Gender Experts: Technical Committee Members Roster for UN Women's Fund for Gender Equality

Background

UN Women’s Fund for Gender Equality (FGE) is opening the opportunity to prestigious gender experts to contribute to the selection process of the best proposals from women-led Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to address issues related to women’s economic and political empowerment in five different regions of the world. FGE directly funds and supports competitively selected CSOs in their programmes advancing women’s economic and political empowerment through high-impact, multi-year grants of US$ 200,000 to US$ 500,000. Members of the 2015-2016 Technical Committee (TC) will help facilitate the Fund’s independent, transparent, and accountable review of all programme proposal submissions in its 3rd global grant-making round dedicated to women-led programmes that will jumpstart progress on the post-2015 agenda and upcoming Sustainable Development Goals, particularly for gender equality and women’s empowerment. The Fund launch its 3rd global grant-making cycle in March 2015 and is currently accepting applications from regional and thematic gender experts interested in joining the 2015-2016 Technical Committee to evaluate submitted CSO proposals. The fund will be selecting 40-50 gender experts with thematic expertise in women’s economic and/or women’s political empowerment and with regional expertise in the following regions: Africa; Americas and the Caribbean; Arab States; Asia and the Pacific; Europe and Central Asia. Gender experts from Civil Society, Development Sector, academia, and Private Sector are strongly encouraged to apply.

Duties and Responsibilities

Time sensitive assignment: The selection of proposals is a very time sensitive process and will required the TC to follow very strict deadlines for each step of the process. Selected TC members will be informed of the exact timeline prior to their acceptance of the assignment. The assignment is compatible with other professional activities but does include intense periods of 2-3 weeks where an almost full-time commitment will be expected in order to meet the deadlines. Phase I: Concept Note Review – 40-50 roster members  (April-May 2015) Attend a virtual training/coordination session (2h); Review and assess up to 55 CSO programme Concept Notes (5-6 page narrative and detailed budget) through the Fund’s online grants management database; Enter (1) brief narrative assessment and (2) quantitative scoring for each assigned Concept Note in the online grants management database using the assessment criteria provided by the Fund; Advise and provide feedback to the Fund’s Secretariat on technical, regional, and/or thematic issues related to Concept Note assessment as needed. Concept Notes will be assigned to each TC member based on their regional and/or thematic expertise. Each Concept Note will be evaluated by 2 TC members simultaneously. Time engagement required for Phase I: Applicants should expect to be fully engaged in Concept Note assessment for a 2-3 week period in addition to the virtual training/coordination sessions and time for feedback and troubleshooting via email. Phase II: Semi-Finalist Review – invited roster members only (2 per region) (May-June 2015) Attend a virtual training/coordination session (2h); Re-assess the top scoring Concept Notes (up to 50) list of Semi-Finalists also taking into account the general comments provided by UN Women Country and Regional Offices on the top ranking proposals. Enter (1) a brief narrative assessment and (2) a quantitative scoring for each top scoring Concept Note in the online grants management database using the assessment criteria provided by the Fund; Produce a ranked short list of regional and/or thematic Semi-Finalist Concept Notes ranking them based on objective evaluation criteria provided by the fund; Advise and provide feedback to the Fund’s Secretariat on technical, regional, and/or thematic issues related to Concept Note assessment as needed. The Phase II TC members will be selected among the Phase I TC members. There will be a total of 10 TC members for Phase II covering the 5 regions (2 per region). UN Women Country and Regional offices will provide technical qualitative comments to inform the evaluation process of the top scoring Concept Notes based on their knowledge of the country and regional context; and UN Women’s Strategic Plans and priorities at Country and Regional levels. Phase II TC members are expected to take these comments into consideration while keeping their independent judgment when scoring the Concept Notes. Each Concept Note will be evaluated by the 2 Phase II TC members simultaneously. Time engagement required for Phase II: TC members selected for Phase II will be fully engaged in Concept Note review and ranking for a 2-3 week period in addition to the virtual training/coordination sessions and time for feedback and troubleshooting via email. Phase III: Full-fledged Proposal Review – invited roster members only (2 per region) (August-September 2015) Attend a virtual training/coordination session (2h); Review and assess up to 30 CSO full-fledged programme proposals (10 page narrative, logical framework, and detailed budget) through the Fund’s online grants management database; Enter (1) a brief narrative assessment and (2) a quantitative scoring for each top scoring Concept Note in the online grants management database using the assessment criteria provided by the Fund; Advise and provide feedback to the Fund’s Secretariat on technical, regional, and/or thematic issues related to full-fledged proposal assessment as needed. The TC members for Phase III will be the same as for Phase II unless some adjustments are deemed necessary by the Fund’s management. There will be a total of 10 TC members for Phase III covering the 5 regions (2 per region). Each full-fledged proposal will be evaluated by the 2 TC members simultaneously. Time engagement required for Phase III: TC members selected for Phase III will be fully engaged in full-fledged Proposal assessment for a 2-3 week period in addition to the virtual training/coordination sessions and time for feedback and troubleshooting via email.

Competencies

Core Values and Guiding Principles: Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modelling UN values and ethical standards; Demonstrates a commitment to UN Women’s mission and vision; Demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; Display cultural, gender, nationality, religion and age sensitivity and adaptability;  Functional Competencies: Capacity to self-organize and deliver tasks on time complying with strict deadlines; Excellent understanding of gender equality and women’s empowerment  and its policy implications; Very strong analytical skills; IT literacy and ability to operate with on-line web-based applications and tools.

Required Skills and Experience

Education: A minimum qualification of a Master degree (or equivalent work experience) in social sciences, human rights, gender/women's studies, international development or a related field is required; Experience: At least 10 years of experience in working on gender equality issues, women’s economic and/or political rights and empowerment; Have substantive expertise in issues related to women’s rights, gender inequality related to economic and political rights; Experience working with, advising or engaging with gender equality focused Civil Society Organizations and their programme work; Proven relevant working experience in a region (Africa, Americas and the Caribbean, Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia); Experience with proposal/programme assessment or evaluation processes would be an asset; Language: Proficiency in English and at least one of the following: Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian is a must (matching with the regional expertise of the candidate); Conflict of Interest: If you are currently employed by UN Women, you are not eligible to become a Technical Committee Member; If you are a current donor of the Fund for Gender Equality, you are not eligible to become a Technical Committee Member; If you are currently an employee of a government, bilateral, or multilateral agency or institution (including the United Nations system) you are eligible to apply as a pro-bono Technical Committee Member but will not qualify for an honorarium; If you have been involved in the development of a Concept Note or Proposal that is applying for a grant in the Fund’s 3rd global grant-making round, you are not eligible to become a Technical Committee Member; Failure to disclose conflicts of interest will be considered grounds for immediate termination of Technical Committee Membership. Application Procedure: Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via the UNDP website by uploading their P11 or resume in English. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted for additional information by the Fund for Gender Equality prior to their inclusion in the Technical Committee Members’ Roster; TC members will receive a deliverable based honorarium in US$ for the delivery of all duties and responsibilities mentioned under the Phase they have been assigned to. (Phase I or Phases I+II+III); Roster TC members may be solicited by the Fund for Gender Equality or UN Women for future assignments; Qualified women and members of social minorities are encouraged to apply; Due to the large number of applications we receive, we are only able to inform the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process. Please group all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

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.

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