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 Jordan’s Strategic Note (SN) 2018-22 was approved by the Deputy Executive Director of UN Women in December 2017. The Jordan SN is a forward-looking programmatic document that translates the UN-Women Strategic Plan 2018-2022 to the country level and adapts it to the country context and priorities. The SN outlines the overall strategy and plan of action for the UN-Women Jordan Country Office (JCO) for the years 2018-22 and includes a Development Results Framework (DRF) and an Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency Framework (OEEF) with expected results and targets/indicators/baselines. However, as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, many of the JCO operations have been affected since March 2020. Subsequently, UN Women JCO has both introduced new programmatic interventions as well as leveraged the existing activities across its thematic areas of policy reform; women’s economic empowerment; women, peace and security; and humanitarian assistance. This has been critical to ensuring that programming and interventions are responding to this crisis and its impact on Jordan in the short, medium and longer terms.

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. In the case of UN-Women Jordan, this requires the office to hold a MTR of its programme during 2021. It is important that the MTR commence by early May and be completed by July 2021 to provide inputs for the annual planning process for 2021. The MTR will provide an understanding of what UN Women is doing, its implicit theory of change and how the organization’s strategy should be adapted in 2021 and beyond in the unprecedented context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The MTR

should reflect the adjustments to JCO’s strategic approach since March 2020 while also taking into consideration the anticipated donor funding limitations that is likely to affect country level due to COVID-19.

UN Women Lebanon’s SN 2019-21 was approved in December 2018. The SN outlines the overall strategy and plan of action for the UN Women Lebanon Office for the years 2019-22 and includes a Development Results Framework (DRF) and an Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency Framework (OEEF) with expected results and targets/indicators/baselines. UN Women Lebanon’s three-year response strategy addresses five interrelated tracks: Women’s Political Participation and Leadership, Women’s Economic Empowerment, Women, Peace and Security, Global Norms, Policies & Standards and Ending Violence Against Women. However, in 2020, the number of impact areas was reduced to three. Impact areas on Women’s Political Participation and Ending Violence against Women were removed from the AWP. These remain key priority areas for UN Women and will be addressed through ongoing programming. In addition, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lebanon office has introduced new programmatic interventions as well as leveraged the existing activities.

The UN Country Teams’ Strategic framework for Lebanon will be extended until the end of 2022 and the implementation of the new framework will thus begin in 2023. To ensure that UN Women’s SN is in line with the upcoming UNSF for Lebanon, the LCO is extending its current SN for a year/ conducting a light SN for 2022. The results of the MTR will be used by the office to provide insights and inputs for the preparation of the revised document. 

Under the direct supervision of Representative of the JCO and the LCO, the consultant will be responsible for conducting the Midterm Review for the Jordan and Lebanon UN Women Office. This will include the preparation of and leading the mid-term review meeting, and in consultation with key stakeholder, partners and UNW staff (both in JCO and LCO), will produce 14 discussion papers (7 per country) that will guide and inform the discussions at the meetings. The consultant will provide a MTR report including a set of recommendations for the JCO and the LCO to incorporate in the Theory of Change. In addition, as UN Women JCO has been recognized for several strategic best practices amongst UN Women Country Offices, the consultant will deliver an advocacy brief which will map and identify the best practices and also inform the MTR.

Note that the MTR is NOT meant to be an impact evaluation; it will be a qualitative reflection of UN Women’s work and progress in key areas rather than an in-depth analysis. It will be contextualized within the UN Country Team’s work in Jordan/ Lebanon that in turn aligns with the national government’s vision and plans.

Objective of the Assignment:

The purposes of the MTR exercise per corporate guidance are:

1. To review the Theories of change (ToC) of the SN, as it relates to the broader context of the country
2. To provide the office (both programme and operations) with a point of reflection and strategic analysis, distinct from the normal everyday process of programme and project management.
3. To provide for engagement with partners and beneficiaries in that reflection.
4. To take stock of changes in the programming context (including normative developments) and operational responses.
5. To check in on key management issues, such as availability of data and evidence to allow informed and credible analysis of performance, and the ‘evaluability’ of the country programme.
6. To serve as an early launching point for the subsequent process of developing a new SN for the forthcoming cycle.

These will be achieved through the following objectives:

1. An analysis of the agency’s positioning, including an assessment of the relevance of its theory of change in the contemporary context and the appropriateness of the balance among the agency’s programmatic, normative, advocacy and coordination roles

2. A basic assessment of the agency’s programmatic performance that captures the agency’s knowledge of its overall performance, its internal and external knowledge management and its ability to capture and leverage knowledge.

3. An assessment of the office’s partnerships, including its approach to cultivating and maintaining partnerships, the appropriateness of its partnerships and the effectiveness of partnerships in delivering results/impact.

4. An assessment of the office’s response to new or emerging normative frameworks and its incorporation of normative issues and commitments into the rest of its work.

5. An assessment of the office’s coordination role, both in terms of improving the UNCT’s overall performance on gender equality and its efficacy in national coordination structures.

6. An assessment of the office’s operations; specifically, quality assurance and oversight functions and review of HR capacities in order to maximize programme effective and efficiency ?

7. An assessment of the office’s communication and outreach to determine the extent to which external stakeholders are clear about UN Women’s mandate and to which the office serves as a GEWE knowledge hub.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the UN Women Country Representative for the Jordan CO and the Head of Office for the Lebanon CO and direct supervision of the Monitoring, Reporting and Evaluation Analyst’s in Jordan and Lebanon, the consultant will perform the following illustrative tasks (all tasks will need to be conducted for the Jordan and Lebanon Office):

1. Prepare and finalize a workplan in coordination with JCO/ LCO personnel.
2. Conduct a desk review (2 – Jordan & Lebanon) of the existing strategic documents such as; Strategic Note, annual reports, evaluation findings, UN MTR Guidance and other key documents identified by Jordan/ Lebanon CO.
3. Prepare interview questions/discussion points for different stakeholder groups in Jordon/ Lebanon and share with UN Women for finalization.
4. Conduct consultations with key staff, relevant partners and stakeholders in Jordan/ Lebanon to inform the drafting of the discussion papers. UN Women estimates that the consultant will need to conduct approximately 20 key informant interviews (10 per country) and 8 focus groups (4 per country) (This can also include the design of an online survey of partners and stakeholders).
5. Conduct a preliminary findings meeting with UN Women key personnel to identify key issues to be addressed in discussion papers.
6. Prepare 14 main discussion papers, 7 per county, (2 page maximum per paper) based on consultations undertaken and documents reviewed on the 7 thematic areas enumerated in the project objectives, taking into consideration the evolving development context.
7. Submit to JCO/ LCP personnel for consideration and discussion before finalization.
8. Prepare an agenda for the MTR meeting based on inputs and feedback emerging from the desk review and consultations.
9. Facilitate MTR meetings (2) with the Jordan and Lebanon offices.
10. Prepare and submit draft final MTR Reports (2), integrating the main findings and conclusions of stakeholder interviews, discussions of the MTR meeting with JCO/ LCO and recommended strategic programmatic adaptations.
11. Submit a final package including the finalized MTR Report along with MTR presentation, and all clearly labeled and dated meeting notes/recordings and other materials used in the preparation of the 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/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637 

Functional Competencies

• Ability to think, analyze and articulate strategically on programme development and results-based management
• Ability to facilitate meetings with different levels of stakeholders
• Excellent drafting and writing skills to produce and present concise and analytical discussion papers.
• Knowledge in results-based programming in support of gender and human rights

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, gender studies, public administration, international relations, international law, public policy, or a related field.

Experience:

• At least 10 years of practical experience of work on gender mainstreaming in

development programmes/projects at national and international levels; particularly monitoring and evaluation activities,

• At least 3 years’ experience of work on results-based management, review, assessments and/or evaluation of country strategic notes;
• Experience in guiding and documenting UN reviews including through facilitating multi-stakeholder consultations.
• Excellent writing, facilitation and coordination skills

• Knowledge of Jordan’s and Lebanon’s context or experience in the country

would be an added advantage.

• Past experience working with UN Women or another UN agency is preferable;

Language Requirements:

• Proficient written and oral English; knowledge of Arabic is considered an asset
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, IT tools, ability to use Internet and email.

Evaluation Criteria

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology: Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for the financial evaluation.

Criteria Weight Technical: 70% (70 points)

• Education:  10%
• Experience:  50%
• Language requirements: 10%

Financial: Lowest Financial Proposal: 30% (30 points)

The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula:

• Contract will be awarded to the technically qualified consultant who obtains the highest combined score (financial and technical);
• The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula: (Lowest Bid Offered*)/ (Bid of the Consultant) x 30;

'Lowest Bid Offered' refers to the lowest price offered by Offerors scoring at least 49 points in the technical evaluation.

Application

Interested Individual Consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• A cover letter with a brief presentation of your consultancy explaining your suitability for the work and link to portfolio of work;
• UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment;
• Personal CV; and Financial proposal; Proposed inclusive daily rate.

The above-mentioned documents should be merged in a standalone file including all them, since the online application submission does only permit to upload one file per application. Incomplete submission can be a ground for disqualification.