a Statement of Good Health, endorsed by a certified Medical Practitioner.

EVALUATION AND SELECTION CRITERIA:

Criteria for selection will be based on the following assessment followed by the satisfactory reference check of the candidate:

• Required degree and qualification (10 points);
• work experience in development programme/project implementation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation, donor reporting and capacity building with a strong focus in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment (30 points);
• Experience in the area of Political Empowerment and Leadership in the context of Nepal (20 points);
• Experience coordinating and liaising with government agencies and/or donors (10 points).

The candidates scoring a minimum 70% (49 points) will be considered for further evaluation including the financial evaluation and/or interview process. Only financial proposal of candidates who have attained minimum 49 points in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated. In this methodology, the maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion.

A formula is as follows:

p = y (µ/z)

Where:

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal

µ = price of the lowest priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.