Background:

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 is seeking to recruit international consultant to lead the evaluation of the project “PBF/IRF-504: Localizing for change: Positioning women’s Civil Society Organizations for effective implementation of the WPS agenda as part of the PBF’s global competitive gender and youth promotion initiative call in 2022. The project period has been from January 2023 to March 2025. The project is being implemented across 6 districts with a budget value $2million. The project aim is strengthening the institutional capacity of Women-Focused CSO’s to coordinate their effort in sustaining peace and enhancing the safety and security of women and girls in Sierra Leone by adopting a twin track approach to enable it to achieve its goal by establishing and strengthening Women-Focused CSOs coalition to make them work together as a collective force on one hand and supporting to lead and drive the expected change on the other hand.

Organizational setting, reporting and collaborators:

The International consultant will be reporting to the Head of Office, supported by Abdul Conteh, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Officer (Evaluation Manager) and Programme Specialist (Women Peace and Security) for contract management, validation of all deliverables and payment. The International Consultant will collaborate with the project stakeholders including CSOs, Ministry personnel (MOGCA), UN Women, UNDP & World vision personnel etc. for the delivery of the evaluation task.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

The scope is to lead the conduct of Final Evaluation for the PBF/IRF-504: Localizing for change: Positioning women’s Civil Society Organizations for effective implementation of the WPS agenda project. Below are the specific

deliverables:

Task 1 Inception phase: Lead Evaluability assessment, development of survey methodology, tools, sampling plan, workplan, and incorporation of feedback on draft inception report

Task 2 Data Collection: Lead the field data collection process including Conduct preliminary desk review of relevant documents and existing data and primary data collection.

Task 3: Conduct Data Analysis and producing draft report: Focusing on data processing, synthesizing the data, interpretation of findings and drafting of an evaluation report and knowledge transition materials using a standard template.

Task 4: Produce Final Evaluation Report and knowledge transition materials: A final evaluation report that addressed the comments and feedback from evaluation stakeholders (EMG, ERG) and Donor including a concise Executive Summary and knowledge transition materials including PPT, Executive summary that meet UN Women Evaluation criteria, GERAAS standards and UNEG ethics.

Task 5: Submission (final report, knowledge materials, datasets), validation and Dissemination of Results: The consultant will conduct a 1-day validation session with project stakeholders including CSO partners, government MDAs, UN Agencies to ensure compliance and acceptance of the results. Afterwards submit the final report to EMG. The submitted report will be validated by the Evaluation Management Group.

Task 6: Development of a Management Response, publishing of a report and dissemination of results to internal stakeholders by the lead consultant

Deliverables

Inception report/Evaluability Assessment report

Cleaned, validated datasets, produce a draft report and knowledge transition materials

Final Evaluation Report and knowledge transition materials

Validation session with project stakeholders

Management Response, publishing of a report and dissemination of results

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

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 Values and Competencies Framework:

Functional Competencies:

• Strong knowledge of gender equality and women’s rights issues, political science, law, and development.
• Demonstrated ability to interact effectively with government representatives of Member States as well as CSO representative.
• Proven networking skills, and ability.
• Strong writing and communication skills.
• Knowledge and understanding of UN system and familiarity with inter-governmental processes.
• Strong IT skills, including databases, extranet and office software packages.
• Strong analytical and interpersonal skills

Education and Certification:

• At least a master’s degree in economics, sociology, international development, gender/women studies or related areas. A special training in Monitoring and Results Based-Management is considered an asset.
• A project/Programme management certification would be an added advantage

OR

• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A project/Programme management certification would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• At least 10 -15 years practical experience in conducting evaluations of international policies and programs utilizing a wide range of approaches and methods including utilization focused, gender and human rights responsive, and mixed methods with a background in social research.
• Extensive experience acting as team leader for complex evaluations and proven ability to manage a diverse evaluation team.
• Previous experience in conducting evaluations on WPP, WPS or related themes would be considered an asset.
• Excellent knowledge of the UN system, especially UNDP and UN Women programming at the country level, in development and conflict/post-conflict country contexts
• Experience and knowledge on gender equality and women’s empowerment, EVAWG, gender analysis and the related mandates within the UN system; experience/knowledge of women’s movements
• Experience and knowledge on human rights issues, the human rights-based approach to programming, human rights analysis and related mandates within the UN system.
• Excellent analytical, facilitation and communications skills and ability to negotiate amongst a wide range of stakeholders.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel 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.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.