Consultant – Monitoring and Evaluation Officer – Women Empowerment in STEM (We STEM) (Local Post for Indian Nationals and Applicants with a Valid Work Permit)

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’s Country Office, based in New Delhi, India, works to accelerate the advancement of gender equality and the empowerment of women through the strengthening of strategic partnerships, technical and policy advisory services and advocacy with governmental, inter-governmental and civil society partners. In addition, UN Women CO is charged with leading and coordinating the UN system’s work on gender equality, including through ensuring accountability for results.

Aligned with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UN Women is currently implementing a programme called Women Empowerment in STEM (WeSTEM) to motivate and support young women to pursue education and careers in STEM. The programme is aimed at empowerment of the most marginalized women and girls from the tribal areas of Madhya Pradesh, already enrolled in STEM courses in higher/technical/vocational education.

The programme is being implemented with Higher Education Institutes (HEI), Vocational Education Institutes and Technical Education Institutes in three districts of Madhya Pradesh to upskill young women and enable them to participate in the economy gainfully, or make informed choices to take up higher education in STEM.   

The programme undertakes a holistic approach to empowerment offering pathways and support to access higher education, internships, apprenticeships, and employment opportunities for women. The programme offers a comprehensive solution by adopting a holistic approach, leveraging partnerships at all levels, using innovative pedagogies and finance to achieve its objective.

In this context, the Consultant – Monitoring and Evaluation Officer  will work under the guidance and direct supervision of the Programme Analyst and overall supervision of Country Programme Manager (WEE), to support in the management of programme activities and coordinate with relevant team members, including the operations team, implementing partner organisations and government officials, to ensure successful implementation of Programmes.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Develop monitoring and evaluation framework for the project;
• Regularly monitor the progress of the programme against the indicators and inform the programme team;
• Support development of baseline and assessment surverys and aspirational mapping of students and other related documents;
• Provide support in routine delivery and reporting of programme supported activities;
• Develop monthly progress reports and quarterly progress reports on the project;
• Support development of material for the comms team on the progress of the project;
• Develop case studies from within the project to showcase on various media;
• Develop impact study on the project together with the Comms team;
• Provide the end evaluation of the project;
• Identify sources and gather and compile data and information for the preparation of documents and guidelines;
• Develop research papers on the the STEM programme;
• Develop the framework for a study on the stutus of Women in STEM;
• Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant  will work closely with the existing M&E team within the organisation to build capacity for robust M&E systems and reporting;
• To coordinate with M&E team of implementing partner & government department and contribute towards strengthening their capacities;
• Review all country office evaluations that have been done over the period of the last Strategic Note to gain an understanding of strengths and weaknesses of the portfolio;
• Engage with Programme Leads to gain a deeper understanding of their respective thematic areas, objectives, and outcomes;
• Review the existing monitoring and reporting process that is underway;
• Quality assurance of program documents through a review of results frameworks;
• Develop monitoring indicators, calendars, and field monitoring plans;
• Identify M&E needs and opportunities within each thematic area to inform framework and tool development;
• Based on this review, develop a capacity development plan and run this process for staff and implementing partners, so they can effectively feed into an M&E Framework;
• Assess the M&E capacity of program teams, identifying existing gaps and areas for improvement;
• Develop capacity development tools and materials, in relation to STEM;
• Implement systems to ensure data accuracy, consistency, and integrity;
• Develop visually compelling reports and knowledge products that communicate findings effectively to stakeholders.

Deliverables:

• Monitoring and reporting formats for the project developed and approved – March 2024
• Monthly progress reports developed and submitted capturing quantitative and qualitative progress of the program to the Government as well as UN Women in consultation with UN Women M&E expert – First week of every calendar month.
• Timely and quality technical support to the programme team and partners for preparation of background papers, programme briefs, speaking notes, customized research papers, etc. in line with work plan – Ongoing
• Quality tracking/monitoring review system developed and timely submission and review of progress of the project outputs/deliverables – March 2024
• Timely submission of quality and accurate reports including base and end evaluation reports – March 2024 and September 2024
• At least 2 evidence-based knowledge products developed to further advocacy and support to evaluation process – 1st of Each Quarter
• At least 3 number of Case studies and other knowledge documents amplifying the learnings from the project developed and distributed – 1st of Each Quarter

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

Functional Competencies

• Good programme management, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Ability to create, edit and present information in clear and presentable formats;
• Ability to manage data, documents, correspondence and reports information and workflow;
• Good knowledge of technical area
• Ability to identify and analyze trends and opportunities.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Minimum Masters degree in a relevant field such as International Development/ Social Sciences/Development Studies/Statistics or related discipline; 5 years of exprience would be considered in lieu of Master’s degree.
• PhD Degree will be an asset.

Experience:

• At least 3 years of experience in Programme based monitoring and evaluation, data analysis, capacity building, statistical tools.
• Experience of working in the UN System is an asset.
• Experience in the thematic area of women’s economic empowerment will be an advantage.
• Knowledge of  STEM subjects  will be desirable.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and Hindi is required;
• Knowledge of the other UN official working language is an asset.

Interested applicants should apply to this announcement through UNDP jobs site: jobs.undp.org.

Application:

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

• All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded .
• Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment, please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.
• Applications received after the close date will not be accepted.
• Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.                                                        

Evaluation and Selection Criteria:

Criteria for shortlisting of CVs will be based on the following assessment:

• Required Degree and Qualification (5 points).
• Minimum Experience relevant to the assignment (10 points)
• Working knowledge and experience of working with Community/Programme Partner/ State Government  (5 points).

The evaluation process for selection of the candidate will be based on the following assessment:

• Interview
• Writing Samples

Please Note:

• Consultants are required to submit doctor’s certificate to state fitness to work and travel for this assignment.
• Due to large number of potential applicants, only competitively selected candidates will be contacted for remaining steps of the service procurement process.
• The consultant is expected to use their own computer equipment. The office will not provide any computer equipment for this assignment.
• This is a full-time assignment. The consultant is expected to disclose any outside activity and shall not be permitted to take up any outside work during the course of this assignment.

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.