International Consultant- Moderator for the Planning Retreat of the UN Women Liaison Office (LO) to the African Union and UN Economic Commission for Africa

Since December  2022, the UN Women Liaison Office (LO) to the African Union and UN Economic Commission for Africa  has fully  de-linked from the UN Women Ethiopia Country Office (CO) as a separate entity to enhance UN Women’s strategic level engagement with the AU, UNECA and other key stakeholders, The LO has an upgraded leadership status, focused role/functions, strengthened capacity and a clear partnership strategy to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment at the continental level guided by the new UN Women Liaison Office Strategic Note, multi-year planning framework for 2023-2025, with key development and operational results. The Strategic Note is aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the global UN Women Strategic Plan (2023-2025), the AU GEWE Strategy (2018-2028), Agenda 2063 and other key GEWE, peace and development frameworks of Africa, among other relevant global and regional normative frameworks.

The intensity and the scope of the work undertaken by UN Women Liaison office team, requires a high-functioning and resilient team, clear on the mandate, effective and professional in communicating, focusing on achieving the one liaison office vision, and delivering on the programme, projects targeted results and joint initiatives which includes facilitating the acceleration of the ratification and implementation of international and regional women human rights instruments; strengthening the AU’s capacities for human rights programming, gender mainstreaming and monitoring; supporting the participation of the women’s rights movement in Africa in AU processes among other things. Therefore, bringing the team together to review the AWP and the SN 2023-2025, discussing professional development needs, build capacity with regards to enhancing interpersonal collaboration; respecting different working practices; bringing the best out of each other as a team, and leading on their respective TORs and roles will create an optimal working environment to successfully deliver on the mandate of the office.

Considering the UN Women Liaison Office being a year old, the strategic note and operational plan needs to be revisited to ensure a shared value and mutual understanding of the obligations of each team member. It is against this background that an in-person team retreat will be held from February 19 to February 23, 2024, in Arba Minch, Ethiopia. In order to facilitate the 3 days interactive session, UN Women seeks to hire an experienced consultant to support the objectives of the planned retreat as outlined below through well-structured discussions and engaging activities.

The specific objectives of the retreat are as follows:

• Building team spirit and foster the bond across teams and colleagues toward a more coordinated, peaceful, and productive working culture.
• To define major priorities and activities for the period 2024 -2025
• To evaluate the office's progress towards its goals and objectives.
• To assess the progress made towards the goals outlined in the UN Women's LO’s SN 2023-2025 and enhance the teams understanding, motivation, and teamwork, ultimately enabling us to effectively meet our targets.
• Examining the Liaison Office's strengths, challenges, best practices, and takeaways from its accomplishments in 2023 and identifying areas for improvement and, explore innovative approaches and potential solutions to address the identified challenges.
• To analyze the effectiveness of current Partnership strategies and identify any gaps or areas that need improvement.
• To identify the development and capacity building needs of staff for more effective delivery of the UN Women programme within a collegial and participatory enabling environment
• To explore new ideas and innovative approaches that can enhance the office's performance and efficiency.
• To establish a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration among the LO team by encouraging team members to actively participate in discussions, provide feedback, and propose actionable recommendations for enhancing performance.
• To build communication and leadership skills of the LO team through interactive and engaging activities 
• To enhance understanding of UN Women corporate system, rules and regulations pertaining to programmes and operations as well as roles and responsibilities of LO team.

The detailed duties and responsibilities include:

• Plan, develop the retreat programme and facilitate 3 days team retreat sessions for UN Women LO considering the objectives above and including programmatic and operational aspects
• Facilitate the discussion on the SN 2023-2025 and development of work plan for 2024- 2025 for the team to increase its 'Organizational Efficiency and Effectiveness, through creative activities and strategies that help to fully integrate the SN 2023-2025 into the LO Team and beyond.
• Facilitate the team’s understanding of the new results framework, aligned with the corporate UN Women Integrated Results and Resource Framework, and aggregating higher level results from thematic areas of work and programming.
• Provide a consultancy summary, comprising a report on the retreat and pre- and post-retreat engagement, including recommendations for continued professional development support highlighting key strategic priorities, key drivers, and tactical plan for excellent execution.

Deliverables

By the end of retreat, the following should be in place:

• Joint 2024 programmatic and operational plan discussed and developed
• A meeting report capturing the key decisions taken and outcomes of the retreat
• Deliberated and built consensus on organizational strength tactics to promote team building and stronger bonds
• Planned organizational processes and effectiveness to build strong and well supported 2023–2025 programmatic and operational plans
• Common understanding on success factors, challenges and lessons learned from the implementation of the LO BWP.
• A jointly agreed upon work approach and principles.
• Stronger team spirit and sets of principles and behaviors to guide team performance towards achievement of UN Women AULO and broadly UN Women’s goals and results.
• Learning and capacity needs for year 2024 identified and prioritized.
• Staff wellbeing plan development roadmap agreed upon

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration

 Functional Competencies:

• Sharing knowledge and experience
• Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside UN Women
• 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
• Focuses on results for the client and responds positively to feedback
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
• Proven networking skills and ability to generate interest in UN Women’s mandate
• Identifies opportunities and builds strong partnerships with clients and partners
• Multidisciplinary skills and the ability to communicate effectively.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
• Sensitivity to regional political, gender and cultural balance.
• A high standard of professionalism.

Education 

• Master’s degree in development, international relations, gender studies, demography, economics, law, Arts, Communication, Sociology, Psychology or related field;

Experience 

• Minimum 7 years’ experience in facilitation, training, organizational development, coaching, and mentoring within the relevant topic areas.
• At least 7 years of planning, results-based management and/or evaluation experience, strategy planning/reviews in development programmes related to human rights, gender and results-based management;
• Experience in designing and delivering training on results-based management and reporting;
• Ability to introduce new systems and affect staff behavioral/attitudinal change;
• Ability to build strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Excellent analytical and writing skills;
• Strategic Planning background
• Experience as lead facilitator in similar assignments;
• Prior experience in the UN system and the region an asset.

Language Requirements:

•   Fluency in English (written and spoken) with excellent communication skills.

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.