Consultant to develop methodological guidelines on the collection and use of Citizen-Generated Data for reporting of SDGs 5 and gender-specific indicators in other SDGs

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. To fulfil its mandate, the organization and offices work on various aspects of development with the aim of either drawing attention by providing evidence on the existence of a gender gap or directly implementing interventions geared towards closing the gender gap among other sectors, also in gender statistics.

UN Women in East and Southern Africa has carried out some activities seeking to understand the landscape of data generated outside of the national Statistical Systems with the aim of providing evidence on potential use of the same. UN Women recently generated evidence on the use of complementary data to monitor progress towards the SDGs and the Leave No One Behind commitment. In this study, UN Women presents four case studies of projects using CGD in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda through a wide range of methods from interactive radio and SMS to smartphone apps and offline surveys.

Also, in 2018, UN Women in partnership with the Sustainable Development Goals Center for Africa (SDGC/A) organized a Regional Workshop on gender statistics to foster dialogue, on the one hand, between traditional data producers including National Statistical Offices (NSOs) and emerging new data producers including civil society organizations (CSOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and academics, and dialogue, and on the other hand, with data users including policymakers, decision-makers, civil society and other stakeholders, with the aim of identifying new and emerging opportunities to fill in gender data gaps to track progress in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063 of the Africa we want. This Regional Workshop established common foundations for advancing the generation and use of complementary data to guide policymaking and programming on gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment, adopted by several NSOs of East and Southern African countries attending the event.

The office also entered into a partnership with a Pan-Africa organization, the Africa Monitor to support the actual collection of CGD in selected SDGs in 10 countries in Africa. Africa Monitor produced the 2017 Citizen’s Report (CR) which is a citizen-driven initiative to monitor the implementation of the SDGs in Africa. For the 2018/2019 Citizens Report, data is collected from 10 countries in Africa on selected SDGs. The countries include: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone  and Senegal. The overall objective of the programme is to build the capacity of civic actors (specifically youth and women in civil society) to monitor the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda; and to hold their governments accountable for improved delivery. The reports are being finlaized and provide key lessons in the collection and use of CGD.

 Objective of the assignment:

With this backdrop, UN Women East and Southern Africa is committed to continue to inspire an innovative approach to fill the gender statistical gaps for gender-responsive monitoring and reporting of the SDGs and the Leave No One Behind commitment through the complementary data approach. This consists of including Citizen-Generated Data as sources of data providing significant complementary information to the more traditional data sources. Yet very innovative and with high potential, this approach faces complex challenges in being integrated and used to support monitoring and decision-making to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. In particular, it is often difficult to find and link these complementary data sources - with those derived from more traditional data sources and those of different countries - due to discrepancies in the metadata structures and vocabularies used to describe and organize their content, as well as the lack of adherence to common technical and statistical standards. These challenges counter disaggregation, and lead to lower visibility and use of existing data sources that could be leveraged by governments to help fill in monitoring gaps for the SDGs.

UN Women aims to address these challenges focusing on the extremely high potential of Citizen-Generated Data to fill gender statistical gaps. To help achieve this, the UN Women Regional office for East and Southern Africa seeks to recruit an international consultant to establish a set of methodological guidelines to inform the production of CGD These guidelines will be elaborated in collaboration with national statistics systems, UN agencies and other stakeholders and new data producers, drawing on existing best practices at global, regional and national levels.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will undertake a desk review of existing best practices on the production and use of Citizen-Generated Data at global, regional and national level to inform monitoring and reporting of gender-specific SDGs and undertake consultations with NSOs, UN agencies and other stakeholders and new data producers to define guidelines on the production and use of CGD.

The consultant will:

• Analyze existing UN Women studies and experiences on Citizen-Generated Data in East and Southern Africa;
• Work with identified UN Women colleagues in ESA region to collect good practices that are existing in the field offices on the production and use of Citizen-Generated Data;
• Examine best practices on the use and production of Citizen-Generated Data also by other organizations around the world
• Develop user-friendly and comprehensive guidelines for the production and use of Citizen-Generated Data for monitoring and reporting of the gender-specific SDGs and related powerpoint presentation.
• Review emerging activities on citizen-generated data and assess their potential to fill-in specific gender-related SDG indicator gaps.

 Outputs:

• Inception Report establishing the methodology for the development of guidelines;
• Two drafts of the guidelines (one for comments, the final incorporating comments);
• Creative and dynamic PowerPoint presentation summarizing the guidelines (for online advisory support).

 Key Deliverables:

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.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:  http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

 Functional Competencies:

• Extensive knowledge of gender statistics and its production, analysis and dissemination;
• Demonstrated experience in gender equality and women empowerment including solid understanding of linkages between gender, statistics and development;
• Strong knowledge of UN system, 2030 Sustainable Agenda and Leave No One Behind Commitment;
• Leadership and skills to work with autonomy and initiative.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in statistics, social sciences, development studies, development economics, gender/women's studies, international relations or related field is required.

Experience:

• At least 10 years of demonstrable experience in development work at the national, regional and/or international level in the area of gender equality and/or human rights;
• Technical expertise in areas relevant to gender statistics, monitoring and reporting, women empowerment and gender equality;
• Strong understanding of gender and its interlinkages with the Sustainable Development Goals and Leave No One Behind initiative;
• Solid knowledge of specifics of the UN System and the 2030 Agenda;
• Demonstrated ability and experience to develop written guidelines/communication materials, collect and analyze data within a given timeframe;
• The ability to understand and present complex issues clearly and concisely;
• Experience in working in a diversity team is an asset.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required;
• Working knowledge of another official UN language is an asset.