Thailand: Consultancy: Gender Benchmark Review

UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office is seeking an individual consultant to conduct a benchmark review and assess regional progress of the implementation of the Gender Action Plan (GAP) 2014-2017.

Purpose of Assignment:

UNICEF’s Gender Action Plan (GAP) 2014-2017 was approved in April 2014 and specifies how UNICEF will promote gender equality across all of its work at the global, regional and country levels, in alignment with the UNICEF Strategic Plan 2014-2017. The GAP results framework includes 42 indicators tracking progress on program priorities and gender mainstreaming within UNICEF outcome areas (Health; HIV and AIDS; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene; Nutrition; Education; Child Protection; Social Inclusion) and benchmarks related institutional effectiveness in achieving results on gender equality.

The consultant will assess country offices progress and consolidate regional progress against GAP benchmarks. The purpose of the progress review is to support planning for accelerated GAP implementation and achieving results prioritized in the GAP. The assessment will take stock of progress against agreed benchmarks, including analysis of (a) Programme expenditures on gender results; (b) Gender staffing and capacity; (c) Gender performance of country programme management plans; (d) Gender performance on evaluations; and (e) Knowledge management to promote gender quality.

The tasks involve data analysis, and document review and analysis, to assess progress and to develop recommendations in support of regional and country specific action planning. Regional support will be provided for quality assurance, technical assistance and oversight.

The findings of the EAPRO regional progress review will be included in the reporting to the Regional Management Team and the GAP Steering Committee. Review of regional progress along with analysis of country office annual reports and monitoring data, collected on institution wide performance, informs the annual report on implementation of the GAP, which is presented to the Executive Board as its annual session.

Work Assignment:
Under the supervision of the UNICEF EAPRO Regional Gender Advisor, the consultant will develop a report on regional progress of GAP implementation including a compendium of specific data for 14 country offices and recommendations in support of regional and country specific action planning.

Activities and Tasks:

1. Data analysis of country level and regional GAP implementation progress: The consultant will analyse available data on GAP implementation for both gender targeted priorities and sectoral mainstreaming, and institutional effectiveness. Specifically the consultant will:
   a. Assist with analysing Country Office Annual Reports (COARs) and KPIs / Benchmarks on Gender Equality, to determine scope and focus of country level approaches to working on gender equitable results;
   b. Analyse reports from the Results Assessment Module (RAM) (using the gender Equality Marker (GEM) and coding from the Programme Information database System (PIDB ) and other available data to estimate gender related expenditure at country level and aggregate at regional level;
   c. Review country programme management plans and other relevant documents to assess plans and progress on GAP implementation, including related to gender staffing and capacity;
   d. Consolidate data into a dashboard (building on GAP dashboards from other regions, e.g. ESARO) and develop a data compendium format (building on compendium of annual report to Executive Board).
2. Desk review of country programme documents: The consultant will complement the data analysis with an assessment of the extent to which priority gender results are integrated in current and planned country programmes for the 14 country offices in the EAP region. This will include a rapid review of relevant country documents, including: Situation Analysis, Country Programme Document, Country Programme Action Plan, Country Programme Management Plan, Country Office Annual Reports, Programme Component Strategy Notes as well as major evaluations, gender audit reports, and mid-term reviews.
3. Regional GAP implementation progress report: The consultant will develop a report (PowerPoint presentation) of key findings and recommendations for regional GAP progress reporting and implementation purposes.

Country specific data compendia: The consultant will compile compendia with relevant country-level data illustrating progress (including charts and info graphs), summary of key findings, and recommendations for country-level GAP implementation.

Work Schedule:

The consultancy aims to ensure that progress against GAP benchmark for each EAP country and for the region are established as indicated in the GAP guidance by HQ.

The timeline aims for finalising the report on GAP implementation in the EAP region in time for the Regional Management Team meeting in March 2016. The report will be presented by the Regional Gender Advisor to the Regional Office and to RMT for discussion and endorsement.

Deliverables: Regional report (final draft) on GAP implementation

Duration (Estimated # of days or months): 20 days

Timeline/Deadline: 18 February 2016

Deliverables: Country specific data compendia of country-level GAP implementation (all 14 COs)

Duration (Estimated # of days or months): 20 days

Timeline/Deadline: 18 March 2016

End Product(s):
Regional report: A final draft of the regional report, in form of a PowerPoint presentation, to include findings from the data analysis and desk review, aggregated at regional level.
Country specific data compendia: The country specific dossiers will include and illustrate findings from the RAM data and country programme documents.

Estimated Duration of Contract: 40 working days over the period of 18 January – 18 March 2016

Official Travel: The consultant will be Bangkok-based with meetings at the UNICEF Regional Office

Qualifications or Specialized Knowledge/Experience Required:

• Advanced university degree, preferably in the Social Sciences, Public Health, Gender Studies, or other relevant field;
• At least four years of professional work experience at international levels in development programming including background/familiarity with gender programming and mainstreaming gender equality, with experience working in the Asia-Pacific region an advantage;
• Technical expertise in document review, data analysis, development of info graphics, and report writing;
• Familiarity with the UN system and UNICEF planning processes is an asset;
• Fluency in English.

Interested candidates are requested to submit CV or P11, full contact information of minimum 2 references, availability, proposed daily professional fee and all-inclusive travel cost to/from Bangkok in USD by 7 January 2016 to hrbangkok@unicef.org Please note the air tickets under UNICEF contract shall be re-routable, refundable type (economy class and most direct route). The consultant will be responsible for own travel insurance, visa fee and terminal expenses.
----------------- Only short listed candidates will be notified. -----------------