As part of the WeEmpower India, UN Women India seeks to engage a consultant to support the inception phase of the project to firm up concrete interventions and partnerships across three result areas mentioned above and develop detailed work plans in close consultation with key partners identified during the project development. The consultant will also support the finalization of the project log frame, Performance and Monitoring Framework (PMF), risk analysis and risk register as well as inception report to be submitted to the donor.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Under the direct guidance of Country Programme Manager, WEE, the consultant will undertake following activities:

1. Develop a three-year work plan for implementation of WeEmpower India based on the strategy/outcome/objective defined in the ProDoc:

• Formulate three-year work plan/activities during the inception phase of WeEmpower India.
• Identify key strategies and potential areas/activities for interventions across three result areas based on the overall direction provided by UN Women.
• Identify key stakeholders and partners (government, private and civil society organizations) towards implementation of activities across three result areas.
• Identify existing interventions across three result areas with potential of collaboration.
• Develop sets of key questions and methodology for collecting required information during the inception phase.
• Organize consultations/workshops/meetings with key stakeholders, with logistical support from UN Women and document the outcome of the consultations (reports of consultations) to feed into the work plan, including specific areas of collaboration with relevant UN agencies.
• Any other related tasks to complete the three-year work plan.

2. Develop the Performance Monitoring Framework (PMF) in close consultation with key stakeholders:

• Based on the consultations with key targeted partners, draft the initial PMF that meets the requirements of UN Women and EU, including key milestones/baseline/targets and means of verification, collection method (with indicative timeframe/frequency) risks and assumptions and risk mitigation strategy.
• Based on the feedback from UN Women, revise the initial draft PMF as necessary.
• Any other related tasks to complete the PMF.

3. Advise on the governance mechanism, scale up and sustainability strategy for the project:

• Advise on the constitution and roles and responsibilities of project steering and/or advisory committee comprising of government, civil society and private sector.
• Guide and develop scale up and sustainability strategy/plan of the project.

Deliverables:

• Inception Report outlining timeline, methodology and approach to develop detailed work plan during the inception phase developed and approved by UN Women – 10th August 2024 – 10%.
• Draft three-year consolidated work plan for WeEmpower India including key strategies, activities, partners and modality for engagement/partnerships developed – 30th September 2024 – 40%
• Finalised three-year consolidated work plan for WeEmpower India including key strategies, activities, stakeholders/ partners as well as modality for engagement/partnerships based on inputs from UN Women and approved by UN Women. 10th October 2024
• Performance and Monitoring Framework with project risk analysis and risk register finalized with inputs from UN Women – 15th October 2024 – 10%
• Draft report outlining key results during the inception phase of project to be submitted to the EU, including three-year work plan, PMF, risk register, scale up and sustainability strategy/plan – 30th October 2024 – 20%
• Final report outlining key results during the inception phase of project to be submitted to the EU, including three-year work plan, PMF, risk register, scale up and sustainability strategy approved by UN Women/Donor – 10th November 2024 – 20%

REQUIREMENTS

Education:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Gender and Development Studies, or any Social Sciences or a related field.
• 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 7 years of progressively responsible experience in programme development and implementation including monitoring and evaluation Plan/Framework with strong technical expertise on women’s economic empowerment is required
• Sound knowledge and expertise on promoting women’s employment entrepreneurship at small and medium enterprises level focussed on women’s access to finance and markets.
• Experience of working with private sector on gender mainstreaming is desirable
• Knowledge and experience around gender disaggregated data and analysis is desirable
• Good communication skills and the ability to explain technical terms in a non-technical language
• Experience of working in the similar assignments is preferable
• Experience of working with UN agencies, international organization is desirable.

Language Requirements:

• Strong written skills in English and good command over Hindi.