National Consultant to support the Mid-Term Review of UN Women Uganda Country Office Strategic Note 2022-2025

Background

A.UN Women Organizational Context

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 provides support to Member States’ efforts and priorities in meeting their gender equality goals and for building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women Uganda Country Office is implementing its Programme based on the Strategic Note (SN) 2022 - 2025 which was approved by the Deputy Executive Director of UN Women in 2021. Strategic Notes are the chief programme instrument in UN Women through which Country Offices (Cos) outline their strategies for a multi-year period, normally concurrent to the country level UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF). Although reflective of the Institutional corporate Strategic Plan, SNs adapt to the country context aligning with national priorities. Therefore the SN due for midterm review, outlines the overall strategy and plan of action for UN Women Uganda Country office for the years 2022-2025. It includes a Development Results Framework (DRF) and the Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency (OEE) framework, designed to consolidate the gains of the previous SN (2016-2021), while expanding further and addressing gender inequality and barriers to empowerment of women in Uganda, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UN Women Uganda Country Office SN is aligned to the SDGs, NDPIII 2020/21-2024/25 and the UNSDCF 2021-2025 for Uganda. it incorporates the strategic direction and focus given by the UN Women Global Strategic Plan 2022-2025 and global normative frameworks for gender equality and the empowerment of women (GEWE). The SN is fully aligned to the 3-strategic priorities of the UNSDCF with the following following outcome areas: (1) Inclusive and accountable governance and women’s access to Justice; (2) Increased protection of women’s rights, gender responsive peace and security; (3) Increased productivity, income and access to resources for women and girls; (4) Vulnerable women mitigate and adapt to climate change & Disaster Risk Reduction; (5) Women & girls enjoy quality basic social and protection services; and (6) gender equality and women rights fulfilled in a culturally responsive environment.

Duties and Responsibilities

B.Objectives & Scope of the SN Mid Term Review

Under UN Women’s policies and procedures in relation to Programme management, a mid-term review (MTR) is mandatory for Programmes of at least three years duration. The SN MTR is NOT meant to be an evaluation and hence should focus more on a strategic reflection of UN Women’s work and progress identifying challenges and opportunities along the implementation pathway. The proposed MTR will be moderated in the context of Uganda’s prevailing policy environment, financing landscape and the urgent need to fast track the attainment of set goals and targets. The findings must, to a large extent, align with the overall UN system at country level and the national government’s vision and plans.

The objectives of the MTR of UN-Women Uganda’s SN are as follows:

1. To analyse and reflect on the progress of the 2022-25 programme, operations, and the validity of UN-Women’s strategy in Uganda taking stock of changes in the context (including normative developments) that may affect programme delivery and operational response.
2. To check in on key management issues such as programme performance (DRF and OEE), adaptiveness in programme management, partner management system, human resource practices and  risk management to allow informed and credible analysis of the SN performance at mid-term and make recommendations for improvement.
3. To assess the level and quality of stakeholder engagement and partnerships in the SN cycle: both rights-holders and duty bearers, Government, Development partners and Donors and make recommendations where necessary

 C.      Tasks and responsibilities:

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Head of Office of UN Women Uganda Country Office, the consultant will be responsible for following tasks:

1. Develop a short and strategic position paper on UN Women’s work in Uganda outlining relevance and programme balance.
2. Review and make recommendations on discussion papers to be prepared together with the CO team on Programme, Partnerships, Normative Issues, Learning and capacity, Coordination Issues, Operations and Communication.
3. Facilitate the Uganda Country Office Mid Term Review meeting(s) and summarize results and decisions in a short 2-page report.
4. Prepare and finalise SN MTR report including summarising findings from the MTR workshop discussions.

D.Expected Key Deliverables by the Consultant and its timeline

Competencies

E. 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

Functional Competences

• Excellent analytical and research skills
• Strong facilitation skills;
• Strong interpersonal and good communication abilities
• Excellent writing skills both in Albanian and in English
• Proven ability to work within limited time constraints in the preparation of high-quality documents;
• Ability to organize work efficiently and deal with multiple tasks;

Required Skills and Experience

F. Education:

• Master’s degree or advanced university degree in social science, gender/women’s studies, programme management, Development studies or other related fields

NB: Applicants without the minimum of a master’s degree will not be considered

Experience:

• 10 years of professional work experience in programme development and implementation, including monitoring and evaluation activities.
• Experience working on gender equality and women’s empowerment Programmes within East & Southern Africa region.
• Proven experience in supporting the development and review of strategic plans or country programme documents for gender focused international organizations
• Proven experience in guiding and documenting programme reviews and evaluations.
• Proven knowledge of programme monitoring and evaluation theory, including theories of change, methodology, technology and tools.
• Experience working on programming, monitoring and evaluation with the UN agencies, similar international organizations, NGOs, multi/bilateral and/or government institutions would be an advantage.

Language requirements:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.

G.      Application process

The application should include:

1. Personal History Form (P-11 form) - including past experience in similar assignments; the P-11 form can be downloaded at  https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process
2. Letter of Intent to include a brief overview about which of your previous experiences makes you the most suitable candidate for the advertised position.
3. Minimum two examples of products from previous relevant work to be provided.
4. Financial Proposal (in UGX): Specify a total lump sum amount and the number of anticipated working days for the tasks specified in this Terms of Reference. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of all costs related to completion of the task under the current Terms of Reference.

Interested applicants must submit by 11th August 2023 17:00hrs.

Evaluation process

The applications will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of qualifications and financial proposal.

The candidates will be short-listed based on the minimum qualification criteria mentioned above:

Confidentiality and  Proprietary Interests.

The Consultant shall not either during the term or after termination of the assignment, disclose any proprietary or confidential information related to the consultancy service without prior written consent. Proprietary interests on all materials and documents prepared by the consultants under the assignment shall become and remain properties of UN Women.