Consultant to conduct an Assessment of the Gender Statistics systems in Malawi

Consultant

Overview

Conduct an assessment of gender statistics systems in Malawi

You have:

• Master's degree in development studies, gender, economics or statistics.
• A minimum of 15 years of experience in gender and statistics at national and/or international level.
• Experience in statistical training and related statistical activities in developing countries is required.
• Strong technical expertise in drafting statistics-based research and related reports.
• Experience in data processing, data quality assessment, and data analysis related to gender statistics.

Contract

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

Background

The Government of Malawi (GoM) and the UN Women share a common vision of equality enshrined in the United Nations Charter and both work 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.

In September 2015, governments united behind the ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which features 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets that aim to end poverty, combat inequalities and promote prosperity by 2030 while protecting the environment. The 2030 Agenda sets out a historic and unprecedented level of ambition to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls by 2030” (SDG 5) as well as including 37 gender-related targets in 10 other SDGs. It commits to addressing core issues of gender equality such as eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls, eradicating discriminatory laws and constraints on sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recognizing and valuing unpaid care and domestic work and increasing women’s participation in decision-making.

To successfully track the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, a robust and equally ambitious monitoring framework is needed. Significant investments in gender statistics are necessary to ensure that evidence-based policies are devised, the impacts of these policies are assessed and the accountability of policymakers and the government’s to deliver on these commitments is promoted. Robust indicators and quality data are of critical importance and will determine whether policy efforts are marshalled and whether the goals and targets are achieved or missed.

Through the UN Women’s Flagship Programme Initiative, “Making Every Woman and Girl Count (MEWGC)” the GoM wishes to effect a radical shift in the availability, accessibility and use of data and statistics on key aspects of gender equality and women’s empowerment. This includes enhancing the linkages between normative and technical work on gender statistics at the regional and national levels in three inter-related key areas of work namely:

• Building a supportive policy and institutional environment for the localization and effective monitoring of the SDGs;
• Increasing the quality, comparability and regularity of gender statistics to address national data gaps and meet reporting commitments under the SDGs; and
• Ensuring that gender statistics are accessible to users in governments, civil society, academia and the private sector, to strengthen adequate demand for their production.

The successful consultant will work closely with the Directorate of Planning in the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, the National Statistical Office (NSO) and UN Women.

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall objective of the consultancy is to do an assessment of the gender statistics systems in Malawi in close cooperation with the national gender machinery and the National Statistics Offices.

The scope of work will include:

• Carry out an initial in-depth desk review of the institutional framework of the National Statistical Office, Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare; and other key line ministries that are involved with data production and use. The review will be aimed at establishing the extent to which the institutional frameworks hinders the regular production of gender statistics and will be using the framework jointly developed by Paris 21 and UNWomen to determine what needs to be done moving forward.
• The review document will primarily focus on the following:
  • Documentation of the key institutional mechanisms or constraints that prevent (or facilitate) more regular production of gender statistics at the national level and propose solutions to strengthen them or steps that can be taken to address these constraints.
  • Documentation of broader country level initiatives i.e. M&E framework of SDGs and the extent to which gender equality is integrated into this M&E framework.
• Consultations with the NSO and other key Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s) to assess the technical capacity gaps in gender statistics among producers and users of data, particularly within the NSO and the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare.
• Consultations including the National Planning Commission (NPC), Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, the National Gender machineries, UN Country Teams (UNCT), civil society organizations, universities, research institutions and development partners to have a deeper understanding on the needs, constraints and potential solutions to facilitate increased collaboration between users and producers of Gender Statistics. The consultant will identify concrete and actionable solutions to strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations (CSO), government and UNCT to analyze and use gender statistics to inform decision-making.
• Facilitate a validation workshop and incorporate all inputs to finalize the project document and annual workplan
• Support the NSO, the National Gender Machinery and UN Women to develop a project document and associated work plan for the advancement of Gender Statistics in Malawi.
• Expected Deliverables:
• Inception report based on the initial desk review (2 weeks after commencement of the study)
• Needs assessment document focusing on institutional framework and constraints, key data gaps for monitoring of SDGs and other national gender equality priorities, steps to integrate gender indicators including steps that need to be taken to close these data gaps; and to what extent existing gender statistics are used in policy making through whole of society approach;
• First Draft Project Proposal, based on the findings of the national needs assessment, focusing on key intervention areas that support BBS on gender statistics and strengthen national-level SDGs monitoring and reporting in a gender responsive manner; and strengthen government and UNCT collaboration with key partners to help promote and support national plans to localize and monitor the SDGs;
• Final Draft of Project Proposal after incorporating feedback and comments from stakeholders.

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

Required Skills and Experience

• Master’s degree in development studies, gender, economics or statistics.
• A minimum of 15 years of experience in the field of gender and statistics at the national and/or international level.
• Experience in statistical training and related statistical activities in developing countries is required;
• Strong technical expertise in the drafting of statistics-based research and related reports, and in providing training on statistical and data management issues, preferably in the context of gender statistics;
• Experience in data processing, data quality assessment and data analysis. Familiarity with the development and application of household-based survey tools, establishment surveys and administrative records for generating information on progress towards gender equality and empowerment of women (SDG 5 and other gender-related SDG indicators)

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Potential interview questions

Added 5 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: jobs.undp.org