Consultant to develop a Project Proposal and support start-up of programme activities on women’s economic empowerment

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.

Women’s economic empowerment is a priority area of focus for the UN Women Nigeria Country Office. The key interventions of focus, as outlined in the five-year Strategic Note of the Country Office (2018-2022), are supporting women’s economic empowerment through climate-resilient agribusiness, and promoting women’s entrepreneurship through Affirmative Procurement.

Drawing on the findings of a baseline study on women’s access to affirmative procurement, which the Nigeria Country Office commissioned in 2018, the Office is seeking to design a full-fledged flagship programme on affirmative procurement to respond to policy, capacity and knowledge gaps that continue to limit economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses.

Concurrently, the Country Office is embarking on the implementation of a multi-country proposal entitled ‘Contributing to the Economic Empowerment of Women in Africa through Climate Smart Agriculture ’, which aims to strengthen women’s agricultural productivity and access to markets in selected agriculture products in Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda. The project seeks to close the gender gap in agricultural productivity by increasing women’s access to resources. It is expected to reach over 50,000 women across the four countries over three years providing them with entrepreneurial and financial capacities, affordable technology and value addition, and using information and communications technology (ICT) to increase access to markets and to finance. The project is aligned with UN Women’s Development Results Framework 2: “Women, especially those living in poverty and vulnerability, are economically empowered and enabled to reap the benefits of development”.

UN Women is seeking to recruit a consultant to lead the elaboration of the Affirmative Procurement flagship programme, and also to kick start implementation of the new Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Program in Nigeria.

Under the overall strategic guidance and direction of UN Women’s Country Representative, and with day-to-day reporting to the Deputy Representative, the consultant will elaborate a full-fledged programme document and budget on affirmative procurement and support the process of starting the implementation of the CSA project. She/he works in close collaboration with UN Women Regional Adviser for Economic Empowerment. The consultant will also work with government officials, multi and bi-lateral donors and civil society ensuring successful UN Women strategy under Women’s Economic Empowerment portfolio.       

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

Elaborate Flagship Programme Proposal on Affirmative Procurement

• Undertake a desk review and mapping of key ongoing initiatives in Nigeria and regionally, related to women access of entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses to the public procurement contracts
• Analyze and assess gender gaps and opportunities in ongoing initiatives at the national level
• Analyze opportunities for building synergies with ongoing programme initiatives to expand women’s access to public procurement
• Undertake consultations with partners institutions and agencies
• Identify best practices and lessons learned to inform UN Women program development and expansion in the area of women’s economic empowerment through affirmative procurement
• Elaborate a draft project proposal on affirmative procurement in line with UN Women guidelines for flagship program development, targeting the federal level and two states in Nigeria
• Coordinate the process of validation, revision and finalization of the draft proposal with detailed budget.
• Research opportunities and avenues for expanding resource mobilization partnerships, including through government and with the private sector in Nigeria to fund the project.

• Develop the CSA Program work and implementation plan
• Develop the program work plan development and implementation in accordance with the program document and in collaboration with UN Women country offices in African countries benefitting from the initiative
• Facilitate the set-up and functioning of the program steering committee, and ensure effective liaison with national counterparts, donors, UN Women and partners to ensure they are consulted when elaborating the work plan
• Establish systems for project monitoring, in collaboration with partners;

• Establish coordination with national partners and other stakeholders
• Establish relationships with national partners to support implementation and expansion of the CSA program,
• Provide guidance to partners on establishment of performance indicators, and monitoring and achievement of results;
• Identify potential partners and coordinate their recruitment process
• Identify capacity building needs of partners

• Coordinate the update of the CSA program results framework
• Gather and compile all information necessary for monitoring and reporting on the CSA project
• Complete the regional CSA prodoc with baselines and targets for Nigeria
• Provide inputs from CSA program activities and results to the CO reporting

• Provide technical guidance on women’s economic empowerment portfolio and facilitate coordination and partnerships
• Provide technical support to other UN Women activities targeting women’s economic empowerment, such as financial literacy for women, gender-sensitive procurement and UN Women-FAO-WFP Program focusing on food security in the Northeast
• Participate in on-going coordination mechanisms to ensure coherence of UN Women’s WEE program with other country-level processes;
• Identify potential programmatic areas of cooperation with donors and development partners and develop relevant partnerships.

Key Deliverables

• A full-fledged proposal on Affirmative Procurement  with an accompanying detailed budget
• A resource mobilization strategy to accompany the flagship programme document, outlining potential partners, including funding and implementation partners
• CSA program work plan elaborated
• CSA Project results framework is completed for Nigeria and monitoring system is established
• CSA Project steering committee is set-up
• CSA project implementing partners are recruited and their capacities built
• Activities under the CSA project are implemented in accordance with agreed time lines
• Donor relations and outreach enhanced under UN Women Nigeria’s WEE portfolio

Competencies

CORE VALUES / GUIDING PRINCIPLES

• Integrity: Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
• Professionalism: Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
• Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity: Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

CORE COMPETENCIES

• Ethics and Values: Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity
• Organizational Awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment
• Development and Innovation: Take charge of self-development and take initiative
• Work in teams: Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
• Communicating and Information Sharing: Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication
• Self-management and Emotional Intelligence: Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others 
• Conflict Management: Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.
• Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing: Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge
• Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making: Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES

• Ability to lead formulation of development programs and projects.

• Ability to build strong relationships and focus on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.

• Ability to advocate and provide policy advice.

• Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills

• Focuses on impact and result for the partners and responds positively to feedback.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

Master’s Degree in Economics, International Development, Gender, Applied Anthropology, or in other related Social Sciences.

Experience

Minimum 10 years relevant experience at the national or international level in managing project and programs. Experience working in the field of women’s economic empowerment is required.

Prior experience with the UN System and in Nigeria will be an asset.

Language

Fluency in English is required