Consultancy Job Opportunity in UNDP- Uganda

Job Title: National Consultancy - Engendering the Millenium Development Goals Report, Kampala

Location : Kampala with travel to the 5 districts, UGANDA
Application Deadline : 14-Feb-11
Additional Category Democratic Governance
Type of Contract : SSA
Post Level : National Consultant
Languages Required :
English
Starting Date :
(date when the selected candidate is expected to start) 21-Feb-2011
Duration of Initial Contract : 60 days
Expected Duration of Assignment : 60 days



Closing Date: Monday, 14 February 2011


Background


The United Nations is committed to gender mainstreaming and women's empowerment, in its operations and programmatic work. Gender equality is a special area of focus in the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) because of the need to ensure that all proposed UN actions identify and address issues of gender discrimination and social inclusion. It is in this regard that a UN Joint Programme for Gender Equality was designed. This will enhance collaboration among agencies and coherence programming; reduce duplication of activities and effect cost-efficiency of transaction costs. Women's empowerment and gender equality is the third of the MDGs and is therefore also an end in itself and not only a means for achievement of the other goals. The UN and governments, including Uganda are committed to the achievement of the MDGs by 2015. The UN has consequently within its various mandates and programmes been assisting governments in working towards achievement of the MDG goals including measuring progress.

of the Consultancy:

Making the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) gender responsive demonstrates how gender equality and women's empowerment perspective will explicitly be reflected in reporting on each of the eight MDG goals. The advantage with this is that, it will provide a template of how gender disaggregated data and gender analysis of trends may be reported against each MDG goal and show gender differentials in progress and the persisting gender inequality gaps.With this kind of analysis, the state and all the planning ministries and departments will sharpen the state responses and citizen's advocacy in terms of proactive policies, development programming and resources allocation for purposes of realizing the MDGs by 2015. The argument is that formulating gender responsive development strategies is not only inclusive, but also enhances programmes that contribute to achieving all the MDGs.

According to the 2010 MDG report that analyzed Uganda's performance in the eight MDGs, it was noted that progress had been realized particularly in reducing the share of the population that lives in poverty and Uganda is on track to meet the MDG target of halving poverty by 2015. The report further revealed that there had been significant progress towards reducing the share of the population suffering from hunger and enrollment for primary education for both girls and boys. However, despite those significant achievements, the 2010 MDG report acknowledged that, progress had been too slow with respect to some MDGs. One of the key challenges had been on the completion rates of a full course of primary education for both girls and boys. The report further revealed that several of the health targets, including those related to child, martenal mortality, access to reproduction health and incidence of malaria and other diseases may not be realized. The other concern the report revealed is that, despite the improvement in the attainment of the MDGs, there was unevenness in how the benefits were being shared. One of the major reasons behind this is related to gender inequality, gender discrimination and uneven gender power relations at the household level and the society in general.

It is therefore important to engender the MDGs report process as this will provide a good understanding and analysis of the extent the country's development achievements have benefited men and women, boys and girls. The process will also facilitate an in-depth qualitative analysis of the gender disempowering mechanisms in the MDG reporting process. While an attempt has been done in the MDG 2010 report to identify the gender gaps, however it does not adequately analyze the root causes and consequently fails to address how the gender gaps need to be addressed in each of the MDGs. Such gender responsive reporting on MDGs is expected to contribute to making policy and programming gender responsive thereby optimizing an allocation of resources that is more gender sensitive.

The other added value of engendering MDG report is in its presentation of a gender analysis for each MDG. Specifically, it underlines the ways in which the subordinate position of women within the social relations of gender contributes to their vulnerability to poverty. In doing so, the report goes beyond a common definition of poverty in relation to poverty lines and economic growth to addressing it as an issue related to capabilities, opportunities, access and empowerment.

Duties and Responsibilities

Overall Objective:

Engender the overall country Millennium Development Goals Report for 2010 and 5 districts reports.

Specific Objectives:

Establish the gender gaps in the national MDG report making process in terms of the methodology and gender analysis.

Analyze the five district MDG reports of Moroto, Kumi, Arua, Rakai and Kabalore and indentify the gender gaps in terms of the methodology and gender analysis.

Recommend on how to improve the consultation, the methodology and analysis of the MDG report processes in a gender responsive manner (develop a checklist of how to engender the MDG report).

Identify the key emerging gender issues on the key sectors and package them in a popular version for dissemination and advocacy purposes.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

The consultant shall draft an inception report that will detail how the assignment shall be implemented within the set timeline;

The consultant shall identify and fix appointments with key stakeholders in this process for interviews;

The consultant shall be available and systematically report the progress of the research to the Team Leader Governance Unit through the UNDP Gender Focal point;

The consultant shall facilitate the validation workshop;

Reviews MDG reports with the view of identifying gender gaps that exist in the reports and make recommendations on how the gaps can be addressed;

Interview selected stakeholder to elicit information about the objectives of the assignment;

Expected deliverables from the consultant:

Inception report that details how the consultant will go about the assignment;

Desk review of the Uganda 2010 MDG report to identify the gender gaps;

Desk review of the 2010 District MDG reports i.e. Moroto,Kabarole,rakai,Arua and Kumi;

Desk review of relevant secondary data, reports and publications on gender issues from national and local governments, academe, research institutions, and civil society organizations, reports to CEDAW and other treaty monitoring bodies that may inform and enhance the gender analysis of the national and district-level reports;

A draft synthesized report for the national and the five district reports with identified gender gaps and how to improve the engendering process of the MDG reports;

A popular version of the emerging gender issues within the national and the 5 district reports for dissemination;

Develop a checklist or criteria on how to engender the MDG report;

A validation workshop where the report shall be presented to a team of key stakeholders both at national and district level and elicit feedback and recommendations for enhancement;

A final report incorporating the recommendations from the validation workshop.

Methodology:

Writing an inception report detailing the methodology, the time line and the general approach to the assignment;

Initial literature review on the MDGs worldwide and Uganda in particular;

Analysis of the 2010 MDG report and the five district reports from Moroto,Rakai,Kabarole,Kumi and Arua; and

Interviewing key stakeholders at the UNDP, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Uganda Bureau of Statistics, National Planning Authority and at the District level. The consultation should, as much as possible, include representatives of civil society, academia and the private sector

Timeframe:

The assignment is expected to be carried out in 60 days (including weekends). This will also involve field visits to the five districts, coming up with a popular version of the emerging gender issues and writing of the final report.

The inception workshop should be held two weeks after signing the contract

The submission of the draft report and the validation workshop should be organized a month after signing the contract.

The final draft should be submitted on 21st April, 2011.

Remuneration:

The fees shall be based on established UNDP consultancy rates taking into account experience and relevant professional competence.

Payment will be based on the following structure:

30% upon submission and approval of inception report

30% upon submission and discussion of draft report

40% upon submission of satisfactory final draft report taking into account the outcome of the validation workshop

Reporting Arrangements:

The consultants will report to the Head of Governance Unit but work closely with the UNDP Strategic Policy Unit and the Gender Focal Person and other relevant collaborating partners. They (consultants) will report to and be accountable to the UNDP Team Leader for Accountable Democratic Governance. They will work under the overall guidance and leadership of the UNDP Country Director and Resident Representative for policy guidance. They will liaise on a day to day basis with the Gender Consultant for technical and administrative support.

Competencies

Technical Competencies

Knowledge about women's social, economic and political development context in Uganda;

Excellent analytical skills;

Excellent communication and writing skills in English;

Knowledge of the Millennium Development Goal processes will be an added advantage.

Required Skills and Experience

Minimum of A Masters Degree in Gender or Women Studies;SocialSciences or Development studies

Comprehensive knowledge in poverty and gender analysis and decentralization

Minimum of 10 years working experience in the area of research on gender equality issues.

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.

To apply
https://jobs.undp.org/cj_apply.cfm?job_id=21467