Consultant to Undertake End Review and Development of the UN Women Somalia Office Strategic Note (2017 – 2020)

Consultant

Contract

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Background

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) was established by the General Assembly resolution 64/289 of 2 July 2010 on system-wide coherence, with the mandate to assist countries and the United Nations system itself to progress more effectively and efficiently towards the goal of achieving gender equality, women’s empowerment and upholding women’s rights. The Strategic Plan 2017-2020 was developed pursuant to paragraph 77 of resolution 64/2892.

Despite substantial progress achieved in the past year, protracted conflicts, violence, displacements and climatic shocks have continued to hinder attainment of substantive GEWE gains. These persistent obstacles have resulted in severe protection issues particularly for women and girls who constitute an estimated 50% of the affected population as per the Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019. These issues have made women and girls vulnerable to conflict related sexual and gender-based violence (CRSGBV). According to the Gender Based Violence Information Management System (GBVIMS) data, women and girls are at risk of GBV accounting for 96% of the reported incidents and the report indicated that most of the GBV incidents are reported by the displaced persons, accounting for 78% of the reported incidents in Somalia.

The mission statement of UN Women was set out in the proposal of the Secretary-General as follows: “Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, the composite entity will 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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, the composite entity will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.”

UN Women through its engagement in Somalia, has prioritized to work in promoting women political participation, ensuring women peace and security, ending violence against women and increasing women’s access to justice. UN Women’s existing country program for Somalia, the Strategic Note, was developed at the end of 2016 with a three-year time span from 2017 to the end of 2019 and was updated in mid-2017 to align with the emerging and national priorities. The Strategic Note, at the moment, is being extended till December 2020. UN Women’s engagement in Somalia is based on the National Development Plan (2020-2024) and the new UN Strategic Framework (2017-2020) which outlined UN’s support to the implementation of the National Plan.

The UN Women Somalia Strategic Note articulates the entity’s strategic direction, objectives and approaches to support efforts to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, including women’s full enjoyment of their human rights. It outlines how UN-Women will leverage its normative support functions, UN system coordination and operational activities, as mandated by its founding resolution, in an integrated and mutually reinforcing manner in support of transformative results. The SN also contributes to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

This End Review will take place in a particularly symbolic timeframe in 2020 the year of the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action; five years of implementing the 2030 Agenda; 20 years of Security Council resolution 1325; and ten years of UN-Women. It is also aligned to the end of the UN Strategic Cooperation Framework and the UNCT Gender Strategy of Somalia.

The End Review provides an opportunity to review performance and will guide development of the next generation Strategic Note covering 2021-2025 aligned to the UN Cooperation Framework, CCA and the National Development Plan-9.

Purpose and use of the SN End- Review

The SN End Review will enable Somalia Office to further adapt its strategic direction, programming and business processes in light of an analysis of performance to date; the repositioning of the UN Women; lessons learned from the implementation of the SN; and UN-Women’s change management process.

By assessing progress of the implementation of the SN to date and identify key lessons learned, the End Review of SN gives UN Women an opportunity to recalibrate its SN as needed, including its Integrated Results and Resources Framework (IRRF). The ETR will also set the stage for UN Women Somalia direction in 2021-2025.

Duties and Responsibilities

The following are the specific objectives/scope work of this ETR:

1. To review the SN’s Theory of Change to establish whether the causal pathway logic leads to expected outcomes and is still valid;
2. To assess the relevance and effectiveness of Somalia Country Program interventions and programmes and provide evidence accordingly;
3. To assess effectiveness of Somalia Office functions, coordination role and program delivery;
4. To assess the quality of partnerships with both implementing and technical partners.
5. Assess the implications of UN Development System reforms and other key developments, such as lessons and recommendations generated through the UN Gender Theme Group, UNSCF working groups and implementation modalities, and propose necessary adjustments;
6. Assess how and in what areas UN Women Somalia’s programmatic focus needs to be further improved to make greater impact and to contribute to SDGs, National Development Plan and UN Cooperation Frameworks where UN Women has comparative organizational strengths;
7. Analyze how UN Women needs to generate greater impact more efficiently and effectively with limited resources through leveraging partnership approach and the UN coordination mandate, and look at opportunities for UN-Women to further leverage its collaborative advantage to boost its contribution to the implementation of Agenda 2030; and
8. Analyze and refine the results framework to better articulate the changes UN Women generates, including its efforts to Leave No One Behind, and propose adjustments to targets and indicators of IRRF.
9. Propose recommendations to ensure better alignment with the National Development Plan, UNCT Gender Strategy, UN Cooperation Framework, CCA, UN Women ESARO SN and Africa strategy.
10. Contribute to lessons learned about normative, operational and coordination work by providing information about what is working well, what is not and the missed opportunities if any.
11. Support drafting the Strategic Note 2021-2025 aligned to the new UN Cooperation Framework, NDP9 and CCA.

Duties and Responsilbilities:

The consultants will work under the overall guidance of the UN Women Somalia Country Program Manager and in a close collaboration with ESARO Planning and UN Coordination Specialist, the Regional Monitoring and Reporting Specialist as well as the Regional Evaluation Specialist for all day to day matters;

• Conduct preliminary research and Desk Review of key documents relevant to the work of the UN Women Somalia Office such as: 2017-2020 SN and AWPs, 2017,2020, Annual Reports, Quarterly activity reports, UN Joint Program Documents, UNCT Gender Strategy, UN Strategic Cooperation Framework 2017-2020 and 2021-2025, CCA; select recent studies related to Gender Equality and Women’s’ Empowerment in Somalia; UN Women Strategic Plan (2018 - 2021), the Africa Strategy, and the related theories of Change for the different thematic areas; the new UNCF related guidance notes; UN Women change management, SDGs, etc.
• Contribute to the development of a pre-mission questionnaire for the country program assessment;
• Collect, analyze and synthesize primary and secondary data for the Somalia country portfolio through interviews and meetings (in person or virtual) with relevant UN staff, and key partners such as government counterparts, donors, beneficiaries, local partners, civil society organisations, private sector and academia, to provide the core inputs for the outcome analysis paper;
• Draft and finalization of discussion papers that will guide the End-term Review meeting. These will be included in the End-Term review report;
• In collaboration with the regional evaluation specialist as well as the regional monitoring and reporting specialist, the Consultants will analyze and present the results of staff and partners’ surveys at the End-term review meeting and will incorporate partners and staff feedback to reflect the results in the new strategic note;
• Facilitation of the strategic note- End term review meeting and new Strategic Note development meetings;
• Production of the report on the strategic note End-term review;
• Production of the theory of change and results framework;
• to guide the new Strategic Note 2021-2025;
• Draft a new strategic note, including DRF and OEEF, and reflecting the End-term review findings.

Deliverables:

1. ETR report addressing all review objectives including recommendations for development of the next generation of SN 2021-2025;
2. Revised Theory of Change addressing alignment issues;
3. Draft Strategic Note 2021-2025 aligned to the new UN Cooperation Framework, NDP9 and CCA;
4. Revised versions of all documents impacted by the ETR, e.g. results framework, indicator methodological notes, and publication on website;
5. Power Point presentation of the findings and recommendations.

Deliverables and timelines:

Activity

Timeline

Products

An inception report with detailed outline of the Strategic Note End Term Review Report and timeline of the assignment, including proposed methodology for the End term review.

2 days

Inception report

Conduct a desk review of all key documents relevant to the Somalia SN End Review

5 days

Draft report

Conduct interview with key informants (UN, Government, Donors, CSOs, and other stakeholders)

5 days

Discussion papers to guide the ETR meetings

Develop tool for staff and partners’ surveys and conduct survey

4 days

Analytical tool

Draft an updated SN report based on the ETR and share for review

5 days

Draft SN report

Plan and organize validation and providing feedback on the draft End Review Report and incorporation of feedback.

2 days

Final End Review Report

Production of Final End Review Report

5 days

Final End Review Report

Based on the Consultations and the End Review Report develop a draft ToC and Strategic Note 2021-2025

5 days

Final End Review Report

Organize a SN (2021-2025) validation meeting

2 days

Draft validation meeting report

Final version of the SN (2021-2025) incorporating comments from the validation meeting

5 days

Final Report

A power point presentation on the new SN end review as well as new SN (2021-2025)

5 days

Power point document and handover for 2021-2025 SN for the donor round table.

Competencies

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.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Functional Competencies:

• Demonstrates commitment to human development principles and values;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Shares knowledge and experience;
• Demonstrates excellent communication skills;
• Provides helpful feedback and advice; and
• Knowledgeable about issues of human rights, gender, statistics and policy research in general.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Social Sciences, International Development studies, Law, Human rights, Politics, Gender, Women studies or related field.

Experience

• At least ten years of planning, programming, reviews and/or evaluation experience, seven years of which in planning/reviews in development programs related to human rights, gender and results-based management;
• Knowledge and experience with the national development, policy and legislative frameworks;
• Extensive experience with UN programming, especially the UNDAF and delivering as One;
• Knowledge of issues concerning women’s human rights and gender equality;
• Familiarity with the relevant context in East and Southern Africa in all its diversity.

Language Requirements

• Fluency in written and oral English.

UNWOMEN is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

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Added 3 years ago - Updated 3 years ago - Source: jobs.undp.org