International Consultant- to conduct Midterm Review and Revision of UN Women Liaison Office to AU and UNECA Strategic Note (2023 – 2025)

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 supports United Nations Member States in setting international standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to formulate and enforce the laws, policies, programs, and services needed to ensure that the standards are effectively implemented and that they truly benefit women and girls around the world. UN Women’s main roles are to support inter-governmental bodies, such as the Commission on the Status of Women in their formulation of policies, global standards, and norms, to help Member States implement these standards, standing ready to provide suitable technical and financial support to those countries that request it, and to forge effective partnerships with civil society, to lead and coordinate the UN system’s work on gender equality, as well as promote accountability through regular monitoring of system-wide progress.

UN Women Liaison Office to the AU and UNECA’s Strategic Note 2023-2025 articulates the entity’s strategic direction and theory of change, objectives, and approaches to support efforts to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls in the region for their full enjoyment of their human rights. The Liaison Office considered its value-add as a UN Women entity with the distinct purpose of focusing on the intergovernmental processes of the AU and

related  to  UNECA.  This reflection  process  includes  soliciting  inputs  internally  across  UN Women and externally with the AU offices, UN partners, CSOs and donors. It is anchored on UN-Women’s normative support functions, UN system coordination mandate, and operational activities to deliver transformative results. The Strategic Note also contributes to implementing the 2030 Agenda and Regional/continental level commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment, such as the AU 2063 Agenda, the Maputo Protocol, and through its Integrated Results and Resources Framework (IRRF). The Strategic Note was approved by the office of the Deputy Executive Directors of UN Women in March 2023.

From the inception of the UN Women Liaison Office to the AU and UNECA Strategic Note, the UN Women Liaison Office (LO) has made significant contributions towards strengthening continental policies, strategies, and partnerships to end violence against women and girls (EVAW). This was achieved through various means, including creating platforms for dialogue, stock-taking, and strategizing between regional civil society organizations (CSOs), networks, faith-based organizations (FBOs), communities of traditional leaders (CTL), and the AU and Member States. The LO prioritized the positioning of FBOs and the Commitment of the Council of Traditional Leaders of Africa (COTLA) as central stakeholders and champions in efforts to end violence against women and girls (EVAWG). Their partnership with the AU was enhanced, particularly through support provided by the AU High-Level Presidential Initiative on Positive Masculinity  in  Leadership to end  VAWG. This support informed the historic decision  to negotiate a continental convention on ending VAW. Both FBOs and CTLs contributed significantly to this process through position papers and multistakeholder consultations.

Additionally, the LO played an instrumental role in advancing its normative and intergovernmental mandates. This included convening African ministerial consultative pre- CSW meetings, which strengthened continental partnerships and promoted African gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) priorities in AU platforms and global CSW stages. The LO also showcased successful African women and girls-led initiatives and best practices at global CSW forums, promoting cross-learning and collaborations to advance the African GEWE agenda.

UN Women’s support to the AU-led advocacy for universal ratification, domestication, implementation, and accountability for the Maputo Protocol on Women’s Rights significantly heightened the visibility of challenges hindering the full implementation of the women’s rights agenda. Notably, this advocacy contributed to Botswana’s ratification of the Protocol as the 46th state party. Furthermore, the LO contributed to advancing the women, peace, and security agenda in continental policies and processes. It facilitated the creation of an institutionalized platform for coordination and accountability among the AU, Member States, Regional Economic Communities, and the UN system for the implementation of WPS commitments.

Despite these achievements, the LO encountered several challenges during implementation. These included receiving many requests for collaborations and support from key partners, including the AU, that were often untimely and incomplete, affecting operational effectiveness. To address this, the LO has taken a proactive approach by consistently following up  with  technical  focal  points  to  ensure  clear  plans  are  developed  for  partnership commitments. The limited presence and capacity of regional CSOs to implement joint gender- related continental initiatives posed a challenge.

The MTR provides an opportunity to review performance and make adjustments to the strategic direction of UN Women Liaison Office to inform the implementation of the SN in 2024 and 2025, as well as feed into the development of the next SN. Hence, the UN Women Liaison Office to the AU and UNECA intends to conduct a mid-term review (MTR) of the Strategic Note 2023-2025, to provide an opportunity to assess progress towards achieving the desired results and overall performance, key achievements and results and adjust the strategic direction informed by the context, new developments and any shifts of priorities in the continent and inform implementation, as well as feed into the development of the subsequent Strategic Note.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultants will work under the overall guidance of the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting Specialist and the LO senior management and team members for all day-to-day matters including:

• Conduct a Desk Review of key documents relevant to the work of the AULO, such as: Africa strategy, UN Women Strategic Plan, Agenda 2023, Africa Gender Strategy, 2023-2025 SN and Biannual Work Plan and 2023 quarterly and Annual Reports; Project proposals and reports, MOU with AU and UNECA, evaluations and
• Lead and facilitate the internal reflection session to review the current SN
• In collaboration with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting specialist, the Consultant will analyse and present the results of staff and partners’ surveys at the midterm review meeting and will incorporate partners’ and staff feedback to reflect the results in the strategic note;
• Lead and facilitate the strategic note-midterm review meetings both internal and external;
• Production of the report on the strategic note mid-term review;

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:

• Demonstrated ability and excellent communication skills to facilitate group discussions;
• Demonstrated ability to produce high quality evaluation reports, including recommendations for future work of the funding organization/ a donor;
• Ability  to  work  with  the  Evaluation  Manager  to  ensure  that  a  quality  evaluation  report  is produced;
• Facilitation skills and the ability to deal with multi-stakeholder groups;
• Excellent analytical and communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

•   Master’s degree or equivalent in Social Sciences, International Development studies, Law, Human rights, Politics, Gender, Women studies or related field.

Experience:

• At least 10 years of planning, programming, reviews and/or evaluation experience, seven years of which in planning/reviews in development programs related to human rights, gender and results-based management;
• Knowledge and experience with national development, policy, and legislative frameworks;
• Extensive experience with UN programming, especially the UNDAF and delivering as one;
• Experience  working  on women’s  human  rights  and gender  equality;  familiarity  with  the
• relevant context in East and Southern Africa in all its diversity is an added advantage.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of any other UN official language is an asset.

Application:

• All applications must include (as an attachment) a completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment.