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 center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality are translated into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts while building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

In September 2015 the United Nations Summit adopted the post-2015 development vision and agenda in New York – including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs cover a very broad range of critical gender issues, including anti-discrimination, violence, unpaid care and domestic work, voice and participation, assets, income, labour, social protection etc. The agenda highlights women’s rights and gender equality significantly by including the stand alone fifth goal on gender equality in addition to gender-sensitive targets across other goals. ?It is imperative to recognize the pathway to achieving the SDGs by calling for gender-responsive and human rights based approaches. To support member states in implementing the 2030 Agenda, UN Women’s Flagship Programme Initiative (FPI), “Making Every Woman and Girl Count (MEWGC)” aims to affect a radical shift in the availability, accessibility and use of data and statistics on key aspects of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

UN Women Uganda country office, selected as one of the pathfinder countries, will deliver the global programme on Making Every Women and Girl Count (MEWGC) focusing on three inter-related areas of work:

Building a supportive policy and institutional environment for the localization and effective monitoring of the SDGs, Increasing the quality, comparability and regularity of gender statistics to address national data gaps and meet reporting commitments under the SDGs and NPGEIs; and ensuring that gender statistics are accessible to users in governments, civil society, academia and the private sector, to strengthen adequate demand for their production.

Uganda, like many other countries, is making effort to mainstream gender statistics in the production and dissemination of statistics in response to the ratification of declarations on gender equality on the international scene such as the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform of Action (BPfA) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).?

A capacity development programme for gender statistics was developed by Uganda Bureau of Statistics for the National Statistical System in 2014. However, this plan needs to be strengthened to efficiently and sustainably build institutional and technical capacities of UBOS, key MDAs and to focus on the National Priority Gender Equality Indicators and the National Standard Indicator (NSI) production capacity to efficiently and sustainably build institutional and technical capacities of UBOS and key MDAs. Limited capacity for the development of methodological work on emerging areas of gender statistics and innovative measures also underscores the need to update the capacity building program. An assessment of the status of institutionalizing gender statistics undertaken in 2015 indicates that capacity building initiatives exist within selected Ministries, Department and Agencies in the form of supportive structures such as gender units or desks, capacity building departments, technical support units that include gender as well as policies, guidelines and tools. It also notes that the skills development, policies and structures highlighted were often general and not specific to gender or integrating gender. Capacity gaps highlighted in MDAs include staffing levels, limited appreciation of the concepts and limited capacity to use skills and experiential learning. In addition, the Gender and Equity capacity development plan (2017/18-2021/22) identifies limited availability of gender disaggregated data as a capacity gap that limits identification of gender priorities and concerns for the budget.

It is from the above background that UN Women with funding support from DFID would like to recruit a short-term consultant to provide technical assistance to update the capacity building program for gender statistics which was finalized in 2014.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will work closely with the Directorate of Statistical Coordination Services (DSCS) of the Uganda Bureau of statistics. The assignment will consist of the following tasks:

  • Conduct review to identify existing gender statistics capacity in the National Statistical System and capacity gaps in line with the National Priority Gender Equality Indicators (NPGEIs), gender statistics strategy, PNSD II and Sectoral Statistics strategies and plans which involves; Desk review (existing capacity development plan), Interviews (UBOS and MDAs) and Consultations with existing gender statistics coordination committees;
  • Draft and update needs assessment report considering new developments (NPGEIs, SDGs, Citizens Generated data, data revolution and emerging issues) to inform the capacity development program;
  • Conduct Validation with stakeholders for the draft assessment report;
  • Provide coordination support to the various Gender Statistics Committees to identify the existing capacity needs;
  • Update existing capacity development program based on needs assessment report with action plan (training plan) and budget;
  • Validate capacity development program with key stakeholders;
  • Finalize the gender statistics capacity development program integrating the outcome of the validation workshops and comments from relevant stakeholders;
  • Support with the dissemination of the capacity development program and needs assessment report.

Outputs and Deliverables:

  • Inception Report/Work plan;
  • Updated the plan of capacity development for gender statistics with detailed training plan; 
  • Report of stakeholder meetings including validation meetings;
  • Final version of the plan of capacity development for gender statistics.

Location, Timeline, Estimated Duration of Assignment:

  • The location of assignment is in Kampala within the Uganda Bureau of Statistics and home based;
  • The entire time of the assignment will last a period of twenty working days within the period from 1 September 2018 to 15 October 2018;
  • A maximum of 20 working days for the assignment. The exact working days will be defined in line with the progress of work plan and would be subject to approval from UN Women Country Representative.

Competencies

Core 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 judgment;
  • 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.

Functional competencies

  • Excellent facilitation and training skills;
  • A good command and fluency in English language;
  • Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate and work well with diverse and multicultural members;
  • Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure;
  • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
  • Prior experience in presenting and facilitating workshops.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Master’s Degree. Those with PhD degree in Social Sciences, preferably in Statistics/Gender Statistics, Economics, Gender, Development or related areas will have an advantage.

Experience:

  • At least 10 years of international experience and record of accomplishment in research and development activities, with an emphasis on feminist economics, gender or similar;
  • Proven ability to produce high quality reports and to work under tight deadlines;
  • Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of statistical production processes and data analysis;
  • Good knowledge and experience in leading and designing gender statistical capacity enhancement programs in developing countries particularly In Sub-Sahara Africa;
  • Proven ability to advocate and provide policy advice to senior government officials, international development partners, civil society representatives etc.;
  • Ability to lead strategic planning and reporting processes with multi-stakeholder involvement and interaction;
  • A relevant working experience in Uganda is added advantage;
  • Excellent English communication and writing skills, preferably with published research studies, articles in scholarly journals and/or policy briefs or similar;
  • Excellent knowledge of the latest trends and policy issues in the Ugandan context.

Language:

  • Knowledge of English is required;
  • Knowledge of the local Languages spoken in Uganda is an advantage.

Application procedures:

  • Cover letter?- Explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position;
  • P11?and CV including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at?http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment, a signed copy should be submitted;
  • Methodological proposal?– outlining how you plan to carry the tasks and responsibilities of this consultancy;
  • Financial Proposal - Specifying a total lump sum amount in Uganda Shillings for the tasks specified in this Terms of Reference. The financial proposal should include a breakdown of?the lump sum amount, including various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee, health insurance, vaccination and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services, in-country travel costs etc.).

Candidates should have the ability to quickly submit degree certificates and medical certification (of good health) should they be short-listed in consideration of the consultancy post.

  • Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials;
  • Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

Evaluation of applicants:

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal. Contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer receives the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria. Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

Technical Evaluation (70%) – max. 70 points:

  • Only candidates who have received 49 points or higher in the technical evaluation will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical Evaluation Criteria:

  • Master’s Degree. Those with PhD degree in Social Sciences, preferably in Statistics/Gender Statistics, Economics, Gender, Development or related areas will have an advantage- 10 Points;
  • At least 10 years of international experience and record of accomplishment in research and development activities, with an emphasis on feminist economics, gender or similar- 10 Points;
  • Proven ability to produce high quality reports and to work under tight deadlines- 5 Points;
  • Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of statistical production processes and data analysis- 5 Points;
  • Good knowledge and experience in leading and designing gender statistical capacity enhancement programs in developing countries particularly In Sub-Sahara Africa- 15 points;
  • Proven ability to advocate and provide policy advice to senior government officials, international development partners, civil society representatives etc.-5 points;
  • Ability to lead strategic planning and reporting processes with multi-stakeholder involvement and interaction- 5 points;
  • Excellent English communication and writing skills, preferably with published research studies, articles in scholarly journals and/or policy briefs or similar- 5 points;
  • Excellent knowledge of the latest trends and policy issues in the Ugandan context- 5 points;
  • Knowledge of English is required- 3 points;
  • Knowledge of the local Languages spoken in Uganda is an advantage- 2 Points.

Financial Evaluation (30%) – max. 30 points:

  • 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.