Accountability Consultant

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.

Within UN Women, the Division of Management and Administration (DMA) is accountable for the UN Strategic Plan (SP) implementation through effective and efficient management and administration services. This includes Financial Management, Operations, Information Communications and Technology, Security and Safety, Procurement, Facilities and Administration Services. The Division of Management and Administration (DMA) formulates, implements, and ensures compliance with, operational policies and procedures, including strengthening and streamlining standard business practices and mainstreaming gender equality in the UN System’s operations including through inputting into interagency operational coordination mechanisms and the ongoing UN-Reform.

UN Women is committed to promoting and adhering to the highest standards of accountability frameworks and measures in its programming and in the use of its resources. To that effect, UN Women's accountability framework spans all functional areas, business processes, and workstreams. As such, the organization's policies, procedures, guidelines, frameworks, matrices, and manuals together serve as the operational tools that support personnel in fulfilling their roles and responsibilities effectively and efficiently. These instruments represent the day-to-day implementation of accountability in action.

UN Women is working toward an integrated and comprehensive accountability system leveraging the building blocks of the current regulatory framework and oversight mechanisms.

Central to this effort will be the development of a UN Women’s Accountability Framework, Compacts, Handbook, and other implementing documents and tools.

Under the overall leadership of the Director DMA, the consultant will report to the Deputy Director-Operations, DMA and work closely with the Delegation of Authority Consultant, Business Process Owners and functional leads.

The objective of this consultancy is to develop a structured Accountability Framework and Compacts for UN Women, covering key principles, governance mechanisms, risk management approaches, and implementation guidelines to facilitate strategic decisions and operational execution.

The consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

Assessment & Benchmarking:

• Review UN policies, procedures, and best practices on accountability.
• Conduct a benchmarking analysis of accountability frameworks from relevant UN agencies and international organizations.
• Conduct a maturity assessment of the UN Women’s accountability system.
• Merge the various post facto review processes and approval mechanisms into one cross-functional procedure.

Review of post facto approvals:

• Inventory of current related policies, procedures and guidelines;
• Root cause analysis of post-facto approvals;
• Mapping of the current management and oversight mechanisms by functional area, workstream or business process (Programme, Partnerships, Procurement & Travel, Asset management, Budget, Finance, Human Resources, Information and Communication Technology, Security and Safety, Facilities and Administration Services);
• Gap analysis of exception-based reports, visibility tools, and escalation mechanisms.
• Implement reporting and monitoring tools to improve, consolidate and embed post facto approval mechanisms integrated into the accountability system.

Stakeholder Consultations:

• Engage with key UN Women stakeholders, including Regional and Country Offices, Legal, Ethics, Internal Audit and Investigation, Independent Evaluation, Programme, Civil Society, UN System Coordination, Strategic Planning, Budget, Business Transformation, Audit Coordination, Partnerships, Communications, Human Resources, Finance, Procurement, Security and Safety, Facilities and Administration Services, Information Systems and Telecommunications, Data Protection, Enterprise Risk Management, Anti-Fraud, Internal Control, DMA Directorate, Executive Director Office teams to understand the needs, challenges, strategic plan, operational contexts and organizational culture.
• Understand the external environment and stakeholders relevant to UN Women’s work.
• Incorporate feedback into the development process of the accountability framework, compacts and handbook.

Framework Development:

• Define accountability enabling environment, principles, types, levels, stakeholders, interrelations, measures, implementation instruments, management and escalation mechanisms, monitoring and performance indicators.
• Establish governance structures, roles, and responsibilities with a disciplined and efficient approach to managing the accountability system.
• Develop mechanisms that facilitate the governance, implementation, management, assessment, monitoring, communication and continuous improvement of the accountability system.
• Provide clear operational guidelines, implementation steps and monitoring requirements.
• Ensure alignment with UN Women’s strategic objectives and regulatory requirements.

Validation & Finalization:

• Present a draft of the accountability framework, compacts and handbook for review and feedback.
• Incorporate stakeholder inputs and finalize the framework, compacts and handbook.
• Develop an implementation roadmap.

Deliverables

• Deliverable 1 : Inception Report detailing methodology, work plan and key milestones

• Deliverable 2 : Analysis report containing the outcome of the gap analysis of the current accountability system, the outcome of the benchmark analysis from UN Policies and best Practices. and review analysis of the post facto approvals

• Deliverable 3 : A report on the UNW Maturity assessment and recommendations for alignment with the Common UN system reference accountability Framework maturity model JIU 2023

• Deliverable 4: monthly Progress reports on the internal stakeholders’ engagements and framework development process.

• Deliverable 5: Draft of the Accountability framework, compacts and handbook, integrating the existing regulatory framework, oversight mechanisms, assurance model, the three line model, and the Statement of Internal Control., including taxonomy of monitoring and oversight mechanisms, reporting tools and key performance indicators

• Deliverable 6: Final Accountability framework, compacts and handbook, incorporating stakeholders’ feedback, with the relevant implementation and change management actions targeted to improve U N Women’s accountability culture, awareness, training and corporate communications

• Deliverable 7: Implementation of reporting and monitoring tools to improve, consolidate and embed post facto approval mechanisms integrated into the accountability system.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy. The consultant will work remotely, with possible in-person engagements at UN Women HQ or regional offices, if required.

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

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 Core Values and Competencies:

https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values

Functional Competencies:

• Strong knowledge of UN regulatory frameworks, in particular in the area of accountability.
• Excellent research, analytical, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Ability to evaluate the impact of accountability system on UN Women’s activities.
• Ability to work in cross functional teams and coordinate the stakeholders’ engagement.
• Detailed oriented

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in law, business administration, public administration, or a field related to accountability management 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.
• A professional certification in relation to accountability management or similar would be an asset.

Experience:

• At least 7 years of experience in law, compliance, ethics or related area is required.
• Experience developing accountability system, frameworks, policies, procedures, implementation and monitoring tools in UN agencies, or international organizations is required.
• Experience in developing the capacity of stakeholders related to accountability management is required.