Consultant to Review the Quality of Donor Reports and Transition of Tier 1 and Tier 2 Countries

Location : Home-based

Application Deadline : 11-Oct-23 (Midnight New York, USA)

Type of Contract : Individual Contract

Post Level : International Consultant

Languages Required : English French

Expected Duration of Assignment : 30 Working Days (By 31 December 2023)

UNDP 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.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

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. 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, peace, and security. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action worldwide. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

The UN Women Strategic Plan commits the organization to institutionalizing a solid culture of results-based management, reporting, knowledge management and evaluation. For all agreements, timely submission of quality donor reports is a top priority for accountability and maintaining good donor relationships. The UN Women East and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) supports the thirteen countries in the region by ensuring quality and timely donor reports.

The ESA Regional Office would like to undertake a review of a sample donor reports from the country offices to determine the classification of country office reporting capacities. The review will also identify quantitative and qualitative data gaps and guide the areas that need further strengthening for sustainable quality and timely donor reporting.

Accordingly, the ESA Regional Office seeks the services of a consultant to work closely with the Regional Monitoring and Reporting (M&R) specialist and the ESA Deputy Regional Director (DRD) to achieve the outcomes outlined below. The M&R specialist will oversee the day-to-day management of the review and will be the focal point for the consultant.

Objectives and Outcome of the assignment: The main objective of the review is to assess the Multi/Country offices’ donor reporting capacity to determine areas in need of strengthening and the Tier category the offices should be placed. The primary source of information for this assessment will be the quality and timeliness of donor reports submitted by the country offices between 2021 and 2023.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will undertake the quality analysis for an agreed sample of donor reports (2021-2023) covering all the countries. The consultant will be guided by the existing UN Women donor reporting quality metrics guidance and corporate RBM standards.

Duties and Responsibilities:

•  Propose a methodology and define criteria to assess the quality of donor reports produced between 2021 and 2023 based on UN Women corporate requirements for the donor reporting;
•  Propose a methodology for selecting a representative sample of 2021-2023 donor reports per office, including ESARO;
•  Review reports using the Donor Report Assessment Sheet and score;
•  Provide insights on the quality of reports being submitted by the Tier I and II countries;
•  Identify best practices and shortfalls in donor reporting;
•  Provide a one to two-pager analysis for each office – identifying the areas that are strong/weak and recommendations;
•  Provide concrete recommendations on improving the quality and consistency of donor reports in the region in support of strengthened donor reporting capacities;
•  Present the findings from the review for validation in a workshop;
•  Based on findings, make recommendations on categorizing Multi/Country offices into Tier I and Tier II.

Key Deliverables:

•  Deliverable 1: An Inception Report with a methodology for undertaking the review; Methodology to select a representative sample and assess the quality of donor reports; a detailed work plan for undertaking the review;
•  Deliverable 2: One or two-pager analysis for each office and Donor Reporting Assessment Sheets for each report reviewed;
•  Deliverable 3: Draft Report of quality of donor narrative reports with specific comments/recommendations on Tier categorization;
•  Deliverable 4: PowerPoint presentations on the main findings and recommendations;
•  Deliverable 5: Final Report of quality of donor narrative reports with specific comments/recommendations.

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/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

•  A strong background in reporting to donors, results-based management, and donor relations;
•  Knowledge of programme and project management approaches and tools;
•  A good understanding of gender equality and women’s empowerment issues.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

•  An Advanced University Degree in social development, economics, business, philosophy, gender and development, or other related fields.

Experience:

•  A minimum 10 years of professional experience in development work in monitoring, reporting, or knowledge management is required;
•  Experience in RBM is required, e.g., results-based reporting and evaluation, strengthening RBM capacity in a decentralized organization;
•  Previous work experience undertaking similar assessments with the UN, including UN Women or other development agencies.

Language Requirements:

•  Fluency in English and a good knowledge of French.

Application Process:

•  Interested candidates will submit an expression of interest with their application.
•  All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc. Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment.
•  Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.
•  Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. They will then be requested to submit a proposal for further consideration.

Note: 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.