Consultant - Coordinator for Intergovernmental Processes - Ministry of Women and Child Development (Open to Indian Nationals Only)

Contract

This is a National Consultant contract. More about National Consultant contracts.

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.

UN Women’s India Country Office works towards promoting women’s leadership in governance and participation in intergovernmental processes, UN interagency coordination, women’s economic empowerment and ending violence against women and girls.

Under its comprehensive and unique mandate of normative support and coordination, UN Women is expected to provide strong and coherent leadership in support of countries’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society, the nodal government agency, private sector and other relevant actors.

The Intergovernmental Processes & Inter-Agency Coordination division in UN WOMEN India Country Office (ICO) plays a central role to deliver on UN Women’s normative support functions and strengthens linkages between normative work and operational activities. It contributes to the Entity’s support for the development and strengthening of a comprehensive set of global norms, policies and standards on gender equality and women’s empowerment that is dynamic, responds to new and emerging issues, challenges and opportunities and is applied through action by Governments and other stakeholders at all levels. The Unit also has special responsibility for the coordination of substantive servicing of intergovernmental and expert bodies as mandated in relevant legislative documents.

The Intergovernmental Processes and Coordination Division is UN Women’s interface with intergovernmental bodies, including the Commission on the Status of Women, the Economic and Social Council, the General Assembly, the G20, as well as with other intergovernmental processes and events.

This Coordinator will provide operational, planning, managerial, technical and coordination support to the Ministry of Women & Child Development (MWCD) in organising G20 related activities pertaining to the Ministry and UN Women. The Coordinator will also support MWCD in developing and strengthening strategic partnerships and maintain close liaison with relevant G20 governments, civil society organisations, UN agencies and other key stakeholders. S/He will support the team at MWCD and UN Women India Office to develop and implement work plan under G20 (and W20) Summit, monitoring and reporting of the plan and partnership/stakeholder engagement strategies to lay the groundwork. In relation to this, she/he will also support the planning, implementation and monitoring of G20 activities and events as requested.

UN Women will be placing the Coordinator at the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) to support the Ministry with a focus on intergovernmental processes, particularly on the G20 Summit, and sustainable development goals. The Coordinator will be placed in MWCD and will directly report to the Officers in G20 Cell (under International Cooperation Division) in MWCD under the overall supervision of the Country Representative, UN WOMEN ICO. The Coordinator will also meet with UN Women once a fortnight or when required to discuss work undertaken.

Duties and Responsibilities

Support to India’s G20 Presidency to further Align the G20 Agenda with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, focusing on Goal 5 through knowledge management and implementation of workplans:

• Provide support to MWCD to plan, organise and coordinate the implementation and monitoring of activities on G20, including preparation of work plan, procurement and budget plan;
• Provide support to MWCD to conduct supervision of planned activities, to assess as well as support gender integration at all levels;
• Provide support to MWCD to organise workshops, meetings and other consultations included in the work plan, making sure that adequate lead time is given to stakeholders in preparation for the workshops, meetings or consultation;
• Coordinate and exercise quality control over stakeholder consultations, ensuring the availability of documents/ reports, proper scheduling, provision of facilitation, documentation of proceedings, etc. for these events are appropriate;
• Provide substantive inputs as needed for any documents produced by the G20 team at the Ministry of Women and Child Development and UN Women ICO;
• Support the process of strategic thinking, forward-looking analysis on emerging trends and global challenges to develop G20 policy options in relation to the 2030 Agenda implementation. This will include preparing analysis, papers, issue notes, briefs, speeches, talking points as well as draft G20 communique language.
• Engage in policy resource and support preparation ahead of G20 meetings and relevant working group meetings from the G20 Sherpa tracks in relation to the 2030 Agenda.
• Support the preparation and realisation of the G20 policy agenda and documents to ensure that they are well-aligned with G20 objectives, past G20 commitments, sustain continuity of the G20 work across presidencies, and further contribute to the 2030 Agenda implementation.
• Support and provide a regular report as needed such as bi-weekly update and monthly report;
• Develop and maintain a system and procedures for the safekeeping and maintenance of documents & records; and
• Support knowledge management, focused on G20 processes and its alignment with SDG 5 on Gender Equality, as required.

Coordination to Strengthen MWCD’s Strategic Engagement with the G20:

• Support MWCD’s engagement with the G20 secretariat by contributing to the design of a strategic approach to embed the Decade of Action in the G20 work to further accelerate global progress towards the SDGs.
• Support policy research and analysis on varied political and global sustainable development issues, focused from gender perspective, to deliver on G20 sustainable development related priorities.
• Support coordination of MWCD both with the G20 finance and Sherpa track to ensure greater impact of MWCD participation while also providing support to the UN Women and its participation.
• Liaising with the G20 Working Group under the leadership of the MWCD, and establishing working processes with the Ministry and UN Women, and other relevant entities to partner with on G20.
• Ensure and support strategic partnership with national and international NGOs including women's organisations and other non-government key stakeholders;
• Support MWCD to establish regular channel of contacts and partnership with key government stakeholders to advance gender equality mandate across G20 processes, related documents and other expected outcomes; and
• Coordinate with UN Women India CO to identify key partners and existing capacity and gaps, including potential areas for interventions based on the overall direction provided by the Ministry of Women and Child Development and UN Women India CO.

Management:

• Support MWCD officials and the G20 team to prepare all the documents needed and help facilitate the design of G20 Presidency priorities and outcomes in this workstream through MWCD.
• Coordinate with UN Women specialists covering select areas of the G20 work to provide inputs to, and facilitate the design of, G20 Summit deliverables upon request from the MWCD.
• Develop and review knowledge products in close coordination with MWCD by analysing and sharing lessons learnt.

Research and Analysis:

• Develop analysis of documents/references from different departments from a gender perspective.
• Develop analysis and research of information, preparation of substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation & identification of new opportunities.
• Prepare briefing notes and updates on gender issues
• Prepare periodic progress reports of the work undertaken by the Ministry.

Any other duties assigned by the Direct Supervisor in MWCD & the Country Representative in UN Women.

Expected Deliverables:

• Coordination on G20, with integration of SDG 5, on behalf of the Ministry of Women and Child Development within set processes, working groups, stakeholders and outcomes;
• Background papers and fact sheets on G20 are required;
• Documentation and knowledge management.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity;
• Demonstrating sound judgment;
• Self-development, initiative-taking
• Acting as a team player and facilitating teamwork;
• Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively
• Managing conflict;
• Learning and sharing knowledge and encouraging the learning of others.
• Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member;
• Informed and transparent decision making.

Functional Competencies:

• Demonstrates commitment to mission, vision and values of MWCD and UN Women;
• Strong knowledge, and experience of working on intergovernmental and normative processes; especially globally, and nationally;
• Demonstrated ability to analyse policy and strategies from a gender perspective;
• Produces qualitative, accurate outputs with considerable attention to detail, in a timely manner;
• Manages complexities, shifting priorities, and is able to work effectively without constant supervision;
• Maintains constructive, effective business relationships with clients and partners;
• Adheres to deadlines and follows up on time-bound issues;
• Maintains diplomacy, tact and strict confidentiality with internal and external partners and clients;
• Strong interpersonal and communication (verbal, listening, writing) skills;
• Organization skills (time management, efficient administration, multi-tasking and fast-paced);
• Ability to work under pressure within strict deadlines;
• Ability to adapt quickly to work demands, and changing deadlines;
• Willingness to “inter-change” work functions with other staff within the Unit, when required.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s Degree in political or social sciences or related field.

Experience:

• 3 years of relevant experience at the national or international level in providing management advisory services and hands-on experience, preferably with the Government, in design, monitoring and evaluation of development projects.
• Some experience working for the United Nations in support of normative intergovernmental processes is an advantage.
• Experience in the use of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and in handling web-based management systems.

Languages:

• Fluency in English and Hindi.

Application:

Interested applicants should apply to this announcement through UNDP jobs site: jobs.undp.org

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

• All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs
• Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment, please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment;
• Applications received after the close date will not be accepted;
• Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Evaluation and Selection Criteria

Criteria for shortlisting of CVs will be based on the following assessment:

• Required Degree and Qualification (5 points);
• Expertise and Experience relevant to the assignment (10 points);
• Demonstrable experience on policy advocacy with the government and other stakeholders (5 points).

The evaluation process for selection of the candidate will be based on the following assessment:

• Writing Samples Assessment (20 points)
• Written Test (30 points)
• Interview (50 points)

Please Note:

• For an assignment requiring travel, consultants of 65 years or more require full medical examination and statement of fitness to work to engage in the consultancy.
• Due to large number of potential applicants, only competitively selected candidates will be contacted for remaining steps of the service procurement process.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.