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 Strategic Plan, developed pursuant to paragraph 77 of resolution 64/2892 is the first such plan created by UN Women.
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.”
UN-Women Ethiopia’s Strategic Note (SN) 2017-2020 was approved by the Deputy Executive Director of UN Women in December 2016. The Ethiopia SN is a forward-looking programmatic document that translates the UN-Women Strategic Plan 2014-2017 to the country and regional level and adapts it to the country and regional contexts and priorities, including the UNDAF 2016-2020. The Ethiopia Country Office is unique as it both accommodates a country programme as well as a liaison function to the African Union (AU) and the United Nations Commission for Africa (UN ECA). The SN outlines this dual mandate and the overall strategy and plan of action for the UN-Women Ethiopia Country office and liaison function for the years 2017-2020 and includes a Development Results Framework (DRF) and an Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency Framework (OEEF) with expected results and targets/ indicators/ baselines.
Under UN-Women’s policies and procedures in relation to programme management, a midterm review (MTR) is mandatory for programmes of at least three years duration. In the case of UN-Women Ethiopia this requires the office to hold a MTR of its programme during 2018. Midterm review belongs to monitoring and planning areas and should not be confused with an evaluation, and it is considered as the most important monitoring event during the year and engagement of all staff in the midterm review process is essential and mandatory.
In the case of UN-Women Ethiopia, the SN-MTR will be considered as the first step to assess the relevance of the current SN 2017-2020 and to propose revision so that it reflects changes and developments that affect the lives of Ethiopian and African women and girls and aligns with the new global Strategic Plan 2018-2021.
The objectives of the SN midterm review and SN revision process are as follows:
- To provide the office (both programme and operations) with a point of reflection and strategic
analysis, distinct from the normal everyday process of programme and project management.
- Re-examination of the offices theories of change for each of the relevant impact areas (Women in Leadership and Governance, Women's Economic Empowerment, Ending Violence Against Women, Normative Frameworks) as well as the portfolio of the liaison function according to the SN 2017-2020. And to analyze and reflect on the progress of the programme and the validity of UN-Women’s strategy in Ethiopia and UN-Women’s strategy towards the AU and the UN ECA.
- To check in on key management issues, such as availability of data and evidence to allow informed and credible analysis of performance, and the ‘evaluability’ of the programme.
- To provide a context for engagement with partners and beneficiaries in that reflection.
- To take stock of changes in the programming context (including normative developments) and operational response.
- To develop an updated SN for the rest of the cycle (2019-2020), that is aligned to the new Strategic Plan 2018-2021
The consultancy will be divided into two different and complementary exercises: The Strategic Note Mid-Term Review (SN-MTR) and the Strategic Note revision (SN-R).
Duties and Responsibilities
- Conduct a Desk Review of key documents relevant to the work of the country office such as: 2017-2020 SN and AWPs, and Annual Report 2017; Select recent studies related to Gender Equality and Women’s’ Empowerment in Ethiopia and the region; GTP II, National Gender Policies and Action Plans; the CRRF for the Humanitarian response; UN-Women Strategic Plan (2018-2021), and the related Theories of Change for the different thematic areas; UNDAF 2016–2020; AU Agenda 2063 and its 10 Year Implementation Plan, UN Women Africa Strategy, the AU Gender Strategy and other documents to be provided by the team.
- Draft and finalize discussion papers that will guide the MTR meeting. These will include: A Positioning Paper; A Programmatic Performance Paper; A Partnerships Paper; A Normative Paper; A Coordination Paper; A Programme and Operations Paper; A Communication and Outreach Paper; and any others as will be agreed upon at the inception of the review.
- Conduct staff and partner’s surveys based on a template questionnaire provided by UN-Women Ethiopia.
- In collaboration with the monitoring and evaluation focal point in the country office, the Consultant will analyze and present the results of staff and partners’ surveys at the MTR meeting and will incorporate partners and staff feedback in order to reflect the results in the new SN.
- Facilitation of the SN-MTR meeting.
- Production of the report on the SN-MTR.
- Draft an updated SN, including DRF and OEEF, and reflecting the MTR findings.
The consultant will work from home and in the UN-Women office as per agreements made.
Competencies
Core values and 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 promote ethics and integrity by creating organizational precedents.
Organizational Awareness:
- Build support for the organization and ensure political acumen;
- Development and Innovation: Support staff competence development, and contribute to an environment of creativity and innovation.
Work in teams:
- Build and promote effective 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.
Communication and Information Sharing:
- Create and promote an environment for open and effective communication;
- Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication;
- Excellent oral and written skills;
- Listen actively and respond effectively.
Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:
- Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others
Required Skills and Experience
Education and certification:
- Master’s degree or equivalent in Social Sciences, International Development studies, Law, Human rights, Politics, Gender, Women studies or related field.
Experience:
- At least ten years of planning, programming, reviews and/or evaluation experience, five years of which in planning/reviews in development programs related to human rights, gender and results-based management;
- Knowledge and experience with the national and regional development, policy and legislative frameworks
- Extensive experience with UN programming, especially the UNDAF and delivering as one
- Understanding and familiarity of the Ethiopian context with specific regards to the gender priorities and role of UN Women;
- Knowledge of issues concerning women’s human rights and gender equality
Language Requirements:
- Fluency in written and oral English is essential.
NOTE
Applications should include:
- Cover Letter stating your motivation, capacity and experience as well as available start date.
- Detailed CV (UN Women P11)- this can be downloaded here http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment
- A sample of your previous work
- A financial proposal including all costs for the duration of contract
Please send above mentioned addtional doucments to oona.gemsch@unwomen.org with the subject SN-MTR Consultancy