Knowledge and evidence systems consultant for East and Southern Africa

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.

Under its Africa Strategy and Strategic Plan, UN Women supports Member States and regional institutions to advance women’s social, economic, and political rights, and to eliminate violence against women and girls, including harmful practices. Particular attention is given to marginalized and underserved groups, including rural women, women with disabilities, women living with or affected by HIV, survivors of violence, migrant women, and older women.

UN Women’s work on gender statistics in Africa is primarily delivered through the global Making Every Woman and Girl Count (Women Count) programme. Phases I (2018–2021) and II have focused on three core pillars:

• Strengthening enabling environments for gender statistics
• Increasing the production of gender data
• Enhancing accessibility, analysis, and use of gender data

UN Women ESARO is transitioning from a traditional gender data and statistics function towards a broader Regional Gender Evidence and Learning Unit that integrates research, data, analytics, knowledge management, learning and evidence uptake into a coherent evidence ecosystem. The Unit thus seeks to strengthen the generation, management, communication and use of gender evidence to support gender-responsive policies, programmes, advocacy and accountability across the region. 

Within this framework, the Consultant for Knowledge Management and Evidence Systems will lead the management, institutionalization, accessibility and reuse of evidence and knowledge assets while establishing practical information management systems that support programme monitoring, reporting, organizational learning and decision-making. The position combines knowledge management expertise with strong information management and data management capabilities including the development and maintenance of monitoring databases, dashboards and evidence repositories using Power BI, Excel, SharePoint and related digital tools and platforms.

The consultant will report to the Regional Statistics Specialist Gender. 

Objective of the Consultancy

The consultant for Knowledge Management and Evidence Systems will lead the management, institutionalization, accessibility, and governance of gender evidence across the East and Southern Africa Region. The position is responsible for ensuring that data, research, evaluations, lessons learned, knowledge products, and learning outputs are systematically and coherently captured, curated, , analyzed, visualized, organized, stored, and shared to support evidence-informed decision-making and organizational learning. The role serves as the regional lead on knowledge management, information management, evidence systems, digital repositories, dashboards, and business intelligence solutions and ensures that evidence is relevant and remains accessible, interoperable, secure, and actionable across UN Women country offices and regional programmes. 

Responsibilities 

Knowledge Management, Organizational Learning and Evidence Governance

Lead the development and oversight of regional knowledge management systems, evidence governance frameworks, and organizational learning processes to ensure that knowledge, evidence, and institutional memory are systematically captured, curated, shared, and applied across the region.

Key responsibilities:

• Develop, strengthen, and maintain standards, methodologies, processes, and protocols for evidence and knowledge management.
• Review and oversee governance arrangements for evidence, knowledge assets, institutional memory, and information stewardship.
• Ensure the systematic capture, organization, synthesis, and reuse of knowledge generated through regional and country programmes.
• Develop and maintain taxonomies, metadata standards, classification systems, and evidence cataloguing frameworks.
• Integrate knowledge management across programme design, implementation, monitoring, reporting, evaluation, learning, and decision-making processes.
• Establish systems for capturing lessons learned, innovations, good practices, and emerging knowledge.
• Facilitate learning reviews, after-action reviews, evidence reflection exercises, and adaptive management processes.
• Coordinate evidence synthesis, lessons-learned products, knowledge briefs, and other learning outputs.
• Promote continuous learning, knowledge exchange, and communities of practice across the ESA region.
• Support implementation of UN Women corporate knowledge management strategies, policies, and standards.

Information Management, Digital Evidence Systems and Information Architecture

Lead the design, management, and continuous improvement of information management systems, digital evidence platforms, repositories, and database architecture to ensure evidence is accessible, secure, searchable, and effectively used.

Key responsibilities:

• Assess, strengthen, and optimize regional information management, document management, and content management systems.
• Design, oversee, and continuously improve regional digital knowledge platforms, evidence repositories, and information services.
• Manage systems that facilitate the discovery, access, curation, and dissemination of datasets, research reports, assessments, policy briefs, learning products, and good practices.
• Curate, connect, and integrate knowledge assets from corporate platforms (including GATE and other corporate systems) into regional evidence and knowledge ecosystems.
• Design and maintain evidence databases, data models, data dictionaries, metadata frameworks, and information architecture.
• Ensure interoperability across data, knowledge, research, programme, monitoring, evaluation, and learning systems.
• Establish procedures for version control, archiving, records management, data preservation, and institutional memory.
• Promote harmonized information management standards and practices across ESA country offices.
• Support digital transformation initiatives related to evidence management and knowledge sharing.
• Ensure compliance with UN Women information governance, records management, cybersecurity, and data protection requirements.
• Promote the adoption of modern digital collaboration and information management technologies.

Business Intelligence, Data Visualization and Evidence Analytics

Lead the development of business intelligence solutions, analytics products, dashboards, and visualization systems that transform data and evidence into actionable insights for decision-making and accountability.

Key responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain interactive dashboards, scorecards, and business intelligence solutions.
• Develop automated reporting, monitoring, and visualization products that support evidence-informed decision-making.
• Integrate multiple internal and external data sources into unified analytical and reporting platforms.
• Develop evidence tracking systems and analytical tools that improve organizational performance monitoring and learning.
• Establish quality assurance procedures for dashboards, analytical products, and reporting systems.
• Produce visual analytics, evidence summaries, and decision-support products for management and programme teams.
• Develop user-friendly interfaces and self-service analytics tools that improve access to evidence.
• Support regional and country reporting through automated analytics and visualization solutions.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen the use of data, analytics, and evidence in strategic planning, programme management, and resource mobilization.

Capacity Building, Technical Advisory Services and Innovation

Provide strategic technical leadership, capacity strengthening, and advisory support to country offices and partners to enhance knowledge management, information management, evidence systems, organizational learning, and the effective use of emerging technologies for evidence-informed programming and decision-making.

Key responsibilities

• Provide technical advice on knowledge management and information management systems to country offices.
• Build capacity of staff and implementing partners in information management, evidence systems, dashboard development, and the use of digital knowledge platforms for monitoring, reporting, learning, and decision-making.
• Develop and disseminate guidance materials, standards, tools, templates, and good practice resources.
• Support country offices in strengthening national and organizational evidence ecosystems, knowledge-sharing mechanisms, and institutional learning systems.
• Promote innovative applications of emerging digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, and knowledge platforms, to improve evidence accessibility, discoverability, and utilization.
• Foster a culture of continuous learning, digital innovation, and evidence use across the East and Southern Africa region.

Deliverables

• Regional evidence management framework strengthened, institutionalized, and operationalized.
• Functional regional evidence repository and knowledge platform established.
• Interactive dashboards and business intelligence systems developed, maintained, and regularly and effectively used.
• Improved accessibility and retrieval of evidence across regional and country offices through the development of dashboards and business intelligence systems.
• Increased use of lessons learned and knowledge products in programming and policy work for more relevant and strategic delivery.
• Strong user and stakeholder satisfaction with knowledge services and evidence systems.
• Improved organizational learning and evidence-sharing practices.
• Communities of practice established and operational.
• End of assignment report documenting achievements, lessons learned and recommendations

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:

• Database design and administration.
• Data governance and quality assurance.
• Evidence synthesis and knowledge product development.
• Data integration for Monitoring, Reporting, and Knowledge Management Systems expertise
• Capacity building and training 

Required Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• Master's degree in one of the following areas: information management; information science; information systems; data and information management; data science; library and information science; computer science; digital transformation; or related field
• A first-level university degree combined with an additional two years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.

Experience:

• At least five years of progressively responsible experience in designing and managing information systems, databases or digital repositories, knowledge management, digital knowledge systems or related areas.
• Experience in business intelligence and dashboard development including but not limited to Power BI, Tableau, SQL, KOBO toolbox and other data visualization and analysis tools.
• Experience in working and programming with R or STATA will be an advantage 
• Experience working on gender equality, international development, humanitarian settings, statistics, research or evidence programmes wil be an advantage.
• Experience within the UN system or international organizations is an advantage.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required
• Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).

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.