International Consultant to Conduct Mid-Term Review of the Project “UN Women Centre of Excellence for Gender Equality in the Republic of Korea

Background

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 UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to ensure that the standards are effectively implemented and truly benefit women and girls worldwide. It works globally to make the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals a reality for women and girls and stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on four strategic priorities:

•               Women lead, participate in and benefit equally from governance systems

•               Women have income security, decent work and economic autonomy

•               All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence

•               Women and girls contribute to and have greater influence in building sustainable peace and resilience, and benefit equally from the prevention of natural disasters and conflicts and humanitarian action

UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality, and in all deliberations and agreements linked to the 2030 Agenda. The entity works to position gender equality as fundamental to the Sustainable Development Goals, and a more inclusive world.

Description of the project

The project, “UN Women Centre of Excellence for Gender Equality in the Republic of Korea” – referred to as, “The Project”, is fully funded by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family of the Republic of Korea. Established in Seoul in 2022, the UN Women Centre of Excellence for Gender Equality (“the Centre”) works to improve the implementation of normative and policy frameworks and address discriminatory social norms and practices that perpetuate gender inequality in Asia and the Pacific. The current project duration is from December 2021 to December 2026.

The Centre is a ‘knowledge and partnership hub’ to facilitate research, education and training, sharing of innovations and lessons learned, networking, and development of multi-stakeholder partnerships. The UN Women Centre of Excellence for Gender Equality is the first of its kind in Asia and the Pacific region. Leveraging UN Women’s technical and operational capacities as well as existing networks and platforms, the Centre:

• Provides specialized training programmes to diverse stakeholders from government entities, academia, civil society organizations and the private sector
• Conducts research and promotes gender statistics; and
• Facilitates multi-stakeholder partnerships at national and regional levels.

Based in the Republic of Korea with the financial support from the Republic of Korea, the Centre is also mandated to build strategic partnerships with the Korean stakeholders and organize high-visibility events within the country which bring together Korean as well as international experts, policy makers, and private sector entities. 

As per the Project Document, the project is intended to achieve the goal, namely “a comprehensive and dynamic set of global norms, policies and standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is strengthened and implemented” (Outcome 1.1 of the Strategic note of UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific). In that regard, the Project Document mandates the Centre to focus more specifically on the following key results:

Output 1.1: Selected governments, academia, civil society and private sector actors within the Asia-Pacific region have capacity to on operationalize international normative frameworks for gender equality and the empowerment of women, including as it relates to women, peace and security, women’s economic empowerment, and humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction (Output 1.1.1 of the Strategic note of UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific).

Output 1.2: Gender data and research on drivers and impacts of gender inequalities, and responses (policies, laws, strategies, institutional measures and others) are available to inform monitoring and reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals and to inform innovative interventions towards their achievement in Asia and the Pacific (Output 1.5.2 of the Strategic note of UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific).

Output 1.3: Multi-stakeholder partnerships are promoted to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment across sectors in the Asia-Pacific region (Output 1.1.1 of the Strategic note of UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific).

Duties and Responsibilities

Purpose of the project mid-term review (MTR)

The project midterm review is formative, with UN Women and stakeholders looking to learn and integrate findings from the midterm review into project implementation. The primary users of the mid-term review are UN Women, relevant stakeholders, and the donor. Results from the mid-term review will contribute to decision-making on the intervention and make necessary adjustments. The mid-term review will additionally analyze how the Project has been implemented so far, the results achieved to date, and how likely the Project is to achieve desired results by the end of the Project. The review should also identify key learning from the findings and provide recommendations to enhance project results.

MTR should particularly consider and take into account the changing context of the Project, particularly the socio-political dimensions and the expectations of the partners and stakeholders, which affected the planning and implementation of the Centre’s activities as set out in the annual work plan (AWP) of 2023. The review should then reflect upon how the project document can be adjusted in the future to better reflect the changes of the project context and account for the project delivery.

The questions should include, but are not limited to the following:

Efficiency

• Assess the efficiency of the project, in terms of delivering its main objectives set out in the Project Document, as well as the expectations of the donor and stakeholders.
• Does the project have monitoring and reporting mechanism for assessing project delivery and results?
• In terms of delivering the overall impact, how efficient is the design of the Centre’s annual workplans, in terms of the number, scope, and categorization of activities/events?
• Are the project activities are being delivered on time? How has the Project dealt with delays, if any, in efficient ways?

Coherence

• Has the project facilitated building of synergies with the work of other UN Women entities, including UN Women Regional Office?
• To what extent has the project strengthened partnerships with the Republic of Korea, and how has the Centre delivered its mandate to effectively engage various stakeholders based in country?

Effectiveness

• What progress has been made towards the achievement of the results of the project envisioned in the Project Document?
• What results have been achieved as per the annual work plans of the Centre, in light of the socio-political context and expectations from the relevant stakeholders in the Republic of Korea?
• Does the project have effective communications channel to communicate the Centre’s activities?
• Has the project’s organizational, human resources, and operational management structure effectively supported the delivery of its activities? What can be improved to help the Centre’s delivery in the future based on experience thus far?
• What kind of adaptations (in terms of project design, modalities and resources, etc.) would be necessary to overcome such challenges in the remaining period?

Scope

The project was launched in August 2022 with a planned implementation period from October 2022 to 2026, and the mid-term review is being commissioned in the third year of implementation. The midterm review will cover the project’s inception phase and implementation period, from the October to 31 December 2023. The mid-term review should have a formative nature and is expected to provide recommendations to improve program performance during intervention implementation. 

Midterm review design and timeframe

	Phase	Time
1	Preparation Phase	Feb and March 2024
2	Inception phase	March 2024
3	Data collection phase	March and April
4	Data analyses and syntheses phase	May and June 2024
5	Validation	July and August 2024

An international consultant will be recruited to conduct the midterm review and is responsible for phases two, three, four, and five, while phase one is the responsibility of the Director of the Centre with support from the Monitoring Specialist of the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. 

The midterm review is expected to use quantitative and qualitative data collection methods and gender analytical approaches to ensure participatory and inclusive data collection processes that are culturally appropriate. 

The midterm review methodology should use the following:

• A wide range of data sources (e.g., documents, field information, institutional information systems, financial records, beneficiaries, staff, donors, experts, government officials, and community groups).
• Mixed data collection methods and analysis, and observation. The consultant will elaborate on the final rationale for the selection of the different data collection methods and their limitations.
• The consultant will develop a sampling frame and specify how they will address the diversity of stakeholders in the intervention.
• The consultant takes measures to ensure data quality, reliability, and validity of data collection tools and methods and their responsiveness to gender equality and human rights; for example, the limitations of the sample (representativeness) should be stated clearly, and the data should be triangulated (cross-checked against other sources) to help ensure robust results.

Duties and Responsibilities of the International Consultant

• To conduct inception meetings/interviews with the COE staff and elaborate and submit the detailed inception report which contains midterm objectives and scope, desk review, description of mid-term methodology /methodological approach, data collection tools, data analysis methods, key informants/agencies, work plan and reporting requirements.
• To elaborate and finalize the data collection plan and data collection tools (e.g. guides and questionnaires) individually designed for each respondent / group of respondents to be used during the interviews and focus-groups with the key informants/interviewees;
• To conduct interviews with the relevant stakeholders
• To analyze the data
• To prepare a Power Point Presentation and an outline on preliminary findings and present to the MRT and reflect the feedback shared at this presentation in the final report;
• To produce and submit the draft and final midterm review reports in English. Format of the midterm review report should follow the suggested outline noted in the TORs.

Expected key deliverables and schedule of payment

No	Key deliverables	Deadline for submission	Schedule of payment
1	Inception report of the mid-term review: The inception report will be prepared by the consultant and capture relevant information including background, and proposed methods for data collection and analysis. The inception report should also include a mid-term review matrix, guiding questions, methodology, list of stakeholders to be engaged, and proposed schedule of tasks, activities and deliverables.   The inception report should be approved by the MTR Management Group (MTR-MR). The MTR Management Group will be chaired by the UN Women MTR manager. The MTR-MG comprised the MTR manager, UN Women Monitoring Specialist based at UN Women ROAP and three specialists of the Centre: External Relations Specialist, Research and Data Specialist, and Training Gender Specialist.	Before 25 March 2024	Before 15 April March 2024 (25% of the total contract)
2	Presentation of preliminary findings to the MTR Management Group (MTR-MR)   Before this presentation, the consultant will share the initial findings and recommendations with the Centre’s team.	Before 29 May 2024	Before 10 June 2024 (25% of the total contract)
3	Submission of interim MTR review Report. The report will be structured as follows: Title Executive summary Background and purpose of the mid-term review Context / Background and project description Objectives and scope Methodology and limitations Findings: efficiency, coherence, effectiveness, and sustainability Conclusions Recommendations Lessons learned and innovations. Proposed dissemination plan Annexes:   Terms of reference List of documents reviewed and cited. Data collection instruments Lists of institutions interviewed or consulted, and sites visited (without direct reference to individuals) Tools developed and used such as the mid-term review matrix. List of findings and recommendations	20 June 2024	Before 7 July 2024 (25% of the total contract)
4	Submission of a final mid-term review Report.  Revise the draft report- in line with feedback provided by UN Women and other stakeholders.   Deliverable: Final report of no more than thirty pages. The report should be structured as follows: Table of Contents List of abbreviations and acronyms Executive summary Background and context objectives and scope Methodology and limitations Findings Efficiency Coherence Effectiveness Sustainability   Conclusions Recommendations Lessons learned and innovations. Annexes Terms of Reference Documents consulted. List of institutions interviewed, and sites visited. Mid-term review Tools (questionnaires, interview guides, etc.) Summary matrix of findings, evdence, and recommendations. Mid-term review brief. Summary of recommendations	20 August 2024	Before 22 August 2024 (25% of the total contract)

Key stakeholders and management of the mid-term review

The mid-term review manager is the Director of the Centre of Excellence for Gender Equality and will provide the final approval of the deliverables. The MTR-MG will be established to oversee the MTR process, make key decisions and quality assurance of deliverables. The MTR Management Group will be chaired by the UN Women MTR manager. The MTR-MG comprised the MTR manager, UN Women Monitoring Specialist based at UN Women ROAP and three specialists of the Centre: External Relations Specialist, Research and Data Specialist, and Gender Training Specialist.

To enhance the quality of this mid-term review, MTR-MG will provide:

1. Feedback to the MTR concept note
2. The draft inception and deliverables submitted by the mid-term review consultant
3. Oversight of the MTR methodology
4. Recommendations on how to improve the quality of deliverables
5. Substantive inputs throughout the MTR process
6. Participate in meetings as key informants.

The MTR Manager in close support from the UN Women Monitoring Specialist of UN Women ROAP: 

1. Manage the MTR
2. Request progress updates on the implementation of the MTR work plan, approve deliverables, and identify strategic opportunities for sharing and learning from this process.
3. Keep the MTR-MG group informed on the key MTR activities
4. Review draft reports to ensure that the deliverables are of quality

The staff at the Centre will support the consultant in:

1. Provide supporting documents, including but not limited to project documents, a beneficiary database.
2. Assist in setting up meetings with regional stakeholders
3. Provide clarification required by the consultant
4. Review draft reports to ensure that the deliverables are of quality.

Duration of Assignment: The tentative contractual period is from 15 February to 20 August 2024 (approximately 35 working days within this period).

Duty Station: the consultant will be home-based and to participate in virtual meetings at times. 

Competencies

In addition to aforementioned requirements and qualifications, it is important that the selected consultant shares the core values and core competencies of the organization.

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

• Excellent analytical skills
• Demonstrated ability to conceive, lead and report on independent strategic gender-responsive evaluations and reviews in a UN or similar setting
• Ability to identify good practices and areas for improvement, in particular root causes, in the areas of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability, and provide specific, feasible and helpful recommendations and solutions.
• Ability to produce timely, quality outputs
• Ability to multi-task and work independently with little supervision
• Strong interpersonal, negotiation, presentation and communication skills including ability to listen actively and responds effectively
• Strong resourcefulness, logical thinking and report writing skills
• Demonstrated ability to use Microsoft office and qualitative and quantitative data analysis software for evaluation.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:

 

 

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• At least a master’s degree in sociology, international development, gender/women studies or related areas

Experience:

• At least 7 years of experience of conducting project review and project evaluation using gender-responsive and human rights-based approaches
• Demonstrate working experience with the UN agencies in conducting project review and project evaluation on gender equality is strongly preferred.
• Experience in conducting project review or evaluative systematizing and analyzing the qualitative and quantitative data
• Previous working experience with the stakeholders in the Republic of Korea will be an advantage

Language requirements:

• Excellent writing skills in English

Evaluation

No	Application Evaluation Criteria	Maximum score
1	Education: At least a master’s degree in sociology, international development, gender/women studies or related areas	15
	Experience:
2	At least 7 years of experience of conducting project review and project evaluation using gender-responsive and human rights-based approaches	25
3	Demonstrate working experience with the UN agencies in conducting project review and project evaluation on gender equality is strongly preferred.	20
4	Experience in conducting project review or evaluative systematizing and analysing the qualitative and quantitative data	15
5	Previous working experience with the stakeholders in the Republic of Korea will be an advantage	10
6	Excellent writing skills in English	15

 

Application Procedure and Deadline

Candidates are requested to send the following documents in one application:

1. Personal History Form (P11). The P11 Form can be downloaded from the following website:
2. Application letter explaining your interest in the consultancy and why you are the most suited candidate for this position.
3. A report related to project (mid-term) evaluation or project review report to prove the analytical skill in the application. This must be a sample where the applicant was directly responsible for writing and demonstrating gender analytical skills.

The Statement of 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.) 

NOTE: Documents required before contract signing:

• UN Personal History Form
• Full medical examination and Statement of Fitness to work and travel for consultants with travel involved. (This is not a requirement for RLA contracts).
• Completed UNDSS BSAFE online training course.

EN:

• Individual subscribers over 65 years of age are required to undergo a full medical examination including x-rays at their own cost and obtaining medical clearance from the UN Medical Doctor prior to taking up their assignment.
• Release letter in case the selected consultant is government official.