UN Women: Consultancy For Development of the Final Act Programme Report

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.

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) remains one of the most pervasive human rights violations globally. Approximately one in three women worldwide, or around 840 [1]million women, have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner or non-partner at least once in their lifetime. Progress in preventing and eliminating VAWG remains slow, underscoring the need for sustained investment in prevention, effective laws and policies, survivor-centred services, accountability, evidence generation and strong women's rights movements and civil society action.

The challenge is particularly significant in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA), where women and girls continue to experience multiple and intersecting forms of violence, including intimate partner and non-partner violence, child marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM) and other harmful practices.[2] Approximately 32 per cent of women aged 20–24 in Eastern and Southern Africa were married or entered into a union before age 18, while FGM remains highly prevalent in several countries in the region. Under-reporting of violence, discriminatory social norms, gaps in implementation and enforcement of laws and policies, limited access to quality survivor-centred services, insufficient financing, weak accountability mechanisms and restrictions on civic space continue to constrain progress.

At the same time, women's rights organizations (WROs), women-led organizations, feminist movements and women human rights defenders play a critical role in challenging discriminatory norms, advocating for policy and legislative reform, generating and using evidence, holding duty bearers accountable and sustaining collective action for women's rights. Strengthening the capacity, resilience, connectivity and collective influence of these actors is therefore central to creating an enabling environment for sustainable progress on EVAW.

Within this context, UN Women, with financial support from the European Union, implemented the Advocacy, Coalition Building and Transformative Feminist Action to End Violence Against Women (ACT) Programme. ACT was designed to strengthen feminist women's rights organizations and movements as critical actors in accelerating progress towards ending violence against women and girls.

The ACT Programme adopted a movement-strengthening approach that went beyond supporting individual activities or organizations. It invested in organizational systems, feminist leadership, coalition building, relationships, evidence generation, collective advocacy and engagement with policy and accountability processes. In the Eastern and Southern Africa region, the programme worked with regional and national women's rights organizations, feminist networks, youth-led organizations, organizations representing women and girls with disabilities, research institutions, community-based organizations, survivor-led initiatives and other partners.

The ESARO component was structured around two interrelated programme outcomes: strengthened coalition building, networking, leadership and resilience of regional feminist women's rights movements; and increased and enhanced advocacy, campaigning and policymaking on EVAW through multistakeholder partnerships and women's rights coalitions. 

Across the three-year implementation period, ACT investments contributed to organizational strengthening and resilience, feminist leadership, networking and coalition building, evidence generation and knowledge use, collective advocacy, policy engagement and accountability. Programme documentation indicates that partners strengthened organizational systems and capacities, developed stronger relationships and collective advocacy platforms, increased engagement of diverse constituencies, generated locally led evidence and expanded participation in national, regional and global policy spaces. ACT also supports regional organizations and coalitions to generate and exchange evidence and practice-based knowledge to inform advocacy, research, policy, programming and funding decisions on EVAW. 

As the ACT Programme concludes, UN Women ESARO requires a comprehensive Final Programme Report covering the full three-year implementation period. The report will consolidate and synthesize the results documented through partner final reports and other programme evidence, including programme monitoring and reporting data, case studies, learning products, mission reports, advocacy documentation and other relevant materials.

The Final Programme Report will provide a coherent account of the programme's implementation journey, achievements, significant changes and contributions, while documenting the challenges encountered, adaptations made, lessons learned, good practices and areas that should be sustained or considered in future programming.

The report is intended as a key programme accountability, learning and knowledge product and will be shared with the European Union, as the programme's donor, as well as relevant UN Women stakeholders. It must therefore meet a high standard of analytical quality, accuracy, consistency and presentation and should communicate the programme's results in a clear, compelling and accessible manner.

The consultant will be reporting to the ACT Regional Coordinator Ending Violence Against Women and Girls, and will be supported by the Finance & Programme Associate, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues.

Purpose of the consultancy

The purpose of this consultancy is to develop a comprehensive, evidence-based and donor-facing Final ACT Programme Report covering the full three-year implementation period of the programme.

The consultant will synthesize three years of programme implementation and partner-level evidence into one coherent, evidence-based and donor-facing Final ACT Programme Report for submission to and sharing with the European Union.

The report will consolidate evidence from partner final reports and other relevant programme documentation to demonstrate the programme's achievements and results, highlight significant changes and illustrative impact stories, and capture the key lessons, challenges, adaptations, good practices and sustainability considerations emerging from programme implementation.

The assignment is not an independent programme evaluation. The consultant will not be expected to undertake a separate evaluation of the programme or establish causal attribution. Rather, the consultant will synthesize, analyze and communicate evidence generated through programme implementation and reporting.

Organizational Setting, Reporting and Collaborators 

The consultant will work under the overall supervision of the ACT ESARO Programme Coordinator or designated programme lead. The consultant will work closely with relevant ACT ESARO programme personnel and as required, designated monitoring, evaluation, communications, operations and finance colleagues. The designated UN Women focal point will coordinate access to source documentation, consolidate comments on deliverables and serve as the primary contact for contractual and payment matters. Where clarification is required, the consultant may also engage selected programme partner focal points through consultations facilitated or agreed by UN Women. 

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work 

The consultant will be responsible for producing a coherent suite of ACT ESARO final reporting products covering the full implementation period including supporting annexes: (i) a comprehensive Final Project Report; (ii) an abridged Final Project Report for senior management, donor and external audiences; and (iii) a concise PowerPoint presentation of the programme’s headline results, lessons and legacy (iv) supporting annexes. The full report will serve as the authoritative source for the abridged report and presentation. The consultant will undertake the following tasks: 
 

• Conduct a structured desk review of all relevant documentation provided by UN Women, including the ACT programme document and results framework, Year 1 and Year 2 annual reports, final reports from all ACT ESARO programme partners, relevant partner progress reports where needed to establish continuity, programme monitoring data, indicator tracking information, workplans, knowledge products, advocacy and communications materials, and validated financial information relevant to the final report;
• Prepare an inception note setting out the proposed approach, annotated report outline, workplan, source-document inventory and any initial information gaps or inconsistencies requiring clarification;
• Develop and maintain a results consolidation/evidence matrix that maps cumulative reported achievements to the relevant ACT outcomes, outputs and indicators, identifies the underlying source, distinguishes annual from cumulative results, and supports the prevention of duplication or double counting across annual and partner reports;
• Analyse and synthesize programme achievements across the implementation period, distinguishing between activities undertaken, outputs delivered, outcome-level changes and broader contribution to ACT objectives, to the extent supported by available evidence; 
• Synthesize the contribution of individual programme partners while presenting a coherent regional story of how partner interventions complemented one another and contributed to coalition building, feminist movement strengthening, advocacy, campaigning, policy influence and other ACT results;
• Identify and clearly articulate significant programme adaptations, implementation challenges, risks and mitigation measures, including contextual factors that affected delivery and how the programme responded; 
• Identify and document good practices, innovations, lessons learned, sustainability considerations and recommendations relevant to future programming and engagement with feminist and women’s rights movements;
• Where necessary, conduct a limited number of virtual consultations with designated UN Women colleagues and/or selected partner focal points to validate interpretation of source material, clarify information gaps and strengthen the accuracy of the report. These consultations will not constitute primary research or an independent evaluation;
• Prepare a complete first draft Final Project Report including annexes, incorporating a concise executive summary, programme context and approach, implementation overview, results by outcome/output, partner contributions, cross-cutting themes, challenges and adaptations, lessons and good practices, sustainability considerations, conclusions, recommendations, a validated financial overview where required, and relevant annexes; 
• Ensure the report is written in clear, concise and professional English, uses consistent terminology, presents evidence in a balanced and accessible manner, and complies with applicable UN Women and donor reporting requirements and editorial guidance communicated for the assignment;
• Revise and finalize the full Final Project Report following consolidated comments from UN Women, including up to two substantive review rounds, and provide a final clean, copy-edited and internally consistent version together with the final evidence/results matrix;
• Following substantive approval of the full Final Project Report, prepare an abridged Final Project Report of approximately 8–12 pages, excluding cover and end matter, as a standalone product for senior management, donor, partner and external audiences. The abridged report should distil the programme’s most significant achievements, evidence of change, partner contributions, key lessons, sustainability considerations and selected case examples or headline statistics without merely reproducing the executive summary of the full report;
• Prepare a concise PowerPoint presentation, excluding title and closing slides, presenting the programme overview, headline results, evidence of change, partner contribution, key lessons, sustainability and legacy. The presentation should be suitable for senior management, donor and stakeholder briefings and should include brief speaker notes or key messages where useful;
• Ensure that the full report, abridged report and PowerPoint presentation are derived from one agreed results architecture and evidence base and are fully consistent in their use of figures, results statements, terminology and key messages. UN Women will provide applicable branding or presentation templates; advanced graphic design is not required unless separately agreed;
• Identify significant results and illustrative examples that demonstrate how ACT investments translated into changes for organizations, networks, movements, advocacy processes and policy engagement;
• Develop selected impact/significant-change stories and case studies based on available evidence and, where necessary, targeted consultations with selected partners or UN Women staff; 
• Develop a coherent narrative of the programme's evolution and major milestones over the three-year implementation period and Synthesize lessons learned and good practices that have potential relevance for future feminist movement-strengthening and EVAW programming;
• Present the final report and key programme achievements, lessons and legacy to UN Women ESARO.

Approach and Methodology

The consultancy will use a documentary review, evidence synthesis, and analytical report-writing approach.

The consultant will primarily rely on existing programme evidence and will not be required to undertake an independent evaluation or extensive primary data collection.

The approach should include:

• systematic review of partner final reports and relevant programme documentation; 
• extraction and consolidation of quantitative results; 
• qualitative thematic analysis of reported achievements, changes, challenges and lessons; 
• synthesis of partner-level evidence against the ACT results framework; 
• identification of significant outcomes and illustrative examples; 
• triangulation of evidence across available sources where possible; and 
• targeted consultations with selected stakeholders only where clarification or additional contextualization is required. 

The consultant should clearly distinguish between activities delivered, outputs achieved, outcomes/significant changes reported, and broader programme-level contributions.

Where evidence does not substantiate a direct impact claim, the consultant should use appropriately qualified language such as “contributed to,” “supported,” “enabled,” “strengthened” or “helped to advance.”

The consultant should not introduce unsupported achievements, figures, or impact claims into the final report.

Key Source Materials

UN Women ESARO will make available relevant programme documentation, which may include:

• ACT Programme Document and results framework; 
• partner annual and final narrative reports; 
• partner results and monitoring data; 
• baseline and other programme evidence; 
• programme progress reports; 
• partner case studies and success stories; 
• ACT learning and knowledge products; 
• monitoring and field mission reports; 
• workshop, meeting and convening reports; 
• advocacy and policy documentation; 
• communication and visibility materials; and 
• other relevant programme records. 

The consultant will be responsible for reviewing and synthesizing the available evidence and identifying any significant information gaps that may affect the completeness of the report.

Deliverables

The Consultant is expected to produce the following deliverables at the indicated timelines:

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:

• Strong analytical and synthesis skills, with the ability to review and consolidate large volumes of programme and partner-level information into a coherent programme-level narrative;
• Excellent report writing and editing skills, with demonstrated ability to produce clear, concise, logically structured and compelling reports for technical and donor audiences;
• Results-oriented reporting, with the ability to accurately capture and present programme outputs, outcomes, significant changes and achievements using both quantitative and qualitative evidence;
• Strong communication skills, including the ability to translate complex technical information into accessible and compelling narratives without losing substantive content;
• Attention to detail and quality assurance, particularly in verifying figures, maintaining consistency across multiple sources and ensuring accuracy of programme results;
• Strong organizational and time-management skills, with the ability to manage multiple information sources, meet tight deadlines and deliver high-quality outputs;
• Stakeholder engagement and consultation skills, with the ability to work effectively with programme teams and partners to clarify, validate and strengthen reported results;
• Ability to identify and articulate lessons learned, good practices and emerging themes across diverse programme interventions and implementation contexts;
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office suite and advanced skills in qualitative and quantitative data analysis software, supporting efficient and effective evaluation processes.

Required Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in international development, gender studies, social sciences, communications, journalism, public policy, monitoring and evaluation, or another relevant field 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;
• Advanced training or certifications in evaluation methodologies, gender-responsive evaluation, strategic planning, or project management would be an added advantage.

Experience: 

• At least 7 years of progressively responsible professional experience in programme reporting, results-based reporting, research, evaluation, documentation, editing or professional report writing is required; 
• Demonstrated experience preparing final programme/project reports, donor reports, synthesis reports, evaluations or similarly complex narrative products for multi-partner or multi-country programmes is required;
• Demonstrated experience reviewing and synthesizing large volumes of programme and partner reporting into a single coherent results-focused report is required;
• Demonstrated experience translating complex technical or programme reports into concise executive, abridged or presentation products for senior management, donors or external stakeholders is highly desirable;
• Experience working with results frameworks, indicators and results-based management approaches is required;
• Experience in gender equality, women’s rights, ending violence against women and girls, feminist movement building, advocacy or related programming is highly desirable; 
• Experience documenting programmes implemented through civil society organizations, women’s rights organizations or feminist organizations is highly desirable;
• Previous experience with the United Nations or European Union-funded programmes is an asset;
• Knowledge of the East and Southern Africa regional context is an asset;
• Excellent analytical skills, strong drive for results and demonstrated capacity to work independently within agreed deadlines are required; 
• Excellent English communication, writing and editing skills are required. Shortlisted candidates will be required to provide samples of previous relevant work. 

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required;
• Knowledge of French, Spanish or any other UN official language is an asset.

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:

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.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

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.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.