International Consultant on Gender Data and Research

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. The UN Women Regional Office for West and Central Africa (WCARO), located in Dakar, Senegal, provides support and oversight to 10 country offices in Senegal, Mali, Niger, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Central Africa, Nigeria, Liberia, and Sierra Leone,  provides technical assistance to Tchad, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Gabon, and Ghana and ad hoc support on gender issues in the other countries of the region (a total of 24), as a non-resident agency.  

Since 2022, UN Women WCARO has been implementing a regional component of the Flagship Programme Initiative Making Every Woman and Girl Count: Supporting the monitoring and implementation of the SDGs through better production and use of gender statistics (Women Count), developed by UN Women Headquarters (HQ). The Women Count programme aims to affect a radical shift in the production, availability, accessibility and use of quality data and statistics on key aspects of gender equality and women’s empowerment. UN Women country offices of Senegal, Cameroon, DRC, Nigeria and Niger are currently participating TO this program.

In 2023, the Global Women Count Program has produced “Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The gender snapshot 2023”. It is the latest edition in the annual series produced by UN Women and UNDESA. The report presents the latest evidence on gender equality across all 17 Goals, including prevailing trends and gaps on the road to 2030. Recent setbacks, particularly among women and girls living in fragile or conflict-affected countries, and growing vulnerability brought on by human-induced climate change, are worsening the outlook of making gender equality a reality by 2030.

As one of the key activities of the Regional Women Count project, UN Women WCARO aims to produce ‘’Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals in West and Central Africa: The Gender Snapshot’’. This document will present the same latest evidence on all the 54 SDG specific gender equality indicators across all 17 Goals, calling out the long road ahead to achieve gender equality in the context of this region. It will emphasize the interlinkages among the goals, the pivotal force gender equality plays in driving progress across the SDGs, and women and girls’ central role in leading the way forward in the local context. Moreover, the production of this report goes beyond data collection alone. It should be situated as a document to encourage relevant stakeholders in the region such as National Statistical Offices, Women’s Machineries, and policy makers, to utilize gender data for their decision-making to advance their progress to achieve SDGs.

By the production and dissemination of this report, UN Women regional office aims to foster a culture of data-driven decision-making that empowers policymakers and advocates to design more targeted and impactful interventions, ultimately contributing to the advancement of gender equality and women’s empowerment at country and regional levels.

Objective of the Assignment:

Under the direct supervision of the Regional Gender Statistics Specialist  at UN Women WCARO and  with the support of the Global Women Count team at UN Women HQ, an international consultant will be in charge of producing the “Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals for the 24 countries of the West and Central Africa region: The Gender Snapshot” for the purpose of assessing the progress made so far to achieve SDGs and remaining gaps from the gender perspective in the region.

Duties and Responsibilities

Within the assignment, the International Consultant will be responsible for the implementation of the following tasks:

Assess the progress made to achieve SDGs in the region so far and identify the remaining gaps from the gender perspective by:

• Assess the availability of the data on gender related SDG indicators.
• Conduct desktop research on the achievement status for gender-related SDGs indicators in the West and Central Africa states (24 countries)
• Collect the national available data on the gender-related SDGs indicators using the most recent country data for the 24 countries.
• Produce a regional aggregate for each gender related SDG indicators.

Develop the  “Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals in the West and Central Africa region: The Gender Snapshot” by :

• Compiling the research results made through desktop research, data analysis, data aggregation and interviews in a report format
• Make the required changes and amendments based on WCARO and Women Count global team review of the draft report.
• Providing support for visualization of data, final edit, and lay-out of the printable version of the report in collaboration with the WCARO Communication Team.

Deliverables	Timelines (70 working days stretched through 6 months)
Task 1: Inception Report: Define the work plan, detailed methodology, and structure of the report as well as the specific deliverables.	5 days
Task 2: Conduct desktop research, data analysis for each gender related SDG indicator at country level, indicator aggregation at regional level Task 3: Consultation with relevant stakeholders (national and/or UN agencies) to assess the progress made to achieve SDGs in the region so far and remaining gaps from the gender perspective on country level	40 days
Task 4:  Draft Final Report: “Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals in the West and central Africa region: The Gender Snapshot” which expected to include: Current status: A snapshot on the overall progress on the gender related indicators and where the countries/region stands regarding the data availability. Challenges and issues:  to identify the main obstacles and concerns to be taken into account that may block the progress of data for the generation of gender-related SDGs according to the context and all related issues Develop a PPT showing main results to be shared during various sessions of presentations of the final report	20 days
Task 5: Final Report: “Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals in the West and Central Africa Region : The Gender Snapshot” that incorporate inputs/feedback from UN Women teams.	5 Days

Competencies

Core Values

• Respect for Diversity;
• Integrity;
• Professionalism.

Core Competencies

• Demonstrate and integrity and fairness by modeling UN values and ethical standards.
• Strong knowledge of international standards and recommendations on gender-related SDGs data collection and analysis.
• Strong written skills
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Competencies in coordination, planning and teamwork.
• A commitment to quality product and deadlines

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

Functional Competencies

• Excellent strategic planning, goal-setting and prioritization skills;
• Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision;
• Proven analytical and problem-solving skills;
• Strong data analysis and visualization skills including advanced skills in the use IT tools
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Strong writing and communication skills

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced (Master’s) degree or equivalent in Statistics, Demography, Econometrics, gender studies, social science or another related field.

Experience:

• Minimum 10 years of experience in designing and executing gender data research projects, preferably related to SDGs.
• Demonstrated leadership in (co)leading at least 2 regional-level gender data research initiatives and documenting them for potential replication.
• Proven track record of producing high-quality research publications, preferably in the area of gender data.
• Previous working experience with UN agencies is an asset.
• Knowledge of West and Central Africa region and it statistical challenges is a strong asset.

Languages:

• Fluency in English and French is required

Application

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from: . Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Note

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

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.