Background:
UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, supports the elimination of discrimination against women and girls and the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment. The UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard is the UN system accountability framework for assessing UNCT performance on gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE).
A series of UN General Assembly and ECOSOC resolutions have reaffirmed the United Nations’ accountability towards advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women. Crucially, at the 59th Session of the UN General Assembly, Member States, in adopting the Triennial Comprehensive Policy Review (TCPR) of Operational Activities for Development of the UN System, called on all UN organizations to: “mainstream gender and to pursue gender equality in their country programmes, planning instruments and sector-wide programmes and to articulate specific country-level goals and targets in this field in accordance with the national development strategies”.
As a direct follow-up to the TCPR, and to ensure a comprehensive response to many of its recommendations, the UN Sustainable Development Group (UNDG, now UNSDG) created a Task Team on Gender Equality. The goals of the Task Team are to support more consistent and coherent action among UNDG member agencies to mainstream gender equality and promote women’s empowerment at the country level; and to ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment are mainstreamed into the tools and processes that emerge from the UNDG for UN Country Teams (UNCTs).
The 2016 Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review (QCPR) called 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 UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks (UNSDCFs).
As of 2023, there is now an updated version of the UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard, which was developed by the global 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” (para 20).
The Kyrgyz Republic is implementing the UNSDCF and advancing commitments under CEDAW, the Beijing Platform for Action, SDG 5 and the Women, Peace and Security agenda. Recent country analysis highlights persistent gender inequalities in political participation, economic opportunities, unpaid care work, access to resources, civic space and representation. as well as deeply entrenched challenges regarding gender-based violence (GBV), bodily autonomy, and access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).
In March 2024, the UN Secretary-General launched the Gender Equality Acceleration Plan (GEAP), calling on Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams to accelerate gender equality results through stronger leadership, accountability, financing, partnerships and evidence-based programming.
Reporting to the UN Women Country Representative and working in close coordination with the UN Resident Coordinator and the GTG,UNCT SWAP Interagency Assessment Team, the Consultant is responsible for undertaking a comprehensive objective assessment of the UNCT SWAP Gender Equality Score Card and Gender Equality Acceleration Plan Assessment towards strengthening the accountability and accelerate results, the UNCT in Kyrgyzstan seeks to undertake an integrated assessment combining the UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard and an assessment of implementation of the GEAP.
Objective:
The objective of the consultancy is to support the UNCT in conducting an integrated assessment of its performance on gender equality and women’s empowerment through a distinct emphasis on delivering a forward-looking, operational dimension:
• Completion of the UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard;
• Assessment of implementation and effectiveness of the GEAP;
• Review of progress against previous SWAP recommendations and action plans;
• Identification of strengths, gaps and corrective actions;
• Development of a costed Gender Equality Acceleration Action Plan and accountability framework.
The final output should transcend baseline stocktaking and scoring to provide concrete, actionable recommendations and strategic guidance that will directly support future UNCT and GTG actions, resource mobilization and programmatic implementation.
Scope of the Work:
A. Inception and document review
Review global, regional and national documentation including:
• UNCT-SWAP Technical Guidance;
• GEAP Guidance Note for RCs and UNCTs;
• Previous Kyrgyzstan SWAP assessments and action plans;
• UNSDCF, CCA and UNSDCF evaluations;
• GTG TORs, workplans and annual reports;
• Gender marker reports and annual UNCT reports;
• CEDAW, UPR, SDG and WPS documents;
• National gender equality policies and strategies.National strategies and assessments on Gender-Based Violence (GBV), demographic shifts, and SRHR;
B. UNCT-SWAP Assessment
Facilitate evidence collection, scoring, validation and reporting for all scorecard dimensions (15 indicators), including:
• Leadership and accountability;
• Planning and programming;
• Results and monitoring;
• Partnerships;
• Communication and advocacy;
• Organizational culture and capacity.
C. GEAP Assessment
Assess the implementation of GEAP at the country level, with particular reference to the GEAP reporting questions and the GEAP Guidance for RCs and UNCTs. The full GEAP framework, including its five pillars, should be used as a reference point where relevant, while recognizing that some elements are primarily intended for global-level action:
1. Clarion Call and Leadership;
2. Gender Transformative Leadership and Analysis;
3. Accountability for Gender Results;
4. Financing and Resourcing for GEWE;
5. Partnerships and Collective Action.
D. Review of Gender Equality Architecture
As a complementary analysis to the UNCT-SWAP assessment and GEAP review, assess how the gender equality architecture supports accountability, coordination and implementation of agreed gender equality commitments. This review should avoid duplication with SWAP indicators and should be used to inform the final action plan. It will cover:
• Gender Theme Group effectiveness;
• Gender focal point system;
• Inter-agency coordination mechanisms;
• Gender parity and leadership;
• Accountability arrangements.
E. Review of Gender Analysis and Data
Assess:
- Quality of gender analysis in the CCA and UNSDCF;
- Use of sex-disaggregated data;
- Intersectionality and LNOB approaches;
- Human rights and gender-responsive indicators;
- Readiness for development of a Country Gender Equality Profile (CGEP) utilizing national census and demographic health indicators.
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Assess how the CGEP (the process and the output) published in 2025 has contributed to advancing GEAP.
F. Stakeholder Consultations
Conduct targeted interviews and consultations primarily with internal UN stakeholders required for the UNCT-SWAP assessment, including:
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• Resident Coordinator and RCO;
• Heads of Agencies;
• GTG members;
• Results Groups;
• Operations Management Team;
• UN Communications Group.
External consultations with Government counterparts, women’s organizations and CSOs, and development partners should be undertaken where they add value to the GEAP assessment and action planning. These consultations should be streamlined, sequenced and, where possible, aligned with the GEAP Biennial Review on gender equality to avoid duplication and consultation fatigue.
IAT-Led Self-Assessment with Consultant Support:
- The Consultant will facilitate the evidence review, scoring process, reporting and action planning. The Inter-Agency Assessment Team (IAT) and the Gender Theme Group (GTG) will support evidence collection, validate the ratings, agree on key findings and endorse the proposed follow-up actions:
- Support the collection of complementary data and evidence to rate indicators
- Conduct gender analysis of verification documents required to help the IAT rate areas of performance
- 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 and to identify actions to maintain or improve performance under each indicator for the SWAP Action Plan .
- Complete the rating matrix based on IAT discussions and agreements.
- Facilitate a debrief with the UNCT HOAs to discuss findings and proposed actions.
Draft and finalize UNCT SWAP and GEAP comprehensive report and Action Plan
- Draft UNCT-SWAP narrative report, with inputs from IAT.
- Prepare Action Plan based on agreed follow-up action points identified through the assessment and workshop.
- Review and complete the final draft of the UNCT-SWAP narrative report and Action Plan based on feedback, including from the UN Resident Coordinator and UNCT Heads of Agencies.
G. Validation and Action Planning
Facilitate validation workshops and support preparation of a costed Gender Equality Acceleration Action Plan. This plan should serve as an operational roadmap, translating scorecard findings into concrete, field-level interventions with clearly assigned agency responsibilities and strategic guidance for future UNCT and GTG joint actions.
Methodology:
The consultant will apply participatory and utilization-focused methodology including desk review, interviews, focus groups, surveys, evidence verification, scoring workshops, validation workshops and action-planning sessions. The methodology shall align with UNCT-SWAP technical guidance and GEAP implementation guidance. The methodological approach must balance past performance evaluation (stocktaking) with a proactive framework designed to map operational opportunities, identify coordination bottlenecks and deliver practical guidance for strategic inter-agency engagement.
Deliverables:
| Deliverables | Expected completion time (due day) | Payment Schedule (optional) |
| Background documents reviewed | 3 working days | 30% of payment |
| Inception Report (methodology, workplan, consultation plan, data collection tools, evidence matrix and list of documents reviewed) | 10 working days | |
| Evidence collection, consultations and preliminary scoring |
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| Validation Workshop and Presentation. |
2 working days | |
| UNCT SWAP comprehensive report and Action Plan drafted and presented to UNCT | 5 working days | 40 % of payment |
| UNCT-SWAP comprehensive report and Action Plan finalized for submission in SWAP platform based on the UNCT feedback | 2 working days | |
| Brief GEAP Assessment Note and costed Gender Equality Acceleration Action Plan (2027–2028) | 5 working days | |
| Completed UNCT-SWAP – GEAP Submission Package integrating Monitoring, Accountability and Reporting Framework. |
3 working days |
30% of payment |
- Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel
This assignment will be mostly home-based and rely on desk research and on-line interaction with IAT, UN Women Office in Kyrgyzstan , UN Gender Theme Group, UN Operations Team and other relevant working groups, UN RCO Kyrgyzstan and UNCT, any change will be communicated and agreed upon in advance.
Institutional Arrangements: The Consultant will report to the UN Women Country Representative and the UN Resident Coordinator. Technical oversight will be provided by the Gender Theme Group and the Inter-Agency Assessment Team, composed of representatives of the RCO, GTG, Results Groups, OMT and UN Communications Group. The Consultant will work in close coordination with UN Women, RCO, UNCT and GTG throughout the assignment. Periodic check-ins will be organized to validate progress, provide technical inputs and agree on next steps.
Duration: Approximately 30 working days over a period of 8 weeks. The consultancy will be home-based with possible travel to Bishkek if required.
Competencies :
Core Values:
- Integrity;
- Professionalism;
- Respect for Diversity.
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 Values and Competencies Framework:
Functional Competencies:
• Gender equality expertise
• Accountability
• Effective communication
• Inclusive collaboration
• Stakeholder engagement
• Strategic thinking
• Results orientation
Required Qualifications:
Education:
Advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in gender studies, social sciences, human rights, public policy, development studies, international relations or related fields.
Experience:
• Minimum 10 years of experience in gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• At least 7 years of experience in evaluation, assessment, review or results-based management;
• Demonstrated experience with UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard;
• Substantive knowledge of, and experience evaluating, multi-sectoral responses to GEWE, GBV, bodily autonomy, and SRHR within UN frameworks
Experience with UNSDCF processes;
• Experience assessing gender action plans and accountability frameworks;
• Experience in Central Asia highly desirable;
• Knowledge of GEAP implementation an asset.
Languages:
• Fluency in English required;
• Kyrgyz and Russian strongly desirable.
Evaluation Criteria:
Education (10%)
Gender equality expertise (20%)
Evaluation and RBM experience (15%)
UNCT-SWAP experience (20%)
UNSDCF experience (10%)
GEAP/accountability framework experience (10%)
Facilitation and stakeholder engagement (10%)
Central Asia experience and Russian language (5%)
Statements:
In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.
Diversity and inclusion:
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