Background

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the charter of the united nations, UN Women 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 and peace and security. Women’s leadership and political participation is one of UN Women’s primary work as mandated in its inception, recognising the integral role of women in strong and stable democratic processes. To promote the leadership and participation of women in strong and stable democratic processes, UN Women works to promote gender equality in parliaments, electoral bodies, political parties and other institutions.

UN Women Uganda is in the third year of implementing its Country Strategic Note (2016-2020), through which it supports Government of Uganda and national actors to achieve gender equality and empowerment of women. This is done through supporting a set of closely connected and mutually enhancing programmes in the areas of a) Women’s political participation and leadership, b) Women’s Economic Empowerment, c) Ending violence against women and girls and d) Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action. These programmes are described in detail below:

1. Women’s Political Participation and leadership: Negative attitudes and social norms on women’s role and place in leadership and political participation are common in Uganda. The Uganda Governance, Peace and Security Survey (2017) showed that where a female candidate to political office has the same level of qualifications with a male candidate, only 30% of men would vote for the woman political candidate. The same survey found that 91% of the men and 90% of the women believe that women need permission from their partners to participate in politics. Representation of women in Parliament has stagnated between 30 and 35%, which is close to the 30% quota provided for under the law. Important gender discriminatory laws have remained pending in Parliament, with some such as the Marriage and Divorce Bill remaining outstanding for decades.
2. Women Economic empowerment: Female work force in Uganda is characterized by low skill levels, low wages and in vulnerable jobs constituting (92% of female employment, compared to 77% of male employment). Furthermore 35% of women are in unpaid family work which remains under-recognized and undistributed in Uganda. About 76% female labor force is in the agricultural sector compared to 65% of male employment, yet only 27% of women own registered land, where the majority of unregistered land remains under the ownership and control of men. Women still face discrimination in inheritance, access, control and ownerships of land and other assets, which have wide-ranging adverse effects on their economic empowerment.
3. Ending Violence Against Women: UDHS 2016 indicates that, women in Uganda are more than twice likely to experience sexual violence as men. More than 1 in 5 women aged 15-49 years (22 percent) report that they have experienced sexual violence at some point in time compared with fewer than 1 in 10 (8 percent) men. The same survey further found that wife battering is widely accepted, with 58% of women and 44% of men believing that it is justified for a man to beat his wife under certain circumstances. Major gaps exist in capacities to implement and monitor the legal commitments to prevent and respond to VAWG due to insufficient funding for police and the judiciary and lack of systems for monitoring implementation and holding duty bearers accountable.
4. Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action: Due to the constant conflicts in the neighboring countries, Uganda is currently host to 154,134 South Sudanese refugees (of which 87% are women and children) and over 11,000 Burundian refugees (77% are women and children. Women have not fully participated in planning and setting the peace building and conflict prevention and post conflict recovery agenda in the region, resulting in interventions that fall short of meeting the post conflict needs of women and girls. The Transitional Justice Policy and Act have remained pending before Cabinet, effectively taking away any hope that women had of getting compensated for their livelihoods that were destroyed during the insurgency, as well as getting justice for the sexual violence they experienced during the war.

The Country office and partners have identified the following gaps which needs more discussion on doing things differently:

1. Accountability systems for enactment and implementation of the current and pending laws such on gender equality and empowerment of women such as Sexual offences Bill, GBV Policy, Marriage and Divorce Bill, Succession Act
2. Partner and community involvement/participation in implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
3. Youth engagement in UN Women Programme
4. Establish partnership with private sector –Not looking at private sector as a source of funding by as an opportunity for advancing our advocacy work
5. Visibly increasing male involvement as champions for gender equality
6. Scale of most interventions in terms of outreach
7. Environment conducive to experimentation of new approaches, including staff and partners confidence to make and correct mistakes

ROLE OF INNOVATION

The gaps identified above require quick action and improvements in our programming culture and practices if we want to remain a reference for GEWE in Uganda.

Also, given the fast-changing nature of challenges encountered by women and girls in gender equality generally, it is important that UN Women embraces innovative solutions to adhere to the UN new principle of “leave no one behind”. To effectively achieve the global and national development agenda, some compelling reasons for innovation on gender equality programming include the following;

1. Changing social settings
2. Changing audience and programme targets
3. Changing communication environment
4. Plateauing of current social change strategies
5. Objective and targets

It is in this context that UN Women Uganda is developing and implementing a strategy and roadmap on innovation. The first part shall be consulting and brainstorming on ideas by UN WOMEN and partners. The second part shall be an ideation retreat in December 2018, with all programme and operations, at the end of which a clear outline will be developed on the step by step plan to put the ideas into motion, immediately after the retreat. The third part shall be adjustment of annual work plans and training plans to integrate the final innovations per programme and operational area. The fourth part shall be implementation of the ideas in an agreed time frame, followed by the fifth part where quarterly reviews will be held to assess progress. It is on this basis that UN WOMEN Uganda seeks the services of a consultant with hands-on experience on individual and team development, to offer tangible innovative and creative guidance to the Uganda team. The offer should address how best to approach this work, based on the context, gaps and outline above. The consultant will also facilitate opportunities for experience sharing, team building, consensus creation and fun.

Duties and Responsibilities

This assignment will be conducted under the guidance of the Representative. It consists of several interrelated activities:

• Consult staff and partners on UN Women’s Innovation workstreams;
• Propose the agenda and content of an ideation workshop;
• Support the development of, and implementation schedule for, a comprehensive innovation plan for UN Women Uganda;
• Review current staff learning plans, and suggest improvement in terms of required skillsets in the proposed innovation environment
• Support key partners to adjust their capacity development plans in order to meet UN Women Uganda’s innovation ambitions

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

• Delivery One: UN Women’s Partners & Staff have contributed ideas to innovation at UNW Uganda.

These consultations should be thematic and lead to an understanding of current appreciation of the place of innovation, as well as what changes are required in our programming and implementation approaches.

• Delivery Two: An ideation workshop planned and held;

Based on the above, the agenda, content, methodology and delivery vehicle of an innovation workshop will be finalized. The facilitation of the meeting (in the form of a lab) will allow enthusiasm and motivation of staff and partners. The exercise should generate a concise “innovation bank” for each impact area.

• Delivery Three: A comprehensive innovation plan is developed for the office;

This should include an implementation schedule, a cost estimate, as well as an indication of the critical roles/functions (in both programme and operations teams) to ensure success. This plan will also include a) how concretely the above “innovation bank” should be operationalized, and b) what will be the internal and external communication strategies around it.

• Delivery Four: UN Women’s Staff learning-plan Adjusted;

The expert should review current staff learning plans and suggest improvement in terms of required skillsets in the proposed innovation environment. A focus should be placed on the critical roles/functions identified to champion the new UN Women’s innovation drive.

• Delivery Five: Partners’ Capacity development plans Updated

In recognition of the important role they play in UN Women’s portfolio, the expert will suggest how best partners could re-adjust their capacity development plans to meet our innovation objectives and strategies. This will include the support UN Women can provide, beyond communication and sensitization.

 DELIVERY SCHEDULE

DELIVERY                                                                                     TIMING/PERIOD          FOCAL POINT

Overall oversight                                                                                30 Days                      Deputy Representative

• Partners & Staff have contributed ideas to innovation
• An ideation workshop planned and held

• A comprehensive innovation plan is developed 
• UN Women’s Staff learning-plan Adjusted
• Partners’ Capacity development plans Updated.

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

Functional Competencies

• Communicates effectively to varied audiences, including during formal public speaking.
• Able to work effectively in a multi-cultural environment.
• Sets high standards for quality of work and consistently achieves project goals.
• Translates strategic direction into plans and objectives.
• Negotiates effectively by exploring a range of possibilities.
• Quickly builds rapport with individuals and groups; maintains an effective network of individuals across organizational departments.
• Contributes and tries out innovative approaches and insights.

Required Skills and Experience

• Master’s Degree in design for social impact; social work; education; or related field.
• Minimum 7 years of experience in designing or implementing social innovation plans
• Minimum 3 years’ experience facilitating participatory workshops to ensure that project development has buy-in from partners and is implementable by partners.
• Experience evaluating social innovation programmes.
• Experience developing tools for practitioners unfamiliar with design methodologies to explain, inspire, and educate.
• Experience employing technical skills for social goals
• Ability to balance attention to detail with prioritizing work in order to meet deadlines. 

Language Requirement

Fluency in spoken and written English

Duration: 30 days

Remuneration:

Remuneration will be based on experience and qualifications and UN Rule and Regulations applying a competitive selection process.

Submission of application procedure:

Submission package includes:

• Technical Proposal
• Updated CV
• UN Women Personal History Form (P11), which can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment
• Please group all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

Note:

UN Women is an equal opportunity Employer. Qualified women and men are encouraged to apply. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.