Programme Consultant – South Africa Multi-Country Office (SAMCO) Flagship Collaboration Program with the Presidency on Generation Equality for Economic Justice

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 the efforts of the United Nations system 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 South Africa Multi-Country Office (SAMCO) is based in Pretoria, South Africa and serves five countries; South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland.

In partnership with the Presidency of the Republic of South Africa, UN Women SAMCO has been supporting efforts to accelerate the momentum and new commitments to gender equality and women’s economic empowerment. This collaboration was established with the aim of enabling South Africa to leverage its voice and influence on the advancement of economic rights and justice of women, in the context of South Africa’s leadership role in two respects: first, its Chairship of the African Union (AU) (in the period February 2020 – February 2021) and secondly, its co-leadership of the Economic Justice and Rights (EJR) Action Coalition within the Generation Equality Forum (GEF).

This UN-Women SAMCO flagship collaboration program on women’s economic empowerment is being driven with the Presidency of South Africa through a set of outcomes that are based on the 10 priority areas South Africa has identified for women’s economic empowerment and Pillar 5 (Economic Power) of the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence & Femicide 2020 – 2030.

Amongst the 10 action areas, six have been identified as being most critical for action and can be summarized as follows:

Building productive assets for women in the margins: Building productive assets for women in the margins and mobilizing partners to commit to tangible actions that build the productive assets of women in the margins as a primary driver for economic inclusion.
Prioritizing women owned enterprises in COVID-19 relief measures: Early impact studies of COVID-19 show that women owned enterprises and women in the informal sector have been severely and disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
A gendered approach in the design of trade protocols and policies is needed in order to facilitate participation of women owned enterprises: Opportunities to participate in the export/import market is one of the strongest drivers of growth and sustainability for SMME’s. However, this space remains inaccessible to most female business owners. The AU’s Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) is an existing treaty (legal instrument) that highlights the importance of creating opportunities for female-owned businesses in trade by ensuring ease of movement, ease of access to finance, and preferential procurement in trade deals. The implementation of existing gender commitments in trade treaties will be enabled through the adoption of gender-responsive trade protocols, policies, and programmes.
Earmarking 30% of all public procurement for female owned enterprises: A game-changing commitment is to earmark 30% of all government procurement for women owned enterprises in the global North & South, in order to increase economic opportunities for women while broadening the supplier options for the public sector. The President of South Africa identified public procurement as South Africa’s main global campaign for adoption and implementation both at GEF and at AU levels. In the South African context, the public procurement for female owned enterprises has been set at 40%. Establishing tracking, monitoring and the necessary institutional and regulatory arrangements to ensure this takes place is critical national priority.
Committing to legislative review to research, assess and raise awareness on discriminatory laws that prevent women’s economic inclusion and fair participation and recommend change of the uncovered discriminatory laws and policies: In the short-term, South Africa has begun reviews in the financial sector (increase access to finance and reduce usage fees), in procurement practices (preferential procurement), as well as in labour practice (to redress unequal pay.
Establishing and adopt a monitoring framework to measure results: South Africa has committed to undertake a collaborative effort with other members of GEF Action Coalition on Economic Justice and Rights to develop an accountability framework with clear measurement tools to support members in the process of delivering results towards women’s economic and financial inclusion. Such an accountability framework will also include clear engagement and communication guidelines with the Generation Equality Secretariat, as well as Members of the Coalition.

It is this context that the delivery of the program requires a Program Analyst, who will contribute to strengthening program effectiveness and the acceleration of program delivery. The Programme Analyst is responsible for providing technical support and substantive contribution to the implementation, monitoring and reporting. This includes providing technical contributions and support to: program delivery outcomes, program implementation, monitoring and reporting; resource mobilization and partnership coordination; and the coordination and management of knowledge building efforts.

Objectives of the assignment:

Provide substantive technical support in the implementation, monitoring and reporting on program delivery strategies. The specific areas of focus will be women in trade, legal frameworks related to women’s economic participation, as well as financial inclusion;
Provide technical assistance in the coordination and management of program partners, service providers and donors;
Provide substantive inputs to the Presidency’s advocacy, knowledge building, partnership building and resource mobilization strategies related to the Decade for African Women’s Financial and Economic Inclusion;
Contribute to strategies to ensure program coherence and synergies within the South Africa’s Generation Equality Programme.

Scope of Work:

The Consultant/s will provide technical contributions and support to: program delivery outcomes, program implementation, monitoring and reporting; resource mobilization and partnership coordination; and the coordination and management of knowledge building efforts.

Duties and Responsibilities

Provide substantive technical support in the implementation, monitoring and reporting on program delivery strategies.

Develop, implement, and report on work-plans and budgets in line with the program plan;
Attend, make inputs into Task Team meetings (and relevant technical teams established) in relation to women in trade, financial inclusion, and legal frameworks for women’s economic participation;
Draft briefs as needed and ensure necessary dissemination of outcomes/ decision documents from relevant task team meetings;
Monitor progress of implementation of activities and finances using results-based management tools;
As required, conduct budget reviews, and monitor financial performance of the program;
Draft inputs on relevant budget/ financial performance reports;
Facilitate close cooperation and support to procurement and other finance administration, as required by the program.

Provide technical assistance in the coordination and management of program partners, service providers and donors.

Provide substantive inputs to the preparation of donor and UN Women reports;
Provide substantive technical inputs to development of Terms of Reference for service providers;

Provide support in quality assurance processes, supervision and monitoring of service providers deliverables;
As necessary, monitor budget implementation and make budget re-alignments/ revisions;
Provide substantive inputs to financial reports.

?Provide substantive inputs to the Presidency’s advocacy, knowledge building, partnership building and resource mobilization strategies related to Generation Equality Forum

Support the implementation of advocacy, knowledge building, partnership building and resource mobilization strategies;
Provide technical inputs (i.e. development of concept notes, advocacy briefs) for advocacy, knowledge building and partnership building activities;
Coordinate and support the facilitation of knowledge products and events with stakeholders and partners;
Serve as substantive liaison for relevant communication strategies and/ or activities related to events and workshops;
As delegated, participate in donor meetings and public information events;
Coordinate the development of knowledge management methodologies, and products on GEF;
Contribute to the identification of best practices and lessons learned to guide programme improvement and strategy planning.

Contribute to strategies to ensure program coherence and synergies within South Africa’s Generation Equality Programme

As required, prepare relevant documentation such as project summaries, conference papers, briefing notes, speeches, and donor profiles;
As requested, represent South Africa in GEF related activities by attending meetings, events, participating in groups and committees as needed and providing substantive inputs;
Support Presidency’s participation in policy dialogues on issues related to GEF as necessary.

Deliverables:

Technical substantive support in implementing, monitoring and reporting on program delivery strategies;
Technical assistance in the coordination and management of program partners, service providers and donors;
Substantive inputs into Presidency’s advocacy, knowledge building, partnership building and resource mobilization strategies;
Support coordination and technical inputs to strategies that facilitate program coherence and synergies within South Africa’s GEF program.

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

Good program formulation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation skills;
Extensive experience working within inter-governmental processes in Africa; with familiarity with the South Africa governmental processes an added advantage;
Good knowledge of Results-Based Management;
Research coordination and management skills;
Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings and recommendations;
Good analytical skills;
Good knowledge of women’s economic empowerment, private sector engagement, gender-responsive procurement, and trade facilitation;
Ability to identify and analyze trends, opportunities, and threats to fundraising.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s Degree or equivalent in development finance, economics, social sciences, trade, gender/women's studies, international development, or a related field is required;

Experience:

At least 10 years of progressively responsible work experience in development program/project implementation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation, donor reporting and capacity building;
Technical experience in women’s economic empowerment with a focus on financial inclusion; trade, financial services, access to markets/procurement opportunities and private sector engagement on women’s economic empowerment;
Extensive experience working within inter-governmental processes in Africa; with familiarity with the South Africa governmental processes an added advantage;
Experience and familiarity with multi-stakeholder collaboration, particularly with government departments and the private sector within the context of women’s economic empowerment issues in African contexts;
Experience coordinating and liaising with government agencies, CSOs and/or donors is an asset;
Experience conducting and/or coordinating research projects successfully;
Experience working in the UN System is an asset.

Language Requirements:

Proficiency in written and spoken English;
Knowledge of French and/or Portuguese will be an added advantage.