National Consultant for Conducting Capacity Assessment for WPHF Partners- TWO CONSULTANTS

Background

United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) strives to promote gender equality and women’s human rights, strengthen the implementation of gender-sensitive policy and legislation, and eliminate all forms of violence against women. UN Women is strategically positioned at both the national and provincial levels in moving towards the realization of gender equality and women’s empowerment. UN Women provides support to innovative initiatives that promote women’s human rights, with a special focus on their economic security, governance/ political participation, freedom from violence, as well as access to justice. Building strategic partnership with partners and enhance their capacity development is among the core organizational efficiency and effectiveness of UN Women. It supports partners to deliver and foster the achievement of key strategic note results in the different thematic areas of the agency work including women, peace, security, and humanitarian action.

Women and young women-led organizations (WLOs) have been playing crucial and pivotal roles in responding to the needs of vulnerable communities, particularly women and young women, in Sudan. The historical background of the context in Sudan has accentuated the indispensable role of WLOs in driving change among women of various intersectionalities. The political fragility, frequent conflicts, and intercommunal tensions, along with relative stability in some states, have significantly contributed to diversifying the roles that WLOs play. WLOs have steadfastly built their interventions and have invested in the triple humanitarian-peace and development nexus. During conflict, WLOs direct their efforts to provide essential humanitarian response, and during peacebuilding efforts, they are instrumental in building resilient communities and supporting early recovery processes by focusing on addressing the development needs of women and young women.

UN Women has been diligently collaborating with WLOs to enforce accountability in Women, Peace, and Humanitarian Action (WPHA) and to establish an environment conducive to transformative gender change. Despite the pivotal role of WLOs in promoting gender equality and women’s rights, they are confronted with capacity gaps that impede their capacity to deliver high-quality reports and adhere to UN Women’s financial requirements and regulations.

UN Women is seeking to recruit Two consultants to work closely with a UN Women team on a project funded by WPHF. The project’s primary objective is to bolster the institutional capacity of CSOs and WLOs and improve their programmatic intervention in WPS across 13 states of Sudan (East Darfur, Gazira, River Nile, Blue Nile, Gadarif, Kassala, Red Sea, North Darfur, South Darfur, White Nile, Northern state – Shamalia ,North Kordofan and South Kordofan). The two consultants will rigorously assess the programmatic, financial, and knowledge aspects that support the capacity of the targeted WLOs and CSOs to deliver with utmost efficiency and effectiveness. In addition, the two consultants are expected to deliver a comprehensive response/intervention plan incorporating clear guideline, 2 training manuals on proposal writing, project design, reporting, monitoring, and evaluation, and on transformational gender change and leadership. Additionally, the consultants are responsible of designing training materials,, tools, and indicators to measure post-implementation progress.

Under a direct supervision of the WPHF lead, the 2 consultants are required to work closely with the  UN Women programme, operation, communication, and M&E teams to conduct a comprehensive capacity assessment and develop an intervention plan, as well as with a financial specialist to support the designing of training manual and materials and with other hired facilitators to support the capacity development of the WPHF IPs. It is imperative that the consultant utilize the organizational capacity assessment training manual (OCAT) and make necessary adaptations to align with the capacity assessment requirements.

Duties and Responsibilities

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

Overall Objective

• To promote accountability among WLOs and CSOs to deliver efficient and effective programs on WPHA and contribute to transformative gender change.

.Specific Objectives:

• Identify the key capacity gaps of the targeted WLOs and CSOs across 13 states of Sudan (East Darfur, Gazira, River Nile, Blue Nile, Gadarif, Kassala, Red Sea, North Darfur, South Darfur, White Nile, Northern state – Shamalia ,North Kordofan and South Kordofan).  in proposal writing, project design, monitoring and evaluation, report writing, communication and visibility, and resource mobilization.
• Reflect key gaps, the knowledge and practices in coordination, leadership and participation, advocacy, and transformative gender change around Women, Peace, Security, and Humanitarian Action (WPSHA). Enhance the knowledge and skills of the IPs based on the identified gaps to contribute to the achievement of the gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Geographical locations/Target WLOs: Across 13 states of Sudan (East Darfur, Gazira, River Nile, Blue Nile, Gadarif, Kassala, Red Sea, North Darfur, South Darfur, White Nile, Northern state – Shamalia ,North Kordofan and South Kordofan).

Assessment Approach, and Methodology

The 2 consultants in close supervision and collaboration with the data collectors should utilize an innovative participatory approach to conduct the assessment and develop effective interventions including training manual materials. Additionally, they should employ appropriate methodologies for designing data, creating collection tools, sampling, and conducting data analysis, considering the context of war and the challenges of accessing the conflicted affected areas.

Task, and responsibilities of the consultant

• Conduct a comprehensive review of available literature, including a thorough review of the OCAT.
• Organize a workshop with WPHA implementing partners before collecting data.
• Develop the assessment methodology, data collection tools, and data analysis in close consultation with UN Women staff. Also, provide training to the data collectors.
• Oversee the data collectors, and the data collection process.
• Develop a proper plan and interventions with key indicators to measure progress based on the identified gaps.
• Prepare the initial draft of the capacity assessment.
• Hold a validation workshop with the implementing partners to review the findings of the capacity assessment.
• Create a response plan or intervention document, including progress indicators based on the capacity assessment and workshop recommendations.
• Develop and design training manual, and materials on proposal writing, project design, reporting, monitoring, and evaluation, and on transformational gender change and leadership for capacity building sessions.
• Facilitate capacity development training and supervise the training materials delivered by the hired facilitators.

Deliverables

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

The 2 consultants will be working from Port Sudan. Any trips to other cities will be confirmed accordingly

Competencies

Core Values: 

• Respect for Diversity 
• Integrity 
• Professionalism 

Core Competencies: 

• Awareness and sensitivity regarding gender issues 
• Effective Communication 
• Good time management.
• 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:  

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES: 

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Strong organizational and project management skills.
• Knowledge of the socio-economic, political, and cultural situations that women led organization work within.
• Excellent in writing report skills in English and Arabic.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/women’s studies, international development, or a related field is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience at the national or international level in conducting research, mapping, assessments, and analysis national partners, preferably related to Women, Peace and Security, Women’s Political Empowerment and Leadership.
•   5 years ‘experience in  program design, Planning, and design of training manuals.
• Strong analytical skills to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making.
• Strong knowledge of WPS, particularly in knowledge production of gender responsive training materials for capacity strengthening of gender advocates.

Languages:

Fluency in English and Arabic is required.

How to Apply 

• Personal CV or P11 (P11 can be downloaded from:  )
• A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page)
• Human Resources Team may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, or other materials.