International consultant to support the UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard

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 centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors. In support of UN Women’s Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (GEWE) mandate and the realization of women and girls rights contend in key normative frameworks such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA), Agenda 2030

In 2006, following the background paper of UN Development Group (UNDG, now UNSDG) Task Team on Gender Equality on accountability mechanisms in UNDG agencies, an agreement was reached on development of a UNCT-level “Accounting for Gender Equality” Scorecard that sets minimum requirements for UNCTs to assess their performance across the system.

The Gender Scorecard was endorsed by the UNDG in 2008 in response to the UN Chief Executive Board for Coordination 2006 Policy on gender equality and the empowerment of women (CEB/2006/2) to establish an accountability framework for assessing the effectiveness of gender mainstreaming by UN Country Teams.

The 2016 QCPR calls for the United Nations development system to expand and strengthen the use of the Gender Scorecard as a planning and reporting tool for assessing the effectiveness of gender mainstreaming in the context of the UNDAF (OP 83; now Cooperation Framework). Building on this call, an updated version of the framework, the UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard, was launched in 2018, resulting from almost two years of work by the UNSDG Task Team on Gender Equality under the Results Group on Voice, Values and Norms, to align the Action Plan with the SDGs and to it with its entity level equivalent, the United Nations System-Wide Action Plan, drawing on good global
practices with motivating, managing and measuring institutional change processes. Furthermore, the 2019 UNSDG United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework Guidance calls for UN entities to “put gender equality at the heart of programming, driving the active and meaningful participation of both women and men, and consistently empowering women and girls, in line with the minimum requirements agreed upon by the United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG) in the UNCT System-wide Action Plan (SWAP) Gender Equality Scorecard (UNCT-SWAP)” (para 20).
The UNCT SWAP-Scorecard assessment was conducted in Kazakhstan each year during 2018-2023. As the successor of the UN Development Assistance framework (UNDAF), UNCT Kazakhstan developed a nationally owned UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for 2021-2025 through anchoring it in national development priorities, the 2030 Agenda and the principles of the UN Charter. UNSDCF 2021-2025 articulates the strategic programmatic collaboration between the UN system and the Government of Kazakhstan through six Outcomes under three Strategic Priority Areas – namely: Empowered People, Good Governance, Inclusive Economy and Protected Planet – that address the challenges and risks to accelerating and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Under this UNSDCF cycle, RGs were envisaged as a tool to reinforce the coherence and joint reflection with enhanced strategic linkages in cross-sectoral areas to ensure complementarity between intervention areas.
The Gender Theme Group (GTG) in Kazakhstan works towards ensuring gender mainstreaming in UNSDCF planning and implementation and supports UN agencies to promote coordinated UN joint programming that advances gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Duration of the contract and location:
The contract is expected to commence in August 2024 and come to an end on the satisfactory completion of the services in December 2024. The consultant will work 25 working days remotely but may be required to travel to Kazakhstan to fulfill the tasks.

Duties and Responsibilities

OBJECTIVE:

In order to support the implementation of the gender-responsive Cooperation Framework and ensure better accountability of UNCT towards gender equality and women’s empowerment in line with UN corporative policy in this area, UNCT-SWAP will be used to assess the status and identify the gaps and corrective actions. Even though the GTG will be actively involved, an established Inter-Agency Team (IAT) which consists of representatives of GTG, other RGs, RCO, UNCG, OMT will be in charge to complete the UNCT-SWAP process in a participatory and timely manner, with the support of the consultant.

To guide and support the Inter-Agency Assessment Team (IAT), the consultant will conduct the following activities within the stipulated timeframes:

1. Background document review, development of inception report defining methodology, process, data collection instruments, timeline (5 working days):

Documents to be reviewed:

• UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard Technical Guidance and Framework
• UNCT-SWAP reports for Kazakhstan during 2018 - 2023
• Current country CCA and UNSDCF or equivalents
• New UNSDG United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework Guidance
• UNCT planning, budgeting, and programming documents
• GTG Work Plans
• Other relevant documents to the exercise such as the CEDAW related reports

2. Prepare and facilitate a UNCT-SWAP orientation during the UNCT meeting (remote, 1 working day)

Conducting an orientation session for the UNCT member on what UNCT-SWAP Comprehensive Scorecard Exercise on Gender is, who is responsible for which tasks, how the reporting process would be executed in a most effective way, how the findings of the assessment should be used to identify the gaps, producing best practices and developing advocacy messages within and out of UNCT.

3. Initial assessment and data collection mission (in-country, 5 working days)

• Prepare initial scoring based on information obtained through questionnaires, identify information gaps and prepare instruments for data collection in the country.
• Facilitate a SWAP assessment with members of the GTG, RGs, and relevant UNSDCF groups through individual and group interviews (format to be discussed).
• Facilitate working sessions with and provide technical support to key stakeholders such as the Resident Coordinator; Heads of Agencies; key programme staff; M&E teams, partners, etc. to discuss and score areas of performance.
• Conduct interviews with external stakeholders: representatives of governments, civil society organizations/groups, business entities and other partners.
• Debriefing with GTG and RCO on country mission.

Competencies

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Required Skills and Experience

• Advanced (Masters) degree in social and political sciences, human rights, gender equality and other relevant field of study.
• At least 5 years of experience in the field of gender mainstreaming in development programmes/projects at national and international levels;
• At least 3 years’ experience of work on results based management, review and/or evaluation;
• Experience in gender data collection and analysis, including interviews, survey and focus groups is an asset;
• Previous experience with the Gender Equality Scorecard, narrative report and follow-up matrix is an asset;
• English, knowledge of Russian is an asset.

Application Process

The application should include:

• Personal History Form (P-11 form) - including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2022-07/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form-en.doc, a signed copy should be submitted;
• Technical proposal describing how the expected assignment will be performed. The technical proposal should also include supporting materials to learn about candidate’s experience and skills.

Evaluation process

Candidates will be evaluated based on set technical qualification requirements:

Kindly note, that the system will only allow one attachment, hence all supporting document e.g., P11, CV must be scanned as one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply. UN Women applies a fair and transparent selection process that would take into account the competencies/skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals. Due to the large number of applications received, UN Women will inform only the successful candidate about the outcome or status of the selection process.

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)