National Consultant for Assessment on the Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting performance of selected sectors and identify their gender priorities at Federal and Regional level

Background

The Government of Ethiopia (GoE) has taken concrete steps to promote gender equality and women's empowerment. These measures include developing laws and policies, building institutional capacity, and promoting gender-responsive budgeting (GRB).

With support from UN Women and other partners, the GoE has integrated GRB into the program budgeting process. This was made possible through the approval of the Amended Finance Administration Proclamation No. 970/2016 (Article 20, sub-article 3).

The Ten-Year Perspective Plan (2021-2030) is a testament to the GoE's commitment to achieving gender-sensitive targets aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. Gender and social inclusion have been established as one of the ten strategic pillars of the Plan, which is a significant approach towards promoting gender equality and women's empowerment in Ethiopia.

In 2015, UN Women jointly with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation, the current Ministry of Finance (MoF) conducted an assessment report on the GRB performance of selected sectors at the federal and regional levels. The assessment identified good practices within each sectoral ministry, such as the existence of a gender directorate with the mandate of monitoring and evaluating the sector's gender performance and providing technical advice. The assessment also noted the political willingness of the government to enhance GRB.

On the other hand, the assessment suggested the need for continuous capacity building of the experts within each sectoral ministry and local governments, as well as a strengthened monitoring and evaluation system that fosters accountability.

Following the assessment, UN Women, through its Transformative Financing for Gender Equality Program (2017-2022), supported and contributed to an increased awareness and commitment of different actors to address gender equality at different levels, particularly gender budgeting by sector ministries. As a result, most sectors have a better understanding of planning and budgeting from the perspective of gender equality and women’s empowerment in their sector plans, resulting in an increased institutional commitment by government and sector offices.

In 2023, UN Women launched the second phase of the Transformative Financing for Gender Equality Program for the next four years. The program remains committed to building on the lessons from the first phase of the project and promoting financing for gender equality through capacity building, policy dialogue, knowledge sharing, and institutionalizing GRB through forming a multistakeholder group on GRB and working with academia.

To effectively implement the second phase of the program, UN Women proposes to conduct a second assessment that will provide an evidence-based understanding of the country's progress towards gender equality in the budget and planning processes and identify major sectors’ gender priorities. The assessment will identify progress and uptake of the recommendations from the 2015 assessment, gaps, challenges, and opportunities for improving gender responsiveness in budget formulation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. The findings of the assessment would serve as a foundation for developing strategic actions and policies to enhance women's empowerment and advance gender equality through budgetary mechanisms.

To this effect, UN Women Ethiopia in collaboration with the MoF and Ministry of Women and Social Affairs (MoWSA) propose to conduct a national gender responsive planning and budgeting assessment and identify major gender issues within selected sectors. A taskforce composed of technical staff from the MoF, MoWSA and UN Women will be established to review and approve the data collection tools and draft documents to ensure the assessment meets the minimum quality requirements.

Duties and Responsibilities

Competencies

Core Values/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

Cultural sensitivity and valuing 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

Ethics and Values:

• Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity

Organizational Awareness:

• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment

Development and Innovation:

• Take charge of self-development and take initiative

Work in teams:

• Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multiethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds

Communicating and Information Sharing:

• Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:

• Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others

Conflict Management:

• Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution

Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

•  Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

• Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making

Functional Competencies

• Ability to work with minimal supervision
• Evidence of having undertaken similar assignments
• Experience on gender responsive budget analysis and development of assessments
• High level written and oral communications skills in Amharic and English
• Result-oriented, team player, exhibiting high levels of enthusiasm for gender equality, diplomacy and integrity
• Demonstrate excellent interpersonal and professional skills in interacting with government and development partners at regional and federal level
• Experience in writing high quality reports both in English and Amharic

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree in Gender, Economics, International Studies or other relevant Social Science fields;

Experience:

• At least 10 years professional experience in the stated qualifications
• Comprehensive and documented knowledge of issues related to the budget process with in MoF and the issue of gender responsive budgeting within government.
• Experience on undertaking assessment, training and facilitation skills for top government officials.
• Knowledge of good analytical thinking, training methods and techniques
• Experience working with the United Nations will be considered an advantage

Language Requirements:  Amharic and English

Application:

• All applications must include (as an attachment) a completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment.