Individual Contractor: Strengthening UNICEF LAC technical capacities to integrate gender transformative approaches in programming and monitor the delivery of gender equality results across

Consultant Programme & Policy

Overview

Support the LACRO Gender team to roll-out the new GAP across the region

You have:

• Master’s degree in social sciences (i.e., Gender and Development, Political Science, International Relations or Sociology/Social Work)
• At least 10 years in implementation of Gender Equality or human rights-based approaches (preferably related to child rights and women’s rights)
• Direct experience working in the field of children’s rights in Latin America and the Caribbean
• Experience in developing robust gender analysis, technical reports and research documents
• Experience in designing capacity building resources and delivering training sessions
• Fluency in Spanish or English is required, with good working knowledge in the other
• Strong quantitative, qualitative and analytical research skills
• Understanding of gendered impacts of planning and monitoring
• Knowledge of gender analysis frameworks and their application in development and humanitarian contexts
• Proven knowledge and understanding of gender frameworks and approaches in Latin America and the Caribbean
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks within agreed deadlines and with attention to details
• Excellent synthesis and communication skills
• Demonstrated experience working with UNICEF or other UN Agencies considered an asset

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, gender equity

UNICEF promotes the rights and welfare of all children and adolescents in everything we do. Together with our allies, we work in 190 countries and territories to transform this commitment into practical actions that benefit all children, especially focusing our efforts on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded, worldwide.

UNICEF works to put the rights and well-being of the most disadvantaged children at the heart of the social, political, and economic agenda, in line with our equity focus, working across our organization and with our partners in government, civil society and the private sector to support shifts in public policy, fuel social engagement, and increase investment for children.

Developed alongside the new UNICEF Gender Policy and Gender Action Plan, 2022–2025, the Strategic Plan responds to the evaluation of the Gender Action Plan by emphasizing structural and norms change to transform the underlying drivers of gender inequality, with a greater focus on tackling gender inequities across the development-humanitarian nexus. UNICEF is in the first year of the implementation of the Gender Action Plan (GAP) 2022-2025.

The new GAP strengthens UNICEF's commitment to integrating gender into programming and encourages UNICEF offices to develop programs that are gender transformative. Gender transformative programming aims to address the structural and social root causes of gender inequality and thereby promote more equitable outcomes for children in all their diversity. This means working for change in laws and policies; systems and services; distribution of resources; norms, beliefs and stereotypes; and behaviour and practices.

The GAP commands that results related to gender must be clear and specified from the start of all programmes across all Goal Areas. This will require strengthened gender analysis and gender data reporting, monitoring and research to inform evidence -based programming priorities and practices; clear standards for accountability; and participatory feedback and other consultative mechanisms. Specific targets for each Goal Area are included in the accompanying indicator matrix.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, UNICEF has a regional office (LAC-RO) based in Panama, and 24 country offices operating in 36 countries and territories. In alignment with LAC - Regional Office Management Plan 2022-2025 (ROMP) and the GAP, the Annual Work Plan for 2022 for the Gender Section aims to deliver gender transformative results, undertake gender-responsive systems strengthening and engage in long-term transformation of harmful gender norms, promote and protect girls’ rights and support sector-wide, survivor-centered approaches to GBV.

The LACRO gender section provides continuous technical support to UNICEF country offices (COs) by developing, adapting and translating gender programming tools, accompanying the development of country-based gender programmatic reviews, undertaking gender analysis of programme documents and reports, and offering opportunities to strengthen the technical capacity of country teams to implement gender transformative programmes in development and humanitarian contexts. At the end of 2022 and start of 2023, the team needs additional support to ensure country offices receive continuous, high quality technical assistance during the annual review and planning period.

For more information about UNICEF and its work in the region, visit www.unicef.org/lac.

How can you make a difference?

The purpose of the assignment is to support the LACRO Gender team to accelerate the roll-out of the new GAP across the region.

Based on global guidance and the priorities of the LAC ROMP, the consultant will do this by (a) providing agile technical assistance to country teams on how to deliver Gender transformative results in an integrated fashion across country programmes, (b) developing regional tools, resources and processes to facilitate monitoring and reporting of the implementation of programmatic and institutional GAP priorities and results across LAC, (c) consolidating a lively regional Gender community of practice through the Regional Gender Network.

Specific Tasks:

Under the direct supervision of the UNICEF Regional Gender Advisor the individual contractor will engage in the following key activities[1]:

1. Undertake the technical review of Country Programs Documents (CPDs) from up to two UNICEF COs in the region (Drafts of CPDs, including Theories of Change, Programme Rationale documents, Country Programme Management Plans and all associated documents), to provide feedback, guidance and advice to the country team on how to best integrate GAP-aligned approaches and results across the programme;
2. Provide technical support for the development of up to two country level Gender Programmatic Reviews (GPRs), accompanying country teams from the design to the finalization of their GPRs in line with existing UNICEF guidelines and tools;
3. Conduct a gender-focused technical review, analysis and documentation of the 2022 annual results (found in Country Office Annual Reports [COARs] and the UNICEF Results Assessment Module [RAM]) of all 24 LAC Country Offices in January 2023, based on criteria and a format previously agreed upon with the section. Prepare a PowerPoint presentation summarizing key 2022 results from the region to share with UNICEF HQ and LACRO leadership;
4. Develop and populate (with data available from all 24 COs and the RO at the time of production) a user-friendly, live ‘LAC GAP database’ on Excel to track implementation of the programmatic GAP priorities and institutional standards across the region. Produce a short tutorial/training video to train users (primarily the regional team and Gender CO focal points) on how to maintain the database up to date on the Gender SharePoint site;
5. Develop a ‘Country Programme Gender Profile’ template aligned with the GAP with accompanying instructions for completion, and provide direct support to six COs sampled from across the LAC sub-regions for the development of profiles using the new template (up to five pages per profile);
6. Review and update gender training materials developed by LACRO in the past two years to align them to the new GAP and develop of a basic gender training package for different types of staff across the region. Produce a short tutorial/training video on how to use the package;
7. Support the preparation and delivery of a two-hour virtual meeting of the regional gender network at the end of November/start of December 2022 and begin preparations for a face-to-face meeting of the network planned for May 2023 (expected support includes developing a draft agenda, coordinating dates with COs, preparing invitation messages/letters, developing presentations, coordinating interpretation services, producing minutes, etc.);
8. Prepare, design and deliver at least three 90-minute webinars (approximately one every six weeks) for the regional gender network, covering:
   • Presentation of the country programme gender profile template and how to complete it
   • Roll-out of the gender training package
   • Training on using and populating the LAC GAP database
9. Perform any other tasks related to the above to support the LACRO Gender Section as required by the supervisor.

Important notes:

All activities may be undertaken in Spanish and/or English, depending on the COs involved. The consultant will be expected to communicate regularly in both Spanish and English and to produce some of the outputs described above in both languages as part of this assignment. Extensive technical documents (10 pages/slides or longer) may be sent for external translation at UNICEF cost, but in such cases the consultant will be required to coordinate the translation process with external translators and quality-assure the translations in collaboration with the Gender section. If necessary, webinars may count on simultaneous interpretation Spanish-English-Portuguese at UNICEF cost. Tutorial videos may be voice recorded in either English or Spanish but the consultant will be required to provide a written script in the alternate language so videos can be professionally subtitled externally at UNICEF cost.

In case of outputs that require professional design and layout, the consultant will be required to work closely and collaboratively with external design providers hired by UNICEF to ensure timely and quality delivery of products.

[1] All activities may be undertaken in Spanish and/or English, depending on the CO involved and the target audience of the developed products. All activities and outputs related to the regional gender network must be undertaken/produced in both Spanish and English. Extensive documents may be sent for external translation at UNICEF cost, but in such cases the consultant will be required to coordinate the translation process and quality-assure the translations before approving them.

Expected Results:

At the end of the contract the contractor will have delivered the following outputs:

(Note that tasks are not necessarily chronological and sequential and will require simultaneous management. Timeline is to be discussed with the regional team at the start of the assignment. Monthly reports will therefore provide updates in those task areas relevant for the month in question).

1. A four-month workplan at the start of the assignment, reviewed at the end of the second month of the assignment (in English or Spanish)
2. Written feedback shared with up to two COs related to the review of their CPD documents (in English or Spanish, following whichever language CPD documents are produced in)
3. Evidence of technical inputs for the development of up to two country-level GPRs (in English or Spanish, following whichever language GPR documents are produced in)
4. Documented analysis of 2022 LAC annual gender results and summary presentation for HQ/LACRO leadership (all in English)
5. Designed and populated LAC Gender Database in Excel to track CO/RO implementation of the GAP programmatic priorities and institutional standards, accompanied by ‘how-to-use’ tutorial video and script (database structure should be both in English and Spanish but content may be populated using the language predominantly used by respective office. See note above on video translation)
6. Country Programme Gender Profile template with accompanying instructions for completion, and six completed country profiles (template and profiles produced in both English and Spanish by consultant)
7. Updated gender training resources and gender training package, accompanied by ‘how-to-use’ tutorial video (training resources/package may be sent for external translation depending on size/volume. See note above on video translation)
8. Delivery of one virtual regional gender network meeting with respective support materials, and advanced preparations of one in-person meeting (all meeting related resources and communications produced in both English and Spanish by consultant)
9. Delivery of three regional webinars for the regional network meeting, with respective presentations and resource materials (all webinar related resources and communications produced in both English and Spanish by consultant)

Deliverables

Description

Duration

[in days]

Expected deadline

Monthly progress report 1

22

31 December 2022

Monthly progress report 2

22

31 January 2023

Monthly progress report 3

22

28 February 2023

Monthly progress report 4

22

31 March 2023

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• Education: Master’s degree in social sciences (i.e., Gender and Development, Political Science, International Relations or Sociology/Social Work)
• Work Experience:
  • At least 10 years in implementation of Gender Equality or human rights-based approaches (preferably related to child rights and women’s rights).
  • Direct experience working in the field of children’s rights in Latin America and the Caribbean
  • Experience in developing robust gender analysis, technical reports and research documents.
  • Experience in designing capacity building resources and delivering training sessions.
• Languages: Fluency in Spanish or English is required, with good working knowledge in the other (sufficient to produce short documents in the second language).
• Technical Knowledge:
  • Strong quantitative, qualitative and analytical research skills.
  • Understanding of gendered impacts of planning and monitoring.
  • Knowledge of gender analysis frameworks and their application in development and humanitarian contexts.
  • Proven knowledge and understanding of gender frameworks and approaches in Latin America and the Caribbean.
  • Demonstrated experience in designing and conducting complex, multi-stakeholder and country studies, guidelines and tools.
• Other skills:
  • Excellent organizational skills and ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks within agreed deadlines and with attention to details.
  • Excellent synthesis and communication skills.
  • Demonstrated experience working with UNICEF, or other UN Agencies, considered an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

UNICEF competencies: building and maintains partnerships, demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness, drive to achieve results for impact, innovates and embraces change, manages ambiguity and complexity, thinks and acts strategically and works collaboratively with others.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

Administrative details:

Supervision: The individual contractor will work under the direct supervision of the Regional Gender Advisor and in close collaboration with the Regional Gender Officer and Specialists.

Workplace: Home-based. Travels will be confirmed.

• Travel costs will be estimated and added to the contract once they are determined based on UNICEF Financial Rules and Regulations.

• For agreed country visits, the contractor/consultant will be responsible in administering their own travel. UNICEF will reimburse travel related expenses based on actual costs or on the below criteria whichever is lower and upon presentation of receipts.

• Any travel involved should be budgeted according to UN Travel Standards as a ceiling.

• UN Secretariat Administrative Instruction on Official Travel, ST/AI/2013/3: Sect. 4, para. 4.2, numerals (d) and (e)

• For information on Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA), can be found on the International Civil Service Commission website (all countries and destinations can be found by navigating on the map).

How to Apply? Application should be submitted online and should include: Resume, Cover Letter, University Diploma and Financial proposal. Qualified candidates are requested to submit monthly or daily fees in their financial proposal.

Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

Duration of contract: This contract is expected to start on 21st November with an estimated duration of 4 months

Insurance: The selected contractor must demonstrate a proof of medical insurance prior to the beginning of the consultancy and must be valid for the entire duration of the contract. In duty stations where UNICEF provides medical evacuation, the medical insurance that the contractor holds should include provisions for medical evacuation.

Vacancy Announcement Remarks:

Please note only short-listed candidates will be contacted. UNICEF reserves the right to make additional assessment of the pre-selected candidates.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.

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Potential interview questions

Added 3 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unicef.org