International consultant to support the UNCT SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard in Bosnia and Herzegovina

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 (GE) and gender mainstreaming translate into action globally. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

In 2006, the UNDG Task Team on Gender Equality commissioned a background paper on accountability mechanisms in UNDG agencies. This paper reviewed accountability for programming in support of gender equality in ILO, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, and WFP and found that: “A common understanding of how to apply gender mainstreaming in UN operational activities is needed. This is because if there is no agreement on what constitutes a minimum level of actions to support gender equality, how will it be possible to hold agencies and UN Country Teams accountable for this. Reaching agreement across agencies on what constitutes a minimally acceptable performance to support gender equality, through an agreed set of indicators, would contribute to stronger guidance and accountability”. Subsequently this background paper was endorsed at the UNDG Principals’ meeting in July 2006, where agreement was reached on development of a UNCT-level ‘Accounting for Gender Equality’ Scorecard that sets minimum requirements for UNCTs to assess their performance across the system.

The Gender Scorecard was endorsed by the UNDG in 2008 in response to the UN Chief Executive Board for Coordination 2006 Policy on gender equality and the empowerment of women (CEB/2006/2) to establish an accountability framework for assessing the effectiveness of gender mainstreaming by UN Country Teams. The UN SWAP formed another part of the accountability framework, focusing on the implementation of the policy at the entity level.

The QCPR calls for the United Nations development system to expand and strengthen the use of the Gender Scorecard as a planning and reporting tool for assessing the effectiveness of gender mainstreaming in the context of the UNDAF (OP 83). In this vein and in line with internal assessments, the UNCT SWAP-Scorecard methodology has been revised in tandem with the United Nations System-wide Action Plan for gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-SWAP) to ensure greater alignment with the UN-SWAP and the SDGs, drawing on good global practices with motivating, managing and measuring institutional change processes.

The UN Women Country Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina is seeking to recruit an International Consultant to support the UNCT-SWAP gender scorecard in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The work of the International Consultant will be supported by a National Consultant with specific local knowledge of gender equality issues and gender statistics in BiH.

DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVE

The main objective of this consultancy is to facilitate the comprehensive assessment of UNCT SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard indicators and assess the effectiveness of the Bosnia and Herzegovina UN Country Team in gender mainstreaming, promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment as well as to provide a set of actions for improvements.

Duties and Responsibilities

IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVE

The specific objectives of the assignment are:

To assist UNCT in identifying areas in which they are meeting or not meeting minimum UNDG requirements.
To stimulate a constructive dialogue within the UNCT about the current status of support for gender equality and women’s empowerment and how it can be improved.
To identify where technical assistance can support the achievement of minimum requirements.
To share good practice in supporting national priorities to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment.

SCOPE OF WORK

The UNCT SWAP-Scorecard methodology has been designed for in-country self-assessment as a means of fostering deeper understanding and ownership of results. The external gender specialist will facilitate the exercise and apply participatory methods to ensure the assessment team is formed from the beginning of exercise, leads and own the process.

Under the direct supervision of the UN Women Program Specialist, overall supervision of Coordination Associate and in close coordination with member of the UNCT Gender Theme Group, the International Consultant is expected to undertake the following tasks:

Conduct a background document review and provide work plan and methodology for the SWAP assesment
UNCT UN SWAP Technical Guidance and Framework
UNCT Gender Scorecard Reports for the countries in the region and from other countries
United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2021-2025
UNCT Joint Work Plan 2021-2022
UNCT Gender Mainstreaming Action Plan 2021-2025
Gender Theme Group meetings minutes
Email correspondence of bi-lateral meetings follow ups
Lead the SWAP assessment directly liaising with Gender Theme Group:
Collect the complementary data and evidence to score indicators
Conduct gender analysis of verification documents required to help the IAT score areas of performance
Facilitate up to 10 meetings with key stakeholders such as the Resident Coordinator; Heads of Agencies; key programme staff; M&E teams, partners, etc. to discuss and score areas of performance.
Review joint programmes as needed for different indicators
Conduct the scoring matrix based on IAT discussions and agreements.
Facilitate a final de-brief and findings validation with UNCT and PMT to discuss findings and proposed actions.
Provide final SWAP assessment report with clear recommendations for improvement
Draft Scorecard and narrative report, with inputs from assessment team. The report should include a title page noting the country covered, the name and contact details of the consultant, and the date of the report. The report should also include a methodology chapter, outlining the methods used, and briefly summarize any constraints faced (e.g. lack of time, lack of access to documents or staff);
Complete the final Scorecard, narrative report and follow-up matrix

Throughout the assignment, the International Consultant is expected to:

Keep continuous contact and exchange with the UN Women Coordination Associate as technical focal point.
Organize weekly briefings with the UN Women Program Specialist, UN Women Country Representative and UN Women Coordination Associate.
Provide guidance and recommendations to the Gender Theme Group members upon completion of task.

To facilitate the delivery of the above outputs, UN Women will provide the International Consultant with the following:

All SWAP Scorecard comprehensive assessment relevant documents outlined in the first task;
Other documents as necessary.

DELIVERABLES AND TIMEFRAME

The consultant will be expected to submit the following deliverables within the indicative timeframe:

Deliverables

Indicative Days

Timeline and due dates

Conduct a background document review and submit a workplan and methodology for the SWAP assessment.

3

By 18 April 2022

Facilitate up to 10 meetings with key stakeholders and submit meetings reports.

12

By 30 April 2022

Submit draft UNCT SWAP Scorecard comprehensive assessment complemented with methodology chapter.

6

By 06 May 2022

Submit the final UNCT SWAP Scorecard comprehensive assessment, narrative report and follow-up matrix

5

By 11 May 2022

Facilitate a final de-brief and findings validation with UNCT and PMT to discuss findings and proposed actions and submit de-briefings report.

3

By 14 May 2022

Brief final consultancy report up to 5 pages covering essential issues.

1

By 15 May 2022

Total

30

The consultancy will last 30 days in the period from 15 April 2022 to 30 May 2022. The assignment will not require presence on UN Women premises. The assignment will include in-country travel - 1 trip to Sarajevo (3 consecutive days) for consultation meetings with UNCT, RCO and UN Women staff.

REPORTING

All deliverables should be submitted to the UN Women Coordinate Associate and UN Women Program Specialist in English. The final consultancy report should be delivered at the latest by 15 May 2022. Approval time required to review the deliverables before authorizing payments is 7 days.

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 Management and Learning

Shares knowledge and experience
Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside UN Women
Development and Operational Effectiveness
Demonstrates excellent written and oral communication skills.
Communicates sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies
Demonstrates very good understanding of and experience in communications and outreach/advocacy
Ability to perform a variety of standard specialized and non-specialized tasks and work processes that are fully documented, researched, recorded and reported
Ability to review a variety of data, identify and adjust discrepancies, identify and resolve operational problems
Uses Information Technology effectively as a tool and resource

Leadership and Self-Management

Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure
Proven networking skills and ability to generate interest in UN Women’s mandate
Identifies opportunities and builds strong partnerships with clients and partners

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

Master’s degree (MA or MSc) in public policy or related field such as law, gender studies, development studies, political or social sciences.

Work Experience:

At least 7 years of demonstrated work experience in gender mainstreaming, policy research/analysis in the fields of gender equality, political science, social sciences or related field
Experience in working with developing or implementing international and national legal, policy frameworks regarding gender equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Experience working with relevant stakeholders in the country, including gender institutional mechanisms, national institutions, and the international organizations.
Previous experience working/consulting for international projects/programs
Working experience with the international organizations and/or UN System.

Language requirement:

Proficiency in written and oral English (with additional proficiency in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian considered an asset)

Other skills:

Good computer skills in Windows environment, knowledge of internet communication and command of MS Office applications (Word, Excel, Power Point), Zoom and MS Teams.