STUDY ON THE STATUS OF IMPLEMENTING THE UN JOINT PROGRAMME ON GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT AT LOCAL GOVERNMENT, Gulu, Kitgum, Nebbi, Lira and Pallisa, UGANDA

Job title:   STUDY ON THE STATUS OF IMPLEMENTING THE UN JOINT PROGRAMME ON GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT AT LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Location : Gulu, Kitgum, Nebbi, Lira and Pallisa, UGANDA

Additional Category: Women's Empowerment
Type of Contract : Individual Contract
Post Level : National Consultant
Languages Required : English
Starting Date : (date when the selected candidate is expected to start) 23-Dec-2013
Duration of Initial Contract : 1 Month

Expected Duration of Assignment : 1 Month

Brief Background about UNW
UN Women (UNW), 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. Placing women's rights at the center of all its efforts, the UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality are translated into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts while building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
With support from the Department for International Development, UK (DFID), UN Women in collaboration with Participating UN Agencies (PUNOs) , government and civil society partners, has been coordinating the implementation of a four-year Joint Programme on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (UNJPGE) since 2011. The planned outcomes of the UNJPGE are five (5) and these include: i) strengthened government capacity in gender responsive policy-making, planning, budgeting and programme management; ii) improved access to essential services by survivors of sexual gender based violence; iii) increased girl's retention and completion rates at primary school level; iv) enhanced civil society capacity to advocate and demand government accountability for gender responsive laws and policies; and v) enhanced effectiveness in the delivery of gender responsive governance amongst UN agencies.
Even though the UNJPGE was expected to cover ten (10) districts, particularly in Northern Uganda and the Karamoja Region, most of the implementation has been upstream. This is why the UNJPGE approach was revisited to focus more on downstream implementation through capacity development for district local governments, engaging local CSOs and FBOs in girl-child education programmes, responses to GBV and related aspects of advocacy as well as social mobilization for enhanced local participation and ownership of UNJGE activities and the subsequent gains. However, there is need to capture the progress made so far at district level for purposes of understanding the achievements made and challenges faced for redress and up-scaling of best practices. Therefore UN Women seeks to hire a team of two (2) local experts to undertake a study on the status of implementing the UN Joint Programme on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment at Local Government Level in Uganda.

Key Duties and Responsibilities
The overall objectives of the consultancy are:
To undertake a study and produce evidence on the status of implementing the UN Joint Programme on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment at Local Government Level in Uganda, with a focus on the following specific objectives:

• Take stock of current programme achievements, challenges and opportunities in the 10 districts;
• Verify the continued relevance (alignment with local needs) and pertinence of the programme as well as the related sustainability of benefits thereof;
• Make recommendations on how to improve performance of the programme at local government level;
• Identify areas which implementing partners and program management should pay specific attention to in order to achieve programme results.

The Scope of the study
The study will specifically include:

• UN participating organizations and Central Government Agencies;
• UNJPGE Participating Local Governments and Civil Society Organizations;
• Specific sites for the study will be further worked out by the respective UN agencies and CSOs during the actual process of planning for the study.

Clients:
The clients of the study and main audience of the report are:

• Relevant staff in target ministries, local government and targeted government institutions, and participating CSOs.

Relevant staff and participating UN-agencies;

• UN Women;
• Technical units and head of Units in the participating UN-agencies;
• UN-agency Headquarters;
• Development partners.

The outcome of the study will be used for two purposes:

• To address challenges faced in implementing the programme at local government level and develop appropriate management, operational and institutional responses to improve delivery on results over the remaining programming period;
• The lessons learnt and good practices will be shared with Government of Uganda (GoU) stakeholders, UN partners, and relevant staff in participating UN agencies, district local governments, UN Women and other relevant stakeholders to be replicated in similar ongoing or future GEWE -related programmes.

Competencies

• Mature judgment and initiative;
• Ability to think out-of-the-box;
• Ability to present complex issues in simple and clear manner;
• Cultural, gender, religion and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Ability to work under pressure and deliver high quality results on time;
• Initiative and independence.

Required Skills and Experience
Education:

• Advanced university degree, such as a MA degree in social sciences, development economics, gender studies or related discipline.

Experience:

• At least 10 years of demonstrated knowledge and experience in development research and technical assistance in gender and women's economic empowerment issues at local government level;
• Successful experience in government of Uganda related consultancies.

Language:

• English with excellent writing and presentation skills.

Application procedure:
Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

• Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP (Annex II).
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.

Technical proposal:

• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
• A methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment.

Financial proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided (Annex II).

How to Apply for the Job
Interested bidders should send an email to Justine.naiga-bagonza@undp.org and copy diana.nabbanja@undp.org for a complete set of the terms of reference to enable them prepare their documents accordingly. and copy for a complete set of the terms of reference to enable them prepare their documents accordingly.
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.

Application Closing Date: Wednesday, 18 December 2013