UN Women National Consultant - To Support Country Programme Evaluation - Home-based, India

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.

UN Women, through its Strategic Plan 2022-2025, identified four impact areas through which the organization strives to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment: 

• Governance and Participation in public life
• Women Peace and Security, Humanitarian Action, and Disaster Risk Reduction
• Ending Violence Against Women
• Women’s Economic Empowerment

The UN Women Country Office (CO) is based in Delhi, India and works alongside over 20 other UN agencies. The India CO is undertaking a Country Portfolio Evaluation and requires one national consultant to support the conduct of this evaluation. 

Expressions of interest are sought from qualified individuals for the National Evaluation consultants to support evaluation team in the conduct of the evaluation. Please specify in your expression of interest where you are based and your language proficiency. 

Evaluation consultants are integral members of the evaluation team. The work of the consultants will be in-person and home-based and they will need to connect with the team during Asia and the Pacific working hours via online platforms. 

Roles and Responsibilities:

Under the overall oversight of the Regional Evaluation Specialist, the Evaluation consultant may contribute to the following phases of evaluations:

• Evaluation Inception phase:
  • Reviewing all relevant documents (i.e. Strategic notes, project documents, donor and/or other monitoring reports, evaluation and audit reports, etc.) to identify efforts relevant to the evaluation topic.
  • Providing translation/interpretation support as necessary.
  • Contribute to the development of an inclusive Evaluation methodology which is tailored to relevant inquiry in the area of interest (including inputs to the evaluation inception report and data collection tools etc.)
• Evaluation Data collection:
  • Support interviews, focus group discussions, and consultations by taking detailed notes and ensuring adherence to ethical guidelines.
  • Contribute to evaluation analysis by capturing results, challenges, gaps and learning pertinent to the evaluation topic.
  • Providing translation/interpretation support as necessary.
• Reporting phase:
  • Provide inputs to the preliminary findings.
• Other tasks as assigned by the supervisor.

Deliverables and Payment Terms:

The evaluation consultants will be key member of the evaluation team, engaged in all phases of the evaluation process. Deliverables for the evaluation consultant includes the following: interview notes, contributions to the inception report (translated data collection tools), presentations and final synthesis reports and annexes for evaluations, as required. These deliverables must be high quality and in line with the GERAAS (Global Evaluation Report Assessment and Analysis System) criteria established by UN Women.

• Inception phase: review and feedback on inception report proposed evaluation fieldwork plan, translated data collection tools, logistical support to plan data collection – 1 September to 31 October 2026 – 20% Payment
• Data Collection phase: interview notes in the requested format, review and feedback on case studies and analyses – 1 November 2026 to 30 November 2026 – 70%
• Reporting stage: review and feedback on the preliminary findings – 1 December to 10 December 2026 – 10%

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:

• Ability to gather and interpret qualitative data
• Ability to review programme documents/ policy documents
• Strong knowledge of research methods and evaluation
• Use of data to inform evidence-based programming

Education:

• Master’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., gender studies, development studies, sociology, political science, or related disciplines).

Experience:

• Minimum 7 years of experience conducting research, evaluations, reviews, or assessments with development organizations, including the application of a range of evaluation and review methods.
• Demonstrated expertise in gender equality, women’s rights, and women’s economic empowerment.
• Knowledge of national development policies, strategies, and frameworks and experience working in India.
• Experience in and/or strong knowledge of Tamil Nadu, including its development context; candidates must not have been involved in the design or implementation of UN Women-supported interventions covered by the evaluation.
• Ability to apply ethical evaluation standards, including ensuring confidentiality, integrity, "do no harm," and the integration of human rights, gender equality, and disability inclusion throughout the evaluation process.
• Strong facilitation, interpersonal, communication, and teamwork skills, including the ability to engage diverse stakeholders.
• Familiarity with UN Women and/or the United Nations system is desirable.

Language Requirements:

• Language proficiency in English required
• Ability to communicate in Tamil.

Interested applicants should apply to this announcement through UN Women jobs site: 

Careers at UN Women | UN Women – Headquarters

Evaluation and Selection Criteria:

Criteria for shortlisting of CVs will be based on the following assessment:

• Required Qualification (5 points);
• Minimum Experience relevant to the assignment (5 points);
• Experience in Monitoring and Evaluation (5 points).

The evaluation process for selection of the candidate will be based on the following assessment:

• Interview (100 points)

Supervision:

The consultant will be directly supervised by the Regional Evaluation Specialist for Asia and the Pacific who is based in the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, Thailand. However, based on the evaluation assignment, the national consultant may also receive guidance from the other evaluation consultant team members engaged. The Regional Evaluation Specialist reports to the Chief of Independent Evaluation Service at UN Women headquarters.

Note:

• Potential travel will be paid for separately based on actuals.
• Payment will be made upon submission of deliverables and approval of the supervisor.
• All deliverables should be in line with the UN Women Editorial Style Guide. 
• All deliverables should be written and generated in English.
• All data collected by the evaluation consultant must be submitted to the Regional evaluation Specialist in Word, PowerPoint, or Excel format.  Proper storage of data is essential for ensuring confidentiality and should be in line with UN Women Policy on data management and security. 
• All deliverables submitted by the consultant are subject to quality review in line with the UN Women Evaluation Report Quality Assurance. The report will only be considered final when it meets the UN Women GERAAS quality standards.

Ethical Considerations

• UN Women has developed a UN Women Evaluation Consultant Agreement Form for evaluator that must be signed as part of the contracting process, which is based on the UNEG Ethical Guidelines and Code of Conduct. All data collected by the consultant must be submitted to the evaluation manager in Word, PowerPoint or Excel formats and is the property of UN Women.  Proper storage of data is essential for ensuring confidentiality and a data protection plan will be developed during the inception phase. The evaluation’s value added is its impartial and systematic assessment of the project. As with the other stages of the evaluation, involvement of stakeholders should not interfere with the impartiality of the evaluation. The evaluators have the final judgment on the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the evaluation report, and the evaluator must be protected from pressures to change information in the report. Proper procedures for data collection with rights holders who may have been affected by violence must be adhered to as outlined in the Improving the collection and use of administrative data on VAW  and WHO Ethical and Safety Recommendations for research on violence against women. Additionally, if the evaluator(s) identify issues of wrongdoing, fraud or other unethical conduct, UN Women and UNDP procedures must be followed and confidentiality be maintained. The UN Women Legal Framework for Addressing Non-Compliance with UN Standards of Conduct, and accompanying policies protecting against retaliation and prohibiting harassment and abuse of authority, provide a cohesive framework aimed at creating and maintaining a harmonious working environment, ensuring that staff members do not engage in any wrongdoing and that all allegations of wrongdoing are reported promptly, investigated and appropriate action taken to achieve accountability.

The evaluation will adhere to the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Guidelines on the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Evaluation. All AI tools and methods applied will comply with principles of transparency, accountability, fairness, and data privacy. Ethical considerations will be prioritized to ensure that AI use does not introduce bias, compromise confidentiality, or undermine human oversight. The evaluator will document AI-related processes and decisions to maintain integrity and trustworthiness throughout the evaluation.

Pl    Please Note:

• For an assignment requiring travel, consultants of 65 years or more require full medical examination and statement of fitness to work to engage in the consultancy.
• Consultants are required to submit doctor's certificate to state fitness to work and travel for this assignment.
• Due to large number of potential applicants, only competitively selected candidates will be contacted for remaining steps of the service procurement process.
• The consultant is expected to use their own computer equipment. The office will not provide any computer equipment for this assignment.
• This is a full-time assignment. The consultant is expected to disclose any outside activity and shall not be permitted to take up any outside work during this assignment.

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.