Senior International Consultant – Resource Mobilization Support

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 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. UN Women provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women in Bangladesh supports the government to implement commitments to international normative standards on gender equality and women’s human rights. The new UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for 2022-2026 was launched in 2021 and the corresponding UN Women Bangladesh Strategy Note (2022-2026), defining UN Women’s strategic engagement in Bangladesh, has also been finalized. The country strategy focuses on strengthening the national structures and mechanisms for gender mainstreaming in policies, plans and budgets; supporting efforts to prevent and eliminate violence against women; promoting women’s access to decent and safe work; promoting policies and government investment in women’s empowerment and resilience building in the context of climate change, humanitarian crisis as well as other threats to peace and security. UN Women works with a range of stakeholders in Bangladesh including the government, civil society and women’s organisations, youth, UN agencies and donors, to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Country Representative and in close collaboration with Deputy Representative, Programme Unit Manager, Operations Manager, Unit Leads and NCO donor focal points, the consultant is responsible for providing technical support to NCO to strengthen its RM efforts through capacity enhancement training, donor engagement support and advisory support to relevant staff through consultations.

Bangladesh is moving towards graduating from the UN classification of least developed country (LDC) status by 2026, and is at a crossroads in terms of attracting development funding. Several development partners are shifting their focus from aid to trade or reducing their development funding for Bangladesh. Humanitarian funding will also be shrinking over the next five years as the refugee crisis has become protracted. In this environment, the BCO aims to expand and deepen its engagement with partners to create a bigger impact through investment among different types of partners. As part of the office’s Strategic Note, a Resource Mobilisation Action Plan has been developed to support raising funds for 2022-2026 and position UN Women as the partner of choice on GEWE.

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Country Representative and in close collaboration with Deputy Country Representative, Programme Managers, Operations Manager, and donor focal points, the consultant is responsible for providing technical support to BCO to strengthen its RM efforts through capacity enhancement training and advisory support to relevant staff.

Duties and Responsibilities

Key Activities

In coordination with the Representative and Deputy Country Representative, provide RM support and coaching, focusing on the followings:

• Conduct four RM capacity building training (at least 1.5 hours each) for BCO Programme Managers, M&E officer, Coordination Officer, Communications Officer, Operations Managar, donor focal points and other relevant staff

• Provide one-on-one session (up to 10 sessions approximately 1.5 hours each) on donor engagement support to relevant staff in establishing/fostering relationships with bilateral and multilateral donors, including non-traditional donors such as private sector and foundations for potential funding opportunities.

• Technical review of BCO documents (proposals, donor presentations).

• Review the RM Action Plan and support the team with a technical review of the RM Strategy for the BCO

Deliverables

• Zoom recordings of RM capacity building training package and report of trainings and sessions.

• Copies of documents with technical inputs/comments.

• Feedback and inputs to the RM Strategy

Time Frame

This is a home-based assignment for one year on a retainer basis (as and when required) with possibility of extension for another year

Payment Schedule

Payment will be actual need basis or number of days involvement. After submission of final report and all acceptance and certified by the UN Women Bangladesh contract administrator. Payment for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of each deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed.

Travel and Accommodation expenses

No travel requirement is currently expected for this assignment. If required, UN Women will bear the travel and accommodations costs beyond commuting distance from the consultant’s usual place of residence for UN Women authorized travel as per the UN Women standard guidelines.

Supervision and performance Evaluation

International consultant will be working under the direct supervision of the Country Representative of Bangladesh.

Competencies

Core Values and Guiding Principles:

• Integrity: Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;

• Professionalism: Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work; and

• Respect for diversity: Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues

• Accountability

• Creative Problem Solving

• Effective Communication

• Inclusive Collaboration

• Stakeholder Engagement

• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies:

• Good coordination, resource mobilization and donor relation skills;

• Strong knowledge of gender equality and women’s rights issues;

• Strong analytical and communication skills;

• Good knowledge of Results Based Management and Human Rights Based Approach;

• Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings and recommendations;

• Good organizational skills and ability to pay close attention to detail;

• Excellent writing and editing skills;

• Excellent interpersonal and networking skills, and ability to work in multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary environments; and

• Ability to work under pressure on multiple projects whilst maintaining high-quality and timeliness.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Master’s Degree in international development studies, gender/women’s studies, business studies, communication, economics, political science, related social sciences, or any other resource mobilization related discipline.

Experience and Knowledge

• A minimum 10 years of relevant work experience in resource mobilization, donor engagement or related field;

• Proven understanding of development work in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment; and

• Experience in working with donors, international organizations or the UN previously in similar assignments is an asset.

Language skills

• Excellent command of written and oral English; and

• Knowledge of additional UN language is an asset.