Programme Support Consultant for Regional Programme “Making Every Woman and Girl Count"

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. The UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECA RO) was established in Istanbul, Turkey in early 2014. It provides support and oversight to Country Offices in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Ukraine. In addition, the Regional Office directly supports programme and project presence in Kosovo (under UN Security Council Resolution 1244), Serbia, the Republic of North Macedonia, Tajikistan and Turkey.

Since 2018, UN Women ECA RO is implementing a Flagship Programme Initiative (FPI): Making Every Woman and Girl Count: Supporting the monitoring and implementation of the SDGs through better production and use of gender statistics (MEWGC), developed by UN Women Headquarters (HQ), that aims to affect a radical shift in the production, availability, accessibility and use of quality data and statistics on key aspects of gender equality and women’s empowerment. The Programme intends to achieve results in three interlinked areas of work:

1. Enabling environment: Building a supportive policy and institutional environment for the localization (i.e., national and local adaptation) and effective monitoring of the SDGs;
2. Data production: Increasing the quality, comparability and regularity of gender statistics to address national data gaps and meet reporting commitments under the SDGs and other international treaties and agreements, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform for Action, as well as national priorities; and
3. Data accessibility: Ensuring that gender statistics are accessible to users in governments, civil society, academia and the private sector and are analysed to inform policy-making and advocacy and to monitor progress on the SDGs.

To support the Regional Gender Data Specialist in implementation of the Women Count Programme, UN Women will hire a Programme Consultant/Programme assistant, who will support in development and implementation of programme activities in line with UN Women rules and regulations. S/he contributes to research, financial management, and programme implementation including providing necessary operational, administrative and programmatic support.

Duties and Responsibilities

The objective of this assignment is to provide programme implementation support to the ECA RO Regional Programme “Making Every Woman and Girl Count (MEWGC; Women Count Programme)”.

Under the direct supervision of the Gender Data Specialist/Regional Programme Manager of the UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office, the Consultant will be expected to:

Provide programme implementation support to MEWGC activities, including but not limited to the following tasks:

• Development of background documents for implementation of specific activities aimed to increase the dialogue between data producers and users as well as to use for consultations with partners and to prepare for the events.
• Prepare and assemble briefing materials and prepare power-points and other presentations; contribute inputs to the materials.
• Support the preparation of sub-regional and regional meetings planned within the programme by drafting concept notes and agendas of the programme related events/meetings/workshops, communicating with participants and trainers, follow-up on post-events’ actions.
• Provide inputs into programme delivery/procurement/implementation & spending plans and programme budgets.
• Draft quarterly and annual reports, as well as donor reports.
• Support the knowledge management in the frame of the regional programme, knowledge documentation and sharing with internal and external audience;
• Participate in relevant working meetings with partners engaged into the programme.
• Perform other duties as required.

She/he will work in close collaboration with UN Women programme and operations staff, UN staff and UN agencies, HQ technical advisors, experts, and civil society.

Expected deliverables

Competencies

Competencies and Qualifications

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

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

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications Education:

• Advanced degree (or equivalent) in political or social science, economics, international development studies, gender/women's studies or an area relevant to the requirements of the TOR is required.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of experience at the national and/or international level in programme development and implementation in the gender equality and women’s empowerment area.
• At least 3 years of progressively responsible experience in administration or programme management/support.
• Proven experience of working in data related activities (data collection, analysis, training etc.).
• Previous professional experience with development agencies and/or the United Nations is an asset.

Languages and other skills:

• Proficient in written and oral English. Knowledge of Russian is an asset;
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use computers, including PowerPoint, advanced Excel skills is required. Knowledge of related analytical software (SPSS, Stata etc.) is desirable.
• Good communication, writing and analytical skills.

Application Process 

The application should include:

• Personal History Form (P-11 form) - including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment, a signed copy should be submitted;
• Financial Proposal: Specify a total lump sum monthly amount for the tasks specified in this Terms of Reference. The financial proposal shall include monthly fee;  
• Candidates should have the ability to quickly produce degree certificates and medical certification (of good health) should they be short-listed in consideration of the consultancy post.

Management and financial arrangements

The contractor will report to and work under direct supervision of UN Women ECA RO Regional Gender Statistics Specialist/Regional Programme Manager.

The consultant will be paid upon monthly submission of the deliverables, certification of payment and timesheet for actual number of working days applied.

Travel-related costs will be covered separately.

Evaluation process

Consultants will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of qualifications and financial proposal.

The candidates must possess following minimum qualification criteria to be eligible for further technical evaluation:

• University degree in social or political sciences, economics, international development studies, gender/women's studies or an area relevant to the requirements of the TOR. 
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use computers, including advanced level of Excel skills.
• Fluency in English (speaking and writing).

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.