International Consultant to support the UNCT Turkmenistan Comprehensive SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard

The international consultant will work in collaboration with the Interagency Assessment Team (IAT) and the UN thematic group on HR and Gender on the following: • To assist UNCTs in identifying areas in which they are meeting or not meeting minimum UNSDG requirements on gender mainstreaming practices and performance. • To stimulate a constructive dialogue within the UNCT about the status of support for gender equality and women’s empowerment, and how it can be improved. • To identify where technical assistance can support the achievement of minimum requirements.

Turkmenistan

A series of UN General Assembly and ECOSOC resolutions have reaffirmed the United Nations’ accountability towards advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women. Crucially, at the 59th Session of the UN General Assembly, Member States, in adopting the Triennial Comprehensive Policy Review (TCPR) of Operational Activities for Development of the UN System, called on all UN organizations to: “mainstream gender and to pursue gender equality in their country programmes, planning instruments and sector-wide programmes and to articulate specific countrylevel goals and targets in this field in accordance with the national development strategies”. As a direct follow-up to the TCPR, and to ensure a comprehensive response to many of its recommendations, the UN Sustainable Development Group (UNDG, now UNSDG) created a Task Team on Gender Equality. The goals of the Task Team are to support more consistent and coherent action among UNDG member agencies to mainstream gender equality and promote women’s empowerment at the country level; and to ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment are mainstreamed into the tools and processes that emerge from the UNDG for UN Country Teams (UNCTs). In 2006, the UNDG Task Team on Gender Equality commissioned a background paper on accountability mechanisms in UNDG agencies. This paper reviewed accountability for programming in support of gender equality in ILO, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, and WFP and found that: “A common understanding of how to apply gender mainstreaming in UN operational activities is needed. This is because if there is no agreement on what constitutes a minimum level of actions to support gender equality, how will it be possible to hold agencies and UN Country Teams accountable for this. Reaching agreement across agencies on what constitutes a minimally acceptable performance to support gender equality, through an agreed set of indicators, would contribute to stronger guidance and accountability”. Subsequently this background paper was endorsed at the UNDG Principals’ meeting in July 2006, where agreement was reached on development of a UNCT-level “Accounting for Gender Equality” Scorecard that 1 sets minimum requirements for UNCTs to assess their performance across the system. As of 2023, there is now an updated version of the UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard, which was developed by the global UNSDG Task Team on Gender Equality under the Results Group on Voice, Values and Norms, to alignthe Action Plan with the SDGs and to it with its entity level equivalent, theUnited Nations System-Wide Action Plan, drawing on good global practiceswith motivating, managing and measuring institutional change processes.Furthermore, the 2019 UNSDG United Nations Sustainable DevelopmentCooperation Framework Guidance calls for UN entities to “put gender equality at the heart of programming, driving the active and meaningful participation ofboth women and men, and consistently empowering women and girls, in linewith the minimum requirements agreed upon by the United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG) in the UNCT System-wide Action Plan (SWAP)Gender Equality Scorecard”. The UNSDCF Turkmenistan for 2026-2030 articulates the strategic Programmeplanning framework for collaboration between Turkmenistan and the UNCT. The UNSDCF responds to Turkmenistan’s national sectoral strategies andpriorities reflected in the policy framework and flagship Government initiatives, along with ratified international human rights instruments and other global normative standards. As per the requirements of the UNSDG, in 2023, 2024, and 2025 the UNCTconducted its UNCT-SWAP annual report under the previous UN Cooperation Framework (2021-2025) which informed the development of the UNSDCF2026-2030. The UNCT Turkmenistan will now undertake the first Comprehensive UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard procedure. The results of the UNCT-SWAP Scorecard will ensure better accountability of the UNCT towards gender equality and women’s empowerment in line with UNSDCF 2026-2030 and global UN GA requirements and to assess status of implementation of commitments, and to identify gaps and corrective actions. The UN Thematic Group on Gender and Human Rights will implement thisprocess to complete the UNCT-SWAP process in a participatory and timely manner. The UNCT Comprehensive SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard methodology has been designed for in-country self-assessment as a means of fostering deeper understanding and ownership of results. The international consultant will facilitate the exercise and apply participatory methods to ensure the assessment team is formed from the beginning of exercise, leads, and owns the process.

Bachelor's degree in social and political sciences, human rights, gender equality is required. Master's degree in social and political sciences, human rights, gender equality is desirable. At least 7 years of practical experience of work on gender mainstreaming in development is required. Previous experience with the UN agencies on gender equality is desirable. At least 3 years’ experience of work on results-based management, review and/or evaluation is required. Previous experience with the UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard, narrative report and follow-up matrix is desirable.

Fluency in English language is required.

Not available.