IC/UNDP/ASSIST/077/2022 - Gender Expert/Advisor

Contract

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

Background

Interest candidate has to access procurement notice Ref.: https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=96344

Background : UNDP Indonesia has established an Innovative Financing Lab (IFL) in 2018 that operates as collaborative space for public and private partners and other interested stakeholders with the objective to develop solutions for financing the SDGs and leverage new resources flows for sustainable development. The Lab focuses on three different but interrelated workstreams, namely Islamic and Blended Finance, Green and Sustainable Finance, and Impact Investment. Together with other three UN’s sister Agency, currently UNDP – IFL is running the Joint Programme (JP) of “Accelerating SDGs Investments in Indonesia (ASSIST)”.

The JP brings four UN agencies (UNDP, UNEP, UNICEF, and UNIDO) together to support the GoI to meet its SDG targets. This support will be delivered by (1) taking proven and new financing instruments to scale through the provision of pre- and post-transactions technical assistance for three financing instruments: thematic bonds, blended finance instrument, and SDG-linked loans, and (2) providing capacity building to relevant stakeholders (e.g. Government of Indonesia (GoI), Sub-National Governments (SNGs), Financial Institutions, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)) to improve institutional capacities to access and utilize finance towards the achievement of the SDGs.

The ASSIST JP has a Gender and Human Rights Plan as mentioned in the Proposal Document. Additionally, the JP is assigned a Gender Equality Marker score of 2, which means that the programme has a gender-responsive result whereby the result addresses differential needs of men or women and equitable distribution of benefits, resources, status and rights. The JP aims to mainstream gender lens across its outputs and outcome. Specifically, prioritization of beneficiaries of women-owned/led SMEs and start-ups should be considered. Though women own almost half of all SMEs in Indonesia, these are often focused on less capital-intensive sectors, and women in business face discrimination in various aspects, hindering their ability to grow their businesses. A condensed gender-inclusive intervention of the JP will strive to address the relevant challenges faced by women in SMEs and start-ups through several key targets.

The Project Management Unit (PMU) of ASSIST is hosted at UNDP's Innovative Financing Lab and is led by a National Project Manager (NPM), supported by a Chief Technical Expert and Technical Coordinators. The Gender Expert/Advisor position is established to support the PMU specifically to ensure the effective and efficient integration of all gender-related aspects within the JP, with the primary objective of developing a gender action plan relevant to the JP’s activities.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work:

The ASSIST JP Gender Expert/Advisor is expected to engage in the following activities in completing the assignment:

• Conduct a Gender Focussed Analysis and assessment for the ASSIST JP which covers gender equality and women’s empowerment issues related to each of the component activities: (1) Thematic Bond Issuance; (2) SDG-linked loans; and (3) Indonesia Impact Fund. The analysis should cover the planning and activities of the JP, including relevant Indonesia context that influences the JP’s design and implementation, to better understand the current gaps and needs.

• Based on the findings from the Gender Focussed Analysis of the ASSIST JP, the Gender Expert/Advisor is expected to develop a comprehensive Gender Action Plan Report that is effective and efficient in integrating all gender-related aspects within the JP. The Gender Action Plan should cover (but not limited to) the following:

  • Mainstreaming the gender equality in the existing project framework (outputs, indicators, baseline and targets) as well as general project strategy and approach;
  • include Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) plan and activities, methodology and means of verification for the JP that encompasses regular monitoring of gender marker including gender mainstreaming activities (challenges and best practices) as well as captures different results by gender;
  • ensure disaggregated data by sex and age is reported;
  • gender-specific ex-post questions against ex-ante activities to help explain variance, if any;
  • incorporating a gender lens perspective in the analysis and reporting process;
  • provide inputs to maximise budget allocation directly contributing to gender equality results;
  • recommendations in engaging with the JP’s stakeholders in the implementation of activities, including identification of potential partners (e.g Women Rights Organization) that can be engaged and how they can be engaged.
  • Gender capacity building needs for staff and implementers of ASSIST JP

• Taking part as facilitator/resource person in an orientation workshop for the ASSIST JP personnel on the Final Gender Action Plan to familiarise ASSIST JP personnel on the Gender Marker, monitoring and analysis of indicators for Gender Marker reporting, and the Gender Action Plan.

• Facilitate in any of the JP’s discussions to collect input and propose recommendation on mainstreaming the gender aspect to the activities

• Conduct a desktop analysis on ASSIST JP activities through the relevant project documents as well as relevant external document to capture and analysis the gender gaps in each of the component activities, including the financing instruments being promoted by the JP

• Conduct interview and/or discussions within the ASSIST JP to understand better on the objective, targets and activities of the programme as well as identify the current gaps and needs on the gender component
• Develop a draft report on the thorough analysis of gender gap and propose recommendation on the Gender Action Plan for ASSIST JP
• Conduct consultation on the draft of Gender Action Plan through an orientation session with ASSIST JP personnel and relevant stakeholder, as well as assisting/mentoring the JP to prepare the implementation of the Gender Action Plan
• Update and refine the ASSIST JP Gender Action Plan based on inputs from the consultation with relevant stakeholders

Design Data Collection Approach and Conduct Research:

• Design an initial and agreed gender-sensitive data collection approach and research methodology which can be in form of interviews and/or focus group discussions.
• Improve the proposed approach including the timeline, informed consent, methodology, compiled list of respondents and questions based on the provided inputs and recommendation.
• Conduct data collection in form of interviews and/or focus group discussions after agreed designed data collection approach

Analysis and Development of Results Report:

Develop a thorough analysis of the gender component in ASSIST JP for the report including but not limited to: a gap analysis; identifying opportunities to incorporate gender mainstreaming in the JP; and developing a Gender Action Plan.

Competencies

Competencies and special skills requirement:

• Strong project management (planning, organization, and implementation) and partnership skills
• Excellence in written and spoken English and Bahasa Indonesia is required.
• Ability to work under pressure with minimum supervision and on-distance
• Ability to work independently and excellence in teamwork.
• Strong motivation & ability to work & deliver under short deadlines.
• Strong computer literacy and proficiency in MS office.
• Demonstrates commitment to the UN’s mission, vision and values.
• Innovative forward thinking, good coordination and organizational skills..

Participate effectively in team-based, information sharing environment, collaborating and cooperating with others.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

• Bachelor or Master degree in gender studies, social science, law, business administration, economics, population studies or related discipline would be preferrable but it is not mandatory.

Years of experience:

• At least 10 years of experience for Bachelor Degree and 8 years of experience for Master Degree with the programmes which had gender equality, women’s empowerment results or had integrated gender equality and women’s empowerment in the programme/project design and other results-based management (RBM) frameworks (preferable).
• Experience in developing gender action plans at the project level (experience in UNDP projects would be an advantage).

Experience in engaging with various stakeholders related to gender assignment.