Consultant - Programme Assistant - To Support GRG/GRB Programme in Madhya Pradesh (Open to Indian Nationals Only)

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 and the third gender as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

All human development and human rights issues involve gender dimensions. UN Women globally focuses on key priority areas that are fundamental to women’s equality, and that can unlock progress across the board. The six priority areas include increasing women’s leadership and participation in political spaces, ending violence against women, enhancing women’s economic empowerment, engaging in all aspects of women peace and security processes, making gender equality central to national planning and budgeting through Gender Responsive Governance (GRG) and Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) and advancing gender in intergovernmental processes.

UN Women’s work on GRB involves ensuring that national planning, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation processes incorporate a gender perspective. UN Women’s GRG/GRB programmes at the regional and country level have made significant contribution towards this by building political support, developing technical resources and capacities, generating good practices for improving women's access to services and increasing accountability for Gender Equality and Women’s empowerment (GEWE).  At the forefront of global, regional and local advocacy for application of GRG/GRB, UN Women has built partnerships with diverse government, inter-governmental and non-governmental partners, to further efforts  and demonstrate GRB’s relevance to sustainable development, aid effectiveness, public sector reform and financing for development.

In 2004-05, the report of the expert group of classification of government expenditure became instrumental in laying out the road map for GRB in India. This was followed by the adoption of “Budgeting for Gender Equity” as a mission statement by the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), Government of India (GoI). In 2005-06, the Ministry of Finance, GoI introduced Gender Budget Statement (GBS) which aimed to reflect the quantum of budgetary allocations for programmes/schemes that substantially benefit women. Another important mechanism institutionalised by the Ministry of Finance was setting up of Gender Budget Cells (GBCs) which serve as focal points for mainstreaming gender through GRB. GBCs have been set up in 57 ministries/departments of the Union Government thus far. The rigour has been replicated in at least 19 states, some of which have produced GBS and set up GBCs.

UN Women’s Multi Country Office (MCO), based in New Delhi, India, is currently implementing a project with the objective of identifying strategies and operational approaches to strengthen on-going efforts in the area of GRG/GRB. Insights generated from this project will enable key stakeholders at the national and regional level to accelerate their efforts to ensure that women’s priorities are adequately reflected in national budgeting processes, and to make concrete changes for adequate resource allocation towards women’s priorities. .

MP was the first state to produce Gender Budget Statement in 2007-08. In fact, over 28 of the state departments publish the GBS annually. The collaboration between the Government of Madhya Pradesh (GoMP) and UN Women along with its CSO partner devised a roadmap to strengthen and build efforts on GRB in the state. A number of policy directives have been issued by the State to strengthen GRB efforts. This project focuses on the following dimensions:

• Establishing/strengthening institutional mechanisms for GRB.
• Generating evidence on how sectoral policies/programmes could be made more gender responsive.
• Enhancing capacities of officials for sustaining change.
• Strengthening the linkages between outlays to outcomes through gender audit.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance and direct supervision of Programme Analyst, the Consultant - Programme Assistant will support in strengthening the efforts of the Government of MP on Gender Responsive Governance & Gender Responsive Budgeting.

The Consultant - Programme Assistant will work with the Project team to ensure that the project produces the results in the State to the required standards of quality and within the given time and cost specifications. 

Therefore, the Consultant - Programme Assistant will support the Directorate of Women Empowerment on achieving the  following results:

• Support the Government of MO in the designing of GRG/GRB strategies.
• Support the government in implementation of GRG/GRB.
• Support the project team in evidence generation and advocacy on GRG/GRB.
• Administrative support to the Project.

With a view to achieving the above, the Consultant - Programme Assistant will provide inputs and support implementation of the project in the state of Madhya Pradesh.

Key Responsibilities will include:

Project design

• Support in identifying the core elements of GRG/GRB work in the state.
• Support in identifying strategies for project design and planning.

Implementation

• Support implementation of project activities and develop a mechanism to monitor implementation of planned activities and budgets.
• Establish effective coordination within the Directorate of Women Empowerment, Government of MP and State Line Departments to identify the scope for applying GRG/GRB across sectors.
• Identify opportunities for collaboration, and joint action with select departments and other partners to enhance their capacities on GRG/GRB.
• Compile relevant sections for periodic/annual reporting of the project.
• Participate in key meetings, conferences, and trainings under the project and prepare proceedings report/meeting minutes.
• Document and maintain project related reports/files and extend support in preparation of quarterly/biannual/annual narrative reports.
• Coordinate with other implementing partners/vendors and support preparation of financial reports to UN Women 

Capacity Development

• Collate existing training resources on GRG/GRB and identify areas/gaps to design, plan, implement and evaluate schemes/programmes from a GRG/GRB lens.
• Support trainings on GRG/GRB.
• Prepare reports to capture key issues, achievements and challenges of capacity development initiatives under the project.

Technical Support

• Provide technical support and inputs on key processes and result areas on Gender Responsive Governance & Gender Responsive Budgeting to relevant stakeholders.
• Build/strengthen partnerships on GRG/GRB with state departments through documenting, analysing and building evidence for application of GRG/GRB for gender aware and women centered policy uptake and implementation.

• Provide coordination and support (IEC/advocacy) on GRB trainings/workshops with select State Departments.

Research, documentation and knowledge management

• Coordinate and manage evidence generation and dissemination on GRG/GRB.
• Develop partnerships with state level resource institutions, agencies, experts and practitioners on GRG/GRB.
• Support process documentation of the project in the state.
• Provide inputs on different knowledge products generated during the course of the project.

Apart from the above, the Consultant - Programme Assistant will also be required to execute other duties and assignments entrusted by UN Women as relevant to the implementation of the project in the State.

Key Deliverables:

• Timely and accurate administrative and logistical support to events, workshops, and missions;
• Full compliance of administrative activities with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and procedures;
• Timely and accurate tracking of data for CO management and donor purposes;
• Quality maintenance of internal systems and files;
• Quality and timely support to programme team;
• Monthly/weekly reports is required.

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
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies:

• Knowledge of programme support;
• Ability to create, edit and present information in clear and presentable formats;
• Ability to manage data, documents, correspondence and reports information and workflow;
• Good financial and budgeting skills;
• Good IT Skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Completion of secondary education required.
• Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences, Business or Public Administration is an asset.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience in administrative or programme management/support;
• Experience in working in a computer environment using multiple office software packages;
• Experience in supporting a team is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and Hindi is required;
• Knowledge of the other UN official working language is an asset.

Application:

Interested applicants should apply to this announcement through UNDP jobs site: jobs.undp.org

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

• All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs;
• Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment, please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment;
• Applications should be submitted along with latest CV and statement of purpose/cover letter stating your interest in this role;
• Applications received after the close date will not be accepted;
• Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Evaluation and Selection Criteria:

Criteria for shortlisting of CVs will be based on the following assessment:

• Required Degree and Qualification (5 points);
• Minimum Experience relevant to the assignment (5 points);
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems. (5 points).

 The evaluation process for selection of the candidate will be based on the following assessment:

• Interview (100 points)

Please Note:

• For an assignment requiring travel, consultants of 65 years or more require full medical examination and statement of fitness to work prior to engagement in the consultancy.
• Due to large number of potential applicants only competitively selected candidates will be contacted for remaining steps of the selection process.

Note:

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.