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.

Placing women's rights at the center of all its efforts, the UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women is seeking for a local consultant to lead the baseline survey for “Empowering Communities Through Gender-Responsive Local Governance: Building Institutional Capacity for Inclusive Service Delivery”. 3-year project funded by the Embassy of Iceland from 1st December 2025 to 31^st December 2028. The project is being implemented across 6 districts with a budget value $1.8M. The project’s overarching objective is to ensure all Women, youth and girls, particularly vulnerable and marginalized groups, enjoy equal access to quality services, resources, and opportunities within their local communities, enabling them to fully participate in and benefit from social and economic life in the targeted districts.

The consultant will be reporting to the Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Officer (Evaluation Manager) and Programme Specialist (Gender Mainstreaming) and management of contract management and validating of all deliverables and payment.

Description of Responsibilities /Scope of Work

The scope is to led the conduct of baseline survey for Empowering Communities Through Gender-Responsive Local Governance: Building Institutional Capacity for Inclusive Service Delivery project. 

1. Inception report: This will comprise of Baseline objectives and scope, description of Baseline methodology/methodological approach, Survey instruments (questionnaires, field manual), data analysis methods, key informants/respondents, evaluations questions, performance criteria, issues to be studied, work plan and reporting requirements, Field plan and Training manual / PowerPoint presentation
2. Inception Meetings: The consultant will host in-person (preferably) meeting to discuss and finalize the inception report and seek the by-in of the project stakeholders
3. Field data collection: train and deploy enumerators to collect data using the finalized tools. National consultant will ensure data quality assurances during this process
4. Cleaned and validated datasets (Primary data) with Summary of desk review: This comprises of clean databases for each segment of the data collection approach (quantitative and qualitative).
5. Draft Baseline Report: highlighting key Baseline findings and conclusions, lessons learned and recommendations (shall be done in a specific format). The draft report will be discussed with the national partners to ensure participation and involvement of the national stakeholders during validation sessions.
6. Final Baseline Report including executive summary, 2 stories expected to be submitted to the UN Women CO Monitoring and Evaluation Unit incorporating all comments and feedback collected from all partners involved.
7. Knowledge Transition Materials: including PPT, Infographics and factsheets, would be made to facilitate exchanges and comprehension around the results for all implementing partners and stakeholders.
8. Presentation of Results with the project team/stakeholders: At least 2 knowledge sharing sessions to disseminate the results with the stakeholders (including donors, partners, CSO coalition members, NGOs/INGO on peace building, UN agencies etc.)

Deliverables:

It is expected that the consultants will deliver on the below deliverables

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy. However, the consultant is expected to travel across the project locations (Bonthe, Kambia, Moyamba, Port Loko, Western Area Rural) to interact with the target respondents as per the project scope. The National Consultant will collaborate with the project stakeholders including CSOs, Ministry personnel (MOGCA), UN Women personnel, RPs, CSOs etc. for the delivery of the task.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

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

Functional Competencies:

• Strong knowledge of gender equality and women's rights issues, political science, law, and development.
• Demonstrated ability to interact effectively with government representatives of Member States as well as CSO representative.
• Proven networking skills, and ability.
• Strong writing and communication skills.
• Knowledge and understanding of UN system and familiarity with inter-governmental processes.
• Strong IT skills, including databases, extranet and office software packages.
• Strong analytical and interpersonal ski

Required Qualifications

Education and Certification:

The team leader will be responsible for delivering the key deliverables. She/he will coordinate the work of the team during all the phases of the baseline process, ensuring the quality of output and methodology as well as timely delivery of all products. In close collaboration with the Regional Office Baseline Specialist, she/he will lead the conceptualization and design, the coordination and conduct of the field visits and the analysis of the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the final report. 

• At least a master’s degree in economics, sociology, international development, gender/women studies or related areas. Special training in Monitoring and Results Based-Management is considered an asset.
• At least 10 -15 years’ practical experience in conducting baselines, evaluations of international policies and programs utilizing a wide range of approaches and methods including utilization focused, gender and human rights responsive, and mixed methods with a background in social research. 
• Extensive experience acting as team leader for complex evaluations and proven ability to manage a diverse Baseline team. 
• Previous experience in conducting baselines and evaluations on gender and women’s empowerment or related themes would be considered an asset. 
• Excellent knowledge of the UN system, especially UN Women programming at the country level, in development and conflict/post-conflict country contexts. 
• Experience and knowledge on gender equality and women’s empowerment, EVAWG, gender analysis and the related mandates within the UN system; experience/knowledge of women’s movements 
• Experience and knowledge on human rights issues, the human rights-based approach to programming, human rights analysis and related mandates within the UN system. 
• Excellent analytical, facilitation and communications skills and ability to negotiate amongst a wide range of stakeholders. 
• Expert in data analysis/visualization using ICT based tools
• Fluent in English and knowledge of other official UN languages. 

• Experience with UN is desirable.

  Languages:

• Fluency in English is required.

  Statements :

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.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.