Background

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) was established by General Assembly resolution 64/289 of 2 July 2010 on system-wide coherence, with the mandate to assist countries and the United Nations system itself to progress more effectively and efficiently toward the goal of achieving gender equality, women’s empowerment and upholding women’s rights.

The mission statement of UN-Women was set out in the proposal of the Secretary- General as follows: “Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, the composite entity will work 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 center of all its efforts, the composite entity 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 Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.”

The Regional Strategic Note (SN) is the main planning tool to support UN Women’s normative, coordination and operational work in host countries and at regional level. The SN is aligned to regional priorities, the UN Women Global Strategic Plan (2018-2021) and is implemented through project documents and other relevant strategies (communications/partnerships/coordination etc)

The UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific is embarking in the development of its new Strategic Note for 2019 – 2021.

To ensure continued relevance of UN Women’s interventions for both host countries national priorities and overall UN mandate, the formulation of SN is to include a context analysis to capitalize on relevant analysis/ evaluations conducted in the region, so as to ensure that lessons learned inform the new planning process.

In this regard, UN Women Regional office for Asia and the Pacific is seeking the expertise of an international consultant to provide support in the formulation of its next strategic note. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the general supervision of UN Women Asia Pacific Deputy Regional Director, the direct supervision of UN Women Asia Pacific Regional Strategic Planning and Coordination Specialist and in close collaboration with UN Women Asia Pacific Regional Advisors and Project Managers, Heads of Regional Partnerships and Communications, Operations, Monitoring and Reporting, and Evaluations, the consultant will finalize a solid draft of the Regional Strategic Note (2019-2021), which will include the following responsibilities:

• Use and extend where possible/needed evidence-based regional analysis on the 2030 Agenda and SDGs from a gender and ‘leaving no one behind’ perspective.
• Review regional advancement and gaps related to the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, CEDAW and other Human Rights Treaties
• Review Normative developments: Global and regional normative frameworks on GEEW and others where related to the regional programme.
• Review UN Policy and Action Coherence: how is the UN in the region addressing GEEW according to the QCPR? What are issues identified in country-level UNDAFs (thematic priorities, gaps opportunities)? What are challenges /opportunities in terms strengthening policy and action coherence for the advancement of GEEW?
• Provide an overview of Asia Pacific project documents  in 2019-2021, highlighting how the programmes are aligned to UN Women Global (corporate) Strategic Plan and aligning the documents to where UN Women Regional Office has a comparative advantage based on key functions in the region (OEEF/DRF analysis)
• Identification and description of UN Women’s ROAPs key strategic partners, that are crucial to implement the programme at regional level and their role.
• In collaboration with the monitoring, reporting and evaluation specialists in RO, the Consultant will analyze and present the results of evaluation findings, Annual reports, and elaborate a drafted M&R plan for the implementation of the current SN.
• Based on the analysis, a an overarching and thematic level theories of change in consultation with ROAP staff.
• In collaboration with the operations team define budget for SN period (available and resources to be mobilized)
• Description of the risks or challenges that may interfere with fulfilment of commitments, including those that are external (e.g., security risks, political instability), as well as those that are internal. Identify mitigation strategies.
• Build on on-going external consultation processes and programme activities to consult with key partners
• Define SN validation process: Work with UN Women staff to ensure key stakeholders and UN Women staff are engaged in the validation process.
• Assess the quality of the results chain to ensure evaluability. Provide recommendations on how to enhance evaluability of the SN. Based on these results, present a plan for monitoring, reporting and evaluation of the SN in line with UN Women requirements and the Regional Evaluation Strategy, which will be developed in parallel

Expected Deliverables and Timelines:

• Inception report with outline of methodology, consultation and validation process, documents for review and updated timelines - by 27 April 2018.
• Situation analysis, priorities for the advancement of women and girls rights in the region, including UN Women RO comparative advantages and partnership analysis finalized for feedback and validation by UN Women staff - by 25 May 2018
• Full final draft SN document, with overarching ToC and thematic theories of change, multi-year budgeted log frame, risk management plan and concrete partnerships section, M&E plan finalized - by 30 July(with some flexibility depending on agreements made at inception)

Duration of Assignment and Duty Station:

The assignment is home-based, with expected travel to Bangkok for a period of a maximum of 10 working days. The contract duration is tentatively from 23rd April 2018 – 30th July -2018.

Application process:

The consultant is invited to submit applications along with a cover page and the technical proposal with your CV for the position.  

Submission package includes:

• Updated CV
• Personal History Form(P11) Personal History Form (P11 Form) can be downloaded from http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs
• Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs. Based on the deliverables, the consultant should propose missions to Bangkok when necessary. The consultant shall submit the price offer indicating a lump sum all-inclusive cost for the assignment with the Technical Proposal.

Evaluation Criteria:

A two-stage procedure is utilized in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any financial proposal being opened and compared. The financial proposal will be opened only for submission that passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the evaluation of the technical proposal. The technical proposal is evaluated on the basis of its responsiveness to the Term of Reference.

In the Second Stage, the financial proposal of all bidders, who have attained minimum 70% score in the technical evaluation, will be compared with score of 30%. The short-listed bidding firm/consultants may be asked for a discussion over skype prior to the final selection.

Payments

Payments for this consultancy will be based on certification of satisfactory conclusion of the consultancy.

Competencies

Integrity:

• Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Professionalism:

• Demonstrating professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive of work.

Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity:

• Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree in Public Administration, Social Science, Gender Studies, International Development, Law, Human Rights, Political Science, International Relations, or other related field.

Experience:

• At least ten years’ experience in research, strategic planning, programme development, and monitoring in developing countries
• Good knowledge on the regional context and previous working experience in the region.
• Hands-on experience working on gender issues in the Asia Pacific is desirable;
• Expertise on Results-Based Management and Theory of Change;
• Ability to apply conceptual models in support of formulations, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects and mobilize resources.
• Demonstrated ability to work in an independent manner; ability to organize work efficiently and deal with multiple tasks
• Previous consultancy experience with development agencies, UN Women and/or with other UN Agencies especially in programme development will be an added advantage.

Language:

• Excellent writing and presentation skills in English will be a high priority requirement.