National Consultant - Follow-up Assessment of Gender-Responsive Budgeting, Documentation of Budget Tagging Initiatives in Ethiopia and Gender Analysis of Ethiopia’s 2026/27 Federal Budget, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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 Government of Ethiopia has made strong commitments to advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls through its Constitution, national policy frameworks, successive development plans, public finance reforms, and international and regional commitments, including CEDAW, the Beijing Platform for Action, the Maputo Protocol, Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals. These commitments have increasingly informed efforts to integrate gender equality considerations into national planning, budgeting, public financial management, monitoring and accountability systems.

Gender-responsive budgeting is a key strategy for ensuring that public resources are planned, allocated, spent and monitored in ways that respond to the differentiated needs, priorities and constraints of women, men, girls and boys. GRB is not limited to standalone women’s programmes or separate budgets for women. Rather, it is a public finance and accountability approach that integrates gender analysis and gender equality objectives across the full budget cycle, including planning, budget formulation, approval, execution, monitoring, evaluation and audit.

In January 2025, UN Women Ethiopia supported a national assessment titled “Assessment of the Gender Responsive Planning and Gender Responsive Budgeting Performance of Selected Sectors in Ethiopia and Identifying Gender Priorities at Federal and Regional Level.” The assessment examined GRB implementation across federal ministries and selected regional governments, including Amhara, Oromia, Gambella, Sidama and Dire Dawa, and covered key sectors such as health, education, agriculture and trade. The assessment found that while Ethiopia has established important legal and institutional foundations for gender equality and GRB, implementation remains uneven, with gaps in technical capacity, practical application, accountability mechanisms, gender-disaggregated data and dedicated budget allocations. 

The assessment further highlighted the absence of gender-disaggregated public expenditure analysis and limited mechanisms for tracking whether public resources are effectively allocated to gender equality priorities. It also found that gender priorities are often included in plans but are not consistently linked to programme budgets, budget lines, expenditure reports, or measurable gender equality results. Since the completion of the assessment, Ethiopia has continued to advance work on institutionalizing Gender-Responsive Budgeting and Budget Tagging. UN Women’s recent work on expanding gender-responsive budgeting and tagging in Ethiopia reflects a shift from general GRB awareness and readiness towards more operational systems for identifying, tagging, tracking and reporting budget allocations that contribute to gender equality and women’s empowerment. 

The Joint Programme “Strengthening Institutional Capacity of Gender Machineries in Ethiopia” implemented by UN Women and UNFPA Ethiopia Country Offices with financial support from the European Union and the Spanish Agency for International Development aims to strengthen gender mainstreaming systems, institutional capacity, gender statistics, coordination, and accountability mechanisms at the Federal and Regional level. The joint programme includes strong components on strengthening the capacity of institutions on GRB and includes an outcome indicator on the “Percentage of national and regional budgets allocated to gender-specific initiatives and programmes”.

This creates an important opportunity to conduct a focused follow-up assessment that does not duplicate the earlier GRB assessment but instead builds on it. The proposed consultancy will therefore assess progress since the previous assessment, document the implementation of Gender-Responsive Budgeting and Budget Tagging initiatives, identify good practices and lessons “Percentage of national and regional budgets allocated to gender-specific initiatives and programmes” and also assess the 2026/27 Federal and Regional Budgets from a gender perspective. The assignment will be conducted within 20 working days and will rely primarily on desk review, targeted consultations, available budget and tagging data, and validation with key stakeholders.

The January 2025 GRB assessment generated important evidence on the status of gender-responsive planning and budgeting in Ethiopia. It identified strengths, gaps, institutional bottlenecks and sectoral priorities at federal and selected regional levels. However, it was primarily an institutional and process-focused assessment. It did not fully establish a quantitative baseline on the percentage of national and regional budgets allocated to gender-specific initiatives and programmes. The joint programme has been committed to undertake an assessment of GRB initiatives at federal and target regional levels, including the identification of existing initiatives, best practices that can be replicated, gaps and challenges. Given that a broader GRB assessment already exists, the planned exercise is framed as a targeted follow-up and budget tracking exercise rather than a new comprehensive GRB assessment. The follow-up assessment is necessary for following main reasons:

• Assess the progress made since the previous GRB assessment, particularly in relation to the operationalization of GRB tools, Gender Budget Statements, budget tagging approaches, accountability mechanisms and capacity-building efforts.
• Document the implementation of Gender-Responsive Budgeting and Budget Tagging initiatives, including emerging good practices, lessons learned, institutional challenges and opportunities for scaling up.
• Provide an opportunity to review the 2026/27 Federal and Regional budgets from a gender perspective and assess the extent to which the GRB processes are informing at large the national budget planning processes.
• Generate baseline data for the project indicator on the percentage of national and targeted regional budgets (Afar, Amhara, Gambella, Somali and Tigray) allocated to gender-specific initiatives and programmes. This will strengthen results-based monitoring and provide a practical basis for future reporting on gender equality financing.

The consultant will work under the overall supervision of UN Women Ethiopia National Programme Coordinator and UNFPA Programme Specialist. The assignment will be carried out in close collaboration with relevant government partners, including the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Women and Social Affairs, Ministry of Planning and Development, selected federal sector institutions and selected regional bureaus. A technical task team may be established to provide guidance, facilitate access to documents and institutions, review deliverables, validate tools and ensure quality assurance throughout the assignment. The consultant will be responsible for organizing and managing the assignment, including preparation of tools, document review, data collection, analysis, drafting and finalization of all deliverables. UN Women will support coordination with key institutions and facilitate access to relevant stakeholders where possible.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

Purpose and Objectives

Purpose

The purpose of the consultancy is to undertake a targeted follow-up assessment of Gender-Responsive Budgeting and Budget Tagging initiatives at federal and selected regional levels in Ethiopia. The assessment will build on the existing GRB assessment and recent GRBT work by reviewing progress, documenting implementation experience, identifying good practices and challenges, analyzing federal and regional budget from gender perspective, and establishing baseline data for measuring budget allocations to gender-specific initiatives and programmes.

Specific Objectives

The specific objectives of the consultancy are to:

• Assess progress made since the previous GRB assessment in strengthening gender-responsive planning, budgeting, budget tagging, accountability and monitoring systems;
• Document implementation of Gender-Responsive Budgeting and Budget Tagging initiatives at federal level;
• Review the extent to which gender-responsive budget tagging and Gender Budget Statements are being used to identify, classify, monitor and report budget allocations that contribute to gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• Map existing GRB and GRBT initiatives, including key institutions involved, type of initiative, implementation status, available budget information, results achieved, challenges and potential for replication;
• Establish baseline data for the indicator:” Percentage of national and regional budgets allocated to gender-specific initiatives and programmes” At federal and selected regions
• Analyzing the 2026/2027 Budget: Conducting gender analysis of the 2026/2027 Budget of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia;
• Identify institutional, technical, financial, data and accountability gaps affecting effective implementation of GRB and budget tagging;
• Provide practical recommendations for institutionalizing GRB and GRBT, strengthening budget tracking, improving reporting, and scaling up promising approaches.

Deliverables:

• Prepare an inception report outlining the consultant’s understanding of the assignment, methodology, workplan, stakeholder mapping, data requirements, budget tagging approach and draft tools;
• Conduct a desk review of the previous GRB assessment, GRB and GRBT documents, budget tagging materials, and Federal and Regional Budgets;
• Review relevant information on the recent Gender-Responsive Budgeting and Budget Tagging initiative in Ethiopia and identify how it can inform the assessment;
• Conduct targeted key informant interviews with selected federal and regional stakeholders, including finance, planning and gender institutions with the aim of identifying progress and challenges on budget tagging and tracking including quality issues, institutional bottlenecks and readiness at the regional level ;
• Analyze the 2026/2027 Budget of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia from a gender perspective and develop a brief;
• Estimate baseline values for the project indicator using available budget data and clearly documented assumptions;
• Identify good practices, lessons learned, bottlenecks and opportunities for scaling up GRB and budget tagging;
• Prepare a draft assessment report presenting findings, analysis, baseline values, gaps and recommendations;
• Present preliminary findings in a consultation or validation session;
• Revise and finalize the assessment report, executive summary, PowerPoint presentation, baseline dataset and budget tracking template.

Expected Outcomes

The consultancy is expected to contribute to the following outcomes:

• Updated evidence on progress in GRB and GRBT implementation since the previous assessment;
• Improved understanding of how gender-responsive budget tagging is being applied in Ethiopia;
• A consolidated mapping of GRB and GRBT initiatives at federal and selected regional levels;
• Identification of good practices, innovations and lessons that can inform scale-up;
• Baseline data for measuring the percentage of national and regional budgets allocated to gender-specific initiatives and programmes;
• Practical recommendations for institutionalizing budget tagging, improving tracking and strengthening accountability;
• Gender analysis of the 2026/2027 Budget of the Government of Ethiopia.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is an office-based consultancy. 

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 analytical and report-writing skills;
• Excellent understanding of gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• Strong quantitative and qualitative research skills;
• Ability to analyse budget and expenditure data;
• Strong facilitation and stakeholder engagement skills;
• Ability to synthesize complex institutional and financial information;
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.

Required Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Gender Studies, Economics, Public Finance, Public Policy, Development Studies, Social Sciences, Monitoring and Evaluation, or a related field is required;
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible work experience in gender equality, women’s empowerment, public finance, public policy, planning, budgeting or institutional assessment is required;
• Demonstrated experience in gender-responsive budgeting, gender-responsive planning or public financial management is required;
• Proven experience conducting assessments, evaluations, policy reviews or research studies is required;
• Experience working with government institutions at federal and/or regional level is required;
• Experience analyzing budget documents, programme budgets, expenditure reports or public finance data is required;
• Experience in developing baseline data, indicators, monitoring frameworks or tracking tools is required;
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems is required;
• Experience working with UN agencies or development partners will be considered an added advantage;
• Familiarity with Ethiopia’s public finance, planning and budgeting systems is desirable;
• Knowledge of GRB tools, Gender Budget Statements, budget tagging or gender markers is an asset.

Languages:

• Fluency in English and Amharic is required;
• Knowledge of other Ethiopian languages relevant to the target regions is an asset;
• Knowledge of any other UN official language is an asset.

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.