| Overview : As the development network of the United Nations, UNDP supports African countries in developing national and local capacities to advance human development and accelerate progress toward the achievement of SDGs and the Africa Development Agenda 2063. It is our aim to help the region to achieve rapid inclusive growth by encouraging a strong private sector, social protection for the most vulnerable and employment opportunities, especially for the young. In addition, UNDP promotes agricultural transformation to bolster food security and incomes across the region. It also helps to empower women so they can participate in all spheres of activities, from the economic to the political. Secondly, UNDP aims to strengthen the resilience of African societies by working to prevent conflict, build peace and pave the way for long-term recovery, ensuring development progress is preserved and built upon. The organization also helps to minimize the impact of natural and climate-related disasters, collaborating with countries to prevent losses and help them to recover wherever these events occur. In doing so, Gender equality and women’s empowerment is regarded as one of the core strategies for achieving Africa’s development. UNDP, Regional Service Centre for Africa, is supporting African member states, the African Union and to adopt and implement gender equality and women’s empowerment policy reforms and initiatives. Underpinning this approach is the need for a transformative and sustainable strategies for gender equality. Indeed, a policy and programming focus on harnessing the potential of women is an important economic and social driver for more inclusive and sustainable development. It is UNDPs view that, policies and programmes that unintentionally leave out or disenfranchise women will never be successful over the long term. Nor can inclusive growth be achieved if women’s empowerment is compartmentalized, or seen as a separate activity from what are traditionally perceived as the core functions of government. Despite widespread recognition of women’s rights and the benefits that accrue to all of society from equitable treatment and access to resources and opportunities for women and men, inequalities persist. At the regional and national levels, there is growing recognition that as African women attain higher measures of economic and social well-being, benefits accrue to all of society; despite this growing understanding, removing inequalities for women has not kept pace. Significant gaps between men’s and women’s opportunities remain a major challenge and a severe impediment to structural economic and social transformation that is still the goal of all African countries. The UNDP, 2016 African Human Development Report, however, shows that human development in Africa is rising and countries with a low human development index are catching up. Yet it is also noted that, gender inequality persists and slows down the pace of development on the continent. The report estimates that gender gaps in the labor market account for economic losses of USD 95 billion per year or higher; equaling approximately 6 per cent of GDP. For Africa to deliver sustainable development outcomes for all and faster, the report recommends more concerted attention to gender equality and a clear focus in policy and programming on harnessing the full potential of women. As African countries are beginning to ‘domesticate’ the global 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the continental Agenda 2063, the African Human Development Report provides a powerful opportunity to help African countries shape their plans and policies towards gender equality in order to fully realize the ambitions articulated in the global and continental agendas. To date, UNDP stands committed towards contributing and supporting interventions aimed at Accelerating Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Africa. Indeed, giving more concerted attention to gender equality will be an important and is a long overdue stimulus to faster and more inclusive human development and economic growth for the entire continent. Similarly, addressing gender equality in a holistic way dovetails with, and reinforces, the ambitious agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which African governments and the international community as a whole have set for the coming 15 years. A holistic approach to gender equality will also bolster the achievement of Agenda 2063 of the African Union. With continued commitment on gender equality and women’s empowerment, UNDP has successfully been undertaking a number of programmes aimed at supporting both the African Union and African member states address gender inequality and women’s empowerment as well as worked strategically with civil society organizations and the UN agencies initiating transformative programme interventions. The Regional Programme for Africa and two other specific projects on Gender and Women’s Empowerment are a good example of some of the existing initiatives, with a focus on; i) the Fostering Inclusive Participation and the Effective Contribution of Women in Economic and Political Empowerment and ii) Building an enabling environment for women´s economic empowerment and political participation in Africa. In order to ensure continued support to our initiatives, UNDP’s Regional Service Centre for Africa (RSCA) invites candidates to send their applications for inclusion in a Vetted Roster external experts. The process of including candidates in the Expert Roster are described in the later sections of this advertisement. To be considered for inclusion in the roster, applicants would need to have expertise in one or more of the following areas: - Women in Peace, Security and Governance;
- Gender analysis in the area of Environmental and climate change policy and programmes;
- Gender and Economic policy, modeling and statistics;
- Gender and the Private sector Management;
- Gender analysis Social policy development;
- Gender migration and violent extremism;
- Gender equality advocacy tools development;
- Gender equality and/or gender mainstreaming policy and strategy formulation;
- Client-facing policy advisory services and policy advocacy related to gender equality and women’s empowerment;
- Design and facilitation of capacity development initiatives for gender mainstreaming;
- Design and development of materials for communicating gender equality results;
- Formulation of a project document with an objective of advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment;
- Management of a development project with an objective of advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment;
- Gender evaluation and review of development projects
Interested candidates are advised to carefully review this advertisement, the procurement notice and ToR attached here and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications required. For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1- Terms of Reference: Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications: Applications should include: - A cover letter, clearly identifying the “Areas of Expertise” as mentioned in the background section above;
- Updated P11 andPersonal CV , indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
- Daily Professional Fee.
For any clarifications please write to:- rsca.icroster@undp.org |
