Consultant – Support to UNCT-SWAP GE Scorecard implementation

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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world.  It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

The UN System Coordination Division leads the efforts to develop and oversee the implementation of the strategy for UN Women’s role to “lead, coordinate and promote the accountability of the United Nations system in its work on gender equality and the empowerment of women” at the global, regional and country level. This includes leading UN System efforts to implement the United Nation Country Team System-wide Action Plan for Gender Equality Scorecard (known as the UNCT-SWAP GE Scorecard), launched in June 2018. This accountability framework embodies a harmonized vision for mainstreaming gender into institutional functions, programming and reporting on results in conformity with the 2030 Agenda, and its implementation is mandated by the Secretary General and Member States in the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review (QCPR) resolution (A/RES/75/233)  and ECOSOC (E/RES/2019/2). To this end, reporting on the UNCT-SWAP GE Scorecard is integral to tracking progress on UNCT commitment to gender-responsive performance management, strategic planning, and budgeting. Further, while the number of UNCTs reporting on the UNCT-SWAP GE Scorecard has increased from 30 in 2012-2016 to 60 in 2017-2020, in response to the calls made by ECOSOC and the QCPR, UN Women aims to support increasing the number of reporting UNCTs to achieve greater coverage as well as achievement of UNCT-SWAP gender mainstreaming minimum requirements. To achieve these objectives, in close collaboration with UN Women Regional Offices, the UN System Coordination Division with UN Women Headquarters plans to further invest in related technical and capacity building support, trend analysis and knowledge management improvements, and communications and outreach.

The UN System Coordination Division seeks to hire a consultant to improve UNCT-SWAP GE Scorecard data collection systems, trend analysis, and related knowledge management; to support communications on UNCT results; to provide coordination support to onboarding of new UNCT-SWAP focal points in the platform and facilitate engagement of UN Women Regional Office Coordination and Planning Specialists with the platform; and provide technical support to UNCTs on online reporting and on the finalization of reports online. The work of the consultant will be overseen by the Inter-Agency Coordination Specialist with the UN System Coordination Division.

Duties and Responsibilities

Support knowledge management and reporting related to the UNCT-SWAP GE Scorecard

• Capture lessons learned during the first round of UNCT-SWAP GE Scorecard (UNCT-SWAP) reporting in the online platform at year start 2021, and support related refinements to the online platform;
• To support establishing a link between the UNCT-SWAP platform and the Information Management System managed by UNDCO, coordinating inputs from the UNCT-SWAP Platform Development Team as well as UNDCO on requirements needed to establish the link;
• Support the maintenance of knowledge databases of UNCT-SWAP reporting, researching and compiling up-to-date data on UNCT-SWAP results, including vis-à-vis relevant QCPR indicators;
• Undertake trend analysis on UNCT-SWAP reporting in support of annual reporting by the UN System Coordination Division to the UN Secretary General on gender mainstreaming in UN policies and programs.

Provide technical assistance to reporting by UNCTs on the UNCT-SWAP GE Scorecard

• Support the Coordination Division’s capacity development initiatives focused on the UNCT-SWAP roll-out, including the development of resource materials and organization of learning events to strengthen gender mainstreaming by UNCTs, in close liaison with UN Women Regional Office Coordination and Planning Specialists;

• Provide backstopping to the UNCT-SWAP Helpdesk, with a focus on reviewing UNCT-SWAP reports submitted by UNCTs, reviewing and fact-checking report materials and supporting documents submitted by UNCTs for review.

Support communications on UNCT-SWAP

• Develop infographics on UNCT-SWAP results and draft related key communications products for dissemination with UN Women field offices and with RCOs via UNDCO;
• Support the elaboration of key messages on UNCT-SWAP trends, and the development of annual UNCT-SWAP report cards;
• Support communications on UNCT-SWAP with UN Women Regional Offices, supporting the preparation of monthly e-meetings, including agenda setting and minute keeping;
• Support the further development and maintenance of UN Women’s intranet and website on UNCT-SWAP GE, coordinating inputs from relevant UN Women staff.

Competencies

Core values / guiding principles

• 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

• Good knowledge of gender equality and women’s empowerment issues
• Good knowledge of the UN system and understanding of inter-agency coordination processes related to gender equality
• Good comprehension of results-based management and reporting
• Demonstrated ability to advise on and monitor the inclusion of gender-specific objectives, indicators, targets and activities in the work of UNCTs
• Demonstrated drafting and editing skills
• Ability to problem-solve and to think creatively
• Strong interpersonal skills

Required Skills and Experience

Required skills and experience

• At least 2 years’ experience in the UN, supporting inter-agency coordination on gender equality.

• Experience on accountability frameworks for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in the United Nations, specifically, the UNCT-SWAP.

• 1-2 years experience in database development.

• Experience working in gender equality and women’s rights at the international level is an asset.

Education and certification

• Master’s degree or eqivalent in development studies, gender studies, social sciences, or other related fields.

• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.