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National Consultant to Conduct a Final Review of “Strengthening Gender Responsiveness of Employment Sector Policies and Programmes: A Focus on Women with Disabilities in Sri Lanka” project

Colombo

  • Organization: UNWOMEN - United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
  • Location: Colombo
  • Grade: Consultancy - National Consultant - Locally recruited Contractors Agreement
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Human Rights
    • Women's Empowerment and Gender Mainstreaming
    • Labour Market Policy
    • Project and Programme Management
    • Disability Rights
  • Closing Date: Closed

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.

Sri Lanka’s prolonged conflict has had adverse implications on highly vulnerable groups such as women, children, internally displaced persons and persons with disabilities.[1] Among persons with disabilities, women with disabilities have been found to be further marginalised, particularly within the post-conflict environment as studies have shown their lack of access to basic services, disproportionate subjugation to sexual or conflict-related violence and/or exclusion[2] from the peacebuilding processes.[3] And despite efforts, rural women with disability remain one of the most disfranchised groups, experiencing high levels of gender-related violence, abject poverty, stigmatization and exclusion. Within this context, the 2015 Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has made several national and international commitments through the formulation of policy documents, action plans and mechanisms prioritizing human rights, women’s empowerment and equality.

In recognizing these critical entry points to facilitate and support government-led efforts in addressing issues of women’s limited participation in the employment sector and the multilayered challenges faced by women with disabilities, UN Women, with funding support of the Government of Republic of Korea (ROK), launched the project entitled, “Strengthening Gender Responsiveness of Employment Sector Policies and Programmes: A Focus on Women With Disabilities in Sri Lanka,” in January of 2017. Nearing its closure in December of 2019, the project’s overall aim was to ensure that the national and provincial government have enhanced capacities to facilitate economic participation of women with disabilities.

By leveraging GoSL’s past and current efforts to initiate and strengthen Gender-Responsive Budgeting (GRB), UN Women Sri Lanka has strategically applied GRB tools to identify pertinent issues faced by women with disabilities and introduce measures for mainstreaming gender within and across relevant budgetary processes and policies. Furthermore, the project’s three-pronged, GRB-focused research, advocacy and capacity building interventions, in combination with UN Women’s existing partnerships with government and non-government stakeholders and technical expertise, have been focused on achieving the following one outcome and three output-level objectives:

Outcome: Gender responsive policies and programmes adopted by national and select provincial level governments to ensure economic participation of women with disabilities.

Output 1: To establish and disseminate evidence on the gender responsiveness in formulation and implementation of the GoSL’s laws, policies and programmes and budgets in the employment sector from the lens of women with disabilities.

Output 2: To support the GoSL in formulating and implementing gender-responsive laws, policies and programmes in employment that address the specific vulnerabilities of women with disabilities.

Output 3: To strengthen accountability by working with the collectives of women with disabilities for enabling their individual and collective access to employment.

[1] Government of Sri Lanka. (2011). Report of the Commission of inquiry on lessons learnt and reconciliation (LLRC). Available at http://www.priu.gov.lk/news_update/Current_Affairs/ca201112/FINAL%20LLRC%20REPORT.pdf 

[2] International Disability Alliance. (2011). Submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women Day of General Discussion on Women in Conflict and Post Conflict Situations, 49th session 18 July 2011. Geneva: IDA

[3] Stephanie, O. (2010). Women with Disabilities: The Forgotten Peace Builders. Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review, 33: 83–142 .http://digitalcom mons.lmu.edu/ilr/vol33/iss1/4

PURPOSE & SCOPE

UN Women Sri Lanka is recruiting an National Consultant to conduct a Final Review of the “Strengthening Gender Responsiveness of Employment Sector Policies and Programmes: A Focus on Women with Disabilities in Sri Lanka” project. The purpose of the Final Review is to assess the extent to which the project has achieved its output-level objectives, to examine the relevancy and effectiveness of the project’s implementation strategy and efforts in reaching said objectives and to identify key results, lessons learned and recommendations to strengthen future interventions targeting women with disabilities with a particular focus on GRB.

The review will cover the full duration of the project from January 2017 to December 2019. The National Consultant will carry out primary data collection in Colombo with key internal and external stakeholders, including but not limited to government officials and the members of the UN Women project team. In addition to the above, the review will seek to analyze the extent to which the project has met and fulfilled expectations set by the project team as well as beneficiaries as envisioned at the project’s inception and capture any strengths and gaps found during and after implementation of main programmatic activities. The findings will be shared with ROK and disseminated among UN Women’s global, regional and country teams.

APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY

The Final Review will be a transparent and participatory process involving relevant stakeholders and partners involved with the project. It will be carried out in accordance with UNEG Norms and Standards and Ethical Code of Conduct, and UN Women Evaluation Policy and Guidelines. The Final Review must integrate gender equality and human-rights perspectives throughout the methodology.[1] The Final Review will focus on identifying effective strategies that produce positive results, as well as lessons learned, in line with the Project Document.

Methodology for the review will be finalised in collaboration with UN Women Sri Lanka and may include in-depth desk review and document analysis. Field data collection may be required, with interviews, meetings and/or focus group discussions arranged as agreed between UN Women and the National Consultant. Data may be validated through primary and secondary data sources, including desk review and interviews with key experts from government and international organizations.

The following information will be provided:

  • Results-based monitoring framework that has been used to measure performance;
  • Key project outputs such as knowledge products, reports and agendas from meetings and workshops;
  • Relevant policies and knowledge products produced in the project’s operating environment, including existing national and regional data and evidence, and/or data from similar projects;
  • A list of stakeholders and contacts for interviews. UN Women will make arrangements for interviews.

The National Consultant may consider the following example questions:

Area of review

Possible questions

Relevance: the extent to which the project has contributed to addressing the needs identified in its design

  • To what extent were the project’s strategies relevant to local and national contexts?
  • To what extent did the project align with the needs of the intended beneficiaries?

Effectiveness: the extent to which the project has implemented its outputs to target beneficiaries

  • To what extent did the project reach the planned results?
  • Were there any unexpected results or unintended consequences of the results?
  • What were the reasons for the achievement or non-achievement of planned results?
  • To what extent did the project make timely adjustments to its strategy to maintain its relevance and effectiveness?

Efficiency: the extent to which the project was efficiently implemented and has delivered quality outputs, against what was planned (including official amendments)

  • Have financial and human resources been allocated strategically to achieve project outcomes?
  • Have the outputs been delivered in a timely manner?
  • Have UN Women’s organizational structures, systems and mechanisms effectively supported delivery of the project?

[1] For more information, see http://www.uneval.org/document/detail/980

DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT 

The duration of the consultancy is from 15 December – 15 January 2020 (tentative). The assignment is home-based, with travel within Sri Lanka, as required.

Duties and Responsibilities

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES AND TIMEFRAME

Expected key deliverables will include:

Key deliverables

Details of expected key activities and deliverables

Percentage of total amount of contract (%)

Indicative Timeframe

1. Inception Report & Implementation Plan

1.1  Submit Inception Report for review and agreement prior to primary data collection (including a draft work plan, with proposed methodology and timeline, including a list of documents for desk review, stakeholder list and schedule)

-

18 December 2019

2. Draft Final Review Report

2.1  Conduct a desk review of key documents and preliminary discussions with UN Women staff in Colombo

-

 

 

2.2  Lead and conduct data collection including visits and stakeholder interviews

-

 

2.3  1st draft report - A draft comprehensive report (including data collection, analysis and inception report) to be submitted to UN Women for review

50%

25 December 2019

2.4  Review of the first draft by UN Women

-

27 December 2019

3. Final Review Report

5.1  Final draft report- a revised comprehensive report submitted to UN Women for review

-

30 December 2019

5.2 Review of the final report

-

30 December 2019

5.3 Final report: A comprehensive Final Review in soft copy, written according to UN guidelines, submitted to UN Women

50%

31 December 2019

PAYMENT

Payment shall be provided upon satisfactory completion of the deliverables outlined in the table below. Payments are to be made within 30 days from receipt of invoice.

The National Consultant shall be home based, but required to travel to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Travel-related costs to Sri Lanka must be included in the financial proposal as a lumpsum amount. Payment for travel-related costs will be made upon submission of evidence of travel including boarding passports.

Payment

Deliverables

Target date of payment

1st Installment, 50% of total fee

Deliverable 1 and 2

15 January 2020

2nd Installment, 50% of total fee

Deliverable 3

15 January 2020

Travel-related costs

Payment for travel will be made upon submission of evidence of travel.

15 January 2020

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

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Master’s degree or higher in relevant discipline (gender studies, disability rights, development, social sciences, or related field). Additional qualifications in evaluation would be an asset.

Professional experience:

  • At least 5 years of experience in programme evaluation in a development context, including with relation to gender equality and women’s empowerment. Experience in monitoring and/or evaluating related projects in South Asia highly desirable.
  • Previous experience engaging with UN agencies, donors and high-level government stakeholders is preferred.
  • Proven knowledge and understanding of issues affecting women with disabilities in South Asia and gender-responsive budgeting. Experience in working in South Asia will be an advantage.

Knowledge and skills:

  • Excellent written and spoken English and representational capacities.
  • Fluency in either of the national languages: Sinhala or Tamil.
  • Knowledge of the UN system would be an asset.

Important: The evaluator/s has to explicitly declare his/her independence from any organizations that have been involved in designing, executing or advising any aspect of the particular programme of UN Women Sri Lanka that is the subject of evaluation. The selection process will ensure that the evaluator/s does not have any relationship with this programmes in the past, present or foreseen in the near future.

EVALUATION ETHICS

Evaluations in the UN will be conducted in accordance with the principles outlined in UN Women Evaluation Policy and Guidelines, UNEG Norms and Standards for Evaluation in the UN System and by the UNEG ‘Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation.’ These documents will be attached to the contract. Evaluators are required to read the Norms and Standards and the guidelines and ensure a strict adherence to it, including establishing protocols to safeguard confidentiality of information obtained during the evaluation.

SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION AND DEADLINE

Interested candidates are requested to submit electronic application with technical and financial proposals to email address not later than 13 December 2019. The financial proposal should provide professional fees as a lump sum amount for each deliverable, as well as travel-related costs.

  • Submission package:
    • Cover letter outlining relevant experience
    • Curriculum Vitae
    • Personal History Form (P11) (http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs)
    • Financial proposal specifying proposed professional fee based on each deliverable, and travel-related costs
    • Sample Evaluation Report

Please be noted that the system only allows 1 attachment per application so please combined all files into one.  In case that is not possible, you can submit the application again with different attachments.

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.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
This vacancy is now closed.
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