National Consultant - Deepening Democracy at UN Women

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the assignment: Under the overall guidance and direction of the Democratic Governance Team Leader, the consultant will exercise overall responsibility for planning, implementing, and managing UN Women interventions under the Deepening Democracy portfolio. She/he works in close collaboration with the UN Women programme and operations team, Government institutions, and civil society to ensure successful programme implementation.

Scope of Work:

•  Effective and efficient implementation of the democratic governance activities under the Deepening Democracy project by supporting overall project management, including monitoring and reporting;
•  Establish and maintain strategic communication and partnerships for successful project implementation;
•  Monitor implementation of the Deepening Democracy workplan vis a vis implementing partner workplans as per the set milestones;
•  Act as the liaison between UN Women and other actors implementing the Deepening Democracy programme;
•  Submission of quality progress narrative and financial reports, donor reports as well as other relevant reports;
•  Develop background documents, briefs, and presentations related to the thematic areas under her/his responsibilities
•  Coordinate advocacy campaigns, events, training, workshops, and knowledge products
•  Work with UN Women’s Communication staff to ensure results, success stories, and best practices from the Programme are captured and widely shared.
•  End of Consultancy report highlighting achievements, results and documenting lessons.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Team Leader-Democratic Governance, the consultant will be responsible for the following functions: Manage the implementation of the democratic governance activities under the deepening Democracy project:

•  Manage the technical implementation of the project; ensure synergies with other teams;
•  Oversee and review the budget and proposed activities as needed ensuring consistency with the objectives of the programme and in compliance with agreed timelines;
•  Review, coordinate and monitor the submission of implementing partner financial and narrative reports;
•  Liaise with program associates to develop procurement plans and oversee procurement processes in accordance with corporate rules and regulations;
•  Liaise with monitoring and evaluation team in providing guidance to partners on Results-Based Management tools and performance indicators;
•  Support the coordination and organization of technical review committees, capacity assessment of partners, project review and/or evaluation meetings, as needed;
•  Facilitate/participate/represent the Democratic Governance Team Leader in the different strategic meetings and provide briefs.

Support to manage technical assistance and capacity development to project/programme partners

•  Provide technical and policy support to country office in developing and strengthening projects/ programmes on gender and governance.
•  Contribute to the development and implementation of technical tools, and initiatives that contribute to the realization of the project Work Plans;
•  Build and manage relationships with national partners to support the implementation of the programme;
•  Provide strategic direction and technical advice on any potential emerging needs;
•  Identify capacity building needs of partners and lead the coordination of technical assistance, mentoring, training, and capacity development initiatives to partners.

Manage the monitoring and reporting of the programme/ project.

•  Manage the monitoring of programme/ project implementation and finances using results-based management tools, working closely with M&E colleagues;
•  Conduct field missions, spot checks and review reports on monitoring missions to ensure recommendations and feedback are fully implemented;
•  Substantively contribute to the drafting of internal and external reports that are results-based and of high quality;
•  Draft inputs to country strategy documents, briefs, policy dialogue and other documents related to the programme.

Contribute to inter-agency coordination on governance to achieve coherence and alignment of UN Women programmes with other partners in Kenya.

• Provide technical support to the Programme Team Leader on inter-agency coordination related activities by attending meetings, and events, and participating in groups and committees as needed.
• Coordinate with other UN agencies, government departments, donors, and NGOs to ensure the projects’ capacity development programme is harmonized and aligned with other in-country efforts.
• Advocate for the engagement and participation of women’s organizations and civil society networks in gender and governance coordination mechanisms.

Manage advocacy, knowledge building and communication efforts.

•  Develop and review background documents, briefs and presentations related to the programme;
•  In the absence of the DG Programme Team Leader, represent UN Women in meetings and policy dialogues on issues related to the programme as necessary;
•  Identify best practices and lessons learned to guide Programme improvement and strategic planning;
•  Contribute to developing knowledge management strategies, products and methodologies on gender and governance.

Deliverables

Milestone/Tasks/deliverables

•  Coordinate implementation of the Deepening Democracy Programme and provide monthly updates
•  Closely monitor partners’ implementation of workplans
•  Provide technical support in planning of workshops/training/meetings
•  Supervise the development of the Political Economy Analysis (PEA)
•  Coordinate preparation of Deepening Democracy delivery updates
•  Represent UN Women in various technical meetings