INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANT – DOCUMENTING UN WOMEN CENTRAL AFRICA BEST PRACTICES
Location : Kigali, RWANDA
Application Deadline : 25-Sep-12
Additional Category Women?s Empowerment
Type of Contract : Individual Contract
Post Level : International Consultant
Languages Required : English French
Duration of Initial Contract : 75 days
Expected Duration of Assignment : 75 days
Background
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) was established by General Assembly resolution 64/289 of 2 July 2010 on system-wide coherence with a mandate to assist Member States and the United Nations system to progress more effectively and efficiently towards the goal of achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women.
UN Women supports initiatives aimed at the elimination of all forms 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. Placing women’s rights at the centre 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 supports Member States and civil society organizations to achieve gender equality and women?s empowerment.
UN Women?s first strategic plan, 2011-2013, sets out the vision, mission and priorities of the organization in supporting Member States, civil society and the United Nations system. The development results framework comprises four main goals, each supported by defined outcomes, outputs and indicators. Central to the realization of these goals is the coordination and support role of UN Women within the United Nations system.
The goals are:
(a) to increase women?s leadership and participation in all areas that affect their lives;
b) to increase women?s access to economic empowerment and opportunities, especially for those who are most excluded;
(c) to prevent violence against women and girls and expand access to survivor services;
(d) To increase women?s leadership in peace, security and humanitarian response;
(e) to strengthening the responsiveness of plans and budgets for the alignment of gender equality at all levels.
Duties and Responsibilities
Assignment:
In accordance with UN Women policies, rules and regulations, the consultant will be assigned to document UN Women Central Africa Regional Office?s best practices in three countries: Rwanda, Burundi and Cameroon. The consultant will review and highlight progress around the outcomes as indicated in the approved Annual Work Plans 2012-2013, as well as document achievements since the inception of the three country offices.
Scope of work:
The process of conducting the documentation exercise of CARO?s best practices aims at ensuring institutional memory and business continuity.
The main objectives of the proposed are to:
• Take stock of current project achievements, challenges and opportunities;
• Verify the continued relevance and pertinence of the programmes as well as their related sustainability;
• Make recommendations on how to improve the performance of the programmes (in a separate report);
• Identify areas in which project partners and programme management should pay specific attention to in order to achieve the project objectives and even better results.
Tasks and Responsibilities:
Under the direct supervision of the Regional Director and in consultation with Country Programme Managers, the consultant will:
• Participate in a briefing meeting with UN Women Regional Representative for Central Africa Region to discuss the documentation exercise and agree on methodology and approaches to be used by the consultant;
• Review documentation related to the programmes (project document, annual work plans and budgets, progress reports and concept papers etc.);
• Hold interviews with partners and staff on the relevance of the project impact, challenges and long-term sustainability;
• Prepare a preliminary highlight report to be submitted to UN Women according to mutually agreed upon timelines;
• Prepare a final highlight report, executive summary and a list of recommendations (where applicable) according to a mutually-agreed upon time line;
• Develop criteria for best practices (impact, sustainability, etc);
• Identify and document best practices;
• Provide recommendations for scale up and duplication (in a separate report).
Deliverables:
A well packaged, photo-documented publication, with a consolidation of programme specific best practices from the different CARO countries clearly articulating:
• The achievements of the initiative in terms of how they made an impact on the lives of the persons targeted;
• Any challenges that the initiative may have faced;
• Specific elements of each best practice initiative that could be replicated;
• A country highlights/ best practices report and executive summary;
• Recommendations on best practices and scaling up opportunities.
Competencies
• Client orientation: Ability to establish and maintain productive partnerships with national partners and pro-activeness in identifying of beneficiaries and partners? needs, and matching them to appropriate solutions;
• Self management: Plans and produces quality results to meet established goals;
• Conceptualizes and analyzes problems to identify key issues and underlying problems;
• Demonstrates substantive and technical knowledge to meet requirements of the post with excellence;
• Executes all tasks systematically and efficiently;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Responds positively to critical feedback and differing points of view.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
• Advanced university degree in Journalism, Communications, Social Sciences or related field.
Experience:
• Sound understanding of gender equality principles and programming.
• Experience in gender and development programmes, preferably in African context.
• Excellent analytical capacity.
• Self motivated and proven ability to take initiative.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skill.
• Strong organizational and time management skills.
• Ability to work under pressure and to meet deadlines.
• Good IT Skills.
Language Requirements:
• Strong, confident command of both written and oral English or French
• Working knowledge of French will be an added advantage
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.
Closing Date: Tuesday, 25 September 2012
