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.

UN Women maintains a large presence throughout Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region, covering 12 countries, with programme presence in Kosovo*[1], Serbia, Tajikistan and North Macedonia; and country offices in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkey and Ukraine.

UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (the “ECARO”) has positioned GRB as an important service offering to the countries of the region and an area in which the ECARO has unique technical expertise grounded in the combined technical skills that has been cultivated with respect to budgetary processes including GRB and the overarching expertise and credibility the Office has with respect to GEWE. Furthermore, this work is in line with global Strategic Plan 2018–2021 under Outcome 2: Women lead, participate in and benefit equally from governance systems.

Over the past years, through the technical and financial support UN Women have been carried out different initiatives in Western Balkans’ countries with the goal of strengthening democratic governance and advance women’s rights aiming at mainstreaming gender in policy planning and budgeting. As result, gender responsive budgeting has increasingly been recognized as important tool for advancing de facto gender equality, support the SDGs, the 2030 Agenda and other global goals as well as contribute to the achievements of the commitments of the Western Balkans under the Gender Action Plan in the EU External Relations 2016-2020.

In order to deepen the work previously done, initiate new initiatives and ensure sustainability of the interventions on GRB, UN Women initiated a regional programme with participation of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Serbia and North Macedonia “Transformative Financing for Gender Equality towards more Transparent, Inclusive and Accountable Governance in the Western Balkans” (2020-2024). The main programme approach will be transformative financing as an enabler factor for policy and financing actions to accelerate implementation of existing national and international commitments on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the in Western Balkans.

The programme is structured around two outcomes:

  • By 2024, national and local governments apply gender responsive budgeting to integrate gender equality principles in public financing processes
  • By 2024 public oversight bodies[2] CSOs, women including the disadvantaged, demand transparency and accountability of public policies and budgets to gender equality processes

The programme includes activities focused on enhancing the institutionalization of GRB at central level and local level.

At central level, the programme will apply strategies focused on mainstreaming gender in the public finance management systems and/or reforms to promote more inclusive and transparent governance, accountable to the needs and interests of women and men, including the most excluded and most left behind.

The programme will support strengthening of national gender mechanisms across Western Balkans countries, which take the lead in ensuring that policies and laws fully embed gender equality principles, gender is mainstreamed in sectoral programmes and reform processes of state institutions and line ministries, and contributes to more effective implementation of innovative intersectional and/or regional approaches.

At local level, the programme interventions will focus on policies that directly influence the improvement of the life of women and men from the most excluded groups, particularly by upscaling proven approaches and good practices identified in previous GRB interventions.

Work on the increased oversight and accountability on budget allocation and expenditure of the government including support to both oversight bodies as well as CSO is another area of intervention spelled out in the programme. Parliamentary involvement will be very important, while CSOs networking and advocacy efforts will be supported to enable structured and continued oversight and analysis of budgetary spending from gender perspective, as well as to generate missing evidence and expert policy recommendations.

Furthermore, the programme will offer a platform for networking between participating countries for purposes of sharing best experiences and lessons learned in using GRB as tool for transformative financing. Additionally, the programme will facilitate regional exchange of know-how for public officials, civil society organizations, Members of Parliaments, gender advocates and experts, with the aim of replication of proven practices and approaches across the countries on GRB. Finally, the programme will connect countries together through GRB experiences to design GE interventions and implement them across Western Balkans.

Reporting to the Gender Responsive Budgeting Programme Specialist, the Monitoring and Reporting Analyst will provide support to the Regional Office (RO) colleagues in incorporating monitoring, reporting and knowledge management into programme formulation as well tracking against Strategic Plan targets and the reporting of results to internal and external audiences.

[1] References to Kosovo* in this document shall be understood to be in the context of Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999).

[2] Parliament, Ombudsperson, Court of Audit, Commissioner for Protection Against Discrimination

Duties and Responsibilities

Provide technical inputs to programme formulation to ensure monitoring and reporting is incorporated

  • Provide inputs to the development of monitoring indicators, monitoring calendars, and field monitoring plans and quality assurance processes;
  • Include relevant inputs from evaluation findings, conclusions and recommendations into programme formulation;
  • Provide inputs to annual work plan monitoring, reviews and reporting;
  • Provide technical support to partners in developing Performance Monitoring Frameworks (PMFs), systems and plans, and Baseline Surveys;
  • Facilitate the clearance of donor agreements and Programme Cooperation Agreements;

Provide technical inputs to the monitoring and tracking of results against country/ regional level targets and UN Women Strategic Plan

  • Coordinate with Programme Team to ensure data collection and analysis from field visits are coordinated and standardized across programmes;
  • Monitor data from partners/countries on a quarterly basis and provide inputs to regular management briefs to inform decision making;
  • Visit partners, along with the Programme Team, to support monitoring of results and planning processes, as required;
  • Monitor the spending of donor funds and other programme expenditures and disbursements;
  • Contribute to the development and monitoring of the RO Monitoring, Evaluation, and Research Plan.

Facilitate the reporting of results to internal and external audiences

  • Facilitate the process of the RO meeting internal and external reporting requirements and deadlines, including annual reporting process;
  • Contribute substantial inputs to donor and programme reports (both narrative and financial);
  • Identify relevant evaluation findings, conclusions and recommendations and input them into programme reporting;
  • Review progress reports submitted by partners and provide feedback to improve quality and timeliness of reporting;
  • Collect and maintain data for country, regional and global corporate reports, mid-term reviews, and final evaluations;

Provide technical support to the Programme Specialist in the implementation the UN Women Evaluation Policy

  • Coordinate the implementation of UN Women’s Evaluation plan in the country office;
  • Draft/revise Terms of Reference for specific project/program evaluations;
  • Ensure communication between the CO/PP and RO regarding Evaluations;
  • Coordinate the completion of management’s response to the UN Women Global Accountability and Tracking of Evaluation Use (GATE).

Contribute to knowledge building and capacity building

  • Identify and disseminate good practices, lessons, and knowledge, as identified through programme implementation, monitoring and evaluation activities;
  • Contribute to the development of capacity development tools, including training materials and packages;
  • Provide technical support to GRB Programme specialist with the development of specific Knowledge Management tools, their implementation and dissemination
  • Conduct consultations and a needs assessment to identify existing knowledge gaps and practices on GRB among Regional, Programme Presence and Country Offices;
  • Promote the awareness and understanding of the shared responsibility of Monitoring and Evaluation among all staff members through communication, training, learning and development activities.

Key Performance Indicators:

  • Timely and quality support to the programme team and partners in line with work plan
  • Quality and timely systems for tracking/monitoring
  • Timely submission of accurate and quality reports

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

  • Good knowledge of programme formulation, implementation, and Results Based Management
  • Good knowledge of monitoring and evaluation, evaluation design, data collection and analysis, and reporting
  • Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports
  • Analytical and report writing skills

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

  • Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Political or Social Science, Economics, International Development Studies, Gender/Women's Studies is required.
  • A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
  • A project/programme management certification (such as PMP®, PRINCE2®, or MSP®) would be an added advantage.

Experience:

  • At least 1 year of relevant experience at the national or international level in monitoring and reporting of development projects/ programmes.
  • Experience in reporting for results

Language Requirements:

  • Fluency in English and Turkish is required;
  • Knowledge of the other UN official working language is an asset;
  • Knowledge of one of the languages spoken in Western Balkan is an asset.